The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-08-10
NEW TRUST
 HAS ARISEN Water Power Monopoly, Youngest, and Destined
 to Be the Greatest COMPLAINT COMES
 FROM MONTANA Bombshell for Members of Irrigation Congress Now in Session at Spokane
Secretary Ballinger Accused of Shattering Roosevelt
 Policy of Conservation

VI 0AAbOUOA LIE As0OSONOAo
 Policy of Conservation
 Spokane, Wash, Aug. 1o.-Putting squarely up to Richard A. Ballinger, Secretary of the Interior, the responsi- bility for the shattering of the Roose- welt policy of conservation and allow ing to fall into the hands of the water power trust millions of dollars worth of power-site lands, the Spokane Press today carries an article from Helena, Mont, which has thrown th> mem- bers of the Irrigation Congress now in session here, into the greatest excite ment. The article reads:
 Helena, Mont, Aug. 10.-This is the true story of how the birthright of a out the greatest American trust. The state is Montana. The trust is the Water Power Monopoly, the youngest and destined to be the greatest of all proof at hand that one of the first official acts of President Taft's Sec retary. of the Interior, Richard Achilles Ballinger, was to knowingly turn over to the water power monopoly millions of dollars worth of power sites along Montana rivers
 Water power will succeed steam and white coal,' as the water power is called, will run the railroads of the future. Not only that but electric DOW CT generated by the mountain torrents will be sent across the plains to oper- ate the mills and factories of many states of the nation, and most import ant of all, this wonderful new power will pump endless floods of water up- on millions of acres of arid lands, and so make new homes for millions of Americans.
 "But the water power trust will be frxr1 f<1 a<,< but f,-r,xr cry settler and his children forever. It was in the closing days of his admins tration that President Rooseveltlearned of the wholesale seizing of water pow CTS by the then forming trust. The grab was then at it's height. Roose- welt had Secretary Garfield end it by resuming government control of pub lie lands containing power sites.
 'Gt was generally supposed that Gar field was to remain in Taft's cabinet but on February 15 he was asked by Taft to resign on March 4. Not know ing who the new secretary would be, President Roosevelt and Garfield de- cided to lock all the doors so that the new administration would find every thing snug, and the last thing Presi- dent Roosevelt did at midnight on March 4, was to withdraw more land to the extent of 1S6, 900, 900 acres from the reach of land grabbers.
 ''The first thing Ballinger did after he was sworn into TaftS cabinet on March 5th, was to begin to turn the land over to a half-retrenched trust. Throwing open these lands had pro- greSSed for a month when the rising tide of popular protest was heard at the White House and the clamOr in creasing, Taft called Ballinger in to explain. Ballinger secured delay and meantime kept throwing land open to entry and was again called to the White House. This time the public was given to understand that the pub 1io lar d- in, Ir6r But it was too late. The trust had warning and had had time. The pow CT sites, scores of them, were grabbed, l and it was after President Taft had Montana lands which he had quietly reopened a few weeks before, that the Amalgamated Copper Company, own- | ed by Senator Guggenheim and Broth CTS, together with the General Elec- | tric company had swallowed thousands of acres of these important Montana lands. holding power sites of untold wealth.
 ous transactions in which the govern ment and the trusts agents figure, are | being urged as proper matter for an official investigation. Here in Helena. in fact. wherever power sites | and grabs are talked of in this west ern country, it is agreed that Tom Garter and Jerry Collins are smart
 men. Opinions differ about Secretary Ball1nger; one IS that he has been | fooled.
 Garter is Republican United | States Senator from Montana. Col 1ins was the United States Registrar ot Lands at Helena under Cleveland
 Now he is the power trusts manager
 It remains to be seen whether Ballin- ger deliberately attempted to destroy
 Roosevelt'S work and did reopen Mon-
 tana lands in the especial interest of his friends Carter, Collins and others
 or whether he simply did not realize | the importance of his acts or was be- | trayed by his friends.
 | "The Amalgamated Copper Company
 with power sites secured since Roose-
 welt left office, is now in absolute pos
 session of the Missouri river from
 Three Forks, in Southwestern Montana
 to the Alkali Plains, west of Great | Falls This river holds probably the
 nation. These, all in the hands of the
 trust gives to it complete power tC
 shut out competition for all time and
 force every home, farm and factory
 within an area of 4,000 square miles to
 pay tribute to former Senator w. H
 Clark, the Guggenhiems and their as | sociates.
 "On June Il. last, there was filed al | the United States Land Office al
 Booseman, Mont, entry of 15,6S6 acre. | of land which cinched the monopoly The entry was made for the United l Missouri River Power Company, a New | Jersey corpora ton capitalized at $10,. 250, 900. This corporation was promot- | ed by ex-Senator Clark of Montana
 and his associate, H. T. Hauser, of 4! Wall street. New York. who are the | leading spirits in Amalgamated Cop per. Like all New Jersey corpora tions, it has eternal life. It was or. | ganized as a merger of the Missouri l River Power Company. and the Helena I Power Transmission Company
 ] .It may be merely a coincidence tha1 ] this merger company was incorporated