The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-11-09

Y
sioner of the Land Office in March.
1908. A few days before, while still
an officer of the United states. Mr..
Ballinger appeared before the House
| Committee on Public Lands in fa-
vor of the Gale bill. then pending
In the course of his statement, he
said
&c. the last section of the bill
provides for "a consolidation of exist
ing entries and does not call for the
| proof of good faith of the original
entry or location. There are n great
many charges pending against some
of the original entries In Alaska. At
the time these fields were located,
| corporations were organized. The
men had really no method of taking
advantage of these coal measures. II
resulted in their getting involved in
| conditions which. upon the records OF
| the Land Office, are q technical vi
| olation of the statute, and IL Is a sit
uation which should he cleared up. IN
my estimation. II has not been the
| intention of the people in the field
nor in Alaska to put them in hostility
to the laws, but they have been in
a position where they could not. by
virtue OF the circumstances, accom-
| modate themselves to the laws, ana
with this last provision they could
| transmute their present entries into
| the form suggested by this bill. and
| those new entries would he treated as
| primary entries In other words. 1t
| would be an abandonment of tho old
conditions which have made n great
| A. a. ~ TO- nf N
| disposition of the land in many in
stances"
When Mr.. Ballinger made this
statement (before the Committee on
| Public lands) he was urging n change
in the law by which fraudulent en-
| tries would be made validity which
the Cunningham group and the 9TH
| er Alaska claims wonld have re-
ceived patents To practically 100000
acres of Alaska coal fields. Whether
| or not we agree that fraudulent
entry Is a technical violation" of a
| statute, there seems little doubt that
Mr.. Ballinger was then well informed
ms to the defects in the Alaska coal
claims (Which included the Cum
ningham group.
It il with Mr.. Ballinger's testimony
before this Committee in mind that
we come to the next step. Within y
short time after he resigned. Mr..
Ballinger became attorney for the
Cunningham group of claims.
There was at that time, and now
is, i'm force, statute of the United
states which says:
1T shall not be lawful for any per-
son appointed after the first day of
June. 1872. as an officer, clerk, or
employee in any of the departments,
t. act as counsel. attorney, or agent
for prosecuting any claim against the
United tates. which was pending In
either of said departments while he
was such an officer. clerk or employee
nor in any manner, nor by any means
to aid in the prosecution of any claim,
within two years next after he shall
have ceased to be such officer, clerk,
o" employee"
This is the only statute that I know
of regarding the impropriety of
Government officer taking claims
against the Government after his res
ignation.
President Whitcwashes Ballinger.
OF that employment, President
Taft has said: In the interval, when
you were not holding office, one OF
the Cunningham coal claimants con
suited you in regard to the prospect
of securing a patent upon the claims
and invited your attention to the
character of certain evidence which
was being used to impeach the valid
ity of the claims by Special Agent
Claws. You accepted the employ
ment: visited Secretary Garfield and
Commissioner bennett: presented the
question to them in respect to which
YOU had been consulted; found that
there was no probability of securing
n patent of the claims without pre-
senting them under recent remedial
legislation imposing conditions which
the claimants were either unwilling
or unable to meet. You so advised
your clients. To pay your travelling
expenses and for your services you
received $3.50 and no more.
'"rhe inference which Mr.. CLAWS
seeks to have drawn to your discredit
in this connection is that you. while
Commissioner of the General Land
Office, came into possession of facts
concerning the so-called Cunning
ham group and coal land claims which
made II improper for you to use such
facts after your resignation in the
course of securing the patents.
find the fact to be that, as Commis-
sioner you acquired no knowledge In
respect TO the claims except that OF
the most formal character, and MOTH
ing which was not properly known to
your clients when they consulted
you"
do not quite understand the
Presidents statement that Mr.. Bal
llnger had only the most formal
knowledge" of the Cunningham cases
Mr.. Ballinger had all the knowledge
anybody In the department had De,
cause Special Agent Jones and | told
him all we knew Mr. Ballinger knew
| that he had rocked the order to pat
ont Mr.. Cunningham's claims on ac-
count of my protest that I believed
they were not bona-fide entries. lie
knew, or might have known, that
then had no conclusive proof against
the claims. Mr.. Ballinger had made
a statment TO the Congressional COM
1 -. aAuaA