The National tribune., 1910-03-10

multitude of land laws and land regu-
lations with which his administrator
of the Interior Department had TO 40.
He was a less interesting witness than
had been expected, as he is known 10
side strongly with Mr.. Pinchot.
The Secretary and the EX-FOrester.
An interesting episode of the Pinchot
testimony was a clash between the eS-
Forester and Secretary of Agriculture
q, James Wilson. With great reluctance
MIR. Pinchot testified about the letter
written to Senator Dolliver, Chairman
of the Agricultural Committee, when
reflected upon President Taft, and led
to Mr. Pinchot's speedy dismissal from
the public service. 1t had been Widely
published that Mr.. Pinchot wrote that
letter with the full approval of Secre-
tary Wilson, his official superior. MT.
Pinchot told the investigating commit
tee he did not want to say anything
about that. He had been associated
with Mr. Wilson many years in public
life. and did not want to inject any
unpleasant features into their very
amicable personal and official relations.
But the committee insisted that Mr..
Pinchot should teG and the Ballinger-
ties hurried Secretary Wilson from
Cabinet meeting to hear what his
former official subordinate had to say.
Mr. Pinchot replied that he understood
he had Secretary Wilson's full approval
to write the Dolliver letter. Then Sec
retary Wilson was called to the stand,
and declared that Mr.. Pinchot did not
have his approval He never could
have approved of letter of that KIND
rejecting upon the President and affect
ing the discipline of men under his
CWilson's) official authority. He re-
ferred to Assistant Forester Oyerton w.
Price and Forest Attorney A. c. Shaw,
who were discussed in the Dolliver let
ter.
On cross-examination Mr. Wilson be-
came little confused as well as a little
angry He admitted that the matter
had been discussed between him and
Mr.. Pinchot, but did not understand
Mr.. Pinchot was to write that kind of
a letter. The Democrats of the joint
committee co-operated in asking Mr..
Wilson a lot of questions on that point.
The Shaw Case.
A recent incident of the Ballinger-
Pinchot wrangle has had to do with
the application of A. c. Shaw to prac-
tice as an attorney before the General
Land Office. When he was dismissed
from the Forest Service he undertook
TO make a living by practicing law, and
wants to make the handling of public
land claims a feature of his work, as
he is familiar with public land ques-
tions. Secretary Ballinger Immediately
handed the application over to Presi-
dent Taft, who said with great empha-
sis: No
This stirred up a hornets nest. Shaw
came from North Carolina, and he has
tened to the member of Congress from
his district, Representative Robert n.
Page, and to his two Senators, Sim
mons and Oyerman. All are Democrats,
lN,a. &l,D lit
and to them the President also said
NO"
For several days the Capitol has been
ringing with talk about the 'persecu-
ton" OF Shaw. The North Carolinians
and the Finchotites pronounced Pin
cho-ites) have clamored it was most
unfair; it was depriving an honest citi-
zen of an honest right to earn an hon
est living, and that anyway, Shaw had
never done anything except obey the
orders and follow the directions of his
official superiors. There have been
threats to take the case upon the floor
of the House, etc.
The President, however, holds that
Shaw is still under investigation, and
wants first 20 see what the joint COM
nittee determines regarding the abb
sence of certain documents of the Cen
eral Land Office from its files. They
claim that some of these documents
have been returned from the Forest
Service, and that there is ground for
believing that Shaw has held or is
holding certain of them in his posses
sion improperly; also that he allowed
certain information from these docu-
ments to leak to the public press in an
embarrassing manner. The question
was put up to the investigating COM
mittee in another connection some
weeks ago, and after it has been deter
mined it is claimed there will be time
enough to say whether Shaw shall prac-
tice before the General Land Office or
not.
The Secretary to Testify.
The star witness remaining to be
heard is Secretary Ballinger himself.
There is considerable impatience
against the day when he appears. Ex-
cept for an occasional day the hearings
are very dull and uninteresting. But
the public agitation over the Ballinger-
Pinchot affair is being constantly fed
10y the output from the investigation.
Influential Senators have urged that a
Herculean effort be made to close
the investigation out and bring in a
verdict. 1t is apparent that the Re-
publicans of the committee are going TO
find for Ballinger and the Democrats
of the committee against him on essen
tial points. At least, that is what OBJ
servers are expecting.
The several members Of the joint
committee, exceedingly weary of the
work, have as good as abandoned their
former plan of visiting Alaska during
the Summer Most OF them have i'm
portant committee work on hand which
they are compelled to neglect. Their
regular work in behalf of constituents
is also falling behind. They would
gladly welcome the end Of the .nvesti-
CATION If it could be done in a seemly
way. which would not subject them Ia
undue criticism.
A new Commission for the investiga
ton and scrutiny of all the Executive
Departments is now on the way. The
Senate has voted a departmental busi-
ness methods scrutiny, which Senator
Aldrich claims should be able 10 rec,
ommend methods for saving the Gov
ernment S100.00G,00O year Tile
House has not cOncurred, but probably
Will. There is hardly any other way
out of 1t, when Senator Aidrich has
stated in debate that as business man
he could run the United States Govern
ment for s300.000.000 year less thar
it is now costing and not impair the
efficiency of the service.
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