The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1910-03-05
OEPOSED CHIEF FORESTER OUT
LINES CHARGES HE WILL
TRY TO PROVE.
NOT FAITHFUL TO TAFT
CALLS eAllINGER ENEMY OF
CONSERVATION AND SAYS HE
HAS MIsREPREsENTEp.

Washington.-With Clifford Pinchot
on the witness stand. the Ballnger-
Pinchot inquiry entered its second
phase. Saturday.
/ The dismissed chief of the forestry
! bureau, before being sworn. made the
/ Investigating committee this state
ment Of his charges against Secretary
/ Ballinger:
! What | desire to lay before the
/ committee is consecutive story of
my experience with Mr.. Ballinger in
/ relation to the conservation OF nat
! ural resources. Among several other
/ matters there are three of principal
/ Importance TO be called to your atten-
/ ton
The first OF these concerns the pol
/ icy deviced and inaugurated by the
/ last administration OF protecting
against monopolistic control of the wa
/ ter power sites owned by the people.
] Il shall show you that Secretary
/ Ballinger entered his office with the
/ clear determination to make short
/ work OF that policy; that he reversed
+ it so far as he was allowed to do so;
/ that he restored the power sites to
I entry without the remotest idea Of re-
Withdrawing them and that finally,
/ when | charged him last autumn to the
/ President with being an enemy OF the
I policy of conservation, he capped the
/ climax by giving the president him
! self an explanation of his conduct that
was essentially false.
THE second has to do with my CON
/ nection as government officer with
! the Cunningham coal cases and with
/ the CLAWS charges. | shall show you
how the forest service became in
volved in these cases and how Claws
submitted his facts to me. I believed
then, as | believe now, that he told
the truth. l am convinced now, as |
was when he came to me. that CLAWS
was a faithful public servant and that
the facts which he presented prove
that Mr.. Ballinger had been unfaith-
full to his trust as servant of the
people. and as the guardian OF public
property OF enormous value.
Il shall show that since | learned
the facts you have heard from CLAWS
and others which | am about to lay
before you, have acted steadily in the
light OF them. as it was my duty, both
as a public officer and as a citizen to
do. | shall show you that in pursu-
| ance of that duty | laid before the
President, both by word of mouth and
in letter of November 4th a state
ment Of my conviction that Secretary
| Ballinger has been q dangerous en-
! emy to conservation.
Il shall show you that this letter
was submitted by the President to
/ Mr.. Ballnger and that as part Of his
reply he laid before the President a
statement concerning the Cunningham
coal cases. which statement is shown
/ by indisputed documentary evidence
to be absolutely false in three essen
tial particulars.
1T will then appear that Mr.. Bal
! linger wilfully deceived the President
and was disloyal to him. The third
| principal matter is concerned with
the attitude OF this government in law
and administrative practice toward the
conservation of the natural resources
! belonging to the people.
| u desire to show you that the story
OF CLAWS courageous and successful
fight to protect the property OF the
| people which ended in his dismissal
without a hearing is but a single chap
| ter in the history of the public lands.
| shall show you that under our pres
ent law and practice the more diff
| cult task falls on those who would pro-
tect the public property and not on
those who would despoil it; and that
under the present system the betrayal
into monopolistic control of what be-
| longs to all OF us is made easy and,
often in practice, inevitable.
The imperative duty before this
| country is not merely to get rid of an
unfaithful public servant. A far more
| important duty is to bring about fun
damental change in the law and the
practice toward conservation
When this story has been told and
the witnesses whom l shall ask you
| to call nave been heard, you will real
| ize that the interests OF the country
are not safe in Mr.. Ballinger's hands
and the public demand of this COM
mittee a verdict in harmony with the
| general conviction that the secretary
| of the interior has been unfaithful
both to the public whose property
he has endangered and to the
President whom he has deceived"