Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-17
BALL|NGER WILL
MAKE TAFT AND
CABINET JUDGES
Secretary of interior Will Defy
Accusers if Colleagues
Stand by Him
TO BE GUIDED BY ASSOCIATES
Friends Deny Resignation Ready
or That Official Will Re-
tire Under Fire
70 BE GUIDED BY ASSOCIATES
Associated Press1


WASHINGTON, Sept. 16.-Whether
Richard A. Balilngers. resignation as
secretary of the interior will follow
Immediately on the meeting of the
cabinet, September 26, to attend which
he is now en- route from Seattle, or
whether he will retain his position
indefinitely--at least until after the
delivery to congress of the reports of
the committee that investigated his
stewardship Of the public domain, de-
pends now on the attitude of his cabi-
net associates.
Mr.. Ballinger is coming to Washing
ton, his friends say, wholly uncon-
sciouS of any act on his part Of which
he should be condemned, and has de-
termined to force his chief and his
official colleagues to be in effect his
Judges. If they concur in the view at
present attributed to Mr.. Taft that
the accused secretary shall be attained
as an innocent and prosecuted man,
he will retain his position; If they fall
to back him up, he will resign.
This Is Mr.. Ballinger's position, as
learned here today on authority hard
ly to be questioned.
At the first meeting of the cabinet,
after the summer recess, Secretary
Dickinson, the Democratic member,
will not have returned from the Philip
pines and therefore will be saved the
embarrassment from participation IN
what is regarded as largely a problem
of Republican policy. The meeting is
expected to last three days.
It will surprise nobody here II the
Ballinger case occupies large part
of the meeting.
1,cru,e DEsxcNATToN RITNORFD
Rumors have been constant and
definite here during the last few days
that Mr. Ballinger's resignation would
be one of the first developments of the
cabinet meeting, but his friends, IN
Guiding his associates in the Interior
department, have refused to believe
he would retire under fire" and have
pointed to his oft repeated declaration
to the contrary and to the recent state
ment attributed to him that he would
resign only at the specific request or
the president.
Some of these, however, today ad-
mitted that they themselves and the
secretary are alive to the fact that the
turmoil and uncertainty into which the
protracted controversy has plunged
the department must be abated soon
unless this important branch of the
public service is to become hopelessly
demoralized.
Nobody here doubts that majority
all but one of the Republican members
of the investigating committee VIII
sustain Secretary Ballinger. But Sec
retary BaIlinger and his partisans here
were greatly disappointed that the ao-
sence of Senators Root and Flint from
the Minneapolis meeting left the pro-
BaIlinger portion Of the committee in
the minority and permitted the Demo-
Gratis and the insurgent Republican
member to put forth reports condemn
ing him.
REPORTS MAY STAND
These reports for many weeks Will
stand before the country as the only
findings Of the committee; whereas he
had relied on the majority for a vim
dication.
It is this failure of the committee
to take final action which, 1t is sald,
has determined Secretary Ballingers
course.
It was said here today by a close
friend of the secretary that had the
majority of the committee been ready
to report at the Minneapolis meeting
he would then have rendered his res
ignation to the president and urged its
acceptance on the ground that the dis
sensions to which he has been party
were detrimental to the public inter-
est. w u6n Iu6 COlAlAAAAbbSO AoAAS0 90
Minneapolis to take action as whole,
and when there was no quorum at the
subsequent meeting in Chicago, 1t be-
came apparent that no decision could
be expected for several months.
This situation is said to have con-
vinced Mr.. Ballinger that his position
in spite of the continued support of the
president, has become untenable. I'm
able, as he sees it, to resign as either
yindicated or condemned by the COM
mittee he has decided, it is said, to
demand of his superior and his cabinet
associates either vindication or con-
demnation.
Secretary Ballinger left his home in
Seattle yesterday and will reach Wash
ington several days in advance of the
cabinet session. His purpose in thus
expediting his return is believed to be
to counsel with his immediate subor-
dinates and to gain their assistance in
preparing for his demand upon the
cabinet fora Showdown"