The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-06-14
would remain today but for the interven- tion of the President"

would remain today but for the interven- | tion of the President"
 l Neglect of Duty
 | By neglect of duty and by posltlVe ac- | ton adverse to his trust in the past MT
 Ballinger has seriously endangered pup l lie rights in our Alaskan coal lands. Ills | present course and attitude constitute
 menance to the peoples interests says | Mir Pepper in summing up his descrlptlon | of BaIlinger's coal land policy.
 AS regards the secretarys attitude to-
 ward forest lands, Mir Pepper declares | that fin the two instances where MT Ballinger as secretary has had to do with | the administration of the national for- | ests he has sacrificed the public interests | i'm petty manifestations of hostility to the | forest service.' He says that "care for the public i'i- terests in the reclamation of arid lands
 has been subordinated by Mir. Ballinger
 to personal considerations to such an ex- tent as to result in great demoralization
 and loss of efficiency In the reclamation service"
 | "It is obvious that MT. Ballinger took whatever action was taken in the depart ment In all that his subordinates have
 done they have simply reflected tfe wishes and desires of their chief. Di- rector Newell and Engineer Davis of the | reclamation service alone have insisted 1 upon placing responsibility where 1t belongs instead of sacrihcingsin general
 other persons in. a desire to relieve a superior from embarrassment says MT. Pepper.
 | President Is Misled
 The Pepper brie. quotes from the record | |, n ShnW finger misled the President in presenting | to him his own relation to the Alaskan | coal cases in explaining his course in re- straining power sites and his attitude to- ward the reclamation service. MT. Pep per contends that the President certainly | would have taken some vigorous action
 to save the efficiency of the reclsma ton service when Pinchot charged that | is was in danger of dsntegration from
 Ballingers administration had he not
 been misled by the secretary's assurance
 that no intimations of trouble had ever
 come to him from the chief officers of that service.
 | Asserting that the original charge of deception made against Ballinger had been corroborated by his conduct on the witness stand, Mir. Pepper says that Bal finger was compelled to take direct is- lsues of veracity with different witnesses and that his statements on the stand have in a number of instances been con- tradicted by admissions subsequently,
 wrung from him on cross-examination or
 by the terms of documents subsequently produced.
 Aims and Methods
 After discussing the legal questions in
 volved in the controversy MT. Peppe
 enters into what he terms "a correction
 I ofx. o,,.
 | methods of conservat tionists reiteratet
 throughout the hearings by MT. Ballin
 ger and his associates" There could b , nc greater mistake than to say that MT , Pinchot holds the view regarding tn conservation of coal that the presen generation must shiver in order tha [ posterity might be warm,' ' he says
 Conservation does mean provision fo the future, but 1t means also and frs of all the recognition of the right O the present generation to the fulles : necessary use of all the resources of tn country. He said that first; the peopl of the land had conservation in devel opment of land principles; second .pre : vention of waste, and. third, the develop ) ment of natural resources for the bene t fit of the many and not merely for tn profit of the few.
 |. Brief of vertreesf Secretary Ballinger's final word of de , fense was presented today in the forr e of brief. prepared by his attorne, 2 John J. vertrees. After making an ex f haustive review of the evidence befor the committee, Mir vertrees concludes: When we consider how baseless an
 l groundless this accusation against NJ
 Ballinger is and the loud and vehemer
 cries of those who have urged 1t or c wt recall the language of Fauvety, = juryman of the days of the Reign of Tel = TOT in France. In writing to one wh c served with him. Fauyety says: M r colleague is worth nothing-absolutel T nothing Sometimes he wants to say n counter-revolutionary priests. He rt f quires proofs, as in the ordinary tr O bunals of the Old Regime. We some !, times have very heated discussions !" - MT. Vertrees insists that neither th l. official nor professional acts of his clier
 are open to criticism and declares ths l. none of the accusations made against hi '- have been sustained by presentation ( ' fact. He says the accusations are the r q suit of a conspiracy against him an :; quotes freely from the evidence befol 't the committee in an attempt to prov ; the existence of a plot involving form' e Secretary Garfield and former Forest' e Pinchot, to secure his removal from o T. nce.
 > Ballinger Not Interested .' First of all, 1t Is to be borne in mir :. that MT. Ballinger neither directly m u indirectly at any time was interested |. any coal lands in Alaska" says M :. vertrees. 'He was not counsel for u ' Cunningham claimants and others, r MT. Glavis said. At the time he b T came secretary he was counsel for n one of them The only connection r had ever had with the Cunningham clair l. ants was the preparation. of the affida, F in September. 1908. He had not be' ' counsel theretofore: he was not couns Is thereafter he entered the office of SC !. rtary without interests of any kind. y deed. as expressed by him., he dissolv