The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-02-20
Colossal Game of Gug-
genheim-M Morgan Syn
dictate Laid Bare.
RICHES SECURED
FOR A MERE SONG
General Manager for Capitalists
Tells Of Great Coal and Cop
per Rights Which Have /
Been Taken Up Without !:
Government Interior
ence-Scandal Grows.
Special to The Times-Dispatch

Especial to The Times Dispatch
washington, d. c., February TO-
TWO hundred million dollars Of profit
In clean, cold cash was only one fea.-
ture of the colossal game of exp1oita-
ton OF Alaska played by the Gugeen-
heim-Morsan syndicate. according to
the testimony to-day in the Claws
Baliinser administration scandal.
The audience before the Com
mittee on Territories OF the SEN
ate was fairly stunned when Gem
eral Manager Birch, OF this syndicate.
ieSeaied tho figures of values at stake
IN this famous controversy. Here are
some OF the cash values which Mr..
Birch rolled off as lightly as if he
Were telling merely a fairy tale:
cunningham coal fields. 5000 acres;
.i a. coal in their neighborhood,
ao 49, tons: value OF the tonnage.
$oo0.OOo.oO0; cost OF getting n ont ~
the ground. s7oO.OOo.Ooo; net profit to-
exploiters. s2O0.OoO,OOO.
Bad for BaIlinEcr.
AT the earlier stages of this Cum
Observation-Disclosures affair, to call It nv
practical name. it was vigorously
denied by Ballinger's friends that the
coal was of any extraordinary value.
In order. ostensibly, to clear their
skirts of innuendoes, all intentions OF
improper kind with the exploitation of
the rich fields, Morgan and Guggenheim
came out In the open, and SO far. in
stead of helping MIR. Ballinger they
have helped only themselves and Mr..
/ CLAWS.
For the nero song of 100000 Nor
| gan and Guggenheim were apparently
putting themselves in line, with the
| assistance of Cunningham, for the ul-
| innate cleanup of s200,OO0,00o Ons
of the strangest of all the consideru-
lions Is that experts like Cunningham
did not know that they were trying
to get lands which would make Nor
san-GugSenhem Immensely richer
and that they were to sell for baga-
telle rights that would make them
rich as Monte Cristo.
~ statement Just as startling as
Birch's of the mountainous pile of fig
ures was that the syndicate used no
influence with Congress or any one
else to got possession of the richest
domain in the world The plan pur-
sued by the gan-Guggenheim al
TRUSTS was. according to tho testi-
mony, to get a. B. C., d and eli the
other little members of the company
to buy up and patent parcels of the
immense whole, and when they had
done SO to turn 1t all over to X. Y
and Il.
Scandal In Full Blast.
The CLAWS Ballinger scandal is In
full blast now both before tho special
Investigating Committee and the Conl-
mittee on Territories of the Senate. In
the meanwhile politicians are wonders
ing, not to say are amazed, at the
DARN. act OF Morgan, Guggenheim &.
Go. in coming to Washington and to
all appearances helping out Claws.
who has accused seriously a member
of President Tnft's Cabinet. Out of a.
maze of testimony submitted to the
Senate Committee on Territories TO-
day by Mr.. Birch these facts stood out
prominently:
That the syndicate had bought a
competing railroad owned by Post
Brothers. of London. and that through
Its own line from Cordova Bay to the
coal and copper fields 1t absolutely
dominated the situation and controlled
those two great products as 1t willed
That. in addition to holding an OPP
ton on the Cunningham group OF coal
lands, the syndicate had acquired cx-
trencly valuable copper land. Mr.
Birch himself having taken up claims
for the company, and III doing so he
had used the names of other stock
holders, the company meeting all the
expenses.
That the coal lands of the Cunning
ham group already acquired in which
tho syndicate had obtained a half In
terest of s25ooo0 contained coal that
would net a profit of s25,000,00o; that
tho entire river coal fields contained
a hundred million tons of coal worth
In gross s9OO.oOo,OoO which would net
Its cXploiters after paying all cx-
penses OF mining and carrying to the
market, ss00.o0000o.
That the syndicate had paid $1,000
900 on the copper properties it now
had, while only a very slight develop
ment OF the fields had brought to view
copper ore estimated to be worth So,
900 900
Had No Lobby.
That Notwithstanding its vital i'm
terest In this enormous coat product
which It controlled In tho Cunningham
group, tho syndicate, according to
Birch, had taken no step toward Sc
curing patent from the government
and 'indlgnant denial was nadc OF
the charge that the syndicate main
tained a lobby in Washington.
After careful questioning, in which
Senator Beveridge, chairman of Tho
had an active part. the
expose that the syndicate's copper
mining company had obtalped copper
ands through private individuals To-
'ating the claims. making their entry
md turning THEM interest over 10 the
as soon as the patents were
insight than 1t had previously had by
which the syndicate controlled the Seir- III
,hase or obtained the control from
he public domain Of valuable mining
ands, thereby making q monopoly ot
What, under tho law, is supposed tfsl