Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-05-20
Root Strips Off the Mask.

Frederick NJ. kerDyS betrayal VI
the confidence reposed in him by Sec
rotary Ballinger and the very Obvious
purpose of that betrayal to place the
President Of the United States in All
unfavorable light, rather overshad-
owed another important event which
occurred in the Ballinger- Pinchot
hearing during this past week. Sen
ator Root, one Of the most versatile
and powerful men who ever entered
public life, took occasion to give eS-
preston. to his firm conviction that the
critics of the interior department. un-
der the guise of promoting move
ment for conserving the nations nat
nral resources. are really using every
effort to malign the administrator
ard e,nharrass President Tart ana MS
cabinet. This has been the feeling at
Washington for some months. IN TACT
hafora the investigation began it was
generally understood that such was
the underlying cause of all the crlt-
c,sm. but it remained for Senator Root
m make an open declaration of the
fact.
Senator Roots statement came when
the attorney for the prosecution asked
Kerbv if he had read the official state
ment given out at the White House on
SATURDAY in reply to his charge that
the President did not prepare the
findings on the CLAWS charges. SEN
ator Root objected. saying that the
committee was not investigating the
president. Then, turning to Attorney
Erandeis. he arraigned that gentleman
i'm language which could not be mis-
construed. He declared that the at
tOrney had been endeavoring in
manner not too Ingenious to make
the investigating "a trial of the presi
dent" He declared that he had
abused the privileges accorded him
by the committee. In presenting his
whole line of testimony, and that the
committee was not appointed to in
vestigate every charge printed in the
newspapers in an effort to discredit
the administration.
Mr. Root took the ground that news
paper feeling against the president
had no place in an investigation of
the affairs of the interior department.
That the Republicans on the commit
tee were fully in accord with Senator
Roots statement is evidenced by the
fact that upon d vote to sustain the
objection he had made to the question
asked by the attorney, all the Re-
publicans voted with him.
Senator Roots statement crystalizes
q feeling which has permeated Repub-
lican circles for many months--that
the Ballinger- Pinchot affair was SIM
ply an attack on the administration.
Hereafter those who believe it to be
such. will doubtless be more out
spoken in their opinion. Those who
are engaged actively in the matter will
find that their finely spun schemes
are in jeopardy because those men
whom they have plotted against are
fully cogrizant of their purposes.
Secretary Ballinger has been per-
fectly willing that his department be
investigated if it became evident that
there was demand for it. but he,
in common with his colleagues, has
fought strenuously against this bare
faced attempt to embarrass his chief.
If President Taft is guilty of malfeas-
ance in office, or if there is reasonable
cause for suspicion. there is way to
reach him which is honest and regu-
lar and fair. But, to attempt to SIM
ply embarrass the president by at
lacking a subordinate, is unfair and
is unworthy of the men VIII" have
been attempting it.