The Oskaloosa herald., 1910-05-19
BALLNCERS AID
CAUSES SENSATION
Charges Taft-Glavis Letter was
!. Drafted by LaWIer.
WHITE HOUSE SAYS UNTRUE
r. N. kerby, secretary's stenosraPher,
Says He Wrote Part Of IT.
Wlckersham to Presl.
dents Aid.

Washington, May 16.-Oscar Lawler,
assistant attorney general for the in
terror department. Of which Richard
A. Ballinger is the head, did, in fact,
prepare a draft Of letter addressed
to Secretary Ballinger. and in such
form and phrase that Ii might have
been adopted verbatim and signed by
the president as Mr.. Taft's exonera-
lion OF the secretary from the charges
of L. r. Giayis and authorizing the dis.
missal of CLAWS from his position of
special agent of the interior depart
ment.
The draft by Mr.. Lawler was deliv.
cred to the Ballinger.P inchot commit.
tee and ordered spread upon the rec.
ords of the investigation. Careful com.
parison OF the Lawler draft with the
letter shows that Mr.. Taft did In fact
adopt practically verbatim two short
paragraphs of Mr.. LAWYERS language
The substance of the two documents
is otherwise widely dissimilar.
kerby Story Starts Sensation.
The thing came to a head in the
publication of statement attributed
to Frederick NJ. Kerby, one of the
stenographers in the office of Secre
tary Ballinger in which Kerby related
at length the circumstances under
which he alleged the Lawler draft tc
have been prepared. ..7
Kerby asserts further that all of the
preliminary drafts used in the prepare
ton of the letter were burned In 9
crate in the interior department at the
suggestion and under the supervision
of Don M. Carr, Mr.. Ballinger's pri
vate secretary. .al.
Kerby drew the inference that the
Lawler draft had been adopted by the
president essentially as his own; thai
Mr.. Ballinger and his legal adviser
therefore virtually had prepared ths
generation which Mr.. Taft had issued
over his own signature.
Almost simultaneously with the pub
lication of the Kerby statement Attor
ney General Wickersham sent to the
Ballinger-P inchot' investigating com
mittee, then in session, copy of the
Lawler draft, accompanied by letter
to Chairman Nelson In which Mr.
Wickersham declared the documeni
had been overlooked in sending the
papers requisitioned by the committee
at the behest of Attorney Brandeis.
aa White House Issues Denial.
The publication of the Kerby state
ment evoked from the White House 6
statement declaring there was "abso
lutely no foundation" for the state
ment that the presidents letter Of
September 10. 1909, was substantially
prepared for the presidents signature
by Assistant Attorney General Law
Ter" and asserting uneQuiyocally thai
the president dictated his letter per
sonally as the result of his own inves
tigation Of the records and considera
ton of documents and papers in his
possession at the time and upon the
report of the attorney general"
1t was further pointed out, both al
the White House and by Attorney Gen
eral Wickersham himself, that a com
parison Of the Lawler draft and the
presidents letter would show that the
differences of the Kerby statement
were unwarranted.
Mr.. Wickersham alluded to the prac
tise common in the government de
partpents of subordinates preparing
letters and documents for the consid
GRAFTON Of their superiors and theil
use by them in whole or in part as
they might see At. @