Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-13


that the evidence of Stenographer Fred
erck NJ Kerby alone is conclusive as 10
the rectitude of Mr.. Ballinger's course.
kerby was his confidential stenographer
and clerk and in charge Of the confiden-
tial files. IL there were anything i'm,
proper or corrupt to be known it would
be known to him. He was eager 10
speak, He wished with all his sour to
was called. We called him. The COM
mittee will remember his eagerness ana
zeal. He was pressed to state what he
knew against his chief
Questioned as to Acts.
again and again was he asked to state
anything that in his opinion reflected
upon the Secretary of the Interior. Not
an act, not transaction. not thing
could be stated by him. He asserted that
there was one thing, and that was that
Mr. Ballinger intended, with full knoWl-
edge of his unfitness, to appoint X. II.
| Thomson to be director of the reclama-
| ton service.
Referring to Kerby's testimony that he
regarded Thomson as unfit because MI.
Baliinger thought he was the man 10 go
| to Alaska to advise J. P. Morgan q 90:
when his friend, George W. Perkins or
western engineer to make an examlna-
ton with a view to contemplated rail-
road enterprise, Mr.. Nertrees says: ms
is the only sin Of Mr.. Baliinger which
Mr. kerby could name.
Mr. Vertrees calls attention to the rlglo
scrutiny and examination the Interior
Department has been under during the in
auiry and says nothing has been re
vealed which reflects upon the loyalty.
the integrity. the good faith, the sense OF
duty of any man therein.
1.-The only persons who can be crlti-
cised." continues Mr.. Vertrees, ARE those
who have been discharged, and nave ar
rayed themselves against the Secretary
and the Department of the Interior. This
| inquiry involves the good name or gen
tieman and the reputation OF a member
of the cabinet.
Assault a Serious One.
eft is no idle thing to assail the char
acter Of member of the cabinet He Is
one of the advisers of the President and
dishonorable conduct on his part not
| only brings disgrace to him as an lndl-
| vidual, but reproach upon the govern
men. itself Consequently such an ac-
cusation ought not to be lightly brougnt:
There ought surely to be substantial
grounds. Here, it may be asserted. theie
are absolutely none. The prosecution Is
cruel and it is baseless.'
Mr. Vertrees says the accusations
against Mr.. Bal1!nger relate. ofncially: 10
! his policies with respect to conservation,
water power sites and reclamation ana 10
his course with respect to the Cunning
ham claims, and. personally, to certain
acts of alleged professional. impropriety
committed by him as lawyer, not as an
| official, but when in private life.
| Defending Mr.. Ballngers conservation
policy, Mr.. Vertrees cites numerous cases
in support of his contention that former
Secretary Garfield was wrong In his view
| that the Secretary of the Interior in deal
| ing with the public lands had authorit!
| to do that which he may conceive. advlsa-
BILE and for the public good, unless 1t De
| forbidden by some statute, and this nee
essarily without regard to the usage OF
| the past.
Complied With the Law.
| Mr.. Ballinger's position with regard to
the exercise of the so-called supervisory
power with respect to the withdrawal OF
water-power sites, on which question ne
also differed with Mr.. Garfield, is de-
fined as follows: That when Congress
had by law said that the public lands
should be open to entry-that Is. entry
under the homestead mining and desert
land laws-it is beyond the power OF any
| administrative officer to Withdraw by eX-
| ecutive order the lands which Congress
| has thus stated shall be open to entry
| Numerous cases are also cited in support
L
Discussing the Garfield policy of issu-
ing cooperative certificates" whereby
| reclama ton projects could be expanded
/ and extended, the brief says MI. BALM
| gers view-that those certificates were
| iilegal-was fully sustained by the At,
| torney Generals opinions, which heio
the certificates invalid based upon the
| Fundamental proposition that an execu-
tive ofiicer could not enter into any con
tract unless it was authorized by some
| act Of Congress, and that the reclamatlon
act did not confer authority upon the
Secretary of the Interior to enter into
| such agreements.
Another of the Garfield policies re-
| versed by Mr.. Ballinger was the CO.
| lucrative agreement" between the lnte-
rior and Agricultural departments where
by the control of certain employees OF the
estry bureau.
An Unwarranted Arrangement.
The brief recites that Acting Secretary
of the Interior Pierce decided that mas
mucf, as the cooperative agreement pro-
vided that all men employed in forest
| work on Indian reservations should con-
stitute a part of the force of the forest
| service, responsible directly and only
| thereto. il was an unwarranted attempt
| to surrender the duties imposed upon the
| Interior Department by the act making
| an appropriation or $lOO,OOO 1or the In-
| dian bureaus use.
| THUS it appears that these policies
were matters about which there was a
very earnest and sincere difference OF
| opinion" says Mr.. Vertrees. "Mr. Gar.
| field and Mr.. Pinchot entertained one