The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-01-11
TAFT'S LETTER To
CLIFFORD P|NCHOT
WHOSE DISMISSAL WAS BASED
UPON ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
WILSON'S ADVICE UNNEEDED

W ,hngton. Jan. 9-prcsidcnt
Tans letter to Clifford pmchot, chief
forester informing him of his dismis-
sal follows
The White House, Washington,
January :, l9lO-Sir. The secretary
of agriculture informs me that Dcccm.
bcr 2S your associate forester. Mr.
Price. went to him and proposed to
resign ON the ground that he had
been engaged with MIR Shaw, assis
tant law officer. in iustigating the
publication In various newspapers and
magazines attacking the good name
OF Secretary Bllliuscr and charging
the interior department ami 'hc land
unico with corruption The secretary
thcrcupon wrote note To you. under
date OF December -, asking for your
recommendation u the premises. You
did not answer. but January YOU
had % conycrsa ion with him m which
you said you wished to make 20 state.
mout which should be- read in the
senate at the same time that message
transmitting the record i'm the CLAWS
ease reached there, ana that YOU
Thought you could induce senator DO.
liver 20 introduce the statement for
you
"rho secretary advised against
such course. but asked you for a
recommendation as to accepting
Prices resignation. in order that he
might bring the matter to me. to
whom, lie told you, it must ultimately
come, because / had considered the
CLAWS charges and had passed upon
with the secretary and before max
ing report to him, you succeeded In
making public, by having 70 read in
tho senate, Letter from you stat
ing that YOU had sufficiently discip.
uucd Price and Shaw 10y rcprimand.
ing them and that your rccommcnda.
tiou would be that no further punish
mcu' was required, and this before
that recommendation was submitted
to the secretary and me whose power
and duty 6, was to determine. upon
Prices admissions as 90 his compile
ity. what action should be- taken with
respect To his resignation.
In order to understand the full
purpot of your letter in which YOU
admit the completely OF Price and
Shaw in the publications of the press,
/ it should be- said that the CLAWS
charges were that Secretary Ballmgor
and the others were all affected by a
/ corrupt wish 20 patent thirty-throc so.
called Cunningham claims upon Goa.
lands in Alaska; that the question
whether these claims were fraudulent
or not remained to be decided upon
. the evidence after both the United
/ States ana the claimants had been
heard. that every patent as an exec
, utiyc act is completely within the jur
isdiction OF the president to direct the
Withholding of it in order that he him.
self may examine the evidence as TO
the validity of the claim.
These facts understood, the plain
intimation in your letter are: First,
that ! had reached wrong conciu-
sion as to the good fai'h of Secretary
Ballingcr and the Officers Of the land
office. although you and your subor
dinates had only seen the evidence of
CLAWS, the accuser, and had never
seen or read the evidence of those ac
rused or the record, that they dis
closed which were submitted To me
and. second, thar, under these cir
cumstances, without the exploitation
by Shaw and Price In the laily, week
ly ana monthly press OF the charges
Of CLAWS, the administration, includ
ing the president and the officers OF
the interior department ana land Of
flee. would have allowed certain
fraudulent claims to bee patented on
coal lands in Alaska, although the
matter had been specifically brought
to the attention Of the president by
the CLAWS charges.
You solicited the opportunity tc
make such declaration in congress
for the purpose OF offsctting, If posi-
BILE, the public mind the president
, decision in the CLAWS case, supported
by the opinion Of the attorney genera
after & full examination by DO h, d
the evidence adduced by the accu3er
and the evidence ON behalf of the ac
cused, while the latter evidence yot
and your subordinates never haC
seen
, You did tbs against the advice o
I the secretary OF agriculture, W'tnou