Arizona republican., 1910-05-17
Mir. Taft Routs His Enemies.

We guess that Mir. Taft's letter, published yesterday, in which he states in simple and emphatic lan- guage that his famous Beverly let ter" of last August was written by himself. will finally dispose of that phase of the Ballinger case.
 For some weeks the country has been treated to widely circulated statements from Mir Tafts enemies in reference to the Beverly letter. These statements have varied from innuendo to direct assertion, but in substance all were the same; that the presidents letter traversing the Glayis charges and expressing MT. Taft's confidence in Secretary Ballinger was prepared by or under the direction of the accused secretary. We do not mean to imply that there was any real occasion for Mir Taft's latest let ter on the subject; on the contrary, we do not believe that the intelligent people Of this country had entertained g suspicion that MT. Taft had acted the part of a dummy in disposing of the Glavis charges. His well-known conscientiousness in the discharge of his duties. his painstaking care, and elected him president, all forbade any belief in this hostile story. But it was for MT Taft to decide whether it was worth while to state the facts to the public. and since he has stated them the whole matter is disposed of in the minds Of honest men. It may well be that some good citizens thought Mir Taft reached the wrong conclusions in the Beverly letter; but nobody has any excuse for thinking these con- clusions- were other than his own and honestly reached.
 The efforts to show that MT. Taft lent himself to a miserable trick upon the public have recoiled upon the au- thOrs of the attacks. It has been made plain to the people that the real purpose of the hue and cry against Secretary Ballinger has been to attack the president. This purpose has been revealed not only in the attempts to discredit the Beverly letter, but re- peatedly and consistently in the course of the congressional investiga- tion of the secretary. The attorney for the prosecution" has exhausted his ingenuity in trying to make a showing against MT. Taft.
 The net effect of this unfairness to Mir. Taft and of the congressional in- vestigation itself upon the public mind is that both the president and his secretary of the interior are stronger with the people than at any time since the so-called Ballinger- Pinchot controversy took the form of direct charges against the secretary. The tedious hearings before the com- Illlllct nave tude to the secretary's enemies to bring in everything that they thought might injure him or the president. And when all the evidence is care fully analysed il is found that Mir. Ballingers enemies have not pro- gressed an inch beyond the Glavis charges" of last summer-that is to say, the prosecution" has had to rely on mere shreds of suspicion" as MT. Taft precisely put it in his August letter written at Beverly. And giving full value to all these 'shreds of sus- picion" as exploited before the con- gressional committee by attorneys of police court methods, the case as now made up fails to show in any parti- cular that MT. Ballinger has failed in his duty as secretary of the interior.
 MT. Taft has reason to. be in excel lent humor