Tanana leader., 1910-02-03

never have occurred and the plumber
have been stopped in its incipiency. l
say my heart is filled with pity for the
poor subordinate officer in this govern
ment who becomes aware of frauds and
crimes perpetrated in his department,
when he knows that to make public
the fact means the loss OF his position;
and l say that it is the duty of con-
gress, by some such investigation as
propose in my resolution here, to pro-
tect those subordinates and to notify
them by this action that there is here
q power which will protect them and
force an investigation, if the admins
tration will not.
l am inclined to think that neither
the secretary of the interior nor the
President of the United States, being
in their sane minds, would discharge a
man and give as reason that he had
shown too much zeal in protecting the
peoples interest, but that was the real
feeling in the department, and | be-
lieve can show it here by two letters
written by Mr.. bennett, who was the
assistant at one time to Commissioner
Ballinger and who later succeeded him
IS commissioner of the land office. This
letter is written by Commissioner Den
nett to the chief of the field service of
inspectors, and he is referring to q
man named Sheridan who succeeded
CLAWS. Commissioner Deune;t writes;
Sheridan has taken charge of the
Cunnlnghame CASE -.:. - Fl
And will state that the Ginning
hame case was the case involving 5, 900
acres of lands in Alaska, valuable coal
lands, having 100000 tons OF coal
upon them, which the Guggenheim
company was endeavoring to secure
through fraudulent and dummy entries.
TO resume the reading of the letter:
sheridan has taken charge of the
Cunninghame case. and impresses me
very favorably. think he can handle
it against any rival they may bring
against him. The rest of the Alaska
cases are in q bad mess. CLAWS is very
much enthused on the proposition of
canceling them all and getting the
lands back in cold storage, and this is
just what will happen unless congress
helps out"
In another letter Commissioner Den
nett says. 80
"Glavis has these coal cases on the
brain, and cannot see anything but just
one line. have told him how it looks
to US and have reminded him of every
thing We have done for him, and it
looks as if he were returning our ia
vors by not standing by US as he
ought"
This letter reveals the real grxva-
n en- OF the complaint against CLAWS:
=. Now, this case of CLAWS has been.
we'll and simply told by himself F.. in
Golfers Weekly. He wrote history
of the case, the reading of which car,
ries conviction. 1t shows that whether
the land Office was presided over by
Mr.. Balinger, with Mr.. bennett as
assistant, or later by Mr.. bennett as
commissioner, with Mr.. Ballinger out
side a. an attorney for the claimants,
or later still with Mr.. Ballinger re-
turned to power rs secretary of the
interior, it was manipulated to assist
land thieves In their depredations upon
the valuable coal lands Of the United
States in Alaska. {.
i Now, lot US look specifically at some
Of the facts stated in the history. of the
case, a. told by CLAWS. In the first
place, it should be understood that Us
long ago as 1905 Inspector Love report
ed 70 the land Office that he thought
most of the 900 cosl-land claims in
Alaska were fraudulent, and that in
cluded the 30 claims embraced in this
Gyggepheim syndicate of 5000 acres.
a few months after that President
Roosevelt Withdrew the coal lands of
Alaska from entry. In 1907 CLAWS be-
ca,ne chief of the field division, and
went to work TO investigate these land
claims that were then being forced so
urgently to approval 10 the land Office