Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-08
THE PUNISHMENT
The Presidents Letter
Dismissing Pinchot
downright by Chickering. }

Copyright ny Chickeringl
| Following is the letter of President Taft
to Clifford Pinchot, forester of the Agri-
| cultural Department
| January 4. 1910.
| Sir: The Secretary of Agriculture in
forms me that the 18th of December your
| associate forester. Mr.. Price, went to
| him and proposed to resign on the ground
| that he had been engaged with Mr.. Shaw,
| assistant law officer. in instigating the
| publication I'm various newspapers and
| magazines, attacking the good name of
| Secretary Ballinger and charging the In
| terror Department and the fand Office with
| corruption.
The Secretary thereupon wrote note
to you. under the date of December %.
asking for your recommendation In the
premises. You did not answer, but Janu-
airy you had Il conversation with him.
In which you said you wished to make a
statement which should be read in the
Senate at the same time that my mes
| sage transmitting the record in the CLAWS
i case reached there. and that you thought
you could induce Senator Dolliver to in
troduce the statement for you. The Sec
rotary advised against such a course; but
arked you for q recommendation as to
accepting Prices resignation. in order
| that he might bring the matter to me. to
whom, he told you. II must ultimately
come. because l had considered the CLAWS
charges and had passed upon them.
Letter to Dolliver Cited.
Without further conference with the
Secretary, and before making a report to
him. you succeeded in making public by
having it read in the Senate. letter
from you stating that you had suffi-
GENTLY disciplined Messrs. Price and
Shaw by reprimanding them. and that
your recommendation would be that no
further punishment was required, and
this before that recommendation was
submitted to the Secretary and me,
whose power and duty it was to deter
mine upon Prices admissions to his COM
|pltcity what action should be taken with
respect to his resignation.
| In order to understand the full pur-
port of your letter. in which you admit
the completely of Price and Shaw in the
publications Of the press, it should be
f; said that the gravamen of the CLAWS
charges was that Secretary Ballinger
and the others were all affected BY a
corrupt wish to patent thirty-three So
! called Cunningham claims upon coal
lands in Alaska: that the question wheth-
er these claims were fraudulent or not
remained to be decided upon the evil
dence after both the United States and
the claimants had been heard: that every
patent, as an executive act. is complete
| ~ within the jurisdiction of the Presi
dent to direct the Withholding of it in
. order that he himself may examine the
evidence as to the validity of the claim.
Criticises the Letter.
These facts understood. the plain in
timations in your letter are. first, that I
| had reached wrong conclusion as to
the good faith of Secretary Ballinger and
| the officers of the land office, although
you and your subordinates had only seen
the evidence of Claws the accuser and
had never seen or read the evidence OF
these accused or the records that they
disclosed, which were submitted to me;
and. second, that under these circum-
! stances, without the exploitation by
Messrs. Shaw and Price in the daily.
weekly and monthly press of the charges
| OF CLAWS. the administration, including
the President and the officers of the In
terror Department and land Office. would
have allowed certain fraudulent claims
to be presented on coal lands in Alaska,
although the matter had been specifcal-
| ly brought to the attention of the PreSi-
dent by the CLAWS charges. You solicit
ed the opportunity to make such decla-
ration in Congress for the purpose of Off
setting, if possible. in the public mind
the Presidents decision in the CLAWS
case. supported by the opinion of the At
torney General, after full examination
| Dy OOtn OF the eVluGnCe aOOuced by the
accuser and the evidence on behalf of
the accused. while the latter evidence
you and your subordinates had never
seen. You did this against the advice of
the Secretary OF Agriculture. without no
tffylng him that you intended to do so,
and without comforting with me at all.
Pinchot's Action Improper.
Your letter was in effect an improper
appeal to Congress and the public TO ex-
cuse in advance the guilt of your subor-
dinates before I could act, and against
my decision in the CLAWS case before the
whole evidence on which that was based
could be considered. I should be glad
! to regard what has happened only as
personal reflection. so that l could pass
1t over and take no official cognizance o.
it. But other and higher considerations
must govern me.
when the people of the United States
| elected me President they placed me in
an office of the highest dignity, and
charged me with the duty of mainta ming
that dignity and proper respect for the
| office on the part of my subordinates.
Moreover. X I were to pass over this mat
ter in silence. 1t would be most demoraliz-
ing to the discipline of the executive
branch of the government.
by your own conduct YOU have de-
stroyed your usefulness helpful
subordinate of the government. and it
| therefore now becomes my duty to direct
the Secretary of Agriculture to remove
you from your office as the forester.
Very sincerely yours.
civilian II. TAFT.
Hon. Clifford Pinchot, Forester"