The Washington herald., 1910-02-27

/ WINGED now, as l was when he came te
me, that CLAWS Is a faithful public sery-
ant, and that the facts which he pre-
scented prove that Mr.. Bailinger has been
unfaithful to his trust as servant of the
people. and as the guardian OF public
property Of enormous value.
Il shall show you that in pursuance
of that duty I laid before the President,
both by word of mouth and in a letter
OF November 4. statement of my con-
viction that Secretary Ballinger has been
a dangerous enemy TO conservation. ]
shall show you that this letter was sub
mitted by the President to Mr. Ballinger,
and that, as part Of his reply, he laid
before the President a statement con-
corning the Cunningham coal cases.
which statement is shown by undisputed
documentary evidence to be absolutely
false In three essential particulars 1t
will then appear that Mr.. Baninger will
fully deceived the President, and was
disloysl 10 him.
Only single Chapter.
THE third principal matter is con-
eerned with the attitude of this govern
ment in law and administrative practice
toward the conservation of the natural
resources belonging to the people
desire to show you that the story of
Claws courageous and successful fight
to protect the property of the people.
which ended in his dismissal without a
/ hearing, is but a single chapter in the
4 history of the public lands"
| The former forester began by telling
OF his first employment in the govern
ment service in 1896, as special agent
under Secretary Hoke Smith, who In
vestigated matters pertaining to forest
reservations He took up the work of
the Forestry Bureau and traced the his
tory of the conservation movement down
to March 4. 1909, when President Taft
came into office
The most important step taken in con-
nection with the Roosevelt policy, as he
viewed it, was in Withdrawing from all
forms OF entry certain water power sites,
which We're being appropriated by private
| individuals under various forms of entry.
Coming down to March 4. 1909. he de-
scribed the situation in these words:
the movement AT that time was per-
haps the most important thought in the
public mind. We had reached the point
where we were ready for action. The
foundation for great progress in con-
servation had been laid, and We were
ready TO go ahead
Revoked GarfcId's Action.
Then Mr.. Baninger came into Office
His first action as described by Mr.
Pinchot. was to revoke the action OF
Secretary Garfield, 10 upset all that he
had done by ordering these lands restored
TO entry. with no thought Of rewlthdraw-
ing them. Mr.. Pinchot then detailed the
manner in which Mr.. Ballnger had been
forced tc@~Tewithdraw many of these
lands
The point OF essential Importance in
Mr.. Ballinger's action declared Mr..
PinchOt. was that in making these
restorations to entry he reversed a policy
of great Importance. and if they had not
been checked would have subjected these
power sites to private occupation"
Mr. Pinchot's objection to these restora-
tons brought him to the point where he
had taken the matter up with President
Taft He had started to detail his con-
versation with the President. when Mr..
Nertrees entered his objection
Mr. Pinch0ts lawyer. after the COM
mittee had decided 10 head OF that line
OF inquiry for the present. had Mr.
Pinchot read from the Presidents letter
to Secretary Ballinger Of September 10.
in which he indicated the course the
Secretary Of the Interior had followed in
the conservation matter. and directed
the dismissal of CLAWS from the service.
Had Acted Properly.
The part that Mr. Pinchot read was
where the President had told Secretary
BaIlinger that he had acted properly in
Withdrawing from cooperative agree
ment with the Bureau OF Forestry in the
matter of conserving forests upon Indian
lands. because the Comptroller OF the
Treasury had decided against.
WAS there ever any such decision by
the Comptroller" asked Mr.. Pepper
There was not replied Mr. Pinchot
emphatically.
This somewhat startling statement led
to a long discussion. in which the entire
matter was explained 1t appeared that
for some time the Indian once and the
Forestry Bureau had had a working
agreement whereby the Forestry Service
exercised jurisdiction over timber lands on
Indian reservations. and paid for this
service out of an appropriation made for
the Indian Service.
The morning session was taken UP with
a denomination OF Andrew Kennedy.
the former coal expert Of the Land Once,
and William W Barr q friend. and now
partner of CLAWS in an undertaking to
acquire timber lands in the state of
Washington Kennedy estimated that
there are 100000 tons of coal in the
Cunningham group OF claims in Alaska.
This could be mined. he said. at S1.15
ton. and was worth from $225 TO $3.50 a
ton at the mine. with proper transporta-
tion facilities.
share Worth 10000.
Barr testified that Claws had told him
that from his knowledge public land and
the public land laws he was certain he
could acquire about 700 acres of valuable
timber land. He testified that Claws
share in the deal, il title could be per-
fected, would be about $4,000. It was
brought out that the knowledge which
CLAWS has acquired as an agent of the
Land Office was denpended in this under
taking.
It is likely that the joint committee will
have decided whether il will admist Mr.
Pinchots statements in regard TO his con-
versation with the President: before II
meets again next Tuesday.
Tyoroesf Koruino, CirouIot;op