The Evening standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1910-1913, 1910-09-10

After ordering the clearls,ing OF
the Cunningham claims, Ballinger
was forced by Claws protest 10 re-
scind the order and TO command fur
ther investigation His sincerity and
zeal in doing this arc best illustrated
by private telegram sent TO one OF
the Cunningham claimants:
Temporary (slct delay caused by
report OF field agent"
He urged impossible haste on the
Investigators: he tried by every means
in his power To bring the lands TO
patent This | sketched in the Amer
lean Magazine for March Every
point therein stated was strengthened
by the testimony before the iDyesd-
eating committee. On March 4, hay-
ing failed in his efforts, Ballinger re-
tired to private life.
Now. there are two rules to cover
his subsequent activities one legal,
the other ethical.
The law states that no eX-publlc Of
fetal can take up pending claim
against the government within two
years after he leaves o6lce
Legal ethics forbid q lawyer taking
fee from both sides.
When Ballinger entered private life
an affidavit Tor the Cunnlnghams WIS
drawn up and Baumger personally
took il across the continent TO Gar
field For this It can be proved that
he received $3.50, No one knows what
further consideration Balllnger may
have received, hut this much is GER
tain. Ballingcr, says his activities
were merely friendly, that these were
not legal" services under the law
To this bubble Vcrtrees, his counsel
adds that this affidavit does not fall
within the scope of an investigating
committee anyway, because at that
time Ballinger was not In the govern
ment employ As a nice, frank, manly
refutaton this Is to be commended.
Furthermore, and just for good meas
urc, the affidavit was not wholly true.
Ii Ballinger did not know OF this lat
ter fact, his friendly" advice was
worth lust about what he claims he
got for 1t.
1t was also proved that at least sew
en- times the phIlanthropic BallinGer
held consultations with different Gun
ningham claimants. BalllnGer says he
gave" this advice. Surely dislnteT-
ested act for a professional man. Sun,
TAFT thinks he did.
During BallingeT's year OF private
life he acted Tor and used his lnllu-
ence in behalf OF the Hanford lrriga-
ton company, Kincaid, H. X. Harri'
man. White. Mckenzie Coal Lands
and the Green group The latter were
at that time under investigation tor
fraud. He also tried to get the In
dian Office TO sell land to the Wahpato
Irrigation company, which he repre-
seuted This land was so sold alter
he became secretary OF the interior.
In all these activities he was most
certainly violating legal ethics, AS
land commissioner he had been tor
was supposed TO have BEEN the at
torney for the people.
III The Interpretation OF the Law
Balllnger now became secretary OF
the interior Immediately the Cum
nlngham claims awoke 10 life after
lying qulescent for year. This must
have been nero coincidence; for sure
Is Ballinger as a public servant would
never have knowingly stood behind
claims which bore such palpable ey-
ldence of attempted fraud.
more interesting TdCtSs
Among the eXpedientS tried ont was
one evolved by Pierce and bennett,
two OF BallinGer's subordinates, later
elevated TO leading roles In the oele'
brated goat" defense. bennett dug
up an Interpretation of the law under
which the Cunningham claims could
be patented CLAWS took the opposite
view and objected so strongly that
Ballinger agreed to refer the matter
TO the attorney general for decision.
A letter was prepared with this pur-
pose in view This letter was never
signed and never sent. Having paci'
fed CLAWS by this bluif, Ballinger re
ferred the matter to Pierce. The
astute reader Is allowed one guess as
to which way Pierce decided. once
more the claims were In a fair way
to patent.
CLAWS was naturally much disturb
ed when he found this out. He con
suited with a friend. eN-Attorney Cen
eral Hoyt Hoyts testimony IS that
on May q he himself went 20 the at
torney general and laid before him
the documents The attorney general
agreed that Pierce's decision seemed
wrong and would cause a scandal,
and requested that CLAWS come 90 see
him. This CLAWS did on May 25 I'M
mediately after this interview the at
torney general saw Balllnger. The
matter OF the laws Interpretation was
thereupon referred TO the attorney
general. who promptly oyerruled
Pierces decision.
Before going on 10 BallinEer's reply
To this most significant point 1t Is
10 be noted the defense did not call
the attorney general to deny HoytS
definite testimony and when CLAWS
tried TO have him called. The attorney
general did not come,
BalllnEer claimed that he did not
know the matter had been decided by
Pierce. that he had always intended
10 hiring II before the attorney sen
oral. and that when he approached
that individual he found to his sur
prige that CLAWS had already "butted
In" In his cxoneration Taft stated
on Nav 25 Ballinger had told him he
was going 10 submit the case 10 the
attorney general or course. n this
talk with Taft took place before Bal
lincer gaw the attorney general, 1t
substantiates Balingcr's explanation; +;
but ii BGllinger saw the attorney gen
eral before he saw Taft the matter Is
quite Otherwise
Thus. as you can see the whole
case hero depends on dates. Now
ouite unexpectedly document was
found 10 exist This was the famous
4 awlcr letter. BalliugcT's own testi.
J mony shows definitely that Ballinger
/ saw Wiokershnm on May 2j and TAFT
on May 2G!
As though this were not enough
| Balllnger stated in his letter 70 TAFT
! ,hn4 .nnttors from Moore caused him