Los Angeles herald., 1910-05-15

three requests for information bearing
on the subject in his possession, and
that he thought they had been COM
piled with to the full extent that pro-
priety would admit. He said that he,
| nevertheless, instructed his private
secretary to make another search of
his files, and today the Lawler letter
was found.
Mr.. Wickersham said the memoran-
dun had been entirely overlooked in
his previous communications to the
committee. AS soon as it was found
Mr. Wickersham said he sent the let
ter to Senator Nelson.
The attorney general said the Law
Ter letter had been handed to him by
Lawler on September Ii, and that he
left it with the president at Beverley
the next day.
Assistant Attorney General Lawler
said that as the matter, involved his
relations with the president he could
not discuss it without the presidents
permission. Personally, he said, Z he
was perfectly willing to make reply,
but he did not consider such an ac-
tion would be respectful to the presi-
dent unless he had obtained his con-
sent.
Assistant Secretary of the Interior
Pierce and Don M. Carr declined to
comment on Kerby's statement.
AA4NANA4A ANLNAAJAeO OAAANAfAh
E. C. Finney, assistant to the secre-
tary of the interior, declared that Ker-
bys assertion that he (Finney) took
part in any conference on the subject
of the Lawler memorandum was a lie.
The draft prepared by Assistant At
tornev General Lawler and the letter
actually written and made public by
President Taft are now matters of
public record in the testimony of the
investigating committee.
President Tafts letter begins:
ION the 18th day of August last,
Mr. L. G.. CLAWS, chief of field division
of the general land office, with head
quarters at Seattle, Wash, called upon
me here and submitted a statement or
report relating to the conduct of the
interior department, and particularly
to the action of yourself, Assistant
Secretary Pierce, Commissioner of the
General Land Office bennett and Chief
of Field Service Schwartz, in reference
to the so-called Cunningham group of
claims in Alaska"
The first paragraph of the Lawler
memorandum is substantially identical
The seventh paragraph of the pres
ident's letter and the second of the
Lawler memorandum are those referred
to by Attorney General Wickersham
as being alike. Both read:
"The great responsibility of cabinet
positions demand the selection therefor
of men Of the highest character and
integrity Possession of these qualities
as we'll as an ability and an expert
ence which especially fitted you to di-
rect the affairs of the department of
the interior warranted your appoint
ment as secretary.
DUTY to the country, to you and to
myself, requires that any aspersion
upon the propriety of your acts, or
those of your subordinates, be promptly
met and carefully considered to the
end that, if justified, proper remedy
may be applied, and If not, that it be
publicly refuted."
The last phrase in the Lawler letter
read:
"And if not that it may be squarely,
emphatically and publicly refuted."
Here the similarity ends.
ANOTHER COMPARISON
The president, in his letter, speaks
of the inference which CLAWS seeks to
draw, to Ballingers discredit, that
while he was commissioner of the land
office he "came into possession of facts
concerning the so-called Cunningham
group Of coal land claims which made
it improper for you to use such facts
after your resignation in the course OF
securing patents"
Lawler says:
"Came into possession of facts which
WERE after your resignation, used to
the detriment of the government in tho
course of private employment by some
of the parties interested in said
claims"
The president says another inference
is that "you have acted improperly
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