The San Francisco call., 1910-03-02
Continued from Page One

dent Taft about the Ballinger CLAWS
matter in Salt Lake last September.
Pepper read letter written Novem-
ber 6 last to President Taft by former
Secretary of the Interior James r. Gar
field. in which he too sharply criticised
Ballinger.
GARFIELD SCORES BALLINGER
The claim that 1 acted illegally"
said Garfield, lis based entirely upon
the fundamental difference between my
policy and that of Ballinger. L felt
free under the supervisory power and
executive discretion of a cabinet Of
ficer to take action in the interest of
the people so far as there was no pro-
hibitory provision of law. Balllnger
seems to take the position that he Will
not act, even in the interest of the
people, unless there is specific per-
missory or mandatory provision OF
law.
The Garfield letter proceeded with a
detailed explanation of what had been
done in the matter of power withdraw
ais during his administration. There
was next read Secretary Ballinger's re-
ply to President Taft regarding the
Garfield and Pinchot letters. In this
letter Ballinger said:
Il am convinced that much of the
that l have had to find SO many of my
predecessors acts were without war
rant of law
Pinchot declared former Secretary
Garfield often had told him that he
had told Secretary Ballinger he. be-
lieved the Cunningham claims to be
fraudulent, whereas Ballinger, accord
ing to the witness, sought to give the
impression that Garfield had not made
any such statements.
A decided surprise came at this point
in the development that Pinchot's
charge that Ballinger had in his reply
to the president made statements "ab
solutely false in three essential par
ticulars" was not based on Ballinger's S
letter but on letter written by Bal
Iinger's former law partner, J. T. Ron
aid, to DR.. Lyman Abbott. Ballnger
had sent this letter to the president
''as a part of his defense" according
to Pinchot.
GARFIELD Is PRESENT
Former Secretary Garfield was pres
-ent at the afternoon session. Resum-
ing his testimony, Pinchot read the
letter from President Taft dated No
vember "A.
There is expressed in this letter a
disagreement between you and the
president as to what transpired at an
interview between you?" suggested At
torney Pepper.
There is"
But does the letter in any way
lection of what happeHed at the inter
view?"s
Not a bit The statement made to
me by the president was one of vast
Importance to me, as a conservationist.
and / unquestionably placed more inn
portance upon it than did the president
himself"
Asked as to what impression the
presidents letter had made upon him,
Pinchot said the impression was very
deep.
"Glavis had been dismissed on the
ground that his charges against Bal
linger were baseless,' he said, when
we knew they were far from baseless."
The witness detailed his thoughts
following these events. and it became
evident that he was leading up to the
circumstances attending the writing-of
the letter to Senator Dolliver upon
which President Taft demanded Pin
chot's S resignation. -
Il have a letter from Secretary of
Agriculture Wilson saying he desires
to be present when any testimony is
given as to the Dolliver letter" said
Chairman Nelson.s
&N nen- SecTeidTy ViiSOu dIIlNcu uc
took seat beside Chairman Nelson.
Pinchot then read into evidence his
letter to Senator Dolliver.
Did you consult with the secretary
of agriculture before you wrote that
letter." demanded Senator Nelson. ZYa
Il did,
The witness proceeded to explain his
answer by saying that he went to Sec
retary Wilson January and told him
Senator Bolliver had requested infor-
nation from the forest service, and the
secretary made no objection.
TALKED WITH WILSON
I'VE discussed at some length the
right of Senator Dolliver to get the in
formation from me. AS to the presi-
dents order forbidding subordinates to
give information to congress, Secretary
Wilson said, You and l will have no
trouble with that order, or words to
that effect. 1 believed / had his con-
sent. / believed ] described to him the
situation. between the interior depart
ment and the forest service. / told
him of the intention of our opponents
to magnify what had been done by
Price and Shaw, and that / thought
the only wise thing for us to do was
to lay our hand down on the table,
admit what we had done and force the
congressional inquiry on the points in
question.
II was convinced that Secretary Will
son favored my effort to defend Price
and Shaw, although he did not favor
my plan of getting publicity at the
same time the other side did. felt IL