The San Francisco call., 1910-05-16
PRESIDENT REPLIES
TO kERBY'S STORY
Taft Sends Letter to Senator
Nelson Telling How He
Wrote to BalIinger
Only One or Two General State
ments Adopted From Draft
Made by Lawler
Continued From Page One

swer. On Monday, September 6, Mr..
Ballinger reached Beverly, accom-
panied by Mr.. Lawler, the assist
ant attorney general of the depart
ment Of justice, assigned to the in
terror department. Mr.. Ballinger
sent to my house on that day the
answers of the various persons con-
cerned with a voluminous record
Of exhibits. / had a conference
with him the evening of the day he
came, September 6, and another on
the following evening, September 4.
l talked over the charges with
Mr.. Ballinger the first evening and
asked such questions as suggested
themselves, without intimating any
conclusion, and said l would exam
lne the answers and the record and
would see him the next day | sat
up until o'clock that night read
ing the answers and exhibits; so
at my next conference I was ad-
Vfsed OF the contents of the entire
record. and had made UP my mind
there was nothing in the charges
upon which Mr.. Ballinger. or the
others accused. could be found
guilty either of incompetency, in
efficiency, disloyalty to the inter-
ests of the government or dishon-
esty.
LAWLER DIRECTED TO WRITE
In the discussion of the second
evening Mr.. Lawler, who was pres
ent at my suggestion. discussed the
evidence at some length. l said to
Mr.. Lawler / was very anxious to
write a full statement of the case
and set out the reasons for my de-
cfsion, but the time for my de-
parture on a long western trip, oc-
cupying two months, was just one
week from that day; that / had six
or seven spe 5ches to deliver at the
beginning of that journey and
could not give the time to the
preparation of such detailed
statement and opinion as I would
like to render in the matter. 1
therefore requested Mr.. Lawler to
prepare an opinion as If he were
president.
During the Sth. 9th and 10th I
gave such consideration to the
CLAWS record as was consistent
with previous engagements, but
paid no attention to the speeches.
On the 9th I telegraphed the at
torney general to come to Beverly
that I might consult with him on
the case. He arrived Saturday
afternoon. September II, and. pur-
suant to an appointment made by
telephone, came to my home on
Sunday morning, September IL. He
then delivered to me the draft of
opinion prepared by Mr.. Lawler and
Il I,n haI had - on
coming from New York, to read the
answers of Mr.. Ballinger and
others.
CONCLUSIONS ALREADY FORMEI
1 then said to him l had made up
my mind as to my conclusions, and
had drafted part of my opinion, but
/ wished him to examine the full
record and bring me his conclu-
sions before I stated mine. He took
the whole record away.
During the day / examined the
draft of opinion of Mr. Lawler, but
it was 80 pages and did not
state the case in the way In which
1 wished it stated. 1t contained
reference to the evidence which
was useful, but its criticism of
Mr.. Pinchot and Mr.. CLAWS 1 did
not think it proper or wise to
adopt. ] only used a few para
graphs from ii containing merely
general statements.
The attorney general returned
In the evening with notes of the
examination which he had made
and reported to me the conclusions
which he had made, which were in
substantial accord with my own.
We then discussed the matter at
some length, particularly some
points of law involved. and took up
the opinion l had finished and made
a number of alterations; and as the
result of that discussion 1 determ-
ined the final form l employed and
signed the same Monday, Septem-
Der 13.
STATEMENT ANTEDATED
The conclusions I reached were
based upon my reading of the rec
ord, and were fortified by the oral
analysis of the evidence and the
conclusions the attorney general
gave me. using notes he had made
during his reading of the record.
I was very sorry not to be able
to embody this analysis in my
opinion, but time did not permit.
I therefore directed him to embody
in a written statement such analy-
sis and conclusions as he had given
me, file it with the record and date
1t prior to the date of my opinion,
to show my decision was fortified
by his summary of the evidence and
his conclusions therefron.
Sincerely yours,
WILLIAM II. TAFT,
Hon. Knute Nelson, chairman COM
mittee to investigate the interior
department and forestry service,