The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1910-01-15
Ballinser, Pinchot and Taft

-...h snr. Bstween Balinger, Pinchot and Taft this paper
rof,ses to take any choice. TAFT has dismissed Pinchot
Tor Decentralization and has thus gone to the extreme length posi-
to Cor him to 90 in his espousal of BaIinger. 10 discover an
" e.. a;sorosnn the only possible point of beginning is between
psuinaor and Pinchot. and from their attitudes toward each other
and the merits and dement's thereof, to take observation OF the
position taken by Taft
That Ballnger has proven himself a CRATER in public Office the
auo1 - wb;cb had not reached the prominence of a cabinet posi-
,ior before. is shown by an abundance of proof There has been
nothing in American history like it, the Credit Mobiier not taking
the form of such an out and out steal. His position as attorney
for the Cunningham coal land claimants, the proven fact that the
men who filed on these lands were picked up about the wharves of
Seattle and used as dummies to secure the claims for the Guggen-
helms, his determined efforts as Land Office Commissioner and
Secretary of the Interior to advance the claims to patent, together
with various and sundry acts of his to abet the grabs of the water
power trust, show exactly what he is. These facts have been reclted
at length more than once and require little repetition.
AS for the position of Pinchot, he for some time has seemed
to have become a sort of conservation fanatic. He is right in
principle, but he carries the principle too far. Not In the case of
the steals perpetrated by the Balinger gang, but In his forest
policy with which Balinger has nothing to do. In the latter he
apes the style of Roosevelt of assuming that If some line of
action or other is not the law it ought to be, and proceeds to act
accordingly. There never was an intent on the part of Congress
to declare forest reserves on desert sand dunes, where nothing
but s~agebrush grows and not a tree in sight nor possible within
a thousand years. Yet such lands, which under irrigation are
the best in the world, have been withheld from settlement by
him, presumably with no object in view but to carry out the
tantrums of his fanatacsm. That is a very charitable way Of
putting in the case of the Owens valley forest reserve, which was
declared for the sole purpose of keeping settlers off Of agricultural
lands, thus preventing them from acquiring riparian rights, the
purpose being for the city of Los Angeles to pave the way to corral
the water. At various places in Nevada he has caused the declara-
ton of forest reserves where the land contains no trees and where
they will never grow until they are planted, irrigated and cared for.
1t seems to have been his policy to harass settlers and discourage
the development of unpopulated lands. He has placed the most
rigid Interpretation on the laws a S related to The use of wood for
fuel, and people at places isolated from railways where coal could
not be shipped, have been driven to actual suffering for want of
fuel that should be free to them as individuals though not for sale.
The charges placed are exhorbitant and without warrant. The
various things he assayed to do were oftener without warrant of
law than with it. On top of it all he has carried on a press bureau
at Government expense to sing his praises in the newspapers and
groom him for the Presidency.
Yet, whatever there is Of honesty between the men, with the
percentage on that score somewhat in favor of Pinchot, there is
no longer nor never was a question about the position where Taft
is to be found. He is with the man who has been proven the
worst CRATER in American public since the days of John Tyler. For
The reasons stated this paper does not propose to lose its head in
fighting the battles of either of the three.
The dismissal of Pinchot may be enough proof for any deluded
ones who still think Taft ever intended to carry out the Roosevelt
policies. Perhaps not, however.