Daily Kennebec journal., 1910-06-14
Peppers Brief for Pinchot.

1--WE trust that the committee will
record their definite conviction that
the immediate care of the public do
main is now in unsafe hands," says
Attorney George w. Pepper, counsel
for Clifford Pinchot, in concluding his
brief
Mr. Pepper says that the question
whether Pinchot has been right and
Ballinger wrong is less important than
whether the administration of the in
terror department, under the latter, has
been marked by fidelity to the public
interest He says that when Mr.. Bal
linger became secretary he had had a
land Office training that being equiv
alent, as Mr.. Pepper views it, to a
leaning toward policy of distribution
of the peoples land: the secretary's
point of view was distinctly. Mr.. Pep
per says, that of a ''distributionist."
"He appears to have known little
or nothing of forestry problems" the
brief continues. with respect to the
policy of power site protection. Mr..
Baliinger testified that when he be-
came secretary he knew nothing what
ever about it. He was not accurately
informed respecting the work OF the
reclamation service. But it was not
merely that he lacked equipment, but
that he had a distinct hostility to the
men in the government service who
stood for conservation. and the dis
tinct prejudice against their views.
His conduct and his testimony make
it clear that he regarded reclamation
with ridicule and forestry with con-
tempt
What was impending when Ballin-
ger became secretary. says Mr.. Pep
per, was not a conflict between the for
est service and the interior depart
ment, but a conflict between distri-
button and conservation wherever and
whenever the two conceptions might
meet,
THE collision came quickly" he
adds, "and this investigation is one of
the consequences
Mr.. Pepper refers briefly to the part
played by the forest service in the in
quiry and then says:
"This brief proceeds upon the as
sumption that there is a general recog-
milton of the failure of the attempt to
make any case against the forest SER
vice" He adds that Mr.. Pinchot has
no complaint to make becausaa he was
dismissed by the President but insists
that the former forester was not re-
sponsible for the published attacks or
the department, of which Mr. Ballinger
com planned.
Denying the existence of any con-
spiracy organized to secure the official
decapitatiOn Of Ballinger. Mr.. Pepper
declared. however, that: No one will
have the temerity to contend that it is
permissible to hold the view, but those
who honestly entertain ii have the
right to say so publicly. Mr.. Pinchot
has long held this opinion respecting
Mr.. Rallinger and he finally made up
his mind to declare it. Mr. Garfield
from a position of confidence in Mr.
Bal!inger, came much more slowly to a
similar conclusion. A cabinet officer
who does what Mr.. Ballinger has done
must be prepared for vigorous protest
and public criticism. Those whose pol
ic1es he has attacked are inevitably
driven together into a defensive alli-
ance. Mr.. Ballinger, apparently had no
objection to warfare as long as he was
the assailant. What aroused his ire
was the refusal of Mr.. Pinchot and
others to act merely ON the defensive.
When they began to open fire on him
ne raised tie conspiracy cry"
Mr.. Pepper gives a general and spe-
cific answer to the question of what
inference ought to be drawn from the
testimony respecting the administra-
tion of the interior department since
Ballinger became secretary, of acts
urwise in themselves. preferable to no
sound theory Of principle or action, and
that those acts have been directly re-
sponsible for embarrassment to the
President and loss to the people.
His specific answer is that the testi-
mony taken in this investigation estab-
fishes that the course pursued by the