The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-02
Clifford PinchOt and SecTefaT Wilson Testify Before ths
 Committee
WILSON GETS TANGLED
 UP IN HIS TESTIMONY
Pipchot Tells of the Letter He Wrote to Senator Deliver And Said That He Had Wilson's Permission,
 Which Was Denied

Washington, March 1.-The expectef clash between Clifford Pinchot and Secre tary of Agriculture Wilson over the dis puted question as to whether or not tn secretary had given the former forestef permission to write to Senator Dollivei the letter which resulted in MT. Pin chot's dismissal. came today before thf Ballinger- -Pinohot investigating commit tee.
 MT Pinchot declared he had discussed the matter at length with Secretary Vii son and that he understood that his su perior officer had given him express per mission to write the letter to Senate: Deliver.
 Secretary Wilson immediately took thf stand and asserted that while he ha' given N Pinchot permission to write t Sena. ar IiVer concerning department al le never did. and neve' ] sgH ven him permission to write a fr.rsf Hl sing the President of ths
 rn1at examination almost who'll. 1rf ltic members of the com
 Wilson was uncertain
 lnn paE passed between himself
 fa ser and became somewha
 at mes as to just what letter.
 4Multteemen were referring to il tlie i4pid fire of questions. The secre- rsrv reiterated again that he never saw
 heard of the letter MT Pinchot wrote until it was read in the Senate. 1 The aged Secretary of Agriculture. who | holds all records for cabinet service wal plainly agtated when he took the stand Mir. Pinchot had been reluctant to testify to anything that would bring him intc controversy with the chief under whom ht had served F years but Chairman Nell son insisted thatshe go into the msttefy
 Executive Order Discussed I Mir. Pinchot declared that he and Secre- | tary Wilson went so far as to discuss thu executive order issued by President Taft forbidding subordinate officers of the va rious departments from giving informa tion to Congress. and he added that tho secretary said: You and I will have nc trouble about that order.''
 Admitting that his memory failed hin as to certain points, Secretary Wilson al ways came back to the statement that he never under any circumstances would have given MT. Pinchot permission tt | write the letter which caused his dis missal from the service.
 | The secretary declared that he urged Mir. Pinchot not to carry out his purpose | to blanket" a message from the Pres | ident exonerating Ballinger by sending in a letter to Senator Deliver. But" declared counsel for MT Pin chot, If MT. Pinchot was only to be per | mitted to write about departmental mat ters, how could you have thought this let- ter would blanket the Presidents mes sage"
 T don't know. That was Pinchot's | idea"
 Tho dav u,aS ranlata u,itb ;ntaras+ TT, i. cross-examination of Mir. Pinchot was be- | gun late in the afternoon, and will be l continued when the committee meets | again Friday.
 | Mir Pinchot denied that he had been em- | bittered by dismissal which he consid- cred was not Justified He denied also | that there a specific movement to discredt MT. Ballinger. He added. how ever that he and former Secretary Gar | field, Glavis and others are concerned in movement for the conservation of nat ural resources, and that they regarded | MT. Ballinger as one of the greatest ene- mics of the movement.
 Committee Begins Work | When the committee met in the Senate office building the question as to whether | or not Pinchot. the witness. should be all lowed to give his version of conversations had with President Taft was still pend-
 
 | noon after Mir Pinchot had read the pre- | liminary statement to the committee. In | which he made sensational chargeD against MT. Ballinger.
 Mir Vertrees, counsel for Mir Ballin- ger, interposed the suggestion that a rul- ing should be had as to whether or not Nir Finchot and probably other witnesses should be allowed to repeat conversations with the chief executive. Mir. vertrees said there was net the Slightest objec- tion to the introduction of letters writ ten to or by the President but he con- tended that If the committee permitted witnesses to give their versions of conver- sations at the White House it would put the President in most embarrassing attitude, of either remaining silent or appearing before the committee as . witness The latter he deemed, to bA undesirable.
 George w. Pepper. representing Mir. Finchot, agreed that the summoning of he President would be undesirable and as he did not press for ruling by the committee the question was dropped There was no indication this morning as to how much longer MT. Pinchot would remain on the stand. First Heurd of Claims When the public hearing opened Attor- Eey Pepper began to question Mir Pinchot as to the sequence of events following July 1. 19t9. when the former forester said he ii.st heard of the Cunningham claims through forest officials In the west. When he heard what his subordi- hates In Washington had done at Glavis' :tquest. looking to appointment of the hearings of the Cunningham claims. he approved thoroughly
 Asked if there was anything unusual in the interference of the forest service, MT Pinchot read a letter signed by resident Roosevelt, on May IT, 1905. di- recting the Secretary of the Interior to cooperate with the forestry service as to land forest reserves and to adopt the scrv- ice findings as far ss possible The witness next told of his interview with Glavis at Spokane on August 1g, lqo9l The meeting was not by appointment anu Mir Pinchot said he had positively met Glavis but once before. Glavs laid all