New-York tribune., 1910-02-15
NO CORRUPTION"
GL4TIS UE4KENS ON
CHARGES.
only Thinks BaHinger I'M
proper Person to Protect
Public.
From The Tribune Purrsu

Washington. Feb. 14-Louis r. CLAWS
former special agent of the General Lana
Once. acknowledged on cross -examlna1'oh
to-day that he made no charge OF corTup-
ton against Secretary Ballinger. Conn1lS-
sioner bennett or any official of the gov
ernn1ent. He said he regarded Bailngel
and bennett improper persons TO suaro
the pubic interests in the public DOMAIN
ana especially in Alaska, but he was con-
ytnced that II. II. Schwartz chief OF tile
heid service, had at time been acIua'e'
by improper motives. He exonerSted aie
Pierce Assistant Secretary of the INTERIOR
OF any charge of improper motive nul he'i
him responsible for an Interpretation of the
act of May 2s 1908. which was bad Law and
contrary TO the intent of the statute MI
GIayis In response TO further questions.
reiterated his belief that no official, except
Ballinger and bennett, had been actuated
by other than wholly proper motives.
CLAWS declared under oath that he had
no knowledge whatever OF the whereabouts
Of certain records of the Juneau land office
which had been turned over TO him by
Special Agent Bowman, extracts from
which subsequently appeared in Golfers
Weekly" The records were found on
January among Glaviss possessions in
Seattle. He said he had had these records
when he turned over the remainder Of the
papers in his office to his successor; that
he had made copies of the records. some
of which lie had sent to the Forest Service,
and that his successor had threatened him
with criminal prosecution if he failed to
turn over the missing papers within gtveE
time, but he swOre that he had turned these
papers over by the time set.
When asked how he accounted for the
IA he nailed
in box with others of his possessions in
the grand jury room al Seattle, he replied
that If they were found there 1t must have
been .'frame-up." MI. Vertrees announced
that he would ask the committee 10
subpoena the men Who had found the miss
ing papers in Glavis's effects.
Claws proved at all times a slippery wit
ness, He sought continually to avoid
answering questions categoricauy and en-
deavored to introduce argument at every
turn. He took the utmost time 70 answer
every question and exercised the greatest
care TO avoid committing himself on i'm
portant propositions. doing so only when
hard pressed by Mr.. Eertrees, counsel for
the officials of the Interior Department.
CHARGES AGAINST BALLINGER.
Claws proceeded at some length to sum
up the facts which he declared convinced
him Mr. BaIfnger was unfit for his office
and unfaithful to his trust" He said:
The first action I would cite is the ap-
pearance of Mr. Balinger in the Wilson
coal cases While that was a long time
ago. and people may have looked at things
differently. his action or participation IN
to turn over claims that had not been
proved up and have not been proved up as
statute of limitations has run, and the
evidence is not quite clear. The record
speaks for itself.
pressons in the summer of 1907 TO Special
Agent Jones when he knew that there
had been violations of the coal land laws.
and his statement that he was coming TO
Washington to see what Congress could
do 10 help the claimants get patents
His next actiOn-one OF the most I'M
portant going to show that he is not loyal
TO his trust and not faithful TO the peo-
full right and instructions to make fuIi
and complete investigation of all the coal
cases he personally took up an old report
by Special Agent Love few days later
and delbera fe1y ordered the Cunningham
claims to proceed to patent. The Love re-
port. to my mind-and 1 have acted on a
thousand or more reports-did not in itself
warrant a favorable recommendation. 1t
showed there had been understanding
among the claimants and suggested fraud
rather than a compliance with the law.
Another evidence that Mr. Bailinger was
was wa his his appearance % % before the PnbIfc
Lands Committee of The House in favor OF
the Gale bill. which carried out the state
ment Ballinger made to Jones that he
would do what he could to secure leglsia-
ton which would have enabled these
fraudulent claimants to secure patents II
the Gale law had passed il would have vail
dated the claims
UNPROFESSIONAL ACTION.
The next step Mr.. Ballinger took his
uuprofessiOnal action-at least members of
the bar regard it so and / know o,il4 Of n9
have done tin delibera telv going around
ami representing the other side after having
been Commissioner Of the Land Office and
having full knouledgs of the character Of
the investigation we had made He didn't
act alone In the Cunningham group. but
in the Green group, as well, in which he
tool, six aff1davits He also acted as
bitratCr between Fl. r Hartman and John
| Hartltnc relative TO the purchase Of some
coal claims.
His next acrior consisted IN his asking
n1e, in the fall of 1908. wher he was in
politics and ARA nginG for campaign contr;-
buttons to hold off any investigation OF
the coal caseC. This showed he didn Z havt
the interests Of the. government At heart.
Another action which showed he was IN
faithful the fact that after hearing
At the conference Of NJ Schwartz, Mr..
necessity of securing 4 construction of the
lsp Of May i9"S. and agreeing with US
that the matter vas Of such Importance
thai the Attorney General should act II,
ana aft@r ns1ructing Us 70 prepare letter
10 the Attorney General for him 10 sign he
deliberately changed his mird fo~ some
reasor and turned the matter over to a
subordinate Of his owr departncnt.
None OF these are things upon Whicn
criminal charge could be predicted, tut, 70
nv mind, 1t was far more cowardly for him
TO do these things than If had act
raIIv stolen something for which he could
have heer convicted.
In July. 1909. when saw Mr. RalIingar
at his cffiCe in Seattle. and told him We
had hann ordered 10 proceed t. imTe
Gia-e caring he knew the weaknesses Of
our case The grea test weakness was the
affidavits ne had himself prepared for Gun
I In eIaiT1 ~ In n a Ike
anr action 10 secure 4 postpo7ement II the
hearino
These statements are AL that can re-
"a that show him unfit for his office un-
faithful 10 his trust and not loyal to the
AUTHOR OF ATTACK
Mt. Vertrees drew from the witness that
the Cunningham claimants were the first
of the Alaskan claimants To pay up tn air
claims. and that in numerical order they
were entitled to first consideration in any
investigation that 10 be made.
You made a report 20 the President in
| September. 1902 asked Mr.. Vertrees.
I Yes, sir" replied CLAWS
/ And on November 1S there appeared an
/ article in weekly paper entitled The
! Wnitewashing OF BaIlmCer. Are the Gug-
! genheims in Charge of the Department of
he Lntaf or Ply L. p CLAWS Are you
( the author of that artice7'
Yes. sir. I'm the author OF the article.
/ bur ! am not responsible for the heading
or sub-heads explaining the paragraphs"