The Evening standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1910-1913, 1910-09-10

J
! with Wickershnm had scared him into
! it. and the same day Of his talk with
Taft He forgot to mention that de-
] tail to Taft
For the chief executive here again,
! as In all other instances, apparently
| confines his exhaustive examination
10 just what Balliuger himself says
! and to those documents BallinGer
chooses to bring before him, and on
| the basis OF that issues his famous
| whitownshing letter OF September Is.
| And WiCkersham. like good dog,
! follows along. The latter says moth
Ing OF this matter but contents him
self with referring to BallinEer'S own
! statement.
" The Mystery of the Missing
| Letters.
This is a comic intermde that may
! or may not-have to do with Bal
lnger 1t certainly had TO do with
those behind him. When CLAWS was
! in Seattle. field agent left with him,
among other things. twenty-foUr let
ters. CLAWS ordered these copied
The stenoErapher copied them and
laid them on his desk At this time
CLAWS was discharged. and turned
over his official papers to Christen-
sen, his successor. Later. in the in.
vestigation, CLAWS demanded the pro-
juction of these twenty four letters.
They were not forthcoming. Sud
denly Christensen teleGraphed that he
had broken open CLAWS box in the
grand jury room and had found the
missing letters Whereupon the de-
Tense rose upon its hind legs. pointed
the finger oil Scorn at CLAWS, and ac-
cused him of concealing the letters
for the purpose OF demanding them
In vain This was to Iiscredit CLAWS
as a witness, of course
All IL accomplished was delay and
waste of time. The affair was laugh
ably crude. BY unimpeachable tesu
mony CLAWS proved that Christensen
was wrong
/. In saying that he had broken
open the box. The box was closed
only by loose boards.
2 In saying that the box was in
the grand jury room. 1t had been
room in order TO make space, al
though 1t had been in the grand jury
loom until a few days before,
g. In saying that he had found the
twenty-fow letters. He couldn't.
Three Of them had already been
found; though Christensen did not
remember it;
T. In saying that he had never
been IN the grand jury room before
the day the letters were found He
had, in the presence OF witnesses.
eaIIlnger on the Witness Stand,
Now, in conclusion. let US examine
Ballingers testimony He is through
out reluctant, insincerc. and evasiye.
His desire seems to be not so much
to bring out the truth for his own
vindication as to bubble with tech
nicaliues That must have shown
clearly enough in the body Of this
article, or | have written very badly.
In the letter TO Taft on which the
President based his vindication Bal
linger, as has been seen, deliberately
dlstortS the truth. As another eX-
ample he stated TO TAFT that. after
all, the Pierce decision did not Al.
feet the Cunningham Claims because
the Cunninghams had repeatedly re-
fused TO put their claims under that
law 1t is true that eventually the
CunUinghams decided not to come
under this law. but their decision
was made more than a month af-
ter the Attorney-General had re-
versed Pierce, OF course. they re-
fused to come under that law then.
On the witness stand Ballinger'S
memory proved as bad as Rockefel-
ler's. His recollections extended,
however. under Brandeis' proddlng.
-. Doll I'm.
plies TO a long series of questions.
The absolute ignorance of the first
answers, and the full but reluctant
knowledge contained in the last. are
III striking contrast
The question before the committee
vas as 10 Ballinger's knowledge of
certain papers carried by Lawler on
a visit to Taft Brandeis asked Bal
linger what Lawler took Ballinger's
vnrious answers were as follows:
1 "a grip with some clothes in il.
I do not know what else he took"
, And some records. know he
had some other things Yes"
3. II could not definitely define
Just what he had in his portfolio. or
what I've took With him
l. He had certain memoranda that
he had made up himself, that is
know OF some memoranda | do not
know what else he had"
>. He had II memoranda covering
a sort of resume OF the facts as set
out in the records
6. Il think he prepared it him
self. and ] think he consulted with
other persons In connection with it
Z Il would not say that he con.
suited with me, but | went over his
memoranda"
Mr.. Braudels How many copies
of that memoranda were prepared?
Secretary Ballinger; Your question
implies that | know. l do not know
anything about it.
Mr Brandeis; viii you state to
the committee what you know?
Secretary BalllngeT: | have stated
Mr.. Brandeis: What became of the
copy or copies OF that memoranda ?
Secretary Ballinger: ! know moth
ing about the copy or copies Of that
memoranda.
Nfr. Brandeis Well will you state
10 the committee what YOU know as
TO the contents OF that memoranda?
Secretary Ballinger; have stated
all ! know or can recall as to the
contents OF IL il was a resume OF
tho facts Is. TO the CLAWS charges
and whether it related to the papers
that were delivered TO the President
regarding the cooperative certificate
matter or Withdrawals do not re.
member.
AIR. Brandcls; And that memoran.
dunn is what he took with him. and
that was the occasion OF his eolnl,
to Beverly the second time. was h
not?