The San Francisco call., 1910-05-29
Evidence Produced at Public
Inquiry Summarized by
Pinchot's Counsel
CLAWS Attorney Has Last Word,
Protesting Against Dismis-
sal Without Hearing


briefs for submission TO the committee.
which win meet June II to receive
them.
':When I came into this case,
stranger to Balunger." exclaimed At
torney Vertrees in closing his address.
these were my instructions: so far as
I an concerned there is no bottom to
this said BalIinger AS to my subor-
dinates. it is not a matter of knowl-
edge, but I believe those about me are.
honest; but whether they are or not.
Jet this investigation proceed in every
direction in which IL may"
CONFIDENCE OF VERTREES
Whatever your report may be.
realize fully that YOU can not save
him. from the injury that has been
done but at the same time I know the
report must be in accordance with the
evidence and the facts in this case and
that his official career is without spot
or STAIN"
: / am afraid Eertrees has been cor
rupted since he came here from the
Southwest, was Attorney Pepper's
parting shot in defense Of Pinchot.
%nsQphisticated as he was he came
IN contact with a spirit of suspicion and
] think he scented a conspiracy where
there was none What there was was
a crisis of successive blows dealt by
Balliuger against interests which were
vital 10 q group Of men who had dedi-
Gated their lives 10 z cause.
ATTITUDE OF PINCHoT
@F shall take the responsibility of
showing that the conception of a man
of great capacity and independent re-
sources, devoting himself 10 the inter
eSts. Of the people, with no hope of re-
ward and no hope of ambition, is so far
beyond the ken of some people when
they come into his presence that appre-
citation is impossible and unintentionaI
..GetTaction is inevitable"
q. Claws attorney Brandeis, had the
last word
.+ITere was a man disgraced. con-
Cenued, not only without hearing
without seeing the hundreds and hun
9dTeds Of pages OF evidence which was
Z Collected by Assistant Attorney Cen
drai I-awler bat without knowledge
that. there was a charge against him.
'lff@MBLE SERVANT SACRIFICED
- : Why was he sacrificed? 1t rests
= deep IN the conception which actuated
70 Bisa-nger and the men who stood with
him. and il is the conception of 4 class
- OF privileges that men high in exalted
station must be protected al all costs,
but "a man, merely a humble servant
.et~the government, has no rights if for
tlfe protection Of Ballinger. II is neces-
sary t. condemn innocent men. He is
.porling but an inferior Official
fhis is question OF privilege.
7s-lether political or financial ana it
IS. absolutely connected with that same
idea that pertains 10 Guggenheim, Nor
San and other great resourceful men
of. the country.
WOMEN CHEER ATTORNEYS
.. ..Flle hearing room was crowded and
~ the conclusion Of each speech d DEM
onszrafion interrupted the proceedings.
Women crowded about the attorneys
after the hearing and congratulated
then
- Attorney Eertrees consumed the
greater portion of the day in conclud-
.lng: glis argument. He was most bitter
I'm his denunciation Of former Secre-
~taty Garfield and former Chief Forester
Pinchot. who. he said. conspired to
accomplish the removal of Ballinger
from public life because his was an
administration of law, and not OF
man,
%. He referred to the 2s missing letters
found in CLAWS box at Seattle as evil
deuoe Of the tactics by Ballinger's enc
mics, asserting that they intended to
charge Ballinger with concealing them
If they were called for and not pro-
duced.
. PLEA FOR THE PRESIDENT
Nertrees said that the stir that had
been raised over the Lawler memoran-
dun was merely an Indirect attack on
the president and that the president
had fully and frankly explained the
circumstances under which that docu-
meft was prepared.
In beginning his reply Pepper de-
clared that IL was A wholly baseless
charge that Garfield's opposition "a
Ballinger had been inspired by any
feeling Of disappointment at not hav-
ing been retained in the Taft cabinet.
He said If that were so, Garheld's an
-tagonism would not have been directed
toward Ballinger
Saying he suspected Vertrees of car
featuring conservation when he de-
picted Pinchot and his friends as
standing between private interests and
tho peoples COAL eXclaiming Don't
let 'Guggie' get it," Pepper added:
The Ballinger idea of conservation
seems 10 be to let Guggie get the
coal "
BALLINGER'S EVASIVENESS
Bradeis made a scathing attack upon
Ballinger's alleged evasiveness and in
stand, and unfavorably compared him
as a witness TO CLAWS, whom he
termed the best witness you ever had
before you"
He paid a tribute to Pinchot's follow
ing and the Independent press.
But for these publications and these
men," he declared, there would have
been done IN this country an act of
injustice as great as that done in the
Dreyfus case in France and for very
similar reasons. AS suggested by
Nertrees, men in exalted positions have
got to be protected at all hazards, and
If they can not be protected by truth,
then lying must be resorted to to that
end"
NERTBEES RESUMES ARGUMENT
Nertrees resumed his argument this
morning by talking up the subject of
the Cunningham coal cases. He re-
ferred at length to the legal situation
IN Alaska as far as the land laws were
concerned. He asked members of the
committee to remember that when Bal
linger went into Office as commissioner
of the land Office March a. 1907. the
Cunningham cases had been advanced
nearly to completion.
Everything had been DONE" he said.
except 10 make the final payments and
get receipts and certificates
Bsllinger. he said, had come into Of
fCe under circumstances