New-York tribune., 1910-10-05
!. S. WH|PPLE RESIGNS
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work: he borrowed money from Bell, one
! of his employees, who at the same time was
| an alleged lobbyist for the International
! Paper Company.
The investigation en- which the commits
sioners were reporting was begun on Feb
ruary 16 under the Moreland law author
izing the Governor personally or by deputy
10 investigate the condition of state bu-
reaus. 1t went back to 1901, and IN some
cases to an earlier period. Hundreds or
witnesses were examined by the commits
sioners, and the records of the department,
land titles, records of county clerks in the
Adirondacks and Catskills and the Forest
Purchasing Board were examined nilnutely
So big was this task that it was only with
difficulty that Messrs. Clark and Austin
were able to complete it in time to present
/ their report to Governor Hughes before his
l retirement.
7 Regarding the administration of the legal
department, the report says:
The administration of the legal depart
ment under John Is. Ward deserves severe
condemnation; his inCOmpetenCy and unit
ness for the position which he occupies nave
| heen proved and are now admitted by Com
missi0ne. Whipple III his sworn testimony.
! Although the head of this department. Mr..
Wards examination clearly showed his
! ignorance of its real workings, and, to-
gether with the records of his office, de-
| Veloped a most deplorable condition of af-
! fairs.
The commissioners severely condemn the
condition of the records of the department,
and say that the register of actions is
practically valueless." The expense of
| the department, the commission finds has
! increased from s24,677 so in 1905 TO $4O,
| O79 Is in 1909 The analysis Of the work
! Of the legal department shows laXness,
| negligence. failure tc prosecute cases OF
violation of the law and numerous COM
promises of suits, both for violation Of the
| fish and game laws and for the theft OF
timber from state lands. upon terms dis
advantageous TO the state and for sums
| far less than the legal penalties. The
commissioners find that the burden Of the
work of the legal department appeared 10
have been thrown upon Ellis ]. Staley. one
| of Mr. Wards assistants. who has. so far
as the examination shows, satisfactorily
performed his duties.
AS an instance of the negligence of the
legal department the forest fires of 1908
are cited. These fires burned over large
area OF state land. Mr.. Staley procured
evidence that the fires were started by the
/ 1dlITOdOS, Dul MI W dI u neg sISCltu " lane
any steps in the matter until July of this
year, after this investigation had been
turned upon that subject. At that time
the department brought suit against the
railroads for more than 81 900, 900 on ac-
count OF the fires of 1908.
Thievery Not Followed Up.
| Selah B Strong, of this city, was placed
in charge of prosecutions OF violations OF
the game law in 1905. The Investigators
found that he was very successful until
Mr. Ward interfered with his work He
finally left the states employment, after
protesting against compromising cases
with offenders for sums smaller than the
state was entitled to collect for penalties
Cases of timber thievery were not fol-
| lowed up by Mr. Ward vigorously the in
vestigators report. Instead, he made eff
/ forts by correspondence 10 get settlements
for three times the stumpage value. But
forty-seven cases were found which had
become outlawed under the statute of linn
itations while the legal department was
writing letters about them, and in several
cases the defendants actually had died
under the letter writing treatment OF
these conditions the report says:
In any event the loss to the state cannot
properly be measured by the value of the
| timber cut, and ii undoubtedly for this
very reason that the $40 tree penalty pro-
vision Was enacted into law The state Is
not In the lumber business Il is Interested
! in the preservation of forests for the pur-
pose of preserving the water supply and
to furnish Il pleasure ground for the people.
| We believe the basis of settlement adopted
| by the commission in practically all cases
IS entirely wrong.
We absolutely satisfied that under the
! administration of Commissioner Whipple,
| even after all the notoriety with reference
! TO the settlement Of trespaSs cases which
! directly led TO his appointment, the state
has not received in damages and penalties
| the actual value OF the timber stolen dur
ing the last five years, nor anywhere near
IT, and we firmly believe that il II vigorous
fendeavor TO collect the penalty had been
made In some Of the large trespass cases
/ arising i'm the early part Of Commissioners
! Whipple's administration many of the later
! trespasses would never have occurred.
| After referring 20 the litigation arising
over the trespasses committed by Gallagher
and Syphert q HarI..- the report con-
| tinues:
Al the time of MIR. Wards appointment IL
was a notorious fact that the timber upon
! thousands OF acres of the states land in
the Adirond4 clls had been stolen by various
| lumber interests. and that the officials
| charged with the protection of the forests
| had deliberately acquiesced In the thieVery.
Sometimes the timber thieves were required