Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1910-03-27
TAKES FLING AT
T.R.;; .;;BALLINGER'S
COUNSEL CRAFTY
Says Reign of Law Began
March 4, 19O9-Before
That Reign of Men
FLAYS PROSECUTORS
Vote Indicates a Division
of Opinion Among
Investigators
Associated Pressl

ASSOCIATED Pressl
VIZ ASHINGTON, March 26.-After
w the Ballinger-P Pinchot investi-
W eating committee had twice de-
clined to grant the request of Attorney
Brandeis, representing Louis r. CLAWS
and others, to compel the immediate
attendance of Secretary Ballinger as
witness, John j. Vertrees late today
made the opening statement in Mr..
Ballingers behalf and began the pre-
sentation of testimony.
In his opening he said he would
prove that CLAWS, Jones, Barr and
others had deliberately lied, fabricated
evidence and deceived President Taft
for the purpose of encompasstng the
downfall of Secretary Ballinger.
There is no act of Mr.. Ballinger,
| asserted the attorney, ito which 1t is
possible to ascribe an unworthy motive
or improper purpose otherwise than
through the suspicion of a perverted
mind or the resentment of discharged
| public servant, or the progress Of an
INSCRIPTIONS political intrigue"
Vertrees' statement sparkled with
| epigrams. In one of these, referring to
acts of the officers of the last admins
tration, the attorney said:
Aims Straight at Roosevelt
There was the reign of men. March
4, 1909, came the reign of law"
Although Mr.. Vertrees was particu
1arly referring to Messrs Garfield and
| Pinchot, some members Of the COM
mittee, after adjournment, were in
| clined to construe the statement as
| fling at Mr. Roosevelt and SO expressed
| themselves.
Patriot CLAWS" came in for large
share of Mr.. Vertrees attention.
| "Glavis, suspicious by nature, be-
came a pervert by detective service"
CLAWS, believed to be honest and
known to be capable"
CLAWS refusal to speak is to be
ascribed to a vanity that brooks no
suggestion"
Mr.. Vertrees also dwelt at length
upon Clifford Pinchot and "the Pinchot
service" as he chose to designate the
forestry.
Mr.. Pinchot. vain and hattered by
his own publicity bureau"
''Pinchot ceased to be the depart
ment of agriculture" 49,.
lie was exposed and MIR. Ballinger
had committed the objectionable sir
of defeating the ambition of a self
exaggerated man."
Here was the birthplace of that
spirit of resentment and revenge To
assassinate the good name of Mr.. Bal
linger and bring reproach on the Presi
dent OF the United States who had not
retained Mr.. Garfield and had dis
missed Mr.. Pinchot."
OF Mr.. Ballinger, the attorney said:
Mr.. Ballinger holds that conserva-
ton is not thing of caprice, but OF
law"
"Those VINO have already been born
and now breathe have rights as well
as those yet to be born, and yet 10
| breathe"
In restoring to entry vast areas of
the public domain, which he believed
| to have been Wrongfully withdrawn,
Mr. Ballinger still believes he was
right but if he erred he denies that it
was an error for which the good faith
of his official action should be ques-
toned by those who would substitute
| opinion for law"
mot site was lost
HE could have transferred Mr.
CLAWS at any time and obviously would
have done so had he been minded to
bring about improper official action,
which Patriot CLAWS was preventing
and thwarting where he was"
Defends Ballinger
Mr.. Vertrees' statement was a long
one, going into the details of practical
ly every phase of the case. He said it
would be shown that as regards the
Cunningham claims and in all other
! matters Mr., Ballinger was clean
handed" and that his actions had been
those of an honest and upright citizen
and official.
He denied Secretary Ballinger had
ever drawn up an escrow agreement or
any other sort of agreement in the
| Wilson coal land cases. He said Mr.
Ballinger had legal and moral right
to do what he did in presenting the
Cunningham affidavit to Secretary Car
field.
He asserted that it would be shown
that Mr. Ballinger was in no way re-
sponsible that the request for an opin-
ion in the new coal lands act of 1909
had gone first to Assistant Secretary
! Pierce rather than to Attorney General
Wickersham. All along the line a gem
eral denial of charges, inferences and
insinuations' was entered.
| The day was replete with interest.
The growing bitterness between Attor-
neys Vertrees and Brandeis manifested
itself in several sharp exchanges.
The demands of Mr.. Brandeis, first,
that Mr.. Ballinger appear as a witness
to be examined as part of the case
for the prosecution" and later that he
be required to appear as the first wit
ness for the defense" called out lively
discussions between counsel and among
members of the committee. The first
request was unanimously denied. The
second request, made during the after
noon, was considered in executive ses-
sion for forty minutes, at the END of
which time it likewise was denied.
The vote on the second proposition
stood s to 4, and was taken to indicate
by many how hopelessly the committee
is divided and as presaging in the end
a majority and minority decision
Representative Madison of Kansas
: insurgent Republican, voted with the
Democrats, Senator Purcell of North
Dakota, Democrat, voting with the Re-
; publicans.
: Representative James put the motion
; that BaIlinger be compelled to take the
. stand as the first witness, and It was
; on this the vote was taken
. Senator Purcell declared he thought
. it only just as q lawyer, that the de-
fense should be allowed the same lib
erty- i'm calling witnesses and arranging
the order of its testimony as had been
. granted the prosecution.
Secretary Ballinger probably viii not
testify until toward the end of the pro-
ceedings.