The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-08

quired, and this before that recon-
mendation was submitted to the score
tary and me, whose power and duty 1t
was to determine upon Prices adm1s-
sions as to his completely, what &C
ton should b. taken with respect to
his resignation.
I'm order 20 understand the full
purport of your letter in which you
admit the completely of Price and
Shaw in the publications of the press,
it should be said that the grayamen
of the CLAWS charges was that Secre-
affected by a corrupt wish to patent
thirty three socalled Cunningham
claims upon coal lands in Alaska; that
the question whether these claims
were fraudulent or not remained to
be decided upon, the evidence after
both the United States and the claim
ants had been heard; that every pat
ent as an executive act is completely
within the jur .sdiction of the president
to direct the withholding of it in or
der that he himself may examine the
evidence as to the validity of the
claim.
One Sided Evidence.
These facts understood. the plain
intimatiOnS in your letter are, hrSt that
had reached a wrong conclusion as
to the good faith of Secretary Bal
1inger and the officers of the land Of
flee, although you and your Subor-
dinateS had only seen the evidence OF
CLAWS, the accuser, and had never
seen or read the evidence of those ac-
cused or the records that they dis
closed which were submitted to me;
and second, that under these circum-
stances without the exploitation by
Messrs. Shaw and Price in the daily,
weekly and monthly press OF the
charges of CLAWS, the administration,
including the president and the Off
GERS of the interior, department and
land office, would have allowed GER
tain fraudulent claims to be patent on
coal lands in Alaska, although the
matter had been specifically brought
to the attention of the president by
the CLAWS charges.
You solicited the opportunity to
make such a declaration in congress
for the purpose of offsettlng, II pos
sible, in the public mind the presi-
dents decision in the CLAWS case sup
ported by the opinion of the attorney
general, after a full examination by
both, of the evidence adduced by the
accuser, and the evidence on behalf
of the accused, while the latter evil
dence you and your subordinates had
never seen.
You did this against the advice of
the secretary of agriculture without
notifying him that you intended to
do so, and without comforting with
me at all.
our letter was III 0u6CL Ill
proper appeal to congress and the pub
lie to excuse in advance the guilt OF
your subordinates before I could act
and against my decision in the CLAWS
case before the whole evidence on
which that was based could be con-
sidered.
Il should be glad to regard what
has happened only as personal re-
Fiction, SO that 1 could pass it over
and take no official cognizance OF 1t,
but other and higher considerations
must govern me. When the people of
the United States elected me presi-
dent they placed me in an office of
the highest dignity and charged me
with the duty of maintaining that
dignity and proper respect for the
Moreover, if 1 were to pass over this
matter in silence it would be most de-
moralizing to the discipline OF the
executive branch of the government.
s'By your own conduct you have de-
stroyed your usefulness as a helpful
subordinate of the government and it
therefore now becomes my duty to
direct the secretary of agriculture to
remove you from the office as the
forester. Very sincerely yours,
civilian H. TAFT.
Hon. Clifford Pinchot, Forester"
Secretary Wilson was swift in carry
ing out the decision of the president.
He addressed to Clifford Pinchot, for
ester: OVerton w. Price, associate for
ester, and Albert c. Shaw, assistant
law officer of the forestry bureau. let
ters substantially identical. That to
Pinchot reads:
'tSir: By direction of the president
you are hereby removed from your Of
flee as forester. You will deliver pos
session of your office affairs belonging
to the government to Mr.. Albert F.
Potter, assistant forester. Respect
fully JAMES WILSON,
Secretary of Agriculture.
Points to Roosevelt.
Kansas City. jan S.-Champ Clark,
minority leader in the house, who is
here to attend a gathering of Missouri
Democrats. sees in the dismissal of
Clifford Pinchot, chief forester, the
first indication of the nomination of
Theodore Roosevelt for president.
When told of the dismissal of Pinchot,
Mr.. Clark said:
"It is one of the first steps in
Roosevelt's candidacy for the Repub-
lican nomination for president. Pin
chot is a good man. He is trying to
do what he thinks is right. And if
Roosevelt runs for the nomination it
will be the hottest fight that has taken
place in a Republican convention since
Grant was defeated in the dog days
of $780,