The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1910-01-05
Whole Attitude and History of DIM
Guilty is Recalled in Which the Sec
rotary and Trusts and President
and the Trusts Allies In Congress are
Implicated.

and the Trusts Allies in Congress are
Implicated.
Golfers Weekly for January will
remind the Ballinger investigating
committee of some things that ii nay
not well lose sight of. IT al editorial
Of the current issue that paper says:
A manager in a great industry was
discovered in scheme; hostile to his
stockholders. When the manager
was put upon his defense he protested
that a fellow employee had no right to
give warning against him and ought
20 be punished. When a captain in
an army was put on tria; for improper
dealings with hostile forces, hi, de-
fanse was that the prirata soldier who
mad compla ineo should b. dismissed
10" pernicious activity. When an
.merican cit'',tb, seiectel by the pres
dent of the Unitei States to keep
w tch over intellectually great public
~ealth, as trustee 70: eighty million
women, men in1 children, was
charged with failing 20 administer 'his
trust with care ana integrity his To-
-pnnse VIII N trr rcd t. take notice Of
the criticisms was that those who
stimulated public knowledge should
be punished for their too much zeal
The investigating committee. in our
opinion, will need to spend little time
IN the forestry role in the land OFF,
situation Mr.. Clifford Pinchot is a rare
type in public life, in this or any coun
rry. To a special genius for realizing
The measureless possibilities for hi.
man welfare which lie in land AMI
water and the mineral kingdom. ne
added rare power to organize the
control of those vast natural IS
md turn them to practical use; and
This ability was illuminated by spir-
itual intensity which stirred him to de-
vote a lifetime to service. Presiden'
Roosevelt saw and appreciated the
talent welded to the character, and
made the most Of such a public gift.
To man of this type truth is ever a
companion. If we may hazard a guess.
the committee will have no labor in
obtaining information from the for.
estry department.
The attitude of the national admin
istratiOn is easy to comprehend. Con-
fronted with heavy tasks it has been
annoyed by slurs upon one depart
ment. Let us choke out this criti-
cism," it said, land go forward with
our work. If we allow criticisms to
multiply the whole administration
will be discredited" With this view
we have a human sympathy. The
answer is, that the situation is not of
our making, or of the making of the
public. Since the administration
chose to put terrific power into the
hands of man because he had sue
cessfully raised campaign funds in the
state of Washington, and was desired
by great interests, the disagreeable
consequences can scarcely be visited
upon those who would reform the sit
uation in order to save the nation
both in material prosperity an
ideals of fair dealing. Frankly, we
can not understand how the admins
tration can take such risks as it takes
when it insists on defending at any
cost a man who realizes the desir3
of exploiters more keenly than he
realizes the lives of ordinary strug-
Cling citizens.
What Committee?
AS this newspaper goes to press the
makeup of the investigating COM
mittee is undetermined. If the COM
mittce is made up of impartial men,
objection could be made to Senator La
Toilette, since his views are known. If,
however, the committee contains
friends of Mr.. Ballinger, opponents If
h ncf 70 to-, NJ
standpatters, then there is every red
son for including Senator LaFollette.
whose single presence would mean
that the investigation would be real.
1t is to be remembered that Mr. Bal
linger's view will be represented by
the ablest counsel, in control Of all
land office documents, able to suppress
s we'll as to produce evidence. The
attorney general Of the United Sta es
has made himself Mr. Ballinger's spe-
cial defender, which means, of course
that the whole department Of justice
is engaged on one side Of the contro-
Versy; the president of the United
States is committed on the same side:
Mr.. Aldrich and the majority of the
Senate are strongly in sympathy, as
re all the stand-patters in the house,
and Uncle Joe. 1t is an uneven con-
test. Unless able attorneys represent
the public, or Mr.. CLAWS, before the
committee, the contest will be still less
equal. This week, merely in order to
indicate certain lines of profitable in
vestigation, we take the liberty of sug-
costing a few questions:
l. Is the view given of the Cum
ningham connections in Mr.. Taft's let
ter the correct one?
Il find the fact to be that as COM
missioner you acquired no knowledge
in respect to the claims except that of
. most formal character, and moth
ing which was not properly known to
your clients when they consulted you
The evidence in respect to which you
were consulted professionally was not
secured by Mr.. CLAWS until after your
resignation as commissioner of the
general land Office"
He also says:
From the time you entered upon
the duties of secretary of the interior
until the present day, you have studi-
ously declined to have any connection
with the Cunningham claims"
Honest / Didn't"
Did Mr.. Ballinger. when in the land
office know that fraud was charged
against these claims? Did his own Of
fetal acts show recognition of the
doubt cast upon their validity? Did
he or did he not accept the attorney
ship of not only the Cunningham but
other Alaska claims after he had been
told by Secretary Garfield they were
al fraudulent? Did he so far recog-
| nize their fraudulent character that he
urged congress to pass special legis-