Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-15

The above photograph, from an arc
fact, was criminal. But the statute of
limitations has run and the evidence
is not quite clear. The record speaks
for itself.
Supported Violator
Another thing was Mr.. Ballinger's
| expressions in the summer of 1907 to
support Agent Jones when he knew
| there had been violation of the coal
land laws; his statement that he was
coming to Washington to see what
congress could do to help the claim
ants get patents.
His next action-one of the most
important going to show that he is not
loyal to his trust and not faithful to
the people-was this: After giving me
full right and instructions to make a
complete investigation of all the coal
cases he personally took up an old re-
port by Special Agent Love a few days
after and deliberately ordered the Cum
ningham claims to proceed to patent.
| The Love report, to my mind and I
| have acted on thousand or more re-
ports, did not in itself warrant a fav-
orable recommendation. 1t showed
there had been an understanding
among the claimants and suggested
fraud rather than a compliance with
the law.
Another evidence that Mr.. Ballinger
| was not trying to protect the peoples
rights was his appearance before the
public lands committee of the house
in favor of the Gale bill. which carried
out the statement Ballinger made to
Jones that he would do what he could
to obtain legislation which would have
enabled these fraudulent claimants to
get patents. If the Gale law had
passed it would have validated the
| claims.
THE next step Mr.. Ballinger took
was his unprofessional action-at least
members of the bar regarded it so,
and l know of no attorney of my ac-
quaintance who would have done it
in deliberately going around and rep
resentng the other side after having
been commissioner of the land office
| and having full knowledge of the char
acter of the investigation he had made.
He did not act alone in the Cunning
ham group but in the Green group as
well. in which he acted as arbitrator
| between H. R. Hartman and Johr
Hartline relative to the purchase of
some coal claims.
His Next Action
| HIS next dCllOn consistent III ASKING
me in the fall of 1908, when he was in
politics and arranging for campaign
contributions, to hold off any investiga-
tion of the coal cases. This showed he
did not have the interests of the gov
| ernment at heart"
Representative Olmstead-"At this
time was Ballinger an officer of the
government"
mo, sir; he was a committee to get
contributions for the campaign An
other action which showed him un-
faithful was the fact that after hearing
al the conference of Mr.. Schwartz, Mr..
bennett and myself that there was
necessity of having a construction of
the law of May, 1908, ad agreeing with
us that the matter was of such i'm
portance that the attorney general
should act on it, and after instructing
us to prepare a letter to the attorney
general for him to. sign, he deliberately
changed his mind for some reason and
turned the matter over to a subordinate
of his own department.
None of these are things upon which
a criminal charge could be predicated,
but to my mind it was far more cow
ardly for him to do these things than
if man had actually stolen something
for which he could have been con-
victed
'In July, 1909. when I saw Mr.. Bal
linger at his office in Seattle and told
him we had been ordered to proceed to
an immediate hearing, he knew the
weakness of our case. The greatest
weakness was the affidavits he had
himself prepared for Cunningham. In
spite of this he did not take any action
to bring about a postponement of the
hearing.
"These statements are all that I can
recall that show him unfit for his Of
flee, unfaithful to his trust and not
loyal to the people,"
Committee in Uproar
When Mr.. vertrees began to cross
examine the witness on these accusa-
tons the committee soon got into an
uproar.
CLAWS complained to the chairman
that Mr.. Vertrees was cutting off his
answers and that he had to make GER
tain explanations.
Answer the questions as they are
asked" directed Senator Root.
Mr.. Vertrees reverted to Assistant
Secretary Pierce's construction OF the
law of 1908 CLAWS said:
"If it were not rendered under the
influence of Mr.. Ballinger, his con-
struction of the law showed him unfit
for his office. If he did render it under
the influence of Mr.. Ballinger II still
shows he ought not to be permitted
to hold the office he does"
Mr.. Vertrees next questioned CLAWS
as to incidents connected with the
turning over of his office to his sue
cessor when CLAWS was dismissed
from the service. CLAWS said he had
declined to give up some of the papers
until he had made copies of them be-
cause, he said, he was convinced that
'mean and treacherous things might
be done"
Mr.. Vertrees read a demand that
Claws successor had made on him
for certain letters that were missing.
CLAWS said he turned over all the
papers. The ones that were said to
be missing, he declared, ought to have
been in his office.
| Mr. Vertrees then read some letters