The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1910-02-28
THE CASE AGAINST BALLrNGER.

THE CASE AGAINST BALLTNGER.
The case against Ballinger is really
summed up in the frequent assertion
that there are too many lawyers ian
Taft's cabinet, an assertion which is
unfair. but is significant of the state
OF public mind. There is no specific
charge that Secretary of the Interior
Ballinger has done anything repre-
hensible. Indeed. clifford Pinchot,
whose accusation against the secre-
tary will carry greatest weight,
blames him for what II Is alleged he
has not done, rather than what he
has done. Pinchot insists that friend
ship for the conservation policy de-
mands active measures; and that the
enemies OF the public ask nothing
more than quiescence on the part OF
the government. They will supply
the activity themselves.
1t is significant that nothing is
said in defense of the Guggenheims,
1t apparently being assumed and
tacitly admitted that their Alaskan
claims are antagonistic to the public
interests, and their monopolistic
tendencies are matters of common
knowledge. That they are employing
attopeys to perfect the claims of
score of ostensibly independent pros
pectors and homesteaders, Is suffi
Gent to justify suspicion.
Mr.. Ballinger was attorney for the
Guggenheims in prosecuting their
claims before the interior department
prior to his acceptance of a cabinet
position. He has not received any
fees from them since, and has de-
clned to pass upon these claims.
Thus. 50 far as the ethics OF his pro-
fession are concerned the hands OF
Mr.. Ballinger are perfectly clean.
But, somehoys the public is not
satisfied with ne ethics OF the legal
profession. Some things are perfectly
plain. tbs, II is admitted that, even
when a man appears obviously guilty.
he is entitled to the services of an
attorney to conduct his defense, ex-
|amine witnesses and produce every
extenuating circumstance in the pris-
oner's behalf; but neither the con-
duct of the defense nor a large re-
tanner as corporation counsel justifies
the lawyer in stuffing jury wheels.
bribing juries or witnesses, in the
subornatioo of perjury or the politi-
cal manipulation OF our courts. Nor
can a lawyer complain, when, after
being elected to legislative assembly,
he continues to draw fat fee from a
corporation, concerning whose rela-
tons with the public ne Is called
upon to legislate, If the public, find
ing this out, takes no heed OF his
protestations of honesty and brands
him a malefactor.
Legal ethics determine how far a
lawyer may go in the futherance OF
his clients Interests and his own
career without making himself in
famous in the eyes of his own col
leagues, but they are not generally
adopted by the public, and lawyers
make a mistake when they try to
measure their public obligations by
any such standard.
In the Ballinger case we are in
clned to believe that the differences
between the secretary and Pinchot
are similar to the differences between
methods-not the policy. mind-of
Taft and Roosevelt. Not being
lawyer and welded to orderly proceed
ure. Roosevelt aimed only at result.
regardless of the process by which
they are arrived at, and did not mind
assuming any sort of responsibility
for his acts. President Taft utterlyl
refuses to assume responsibilities be-
longing to the legislative department
and he says he believes I'm oonserva-
ton as truly as Roosevelt does but
insists that congress shall first legal
lie every step the executive wishes
to take. And 1t is worth depressing
to observe that the president Is
abused as roundly for interfering
with the prerogatives OF congress in
one way, as Rooseveit was in an
other; for his legal department is
making actual drafts of laws he de-
sires enacted and submitting them to
the congressional committees in per-
fected form, after the manner OF the
British premier. who Is merely leader
of the house of commons.
Secretary Ballinger has committed
no wrongful act; he has not been at
tomey for anybody since accepting
the portfolio; his interest In conser-
walton is marked by wise regulations,
which he recommended TO congress,
and his character stands unim-
peached; yet we would not waste
time drawing a brief in defense Of
Mr.. Balhnger, for he has. by accept