Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-05-17
FREDERICK M. KERRY TESTIFIED
THAT LETTER BY TAFT DE-
PENDING BALLlNGER WAS
DICTATED BY LATTER.
SECRETARY CALLS
HIS ACT TREACHERY
PRESIDENT TAFT ENLlVENS IN.
CIDENT BY MAKING EXTENDED
STATEMENT IN WHICH HE Ex-
PLAINS MATTER.

washington, -. ", Mdy lori iCu
erick M. Kerby, the stenographer in
the office Of the secretary of the inter-
ior, who on Saturday issued state
ment regarding the Lawler memoran-
dunn on the CLAWS charges to the pres
ident, was discharged from the gov
ernment service by Secretary Balm
ger today.
In stinging letter dismissing Ker-
by "for the good of the service" Bal
linger said the stenographer was "un-
worthy to remain in it." The "fact
that your treachery,'' said the secre-
tary, sis futile, cannot mitigate the
character of your offense."
Kerby said the secretary's action
was not surprise. "As to the charges
made by Ballinger against me-" con-
tinued Kerby, Il am willing to leave
it to the Judgment of the people Of
the country as to whether | acted
treacherously or patriotically and l
feel certain the general verdict will
be in my favor. At any rate I think
Ballinger is not an excellent judge of
ethics"
Taft's Letter on CLAWS Charges.
President Taft in person last night
took hand in the situation which has
arisen concerning the "inside" history
Of his letter of Sept 13 generating
Secretary Ballinger from the charges
Of Special Agent L. r. CLAWS and
authorizing the dismissal Of CLAWS.
Over mis- own signature he address,
ed letter to Senator Knute Nelson,
chairman of the Ballinger-Pinchot in
yestigating committee, setting forth in
minute detail the sequence of events
following his receipt at Beverly on
Aug. 1S last of the charges Of CLAWS.
The president makes no direct men,
tion of the statement of Frederick M.
Kerby, the young stenographer in Sec
retary Ballinger's office, in which the
stenographer declared that the presi
dents letter of exoneration was pre-
pared in Ballinger's Office by Oscar
Lawler, assistant attorney general for
the interior department. Last nights
utterance of Mr.. Taft was, however,
obviously provided by Kerby's state
ment
Mr.. Taft declares not only that Law
Ter did prepare such letter, as Kerby
said he did, but that he did so by the
presidents specific direction. When
he received it, he found, he says, that
it was not what he wanted to issue,
and he wrote the letter himself in the
form in which he desired it, using
from Lawlers draft only one or two
general statements.
The president goes still further and
takes up the question of the "back dat
ing'' Of Attorney General Wicker
sham's summary of the CLAWS
charges, to which Attorney Louis
Brandeis has drawn attention. Mr..
Taft says the attorney generals letter
was in fact "back dated" and that this
also was done by his specific direction.
President Taft's Letter.
Following is the full text Of the
presidents letter:
The White House, Washington, d.
c., May 15.-My Dear Senator Nelson:
In the hearing before the committee to
investigate the interior department
and forestry service, reference has
been made to my decision on the COM
plaint and charges, Of L. r. CLAWS,
filed with me on the 18th of August
last, against Secretary Ballinger, and
certain other officials Of the interior
department. The majority Of the COM
rnittee have decided that my action in
this regard was not within the juris
diction Of the committee to investi-
gate In spite Of this ruling, references
to the matter have crept into the
record. For this reason, I deem it
proper to write you and state with
such accuracy as my memory permits,
what the facts are:
Claws statement and the charges
were left with me by him on August
1S, 1909. turned them over to the at
torney general, who happened to be in
the neighborhood, and he made. notes
upon his reading. We both had per-
sonaI knowledge In regard to Secretary
Ballinger's attitude toward the Alaska
coal claims which was the chief sub
tect Of innuendo and complaint, for Mr..
Ballinger had very early in the admin
istration consulted US both regarding
them.
Jealousy Their Conclusion.
within two or three days after the
filing Of the charges, at a meeting at
which the secretary Of the treasury,
the attorney general, and the secre-
tary Of the navy were present. full
discussion of the CLAWS statement was
held. 1t resulted in general con-