The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1910-05-14

with this thought, not necessarily IN
these words; and I authorize you 70
dismiss from the Government service
Louis R Claws
BONE Out in Presidents Letter.
Nov. in the Presidents letter irnre-
diately before the remarks on conserva-
ton, comes the clause authorizing Bal
Ijnger to dismiss Claws
In Balingers answer to the charge
which We prepared on OUa TRIP to Wash
ingtOn and after we arrived here Bal
Hnger had asked authority to dismiss
Claws
Certain portions OF the Taft letter
can identify as being IN substance the
thoughts Of LAWYER For instance, there
is the following passage n the Taft let
ter, which certainly embodies LAWYERS
thought: The general responsibility OF
Cabinet positions demands the selection
therefore OF men OF the highest CharaC-
ter and integrity Possession OF these
qualities as well as an ability and az
per1e1Ce which especially fitted you 10
the Interior, warranted your appoint
ment as Secretary
In general, Taft softened LAWYERS
draft and doubtless very materially
changed the wording IN that he substi-
tuted for certain LAWYER phrases.
phrases df his own, meaning the same
thing
Rough Drafts Destroyed
Now, that I have finished discussion
OF the letter. I will take up the events
OF the evening we drew the final draft
and LAWYER made ready 20 90 to the
President at Beverly. When we-thRt
Is Massey and had finished comparing
the final drafts, Massey took the four
copies Of the final draft-one original
and three carbOns-and fastened each
together with a MCGilI fastener.
Massey then asked him, Nh. LAWYER,
what disposition should be made Of the
rough drafts. Massey had carefully
preserved all these.
Mr.. Carr came into the room about
that time The four Of us-IsaEIer,
Carr Massey, and myself-conferred as
TO what should be done with the rough
drafts LAWYER said that Il would not
be safe to trust them to the waste bas-
ket
Il think Il was Carr who declared
they ought to be burned It was de-
cided to 90 to room 2I5 and destroy The
papers IN the CRATE there
and suppose that Is the reason why
the papers were not burned in the fire.
place IN the Secretary's Office, where
there IL a big open CRATE
We'll we al went back TO room rs.
There were LAWYER and Carr. and Mas
sey and myself I am sure that Mr..
LAWYER went in with US I can sEfar
that Carr was there. The papers we're
put IN the CRATE and somebody touched
q match TO them 1 don't remember
who Il was that lighted the matches.
I've stood around the fireplace and
watched the smoke curl around the
pages and the fire lick Up line after Life
OF typewTiung- We did not leave until
every bit Of paper had been consumed
and the drafts were reduced TO a mass
Of black ashes.
This was between 10 and 1870 on the
night OF Friday, September 10
BaIlinger Somewhere Around
After burning up all traces Of the
drafts, We all went back into our Offices
and the final finished copies were hand
ed over 10 Mr. LAWYER He took the
four copies with him into the Secretary's
room
Now, 7 don't think that the Secretary
witnessed the burning OF the papers I
am pretty sure that he was around, and
in his room At any rate Mr.. LAWYER
took them into the SecretaTy's room.
"A few minutes later he came out,
through our Office, in company with
Secretary Bsllinger, I think.
The Secretary'S carriage was waiting
out in front of the Office and LAWYER
and Bauinger and Carr, think; AL
drove to the station
Mr.. Iawler told us all good-by. Some
time after this Mr. LAWYER left for the
West He was out of town one day,
when Carr came out into our office
looking for a copy Of a memorandum
which LAWYER had prepared OF course,
we couldn't find any. Then Massey, at
Cars direction, went into Mr. LAWYERS
Office 10 look for a copy Massey
searched all through M LAWYERS desk.
He could not locate it.
worried Over Missing Draft.
When Mr. LAWYER returned from the
West he was not able to locate a draft
for Carr I remember, he said or II
was stated in my hearing. that LAWYER
thought he had turned the fourth copy
over to the Secretary
a few days later H H Schwartz
chief of the Field Service of the Land
the Cunningham record He had that
in his possession for some time The
record was bound in heavy cardboard
I think 1 was the one, who in looking
through It found the copy Of the Law
Ter draft, stuck in the back Of the
II he turned It over tC me and I fled
" he turned it over to n eand I fled
Il with section of file s. I stuck il IL
that file, attaching Il to the other pa
papers with a rubber and It remained In
the file Just where I placed II, until
approximately q month ago I can fix
the date when Il disappeared.
1T was some time after I fled this
that Carr came out into OR room one
day and stated TO Massey and myself
that Mr.. Brandeis. who is counsel for
Claws. had made a call upon the De-
partment OF the Interior for correspond
ence which Ballinger had with Commits
siOner bennett and StenograDhers- note
books covering that period.
I remember that The period covered