Arizona republican., 1910-03-26
FIRST CHANCE
 AT BALL|NGER Sought By Prosecution" in the Controversy BIT UF SHARP PRACTICE
Witness For Defense Ad
 mits That Alaskan Ice bergs AS Well AS Coal Are of Great Value When Brought to Good Market

Washington March :5.-Thc EaiIin- ger Pinchot inquiry Was resumed to- day after an adjournment "f practi- ,:tlly two weeks. As soon as the iu- ing. Attorney Rrandri~. representing
 Louis R Glavis and others spr:tne :I surprise by requesting that Sccre-
 talN Ballngcr be called as one of his
 witnesses Hrandcis said at first that
 he wished tn identify. by Mir. Ballin-
 ger. two letters he desired |" intrnduct
 in evidence at this time.
 Questioned further hy members "f the committee as Ia his intent he ad mitted that he desired Jn conduct a general examination of the accused cabinet official.
 Counsel for Mfr. Ballingcr objected to this and called forth from Brandeis
 the remark that from his letters he
 had always supposed Mr. Ballinger to be ready to appear whenever and as often as anyone connected with the in uuirv desired Some members of the cbInIiiilltt SttIIittl lb l4llllh lildl MI. Ballinser as the person most interest
 ed in the inquiry should have an op-
 portunitH to make his statement first. in his own way and not subject him self to q cross examination before be- ing examined in chief The matter
 was passed over to he decided later in executive session.
 The witness stand Was occupied
 during the entire day by Stephen
 Birch. managing director of the Nor gan -Guggenheim syndicate in Alaska. It was thought at first that Birch's testimony would be largely perfume tory in character and would follow the , lines Of his recent statement made be- fore the senate committee on terri tories.
 Members of the committee however.
 became deeply interested in the oper- ations of the Alaska syndicate and they piled the witness with questions
 from every possible angle Much of the questioning was intended to show
 that the Guggenheims practical; con- trol Alaska. Birch stOutly denied this
 We'll" he was asked. by Represent ative Graham, If the GuGGenheims
 got control of the coal lands in Alaska what would there be left"
 Birch said hc did not think this was q fair question to ask him He admit ted that the Guggenheim interests
 were large. that they had invested some sl..0a0. .00G already and had con ! tIacted for the expenditure of other millions There had been n" returns 1 from the investments as yet but the syndicate had hopes.
 As to the Cunningham claims. Birch produced the option that a committee "f the claimants had given to Daniel Gusgenheim. July "0. 1907. He de ciarcd that this option had been ac- cepted by the Guggenhcims on De ccmber of that year The claimants, however had never lived up to it's : terms Cunningham. he said. in Janu- ary or February of 1908 contcnde,I that the GuggenhcimS themselves had voted the option by changing their railroad base from katalla tn Cor | dova and furthermore the option was
 of no effect because q majority of the claimants had never ratified it.
 Brandeis sought to show that the Morgans and GuegcnhcimS with their
 great power and influence in this country must have brought pressure to bear dnring the last two years (" | get patents granted the Cunningham claimants Birch declared. however | that he kenw Of no such efforts ] What could we have d-nc2" he protested.
 An, Mir Birch. you can answer that | far better than l." dramatically ex- | claimed Brandeis.
 tfs n his estimate that the coal in >AlaSka was worth 5O cents ton and ! therefore the Cunningham claims rep resented an actual value of s25. .0OO. GOO l Birch declared that it was just as sen i sible ia say the icebcrgs in Alaska
 were of inestimable value. Icebergs he said. would he valuable if they could be brought tO market in this
 country. So it was with the coal. but
 first the transportation facilities had
 to be provided
 F. It was evident today that members | of the committee are growing rrita . ble and this durability extends to the ! counsel. There were frequent clashes
 and both Brandeis and Vertrees apol- | ogized at the close of the session foi | impatient remarks