Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1910-02-18
CLAWS MAKES CHARGES
HOLDS SECRETARY OF THE lNTE.
RIoR BALLlNGER UNFIT
FOR OFFICE.
CITES COAL LAND DEALS AS IN.
STANCES OF CABINET
MANS DISLoYALTY.

washington, ID. C.-That Secretary
of the Interior Ballinger is unfit
for his office, unfaithful to his trust
and disloyal to the people were
charges made by Louis r. CLAWS here,
and he gave reasons for his belief in
statement made during the congress
sional inquiry into the Ballinger-Pin-
chot affair.
At the afternoon session CLAWS, in
response to question by Mr.. Yer
trees, summed up the specific acts Of
wrongdoing which he charges against
Secretary Ballinger. His statement
was long one, but was listened to
with intense interest and really for
the first time gave a definite state
ment of the prosecutions case. In de-
failing his charges, CLAWS said in
part:
THE first action / would cite is the
appearance of Mr.. Ballinger in the
Wilson coal cases. While that was
long time ago and people may have
looked at things differently his action
or participation in the drawing up of
an escrow agreement to turn over
claims that had not been proved up
and have not been proved up, as mat
ter of fact, was criminal But the
statute of limitations has run out and
the evidence is not quite clear. The
record speaks for itself.
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 one: After
giving me the full right and instruc-
tions to make full and complete in
vestigation of all the coal cases, he
personally took up an old report by
Special Agent Love a few days after,
and deliberately ordered the Cunning
ham claims to proceed to patent. The
Love report, to my mind, and | have
acted on a thousand or more reports,
did not in ITSELF warrant favorable
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.. Ballin-
ger was not trying to protect the peo-
pies rights, was in his appearance
before the public lands committee of
the house in favor of the Gale bill,
which carried out the statement Bal
linger made to Special Agent Jones
that he would do what he could to
secure Legislation which would have
enabled these fraudulent claimants to
secure 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 regard it so,
and know of no attorney of my ac-
quaintance who would have done it
in deliberately going around and repre-
senting the other side after having
been commissioner of the land office
and having full knowledge of the
character of the investigation we had
made. He did not act alone in the
Cunningham group, but in the Green
group as wel,. in which he took six
affidavits. He also acted as arbitrator
between III. 4. Hartman and John
Hartline, relative to the purchase of
some coal claims.
His next action consisted in his
asking ME in the fall of 1908. when
he was in politics and arranging for
| campaign contributions, to hold off
any investigation of the coal cases.
This showed he did not have the in
| terests of the government at heart"