Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-01
SENATORS FAIL
IN EFFORTS TO
CONFUSE CLAWS
Deposed Forester Accentu-
ateS Testimony Al
ready Given
NELSON DISSATISFIED
Chairman Says Committee
Is Proceeding Feebly
and Blindly
Associated Pressl

Associated Press
VIZ ASHINGTON, Jan. 31-When the
w Ballinger- Pinchot Investigating
" committee adjourned late today
until next Friday morning at 10 o'clock
Louis r. CLAWS was still on the stand
He will be further questioned at that
| time.
| CLAWS was ss-eXamined today by
several members of the committee
! the Democrats taking by far the more
prominent part in the questioning and
framing their questions in way that
| ELECTED answers tending to accentuate
certain parts of the testimony already
| given by the witness.
At the close of the hearing Senator
| Nelson called attention to the fact
| that the committee was proceeding
''feebly and blindly, as there was nc
one present to cross-eXamine as the
representatives of the other side"
Personally, he said, he had no de-
sire to question the witness further
1t was thought best, however, that
| CLAWS remain in the city until certain
| documents called for from the interior
| department have arrived and have
| been examined.
Senator Root moved that these doc
| uments should be printed before being
| introduced. Attorney Brandeis, rep
| resenting CLAWS and others, said that
many of the documents he had asked
for might prove to be irrelevant.
Senator Root remarked that so far
as he could see there was nothing ir-
| relevant to this inquiry.
Favored Bill to Favor Claims
Cross-examined by Senator Fletcher
| of Florida, CLAWS said today that Bal
| linger, while eseommissioner of the land
| office, had appeared before committees
| of congress and by his testimony had
| favored a bill to validate all of the
| Alaska coal claims. He also said that
an affidavit filed September 4, 1908, by
| Clarence Cunningham had on it g
| backing which bore the name of the
firm with which Judge Ballinger was
| connected.
CLAWS said when Ballinger asked
| him not to proceed with his investiga-
| ton of the coal lands until after cleo
ton, because, of the slowness of cam.
| paign contributions, no one was pres
| ent to overhear the conversation.
| The name of Donald A. Mckenzie
was brought prominently into the in
| quiry today when CLAWS testified Nc
4SSz7zie mad told him the reason that
James r. Garfield was not retained in
| President Taft's cabinet as secretary
of the interior was because of his an
tagonism to the Alaskan coal claim
ants.
| CLAWS said he made an affidavit con-
| tanning this interview, but denied
when questioned by Senator Root that
he regarded it as a reflection upon Presi
dent Taft, or that he intended to use il
as an attack on President Taft.
CLAWS said he thought the president
might be interested in it, and he
| thought also that the affidavit might
| interest Garfield.
| Asked what he had done with the
affidavit, he said he left one copy ir
the land office at Seattle and sent the
other to the forestry bureau.
Pinchot Attends Session
Clifford Pinchot was present at to-
| days session with a large leather bag
filled with papers. 1t is expected he
will follow CLAWS on the witness stand
| next Friday or Saturday.
| Senator Paynter of Kentucky re.
| signed from the committee today and
| did not attend the session. Illness was
given as the cause for this action.
| The appointment of a successor has
| been left to Senator Money, the minor
ity leader in the senate, and he Offered
|
senators today, without being able tc
| induce any one of them to accept.
| Senator Nelson asked if any mem
| ber of the committee had any ques
| tions to ask the witness. Representa-
! tive Graham of Illinois and Senator
| Fletcher of Florida, both Democrats
| alternately took up the examination
| CLAWS attention was brought to the
| fact that on Saturday he had testi-
1 n n a
| influential support to be reappointeC
| commissioner of the land office Ht
| was asked whose support bennett had
| "I understand he had Representa-
| tives McKinlay and McLachlan o1
California and Representative Kincaio
| of Nebraska behind him." replied the
witness.
| "Were any of these claimants under
the Cunningham group?"
NO. they were all in the Greene
group"
The witness said he had learned also
| in a letter from H. H. Schwartz that
| Senator Guggenheim also was sup
porting bennett
CLAWS said Mr. Ballinger, while
| land commissioner, appeared before
| congressional committees in 1907 anC
| favored a bill which would validate al
the coal entries in Alaska. OF the S0t
| or YOO claims IIle16 NIldNlS Sdlu ile uett
reported favorably only on twenty-one
Favored Cunningham Group
CLAWS said if patents had been is
| sued 200 acres coal lands would have
gone to the Cunningham group.
Senator Fletcher took the witness
back over a large part of his testi-
mony.
What did Secretary Ballinger have
| to do with the Cunningham affidavit
of September, 19OS?" he asked.
"That is the one prepared at least
he prepared it, although 1 don't know
of my own knowledge"
"What reason have you for believ-
| ing it?"
"The backing of the affidavit had
the name of Judge Ballinger's law firm
on it. and Schwartz told me-"
'Now as to the conversation you had
with Mr.. Ballinger when he requested
you to discontinue your investigation
until after the election in 1908, just
what did he say?" asked Senator
Fletcher.
'He didn't ask me to discontinue, fol
| I had not resumed. told him I had
(Cantinred on Page rhreel