Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-10
PlNCHOT FLAYS
SUCCESSOR FOR
CONTRARY WORK
Collegiate Training Es-
sential for Foresters,
Is Statement
DEFENDS HIS POLICY
Deposed Chief, Loyal to
Nations Interest, Ex-
poses Abuses
DEFENDS HIS POLICY
Associated Press1

l<tSsoEidLeA IIeSS1
N EW YORK, Feb. o. Clifford
v Pinchot, deposed chief forester of
~ the United States, but still loyal
to his policies as president of the ma
tional conservation commission, de-
Tended the forest service in a speech
before the National Arts club in New
York tonight
Mr. Pinchot bitterly assailed the
action of George p. McCabe, solicitor
| of the department, who, as temporary
chief of the forestry bureau after
Pinchots dismissal, took action to
abolish the collegiate training of for
esters at government expense.
This action Mr.. Pinchot described as
| "a secret attack on the service, pros
tituting the law, a method SO effective
ly used by special interests against the
! people, and a cruel and needless loss"
| He said in part:
81 am as proud of the forest service
| and it's men as / ever was, and VEN
| ture to think that it has proved the
value of it's ideal by it's achievements
and the enemies it has made.
Now let me give you the best illus
| trations I have seen in recent years of
how a public officer, under pretext of
obedience to the law, may traffic with
1t and abuse it to the public injury.
Scores McCabe
| Upon my dismissal, the solicitor Of
the department of agriculture George
P. McCabe), pending the arrival of an
| other officer from the field was acting
| forester for three or four days. 1t ap-
pears that he learned then of the
| ranger schools at the four state uni
versities and sent kilograms to the dis
bursting officers in the field to pay no
| expense connected with them. These
| fo1 ms knnt GaCTAt from
member of the service in Washington
except the stenographer who wrote
! them.
with equal concealment from all
| the men In the forest service, a letter
was prepared and sent to the comp
| troller asking for a speedy advance de-
cision as to the legality of the ranger
schools. This letter was clearly in
| tended and was SO framed as to secure
a decision against the schools, and 1t
was successful in doing so.
| This letter is a misrepresentation
because it omits to state the central
| essential and incontrovertible facts:
First, that the forest service must
| have trained rangers.
| Second, that it can get them only
| by training them after they enter the
service.
"It follows that the training of the
rangers by the service is necessarily,
clearly and undeniably for the admin
| istration, protection and Improvement
of the natural forests. Being necessary
| for that purpose, it falls well within the
terms of the agricultural bill, and Is
| therefore lawful
How Obtained
Consider, now, the situation under
which this decision of the comptroller
was obtained. The solicitor of the de-
partment of agriculture is the officer
charged with promoting the welfare OF
the department and all its bureaus on
the legal side.
Both solicitor and acting forester,
he was in honor bound to forward the
work of the forest service by every
lawful means at his command. By his
official position he was its counsel and
advocate. Yet he made no attempt to
assist the service In this matter.
"On the contrary, he led the secret
attack on it and used anxious and sue
cessful care that no attempt to defend
it's course should be made by any other
man. The men of the forest service
were first informed that the legality of
their work was in question only after
adverse judgment had been rendered
without giving them any hearing what
ever.
1T am not concerned with the motive
behind this indefensible sacrifice of the
public welfare 1t Is a typical illus
tration of a certain way to obey the
law. OF course, it is not obedience to
the law at all, but the prostitution of
the law.
The Old Method
"It is the method SO effectively used
by the special interests against the peo-
pie, and there is nothing to be said in
its favor.
1.-THE whole proceeding is not seen in
it's true light until we realize its eff
feet on nearly 200 of the best young
men in the forest service, who were
officially ordered to those schols for
instruction.
ing for from 5000 to $1,000 a year, and
they need their pay. Yet they will
lose not only their pay for the time
they attended these schools, but the
money already advanced out of their
own pockets for travelling and other
| expenses.
"At best it would be nearly as far
reaching as it is needless, and that is
saying a great deal. But the fine 10y
atty Of these rangers to their work is
shown by the fact that about half of
them have stayed on at the ranger
schools at their own expense, the bet
ter to learn their upblic duties.
"Their devotion in doing SO is worthy
of all praise but do not believe the
people of the United States can afford
to let that devotion stand unpaid by
anything less than the promotion the
men have earned by the quality of
their work.
"It would be bad enough if this gra-
tutous check to the Improvement OF
the public service were nothing more
than a rebuke to the higher officers Of
the service who were responsible for
the ranger schools.
"They were doing their duty as they
saw it. But when the weight of it
falls, as it does, upon the men who
can least afford to carry it, who sim
ply obeyed orders, its ruthless disre-
gard of ordinary humanity becomes its
most striking characteristic.
at would be hard to find a better or
more bitter illustration of the use
of the law as cover for not doing
what a public officer has right to do,
and what the public interest demands
that he shall do. 1 submit the two
points of view to your judgment and
abide bv your decison-"