The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1910-01-05

ington and Oregon. reached Secretary
Ballinger. he refused to approval them.
saying that such action wousd~be adj
ding to the forest reserves powcs
held exclusively By congress-in those
states. This was the opening gun.
Secretary Wilson took the matter to
President Taft, who referred 1t to Al
torney General Wiz kersham where it
ay for months. 1t was finally de-
cided in favor of Secretary Ballinger.
Before the smoke of the ranger site
skirmish cleared away, somebody s.
covered that Secretary Ballinger was
hard at work-and had been since a
week after his taking office-restoring
to entry millions of those precious
acres that Roosevelt and Garfield had
withdrawn only a short time before.
Ba,linger founded his reservations on
the theory that the secretary of the
interior has none of the supervisory
authority which Secretary Garfield
had quoted to justify the Withdrawals.
Out of the west came a chorus of
disapproval. Ballinger continued his
reservations, until the matter was
called to the attention of President
Taft, who decided IN favor of the ISL
,,o,x,;corx, ,,,<harifx,
This brought the Ballinger admins :
tration down to August, 1909 AID then
through the lowering cloudbanks theirs
flashed. with thunderous report. the
CLAWS charges, regarding the Gun
ningham coal claims in ALASKA.
The Cunningham claims. near Ka-
ITALIA, Alaska, cover thirty three coal
entries comprising $3.50 ac".s 4 re-
port made by the claimants experts
says that they contain over $4,000, 600
be- for mining purposes, anh water
fo.te which could furl 5! icao i,.,rs"-
anfr working The mines
These claims had ban tia..Cr ,,.rt
tic.,tion for more tha., a ;tt- vi zen
tho. were turned ove,. ~ L. r Claw is.
chef of the field diy.sfo.; &c the land
Office at Seattle, fo~ inve"tigation in
December 1907. Special Aeen, u +.
J mes had reported th.t. in his opinion
the entries were suspic. ,..s ;ini lie f". :
lie. ed were sraudulenrly made in The
interests of Guggenheim mining syndi-
Claws was investio'.in. the c:1ims
they were clear listed for patent"
in the land office, and CLAWS was in
formed of that action
Right here arises very interest
ing question of ethics which the OPP
ponents of Secretary Ballinger pro-
pounded at that time and have been
raising ever since. Ballinger. up 10
March, 1908, was commissioner of the
general land office, which bureau had
charge of the Cunningham cases When
Ballinger. resigned as commissioner he
became attorney for the Cunninghams.
and submitted brief in the casa to
Secretary of Che Interior Garfield. Sec
ton 100 of the Revised Statutes of the
United States provides that no officer
or employee of the United States shall
act as attorney or counsel for prose-
cutting any claim which had been
pending in the department with which
he was connected, within two years
There had been varying decisions by
former law officers of the government,
holding that the word claim" IN this
statute means, on the one les~d, only
a monetary acclaim against the govern
ment, and on the other hand. any
claim of any description. including
land claims These We're argued pro
and con, on the question of Balm
gers becoming attorney for the Cum
ninghams, by those taking sides il,
the matter. but his opponents kept
close to the ethical view of the aues-
ton.
When Ballinger entered the Taft
cabinet in March, 1909, he gave up his
connection with the Cunningham
cases, and when they came to him as
secretary of the interior, he directed
Assistant Secretary Pierce to decide
all questions relating to them.
But to return to CLAWS. When he
was informed of the clear listing of
the Cunningham claims for patent he
entered protest and the action was
suspended. CLAWS was ordered to re-
sumo his investigation. On March g.