Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-20

Il
the right to judge men in office by
other measures than those of legality
and labored explanations? That we
be allowed the privilege of legitimate
surmise, the permissible deduction:
from circumstances that we shoulo
most certainly use in selecting a ser
want or a business associate? At pres
ent we are to believe that If nothing
illegal can be proved against pubic
servant he is therefore competent tC
hold office, and we are thereby es-
topped from criticism. The result Is
an endless and confusing bickerlne
over technical legal points that leaves
our minds uncertain. Why MOI
sweep all this aside? Why not con-
cede the point? Why not, for once
get to the solid basis of common sense,
a privilege generally denied us in mat
ters having to do with the law? why
not simply take over the right to say
of a man, you may be absolutely
within the law; you may be absolutely
honest in intention. That is not the
question. Do you think right? If you
do not you are not for us.
1t seems to me that this method may
properly be applied to the cases OF
Richard A. Ballinger secretary OF the
interior. and L. r. CLAWS, field agent
of the land office.
Ballinger's connection with certain
Alaska coal lands was strongly OBJ
jected to by CLAWS. CLAWS failed an
solutely TO get satisfaction in his own
department-that of which BalnnSef
was the head-so appealed outslue II
direct to the president. The president
investigating the matter. tnds thaI
Ballinger has done nothing Illegal
Since that is so, then Claws is gullIy
of a technical INSTRUMENTATION. IN
that ground he is summarily DIS
missed Attorney General Wicker
sham subsequently goes over the pa
pers and makes the same report-that
Ballinger has done nothing illegal, and
therefore his record is clear
Sticks in PubIic's Mind
Now, the public's blind instincts IN
such matter are likely to be correct:
II has felt that the broad results ol
these mems activities has not justihed
the outcome The fact remains that
had CLAWS not intervened to the ex-
tent of characterization title to NH
lions and millions of dollars worth OF
pubIic land would have passed for
over Furthermore, this transfer
would have taken place directly under
Ra1linger. Given the element Balm
ger we lose our coal. Inject the ele-
ment CLAWS and we save 1t. YET Bal-
1ineer is approved and GlaNls us
missed. You cannot get away from
that. .4.,,,.4o7
20 on below the instructive feelings
Of these broader ethics, it has found
itself involved in complicated detail
~ a asservation and denial and eXplana-
zion Excuses are the easiest thlngs
in The world to make convincing. II
Cor a moment that statement does
not carry conviction, reflect on your
exnerience with the incompetent chau
feur. factory man, house servant the
recaIcitrant Office hoy. You cannot
,.ofute or deny; you simply flre MN.
those interested have gone over the
records line by line Line by line the
friends Of Ballinger have explained.
The nuzzled unsatisfactory verdict at
the end is that nothing illegal has
VERY we'll. let us boldly admit that.
The insistence on the importance OF
the noint has misled us into thlnklhs
if means something. Baihnger mas
done nothing illegal: CLAWS has oaeh
insubordinate; Taft Is right III saylIs
that against the secretary are only
.'shreds of suspicion from legailsl
standpoint What of 1t?
That is beside the question? Inc
burden of proof is not on us. the people.
We do not have to prove a man a efln
sinal in order to make up our minds
that he is unfit for office. He must
prove his fitness to us: and II IS ms
business to answer legitimate surinlse
based on irrefutable facts AS 10 What
legitimate surmise may be that is
matter for the great and SOLID common
sense of the people.
If YOU were engaging a secretary
against whom nothing legal could be
proved. would you not be inclined 10
take these facts into consideration? |
am going to tell them over for you.
What do you think of them? All these
facts are drawn from original docu-
ments. No surmise or hearsay is ad-
mitted among them.
CLAWS Sounds Alarm
In Alaska are very valuable coal
lands. These were fled on by a group
of men called the Cunningham inter-
ests. Field officers named Love, Jones
and CLAWS were sent in by the land
office to investigate the validity of the
claims. Ballnger then had charge of
the land office. Love reported the
claims for "free-lsting" but gave no
reasons for his report Both Jones and
CLAWS reported adversely, and CLAWS
took the further trouble Of iourneying
to Washington in order to protest per
sonally to Ballinger against the grant
ing of the claims. CLAWS further stated
to Baninger that if the land office did
not investigate, tho department of jus
tice would. Ballinger told CLAWS to
go ahead and investigate, but within
ten days Bal1iugcrs assistant free
listed those claims on the basis of
Loves favorable report. Not only
that but Ballnger twice telcgraphed
Love for tho plats necessary to- com
petite the patcntng Of the claims At
about the same time Cunningham
mentions i'm a letter having received
from BaIlnger copies Of all the cor
respondence and kilograms relating to
our interests" and urges haste. But
again CLAWS intervenes with a kick
strong enough To induce the with
drawal of the lands.
Here the curtain falls on the first act.
We see here thirty three claims OF
about 1873 in the district not only
pushed with a speed and by methods
unprecedented in land office history
We see these lands twice on the point
of passing out of our hands and twice
saved by the protests of CLAWS. These
things are all very carefully explained
They are not Illegal. For a moment
let us allow our applicant for the job
the benefit Of the doubt.
On March 4, 1908, Ballinger resigned
from the land office. The day before
he retired he appeared before a house
committee strongly faYOring the Gun
ningham claims. OF course, we believe
him when he says later that at that
time he did not know the Cunningham
claims were illegal. But we can be
permitted a mild wonder that he so
strongly urges a bill to legalize, not
III.