Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1910-03-18

OOtCOu LACHduSC az M oACACoUCi1 A1A6
land, last week, and was almost
mobbed. Those fellows look with dis
trust on one who has beaten them at
their own game.
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From Our Regular Correspondent &
Washington, d. e., March 12.-The
Ballinger-Pinchot investigation is ex-'
citing more interest at the national capi-7
tai than is legislation in either house of
Congress. Mr.. Pinchot has completed
his testimony and James R. Garfield
who was Secretary of the Interior,
holding the cabinet portfolio now hold
by Mr.. Ballinger, during President
Roosevelt's administration, has been in
the witness chair. Mr.. Garfield has
given the Senate committee some en-
tightening information relating TO the
involved history of this question. In
the statements of Secretary Ballinger's
connection with the Alaskan coal cases
as lawyer, Mr.. Garfield charged that
he had known of the Guggenheim deal
and reiterated his opinion that the ex-
press authority of the law not always
necessary to enable the executive to act
in the interest of the people.
There was a long controversy con-
corning Mr.. Garfield's withdrawal Of
of water power sites while he was Sec
rotary of the Interior, and the Senate
committee pressed more closely for a
justification of his right to place a
charge on their use by measuring the
water resources which were impound-
ed. 1t was plainly the sense of the
Senate committee that such waters
were controlled not by the federal gov
eminent, but by the states. Mr.. Gar
field replied that the states owned the
waters and the government the lands
surrounding them, and that each party
could impose such restrictions as were
deemed necessary. The witness strong
ly justified his large Withdrawals of
lands and said that his statement to
President Taft that Mr.. Bsllinger had
sought to rettrn them to entry without
attracting too much public attention
was based on an assertion of, Reclama-
ton Engineer Davis, Mr.. Davis, chief
engineer of the Reclamation Service,
succeeded Mr.. Garfield on the witness
stand, and said he preferred not to
testify unless directed to do so by the
committee. Senator Nelson, the chair
man of the committee, did not hesitate
to advise him to testify.
In this connection it is significant
that although Mr.. Ballinger, Secretary
of the Interior, is to attend the Min
nesota Conservation Congress to be held
at ST. Paul next week, he@Will not be
invited to attend the banquet to be
given by the st. Paul Roosevelt Club
on March 10, in honor of Clifford Pin
chot, former Chief Forester. This is a
significant straw indicating the trend
of public opinion and public feeling.
Secretary Ballinger is undoing much
that has been done by his predecessors,
both ex-Secretary Garfield aud ex-Sec-
rotary Hitchcock. A large part OF the
lands along the Grande River in Col
orado and Utah withdrawn by Gar
field, will be restored to entry by Ball
niger. Also, coal lands in New Mexico
withdrawn by Hitchcock and Garfield
will be restored to entry.
There seems to be determination on
the part of Congress to provide large
sum of money for the construction of
federal buildings in Washington. Rep
resentative Martin of South Dakota, a
member of the Public Buildings Com
mittee of the House, has called upon
the Secretary of the Treasury for a
statement of the amount of rent paid
by the government in Washington.
The program is to erect number OF
public buildings within the next few
years. 1t is expected that bill pro-
viding for a bond issue to cover the cost
of the construction Of the buildings,
about fifty millions of dollars, will be
presented. 1t will no doubt be economi-
cal for the government to build It's own
offices, inasmuch as the rented proper
ty used is quite inadequate for govern
ment purposes and the amount paid in
rents is three or four times as much in
relation to the value of the property as
the amount that the government can
secure by the issue of 2 per cent bonds.
DR.. S. J. Murphy of New York, rep
resenting John D. Rockefeller, appear
ed before the Senate committee on the
District of Columbia yesterday morn
ing to explain the plans for the incor-
poration of the Rockefeller Foundation
in the bill recently introduced in the
Senate. His explanation threw much
additional light on the plan, which he
said had advanced no further than has
already been made public. He, how
ever, cleared up some legal and techni-
cal details of the incorporation, and he
confirmed the facts already published.
State Bank Examiner.
The State Corporation Commission
will have to elect bank examiner be-
fore July LIST, in compliance with the
provisions of the Legislative enactment
establishing the Bureau of Bank Ex-
aminers. There are three applications
on file, as follows:
Charles T. Hunter, of StaunJon.
Morton M. Prentis, of Norfolk.
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