Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-27

congress may expressly give II, clearly
Company has not the slightest opportu- |
nifty for exclusive appropriation of the |
harbor facilities unles Congress shall by |
future act deliberately and voluntarily |
confer it,
In reply to a criticism that tho land
was restored by executive order and not
by proclamation, the President points
out that the executive order is COM
monty used when small section of a
forest reserve Is restored to settlement
The charge made on the Senate floor
that the order was secret, the President
says. Is entirely unfounded in fact. A
dispatch telling of the order was sent
Of the country at the time the order was
issued, he says.
Reason for Immediate Opening.
Taking up the criticism that the order
did not contain provision delaying its
effect for thirty days, the President says:
AN examination Of the record fur
nishes an explanation Of this feature of
the order as made. When in October the
two departments had agreed. with my
acquiescence. that the order should be
an elimination of only 800 acres il
was deemed wise to spread on the face
Of the order specific declaration that
1t was made to afford terminals for the
Controller Railway and Navigation Com
pdny. ana. as no one else was expected
to intervene and take up any part Of the
eliminated tract, the restoration was
made immediate. The form thus amend
ed was submitted to the Secretary Of
Agriculture, who expressed his prefer
ence for the immediate restoration order.
When l directed the striking out OF the
reference to the railway company and
the enlargement of the area from 32o
acres to 1880 acres the form of the
order in its provision for immediate
re lf wa on Qa6 "a N
doubt that this was the reason why the
order issued took the form 1t did. Had
the postponement clause been suggested.
would doubtless have directed 1t to be
embodied in the order. But the event has
proven that it was really not important
in this case, for in now nearly nine
months only the Controller Railway and
Navigation Company has made any scrip
entries on the eliminated tract"
The "Dick-to-Dick" Postscript
The President has the following to say
about the "Dlck-to-Dick' postscript:
Before closing. I desire to allude to
circumstance which the terms of this
resolution make apt and relevant 1t is
a statement by one Miss NJ. F. Abbott
that in an examination Of the files Of the
Interior Department a few weeks ago she
found a postscript attached to a letter
of July Ii, 1910, addressed by Mr.. Rich
y
in the present record-urging the elimina-
ton Of land enough for terminals for the
Controller Railway and Navigation
Company The postscript was said to
read as follows:
Dear D:
went to see the President the other day. He
asked me who it was represented. l told him,
myself, but this didn't seem to satisfy him. So
! sent for Charlie Taft and asked him to tell
represented. The President made no further
objection to my claim. Yours. DICK.
"The postscript is not now on the files
of the department. II it were 1t would
be my duty to transmit 1t under this
resolution. l do not transmit ii. not only
for the reason that it is not now on the
files of the department, but for the reason
that it never was on the flles OF the de-
partment. at least as an authentic docu-
ment. Who Is really responsible for Its
wicked fabrication il it ever existed. or
for the viciously false statement made as
to its authenticity, is immaterial for the
purposes OF this communication. The pur-
port Of the postscript is, and the inten-
ton of the fabrcator was, to make
Mr.. Richard s. Ryan testify through its
words to the public that although I was
at first opposed in the public interest to
quested. nevertheless through the undue
inflence of my brother, Mr.. Charles +.
Taft, and the disclosure of the real per-
sons in interest. ! was induced improper
~ auu LOT the pTOfnOIlOn OIL tHelI private
gain to make the order.
Denied by C. P. Taft.
1.-The statement in so far as my broth |
er is concerned--and that is the chief fea-
ture of the postscript-is utterly unfound-
ed. He never wrote to me or spoke to
me in reference to Richard S. Ryan or
on the subject OF Controller bay or the
granting of any privileges or tho making
of any orders In respect to Alaska. He
has no interest in Alaska, never had.
and knows nothing of the circumstances
connected with this transaction. He does
not remember that he ever met Richard
S. Ryan. He never heard OF the Con- |
troller Bay railroad until my cablegram
of inquiry reached him, which, with his
answer, Is In the record.
mr.. Ballinger says In a telegram In
answer to my inquiry, both of which are
in the record, that he never received such
a postscript, and that he was In Seattle
on the date Of July IL, when 1t was said
to have been written.
Not Written by Ryan.
"Mr. Richard S. Ryan, in letter which
he has sent me without solicitation, and
which is In the record, says that he never
met my brother. Mr.. Charles +. Taft.
and that so far as he knows Mr.. Charles
P. Taft never had the slightest interest
in Controller bay. In the Controller Rail-
way and Navigation Company or In any
Alaskan company. and he utterly de-
MES writing or signing the alleged post
script The utter improbability of his
writing such a postscript to MIR. Balm
ger at Washington when the latter was
away for his vacation for two months
must impress every one.
THE fact Is that Mr.. Ballinger never
saw the letter Of July Ii, 1910. to which
this postscript is sad to have been at
tached. 1t was sent to me by Mr.. Carr.
Secretary Ballingers private secretary,
at Beverly, on July 14-the next day. I
read the letter at Beverly In August with
other papers and sent them to the White
House. 1t was placed upon the white
House files and remained there untu
April %, 1911, when 1t was. by request
of Secretary Fisher, returned to the In
terror Department. and II was after this
that Miss Abbott says she saw the letter
with the postscript attached. Mr.. Carr
saw no such postscript when he sent the
letter to me I did not see 1t when 1
read 1t. No one saw 1t In the executive
office. but it remained to appear as
postscript when Miss Abbott saw the
letter In April or May on the files Of tns
Interior Department. All others were
denied the sight
Miss Abbott's Article.
1.-THE person upon whose statement the
existence of what has been properly char |
acterlzed as an amazing postscript Is
based il writer for the newspapers end