The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-07-22
E. H. DILLON & co.
PLAYING OF TAFT
 BY LA TOILETTE

| structive work, he had wrought ol
 the great plan for the reclamatio
 and conservation of the natural F,
 sources of. the country. He had bee
 in advance of all others in fightin
 waste through neglect and destructio
 ana loss through pillage and plunde
 or the national wealth belonging t
 this and future generations He ha
 gathered about him able, earnest an
 enthusiastic young men and raise
 them and the Forest Service to tn
 same high ideals
 Of Clifford Pinchot and the nin
 President Roosevelt, on June 10, 190i
 said:
 We are doing everything in ou
 power to prevent fraud upon the pub
 llc lands. So much for Wha
 we are trying to do in utilizing ou
 public lands for the public in secur
 ing the use of water. oil, coal, ant
 timber for the public In all foul
 movements my chief adviser. and the
 man first to suggest to me the courses
 which have actually proved so bene.
 nc1al, was MT. Clifford Pinchot. Chie1
 of the Forest Service"
 Again, President Roosevelt said in his opening speech to the. conference
 or governors at the White House,
 May 13, 1908: Especial cfedit is due to the ini- 1 native, the energy, the devotion to duty, and the foresightedness of Gif- 1ord Pfnchot, to whom we owe so much of the progress we have already made in handling fhis matter of the co-orolnation and conservation of nat urai resources. If it had not been for him. this convention never would nor could have been cal1ed.r
 The congressional investigation of the Alaskan coal scandal resulted in many startling revelations It con- nrmed the public opinion, which had early reached the stage of conviction, that Ballinger was using his official power to aid the Morgan-Guggenhei interests in wrongfully acquiring con- trol of the Alaskan coaR fields
 : For weeks before the close of the investigation 1t was manifest that important disclosures would be forth coming. but no one was quite prepar- ed for the shocking discoveries finally made.
 IT was proven that the Presidents letter exonerating Ballinger and dis missing Glavis was not, in fact. writ ten by the President, but was prepar- ed under the direction of, and approv- 1 I'd by, Ballinger himself and then sign ed by the President 1t was proven | further that the letter of Attorney general Wfckersham upon which the | President stated he had based his de- c1s1on was not written by Wickersham until two months after the Presidents oeclsion had been rendered and given to the public, and that it was then prepared and dated back in order that It might be made to appear as the opinion of the Attorney General upon which the President had based his de- ,ision in the matter. These facts were established beyond contradiction and finally admitted in ne closing days of the coneressionaI investigation. No act of any Presi- lent Veer caused the American people greater regret and mortified tion for ne unfortunate position in which their ShIef Magistrate had placed himself. | me testimony in the ~Ballinger case vas closed. There was nothing fur her to add to the facts proven.
 The subsequent history of the Alas an coal-lands scandal simply con- rms the bad faith and betrayal of ublic interest which the earlier testi- 1ony so clearly established. following the disastrous failure of I : ne n ,,. admlnlstration's case before the !, 'ailnger investigating committee. the uol1c awaited the decision in the claims Month afterl . lonth passed. The delay was unac- , 0untable. a In the light of recent disclosures An the facts as they transpired are n ortny of being entered on the record. V Octoper 2S, 1910, is now known to be n T eventful day in the history of the ', laskan case, as will hereafter ap- a ear. The public did not know that Ice at the time, because what trans f, red on that day was kept under n yer by the, administration for many b onths. Il But to proceed with the facts in or- o; knn Co lblic. o"n 'o the o' november, 1910, Secretary Ballinger ol Iohcly declared his intention of rec ., nmending that special act of. Con- ess should be passed, taking the fiji lnningham claims out of the handsJ =. the President and turning them os as CT to the Court of Appeals of the . strict of Columbia. a, January g, 1911, bill was introduc.
 10 transfer the decision of the Cum be lgham claims to the courts. of lo actlon was taken by Congress si. on this bill to relieve the adminis. o,. a,. ltlon of the responsibility of decid- the Cunningham claims. tb ne fallure of the administration
 take action in the Cunningham3 co ms became subject of public wi lcern. The Interior Department fer as slient as the tomb. The coun- m, never suspected that anything in- in. Vlng the future of the Alaskan I l lands was quietly finding it's way er, the records of the General Land wb ice WI larch B. 1911, came the threat of I tb, nocratic congressional investigation m, the department of the Interior Fx
 the impeachment of Ballinger. A arch Ballinger resigned as Sec tba try or the Interior. He took with leg l to private life the highest enco- thi ms of President Taft upon his dee r1ot1c devotion to public duty. Wal be L. Fisher was appointed as his s ,esSor. me ~ 1911, Fred Dennett, United pro es Land Commissioner. announce exn lis Aoeclslon, holding that the Cum Or 'ham coal-land claims were frau nIo, mt nile the Interior Department was the lholding it's decision in the Gun TT nam claims, parties interested in on Alaskan coal fields were active. to : filed in acquiring the ownership nen, he coal lands, those in interest firh