The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-06-29
CURRENTCOMMENT


N.
II VIII net be safe TO jump the conclusion
mat the calculation Of the Cunningham en-
trles 70 Alaska coal lands ends the fight against
1usgenheim control Il Is. however. a great
victory. and In the hour OF it's winning credit
must be given 10 two men who have peculiarly
deserved and earned IL One, and the better
SHOWN OF these two. IL Clifford Pinehot: the
other Is overton w. Price. Price was assistant
10 Pinehot when the latter chief forester.
IL was Price who really took the lid Off the
Alaska situation, Price was the man who drew
the hre OF administration hostility To the forest
service. lie vas the first man who rrsked his
position and hraved all the powers of the ad-
mlnlstratton, because he believed 1t his duty to
let the country know the truth about what wa.
gong on In Alaska and at the interior depar,.
nlent
oFerton Price in the absence OF his chic.
acting on his own respop sibility and on his CON
scientious conviction that his duty directed thar
ne assume ali the risks involved. started the
night, in the summer Of 1909. Louis II CLAWS
special agent of the General Land once ha-
discovered enough to convince himself that the,
Guggenheims were to be given the Alaska coal
ne was utterly unable TO interest the interior
department, and finally, in desperation. turned
to the forest service In the hope that IL eould
dispiay keener interest in the public well
tare- He was not disappointed The matter
was taken up and in the face Of muxzlins
orders and all kinds Of encouragement, pinchos
and Price pressed the matter until at last they
forced a congressional investigation
Pinchot. Price and CLAWS were all sacrificed
Tor their enthusiasm. Everybody who tried
to save the pubiie's interest. indeed was ruth
iessiy stricken down by the administration
Pinchot Price and CLAWS Dismissed early
A. 6. Shaw, law officer of the forest service
was dismissed and barred fr1m practice before
the interior department. kerby, the steno-
grapher who testified to the truth about interior
department plotting, was dismissed with an es-
pecialy bitter arraignment by his supe riors
Not only was everybody displaced who tried
70 protect the government. The congressional
investigation by the Nelson committee was ser
up. and a great expense pulled on, with
absolutely no other purpose than to sustain
the Baiiinger regime and maintain the hold OF
the Guggenheims the Cunningham claims.
Ihe scandaious story of a stuffed record, made
up in December and dated September, on which
IT was pretended that President Taft had acted
when he dismissed CLAWS, is one of the most
discreditable incidents in the whole affair
But public attention had been drawn to the
scandal with such magnetic effect. as tho re-
suit of the work of pnchot and Price, that at
last the administration has been forced to
make a decision In line with public interest. The
administration did everything possible TO avoid
the responsibility OF decision. One bin was in
troduced by administration supporters to send
TO the courts all the Alaska coal claims Later.
another was pressed. to turn TO the courts
the Cunningham claims. Both these measures
we're killed. mainly because Pinchot told the
truth about them and the public came to un~
derstand their real purpose
In the end, unable to dodge the RESPONSE
bility. the administration forced Baiiinger to
retire and put IN his place Waiter l.. Fisher
officer or the Pinchot Conservation Associa-
ton. BaIinger went back to his Seattle law
decision completely yindicates his opponents.
Bailinger is repudiatsd; the Pfnchot forces are
sweepingiy vindicated
II Is 10 BIO observed that the decision by
Secretary Fisher points out the need of new
coal laws for Alaska. This is now the hone
Of the Guggenhefms. Completely controlling
transportation. and having claims pIastered on
practically the entire Behring river coal field,
they expect Yet to einch their grip the situa
ton. Far from being won the fight for tho
public interest has only carried outpost
the real war Is still ahead Washington ~.
CO Times,