The Washington herald., 1911-08-04

| length, undoubtedly at the direct per-
sonal suggestion Of Mr.. Valentine him
self and of Mr.. Hauke, as evidence Of
my supposed personal animus against
Commissioner Valentine" .--..
Refused Opportunity.
1 understand that, after the confer
ence in your Office on July "a, the
charges against Mr.. Valentine were
turned over to subordinates In the de-
partment for Investigation" and in
your letter Of July rs you say:
when the investigation Of these mat
| ters has proceeded sufficiently to deter
mine upon what points. II any, 1t is
necessary or desirable to call on you
for further documentary or oral evil
dence in support of your charges, you
| Will receive appropriate notice"
I have offered to prove these charges
| to you Immediately and completely, and
you have refused to give me the oppor-
| tunity to do so; have offered to prove
them in a proper hearing before any
officer you might designate, and you have
refused to permit such a hearing; you
have even refused to permit me to have
a stenographic record made, at my own
expense, Of the hearing conference"
or discussion in your office on July "a.
in which 1, personally. offered to proceed
at once to the proof Of these charges and
take full responsibility Of establishing
them.
Would Necessitate His Retirement.
Having carefully and firmly closed all
] these available avenues to the truth In
respect to these charges. and having
then dismissed me from the service for
making them, so that there Is no longer
any reason for you to suppose that /
shall continue to remain in Washington,
| you now inform me that you may some
| time In the future give me proper notice
! to present further" evidence should II
seem necessary" or desirable to do 80.
In the light Of your action hitherto. It
would be clearly idle to attempt any
serious comment upon this. II you had
any intention whatever to make any
| honest effort to learn the truth in re-
spect to these charges, 1t cannot be
doubted that you would have made at
, least some effort in that direction before
now. While, therefore, I do not expect
you ever willingly to learn the truth
| in this matter, have no doubt that Mr..
| Valentine himself knows that the revela-
| ton of his true character and conduct
which would necessarily result from any
fair and open hearing upon the
charges which I have made against him
could not fail to necessitate his retire
ment from the position of Commissioner
OF Indian Affairs.
In April Commissioner Valentine
charged me with disobedience Of certain
orders relative to the handling Of timber
matters on the Lac du Flambeau Reser-
walton. denied the charge by mail and
telegraph. explaining the situation fully
and showing that tho orders had been
obeyed and the situation fully covered,
and requested opportunity for full con-
ference in person in the event that my
letters and kilograms should not prove
sufficient and satisfactory. Assistant
Commissioner Abbott, who was then also
in the field, and who had occasion Incl
dentally to go over the whole situation
with me in the field, seconded my request,
and stated that he believed a personal
interview would thoroughly convince the
office that I had obeyed orders and COW
cred the situation properly. Commission
er Valentine, however, ignored my re-
quest for a hearing, and Immediately
made charges against me and urged you
to take conclusive action" upon them
at once and without hearing me, recon-
mending that you direct me to submit my
resignation by wire; and you Immediately
followed this recommendation.
Charges Malicious and False.
In his letter to you Commissioner Val
entine had not only charged me with dis
obedience and insubordination, but, in or
der to bolster up this charge and make
| II appear more aggravated, as being the
elimination of a series of derelictions.
and in fact in order to give any color OF
| truthfulness to his charge Of disobedi-
ence on account of the nature of his or
| ders and the construction which he
sought to put upon them, he also charged
me- vaguely and without specification.
| with general neglect of and failure in
| the performance of my duties. failure
to give the government the best service
| of which / was capable and with SOL
| diering," all of which he charged had re-
suited in many ''tangles" in situations in
the field where I had worked
| As these charges were not only clearly
false and malicious-and l knew that in
any fair hearing I could easily prove
them such-but were also Of such ma
| ture as to put upon me stigma OF dis
honor It was not possible for me to fol-
low your suggestion and wire in my
resignation, even II 1 had been other
wise willing to do So and 1 accordingly
set out at once for Washington. wired
you that I was on the way, and re-
quested you to withhold action.
Entered General Denial.
On my arrival I entered a general de-
NAL is writing Of tho charges and asked
| for time in which to prepare and submit
complete and formal answer, upon
which requested a fun hearing; and
on May / you accorded me the interview
| to which I have heretofore alluded in
this letter, in which you granted my
request for a hearing: and in a letter
| written subsequent to that interview.
but dated May /, 1911, you wrote me as
| follows:
Pending the hearing requested by you.
you are hereby suspended from the posi-
| ton Of general superintendent Of log
ging. Indian Service, without pay, ef-
fective to-day"
AS my request for a hearing was made
in writing, and is contained In my let
| ter to you Of April Is. there can be no
| doubt as to the character OF the hearing
which you promised me, as shown by
| this letter.
1t was necessary for me to have speci-
fcations in order to be able to answer
properly Commissioner Valentines vague
and general charges of failure and
neglect on my part. as well as to form
| the basis OF any proper hearing thereon.
| And when he declined to furnish them
| to me in response to my request, on May
9. I asked you to require him to DO so;
and IN your reply Of May Il. which was
prepared for your signature by Mr. VAL
entine himself, you not only declined to
call for the specifications. but you at
tempted to nuliify your promise or
hearing ny saying:
THE commissioner tells me that his
| understanding was. after my interview
| with you, that you were to file whatever
statement you cared to make, and that
| I directed him to transmit your state
rrff a