The Detroit times., 1911-07-11
SO I SENT FOR c. P.
taft SAID RYAN
TO BALL|NGER
And the Letter Is In the Files At
Washington From Which Place
Is LaF0llette Is Trying to
4 Il Pry II.
Cancellation Of Cunningham Claims
In Alaska Is Branded As q
hh Cruel Joke.

ay M. ?. AseoTT.

oy We Ts H6bOits
WASHINGTON, July 11.-In the
ment Is a letter to Richard A. Ball
niger dated New York, May n. 1910,
and signed by r. s. Ryan.
The letter encloses another letter
from -Weltzlar 4 Co.. as back
ers" OF Ryan.
With the letter Is a postscript writ
ten on another piece OF paper, but
fastened to the two letters, which
says:
-He sent for me and asked me who
II was | represented. told him. &c
cording 10 our agreement, that rep
resented myself. but that didn't seem
to satisfy him. So sent for Charlie
Taft and told him to tell his brother,
the president, who II was really rep
resented. The president made no
further objection to my claim"
X. 8. Ryan has long been known In
Washington and Seattle as the Nor
encouragement Alaska man"
On May Is. 1910. six days before
the Charlie Taft" postscript was writ
ten. the Ballinger-P Pinchot investiga-
tion had been thrown into the ditch
BY the testimony OF Frederick M.
Kerby and the production OF confiden-
tiai letters from George w. Perkins
OF j. p. Morgan & Co., concerning the
exploitation OF Alaska for railroad and
mining purposes.
Ballinser Hearing Was on.
When the letter was written and
when Ryan called on President Taft
the Ballinger-Plnchot hearing was
still on.
John Moody, New York financial ex-
pert. says: There Is no doubt that
Probst-Wetzla q Co. Is extremely
friendly to the Alaska Morgan -Gug-
genheim syndicate"
On Feb. %. 1909. President Roose-
\ welt learned that r. s. Ryan and the
Morgan-G -Guggenheim party were bent
upon seizing the shores OF Controller
Bay and In order to forestall them en-
larged the boundaries OF the Chugach
forest reserve to include this land
At this time the Cunningham claims
had been held up as fraudulent.--
The Morganheifns were. proceeding
! in two Tines TO secure the Alaska coal
First through the Cunningham claims
and second through q monopoly OF
the only route for the transportation
OF the coal to the sea.
AS soon as the Cunningham claims
seemed doomed efforts were centered
upon the railroad deal
On May 2, 1910. Ryan secured a rul-
ing from Ballinger's solicitor Of the
interior department, McCabe. favor
ing the withdrawal from forest re-
serve or $40 acres Of land on Control
Ter Bay.
This ruling, coming to the attention
OF President Taft, caused him to send
for Ryan to ask what was doing.
Ryan sent Charles p. Taft to tell the
president "who II was I really repre-
sented.: and on Aug. 8 the president
endorsed McCabe,s ruling.
Plans Executed Secretly.
All this was so secretly done that
the outside world knew nothing OF II,
but Just the same on Sept. Ryan Is
reported at Controller Bay with Ave
miles OF barbed wire to stake out
claim on the mud fats. A forest
officer from Valdez notified Ryan that
he was trespassing on n national tor-
est, whereupon Ryan Is quoted as re-
plying:
This II no national forest. You
folks are due to wake up pretty soon."
But the 800 acre-lImit prevented a
complete bottllng sf the shores OF
Controller Bay. October. 1910. Sec
retary Ballinger recommended that
10000 acres be withdrawn from the
forest reserve. instead OF $50. Ac-
cordingly President Taft made q Sc
cret order on Oct. 2S, withdrawing the
larger acreage.
Then came some humiliation or
time and space. In order to iiie sol
diers homestead scrip" II IL necessary
to have q government survey. The pa
pers on file In Washington declare
that on Nov 1. 1910. such survey
was begun on the mud-fats OF Con-
troller Bay and completed on Dec. i.
But Controller Bay is 150 miles from
Cordova. the nearest settlement. and
400 miles from Juneau. the office OF
the surveyorgeneral In other words
the papers indicate that three days
after the secret order was signed at
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