The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-10
WOMAN REPORTER FIGURES IN PROBE Found Letter in Interior De-
 ment Files "DICK TO DICK" NOTE Newspaper Woman Alleges That the Tell-Tale Missive Was From
 "Dick" Ryan to Dick"
 Ballinger
"DICK TO DICK" NOTE

Ballinger
 Washington. July 9.-(Special )-Coinci- dent with the introduction Saturday by Representative Cox of Indiana of 8 res olution calling on the President for all in formation concerning the executive order under which Controller bay land was opened to entry, announcement was made that at it's meeting Monday morning the House committee on expenditures in the interior department will take up the in vestigation of the story of Mrs. M. F Abbott, the newspaper woman, who claims toQhave discovered the remark able letter in the files of the interior de partment which was thrown open to hel at the request of a New York periodical President Taft has already informally denied the charge that it Is to be invest gated In. reply to the allegation tha by ordering the reopening of the Con troler bay land the President has made It possible for the Guggenheim syndicate to secure control of the land, interior de- partment officials assert that this woult be impossible, inasmuch as the law re- quires the government to reserve for Its own purposes, that Is, the prevention ot monopoly, alternate sections on all water front land that is thus thrown open. It was also declared that no such letter as that alleged to have been found by terior department.
 At the department all information was refused in the absence of Secretary Fish er This statement was given out Tn the absence of Secretary Fisher W, would not care to discuss the matter. Al these matters will come out in time, anC pending any inquiry, and in the absenc, of the secretary, nothing will be said."
 Do you care to state whether since the publication of Mrs. Abbotts story you have examined the files and whether that letter was in them? was asked.
 No Statement Made
 "No.' was the reply I've will say noth ing about It. President Taft Is out Of the city ant the only information obtanable from ad ministration sources was that the order opening the Controller bay lands, issued last October, three months subsequent tc the writings of the alleged Dick to Dick letter. was promulgated on the recom- mendation of the forestry service through | the department of agriculture.
 Mrs. Abbott, who in any investigation that Is begun will be one of the stai | witnesses. adheres to her original story She made this statement:
 "I have in my possession the paper or which I copied the postscript Secre | tary Fisher had instructed MT. Brown his secretary to show me the whole rec ord in the Controller bay matter. Mir Fisher was leaving for Philadelphia al Il o'clock and I spent from that time t( 8:46 in the afternoon going through tn, records with MT. Browne I found a let ter from R. s. Ryan to R. A. BaIlinger dated July 1S 1910, typewriter on print '2I William street, New York It was signed R. S. Ryan,.
 Attached to this letter was anoth- CT sheet of paper which began Deai Dick and which said:
 Postscript of Letter
 CT went to see the President the other day about this Controller bay af- fair. The President asked whom represented. l told him, acording tc our agreement, that I represented my. self But that did not seem to satisfy him, so I sent for Charlie Taft and asked him to tell his brother who il was I really represented. The Presi- dent made no further objection to my claim. Yours. DICK
 The postscript was written with a pen and was illegible as to one word. showed 1t to MT. Browne and ed him what word It was. He said it was agreement so I completed my copy oi 1t and have it now in my possession.
 When Browne and I were going through the records he was turning the pages at first and I noted that he al several times turned two pages at a time. I made a mental note of that and when he had gone through the pa pers l held out my hand for the bun dle. He gave it to me with reluctance He had remarked from time to time You see this is all right. or that is all right or words to that effect
 'T took the papers and turned through to where Mr Browne had turned two pages at a time and found this letter with the postscript. It was so vital that l copled IL VerDatlm. Realized It's Importance
 'T realized it was vitally important It showed that an understanding hat been reached between Ryan and Bal. finger; that Ryan was to allege he rep. resented himself: that is was In J. p Morgan Guggenheim Alaskan syndi cate. It was perfectly apparent tha Ryan meant to tell Balllnger tha Charles P Taft had told the Presi dent that Ryan really represented ths syndicate and that having been so as sured, the President was willing to dt the thing as to Controller bay tha Ryan wanted.
 T am ready to go under oath ant reiterate these statements and to pro. duce anywhere before an authorized tribunal my paper containing my CODY of that postscript"
 The resolution introduced today by Representative Cox reviews the pub lished charges that Richard S. Ryan secret agent of the Guggenhein syndicate, through the Secretary of tho Interior. Ballinger, and Charles P Taft, the Presidents brother, induced the President to sign the executive order of October 2S, 1910, which re- leased the Controller bay territory iron the reserve and placed it in the publi, dent is requested to furnish all in- formation regarding any influence ex- erted upon him by any of the persons mentioned to induce him to open the land to entry.