The Topeka state journal., 1911-07-27
President Assumes Full Resp0n-
sibility for Controller Bay
In a Special Message to the
.. S. Senate.
DICK TO DICK LETTER
He Brands as a Wicked Fabri-
cation" and Says
His Brother Never Had Any
Interest in Alaska.

Washington, July 81 Presldeh1
Taft sent a special message u the sen
ate Wednesday afternoon shouloeflhs
full responsibility for opening Ior SCI
Element and development 12,SOO acres
Of the Chugach national forest reserve
in Alaska=an incident Whlch mas pc
come to be known as the "ControlleI
Tsa1- A ffair's In concluding he brands
tbc nov famous sDick to Dick post
scrint as a 'swicked fabrication ana
saws that Charles =. Taft whose name
appeared in the alleged poslScIlp
has no interest in AlasHs-, never hau'
and knows nothing of the clrcuIn-
stances connected with this transae-
fion Moreover. the president ADDS
his brother does not even remeIhper
that he ever met Richard ,. Ryan
representing the Controller RAILWAY
K Navigation company.
As for eliminating the and IN ques
tion from the reserve, the president
saws that there is no danger of the
Controller Railway & Navigation COM
r,an, or anv other interests monopo-
lizfng the field, and nothing to snow
that this company is in 0ny way CON con-
nected with the Morgan -GuSge geillleiil ~ ~
Interests Hence he believes that IN
eliminating the land he has acted Iof
the hest interests of the nation
..T wish to be as specific as posslole
7inon this point" says the preSluehL
I'm his message, land t.. say thaI
alone am responsible Tor the eIial .
fnent of the proposed elimination from
400 acres to 1880 acres. and that
nroposed the change and stated my
Ieasor,s therefor The thing which the
territory of Alaska needs l. develop
mont and where rights ana franchises
can be properly granted to encourasSS !llrs'S
investment and construct a IdllIoa"
without comforting exclusive privileges
I believe it to be in accordance Win
good policy to grant them
Accompanying the presidents mes
sage are documents, reports ana maps
bearing on the case, as requesled lolii ~
him bv a senate resolution OF June
o7tb last .'I deem it wise, says the
message. s'to accompany the SUD
mission Of these documents with
statement in narrative form or the az
zion of the administration with Lhe
reasons therefor" Here LolloWs d ue
ecrintion of Controller bay and en-
,Jirons and a map showing the erect
Of withdrawing the much mooted -
500 acres from the reserve Ine pres
;dent then takes up the thread OF ms
narrative as concerns the events liiS1
nrecfpitated the controversy
ne relates how Ryan. representlnss
tho Controller Railway < NaVlsatloh
coropanv. applied in 1909 for the elliH-
ination of a tract to enable TINS colil-
many to secure railroad terminals etc
Trbe aDDlication was referred TO the
f,ir,.-t,-r7 bureau and then to the navy
denartrnent with view that perhaps
t1,e navy desired to use Controller pay
os %, reservation The forestry inter
ests found no objection tc the eLIllld-
tion of the tract indicated, or IN
decd. ., as the president writes, TO tne
summation of $4,000 acres in the
northwest shore of Controller bay
NAVY Departments Answer.
The navy departments answer was
negative" says the president, and al
fer the matter had been considered by
the secretary of agriculture, by the
secretary of the interior and the gen
oral land Office. a TecOmm endation was
made to him that $50 acres with a
frontage of $50 rods on the northwest
shore of Controller bay be thrown
open. A formal order to this effect
was finally submitted to him in Oc-
tober 1910, but when tho matter came
before the cabinet late in that month
he found objection to it HIS reasons
for taking this stand he explains in
his message as follows:
"I expressed dissatisfaction with the
order because it purpOrtFd on its face
TO make the elimination FOR the bene-
fit of a railroad company of a tract of
land which the company could not by
lawful entry secure, for It was a tract
$40 acres in one body when only
100 acres could thus be acquired. In
the second place, I preferred to make
a much larger elimination of a tract
facing the entire channel. and with
sufficient room for d terminal railway
town. was willing to do this because
7 found the restrictions in the law suf-
ficient to prevent the possibility of any
monopoly of either the upland or the
harbor or channel by the Controller
Railway & Navigation company or any
other persons or company. Because
of lack of time sufficient to draft a
memorandum myself. I requested the
secretary of the interior who. with
the secretary of agriculture, after full
discussion, had agreed in my con-
clusion. to prepare a letter setting
forth the reasons for making the larg-
or elimination, so that it might become
a part of the record.
Il wish to be as specific as possible
upon this point. and t. say that l
alone am responsible for the enlarge
nent of the proposed elimination
from 500 acres to 2,SOO acre. and that
proposed the change and stated my
veasons therefor, and while both sec