The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-12-14

Secretary of the Interior, Richard A.
Ballinger.
been acting on Senator Fulton's recon-
mendations for office, in the usual man.
ner. Heney had been insisting that Full
ton was in league with the men we were
prosecuting, and that he had recon-
mended unfit men. Fulton had been pro-
testing against my following Heney's ad-
vice, particularly as regards appointing
Judge Wolverton as United States Judge
Heney "shows" Roosevelt.
Finally Heney laid before me a report
which convinced me of the truth of his
statements. then wrote to Fulton as
follows, on November 20. 1906: my dear
Senator Fulton: I inclose you herewith
a copy of the report made to me by Mr..
Heney. ! have seen the originals OF the
letters from you and Senator Mitchell
quoted therein I do not at this time
desire to discuss the report itself. which
OF course I must submit to the Attorney
General But I have been obliged to reach
the painful conclusion that your own let
tiers as therein quoted tend to show that
you recommended for the position Of dis
trict attorney B, when you had good rea-
son to believe that he had himself been
guilty OF fraudulent conduct; that you
recommended C for the same position
simply because II was for BIS interest
that he should be so recommended, and.
as there Is reason to believe, because he
had agreed to divide the fees with B II
he were appointed; and that you finally
recommended the reappointment Of H
with the knowledge that II II were ap.
pointed he would abstain from prose-
being why advocated HIS claims for
reappointment. II you care to make any
statement in the matter, shall Of course
be glad to hear it. As the district Judge
OF Oregon I shall appoint Judge wolver-
tom
In the letter !, Of course gave In full
the names Indicated above by initials.
Senator Fulton gave no explanation. 1
therefore ceased TO consult him about
appointments under the Department of
Justice and the Interior, the two do
partments in which the crookedness had
occurred-there was no question Of
crookedness in the other offices in the |
State and they could be handled in The |
ordinary manner. Legal proceedings |
were undertaken against his colleague in |
the Senate, and one of his colleagues in |
the Lower House. and the former was |
convicted and sentenced to the peniten-
tiary.
Tests of Legality.
executive acts Of my administration was
brought before the courts. They were
uniformly sustained. For example,
prior to 1907 statutes relating to the
disposition Of coal lands had been con-
strued as fixing the fat price at so to
able coal lands were sold for wholly In
adequate prices, chiefly to big corpora
tons. BY executive order the coal lands
were withdrawn and not opened for
entry until proper classification was
placed thereon by government agents.
There was a great clamor that I was
usurping legislative power; but the acts
were not assailed in court until we
brought suits to set aside entries made
by persons and associations to obtain
larger areas than the statutes author
lied This position was opposed on the
ground that the restrictions imposed
were Illegal that the executive orders
were illegal. The Supreme Court sus-
tanned the government.
In the same way our attitude in the
water power question was sustained. the
Court holding that the Federal
government had the rights we claimed
over streams that are or may be declared
navigable by Congress. Again, when
Oklahoma became q State We were OBJ l
liged to use the executive power to pro-
tect Indian rights and proprty. for there
had been an enormous amount of fraud ]
in the obtaining OF Indian lands by white Z
men. Here we were denounced as usurp- 8
Ing power over State as well as usurp-
ing power that did not belong. to the
executive. The Supreme Court sustained
our action.
In connection with the Indians. by the '