Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1922-03-29
CHARGES MAY
RESULT FROM
CABINET FIGHT
Forest Service Quarrel Again
Comes to Surface in Hard
ing Family.
C A ANCIENT FUED

WASHINGTON, March 29.-Under the
surface Of President Harding's Cabinet,
a row is smouldering which may burst
out at any time and rival in bitterness
the famous Ballinger-Pincbot controversy
which split the Taft Administration into
two fercely hostile amps One and pos
sibly two Cabinet designations may re-
suit.
The fight centers around the suggested
transfer Of the Forest Bureau from the
Department of Agriculture to the Depart
ment of Interior.
The principals, who are now quietly
arming for the expected clash which may
come at any meeting of the Harding
Cabinet, are:
Albert B. Fall, a tall, broad-shouldered,
'twO-gun' rancher with a brain as Keen
as his eye, and a ~vitrolic tongue which
made him the terror of all Democrats
when he was in the Senate before becom-
ing Secretary Of the Interior.
WALLACE LOOKING
FOR STRAY BUREAUS.
Henry C. Wallace, a little mouse-like
Presbyterian from Des MOines, who de-
spite his customary silence, has red hair
and is as determined as q bull dog, es-
pecailly when strangers from the In
LCEAUL department EOAlG VNtA ~ LAI -
partment of Agriculture looking for stray
bureaus TO carry away.
Fail sat down at his new desk, got out
the maps and looked over the extensive
domains of which he is virtual monarch
practically all Of the public lands of
the United States, totalling millions Of
acres. But he saw several big green
patches roped of and marked Depart
ment Of Agriculture"
That's bad" he observed Divided
authority"
He suggested TO President Harding that
those big green patches representing the
national forests ought TO be transferred
from Agriculture to Interior. President
Harding had Walter f. Brown, his re-
organization expert, look into the sug-
gestion. Brown thought something ought
to be done, but he wasn't ready TO say
just what
Secretary Wallace heard about this.
Then the row began.
CLIFFORD PINCHOT
AMONG ADVISERS.
Wallace talked it over with w. p
Greeley, head Of the Forest Service, and
Clifford Pinchot, who as forester back IN
Taft's time, uncovered the Guggenheim
grab and forced the resignation Of Sec
rotary of the Interior B~allinger.
Fall, Pinchot, charged. was trying to
grab the remainder Of the public domain
and turn it over to private exploitation.
Articles and editorials began to appear
in various newspapers making charges
against FAN.
Fall, out West on an inspection trip,
heard of these attacks on him and, his
wrath aroused, let go a sarcastic broad
side about PinchOtism, at the same time
asking President Harding to do some
thing to stop the attacks on him which
he said were emanating from the For
estry Bureau Of the Department Of Agri-
culture.
Secretary Wallace. not being much Of
a talker, said nothing for publication.
But references were made to an old story
that FAN, while raising sheep In New
Mexico years ago, had a controversy
with the Forest Service over sheep graz
ing privileges on public lands, Fall sat
down and wrote a hot letter to a Con-
gresham. Then the Forest Bureau wrote
a letter to another Congressman. The
agricultural bloc was rallied TO the
cause Of the Department Of Agriculture.
Then President Harding suggested that
the row had better lie kept in the fam
fly As much as possible and both sides
subsidized for the time being. But a call
at the offices Sf the Forest Service any
day will reveal signs OF quiet activity
which foreshadow q finish fight unless
the soothing hand Of President Harding
i~ntervenes successfully.
Although 1t has many ratlhcations, the
controversy centers around control of
the Alaskan forests. Falls contention is
that the national forest reserves con-
trolled by the Forest Service should be
placed under the Interior Department.
-A4-h - - 4--sIs4
mainder of the public domain. Under the
present plan, he says, authority is d.
vided where 1t should be concentrated.
More Fundamental than this IS his charge
that the Forest Service Is under the
sway OF the cOnservationist policies In
troduced by Clifford PincLOt, which he
believes have locked up tremendously val
liable forests and mineral deposits and
prevented their development This pol
icy, Secretary Fall alleges, has caused
a general slump in Alaska which has
resulted In an exodus Of Americans from
that country and has stunted the de-
velopment Of the greatest treasure chest
of the nation. Private capital will not
go there, he cues as long as the re
strictions now exercised by the Forestry
Bureau are continued.
CONSERVATIONISTS'
ATTACK UPON FALL.
The cOnservationists retort that Fab
would turn priceless timber lands, oil,
coal and precious mineral deposits over
to exploitation by private interests and
that the public would be robbed of thou
sands of dollars by these interests.
Tbs Interior Department already con
trolls 95 per cent Of the Alaskan forests,
only 3 per cent being reserved and under
control of the Forest Service. But this
3 per cent Is at present the kernel Of the
Alaskan nut because It covers most Of the
DEVELOPED sections OF that vast Wild coun>
try. The two biggest reserves are To-
Gated in the Juneau and Seward regions
and stretch over a thousands miles of
the lower coast. This gives the Forest
Bureau jurisdiction over the choicest NOR
sells in the entire Alaskan territory-and
that is why such a relatively small sec
ton Of the great treasure land can be
such a big thorn in the side Of Secretary
Fall.
Fail contends that the government
must offer far more attractive induce
ments to private enterprise than the For
est Service has been willing TO grant.
II proper inducements are held out.
Alaska can be made to draw thousands
Of ex-service men there, Fall believes.
1 have been impressed with the convic-
Hon that what Alaska needs for sra de-