BALLINGER'S RECORD
BALLINGER'S RECORD L. R. Glavis in Collier's Gives Facts About the Manner in Which the Alaska Coal Land Claims Were Handled in the General Land Office GOLLIER'S WEEKLY for November 13 publishes...
...Ballinger retired as commissioner of the Land Office in March 1908," says Mr...
...Glavis can give you certain information in regard to a gigantic attempt on the part of Guggenheim, and others, to steal all the coal lands of Alaska which will enable you to prevent the consummation of this infamous fraud...
...They are the future coal supply of the nation, of almost inestimable value...
...Ballinger stated that one claimant had refused me an affidavit on the ground that Mr...
...The law attempts to prevent monopoly of such claims by limiting the amount of each claim and providing that each claimant must take up the land in his own interest and for his own use...
...My first connection with these cases," says Mr...
...GLAVIS then tells in detail the history of these claims...
...When I appealed to Secretary Ballinger for postponement, he referred me to his subordinates...
...It was at first decided to submit the construction of the statute to the Attorney General but a few days later Mr...
...Ballinger was now Secretary of the Interior and Mr...
...Ballinger in December, 1907, the good faith of the Alaska entries was discussed...
...Had it not been for Mr...
...Glavis, "Cunningham showed us his books...
...The character of certain communications emanating from the land office contributed to Glavis' fear that these cases were going against the people's inteiest...
...At this conference a question came up regarding the effect of a law of 1908 which allowed consolidation of Alaska coal entries to the amount of 2,560 acres, where the original entries were made by the "entrymen in good faith" and in their own interest...
...Glavis that "ten days afterward, Mr...
...Afterward, and while Jones and I were taking Cunningham's affidavit, former Gov...
...In accordance with this plan, Assistant Secretary Pierce on May 19th handed down a decision which construed the law to mean that coal claims in Alaska might be consolidated although they were initiated prior to November 12, 1906...
...Glavis went to see Cunningham after securing affidavits of Cunningham claimants showing their intention to consolidate their claims (such consolidation being illegal) he found that Mr...
...Possession of them by private individuals means great wealth —a monopoly of them would be a national menace...
...Glavis avers, the land office showed a disposition to rush these claims through without waiting for a thorough investigation...
...Within a short time after he resigned, Mr...
...This agreement was illegal for two reasons—because it attempted to consolidate more than the law allowed, and because the agreement showed that the entrymen took up the land with the intention of deeding it to a company and giving Cunningham one-eighth of the stock...
...Glavis, who says he obtained sworn testimony which is now in the land office that "Mr...
...For instance Mr...
...Glavis' action had not been made public...
...This incident aroused widespread interest...
...Wickersham had overruled, I believed the Alaska coal cases were in danger...
...Glavis, it will be remembered, submitted to President Taft a statement containing facts which had convinced Mr...
...active in pushing these cases to a settlement before the government was ready with the full facts about the character of the claims...
...Ballinger was interested enough in the claims of his "friends" to appear before a committee of the House to urge the passage of a bill that would pave the way to easy acquisition of these Alaska coal lands by the interests represented by Cunningham...
...I was superseded in the charge of the cases, and the men who superseded me endorsed my recommendations, and the postponement was granted...
...That Mr...
...Immediately thereafter I made my report on the Cunningham cases to President Taft, and was dismissed from the service for insubordination...
...Mr...
...The President has chosen to treat my report," concludes Mr...
...Mr...
...On November 12, 1906, President Roosevelt withdrew all coal lands in Alaska from public entry...
...Glavis "felt very despondent about the outcome of the cases...
...A few days before, while still an officer of the United States, Mr...
...Dennett and that there was no appeal from his decision save to Secretary Ballinger, because Secretary Ballinger had stated that he would not act in these cases and because the next ranking officer of the department was Assistant Secretary Pierce, who had signed the decision which Mr...
...Of these 900 claims to Alaska coal lands—among them the so-called Cunningham group—the majority are fraudulent...
...Wickersham Overrules Ballinger SO Glavis took the matter to Attorney General ham...
...There are a great many charges pending against some of the original entries in Alaska...
...Schwartz and himself were positive that this statute did not and could not have the effect of validating fraudulent entries previously made...
...Glavis went to Washington, where he consulted with Secretary Ballinger, Land Commissioner Dennett and the Chief of the Field Service...
...I have told him how it looks to us, and have reminded him of everything we have done for him, and it looks as if he were returning our favors by not standing by us as he ought...
...Ballinger that in as much as Special Agent Love was a candidate for United States Marshal for Alaska, he was not in a position to make an impartial investigation...
...The Facts are These THE coal lands of Alaska owned by the Government," says Mr...
...Glavis was informed that the decision would be rendered by the legal force of the Interior Department itself...
...In this connection, Mr...
...Ballinger appeared before the House Committee on Public Lands in favor of the Cale bill, then pending...
...I was then in a very difficult position," says Mr...
...The giving out of such information was contrary to express regulations of the Interior Department...
...GLAVIS cites instances where men interested in the Alaska coal claims had in some mysterious manner secured confidential information from the land office, the possession of which information by these men rendered his task in uncovering fraud exceedingly difficult...
...Glavis Sends Facts to President ABOUT this time Mr...
...He therefore advised that the cases be postponed until fall to permit such an investigation...
...It is at my urgent request that he is taking this letter to you, as I believe you are the one man in the United States who can and will use the information for the benefit of the whole people of the United States regardless of who may be injured thereby...
...He cites evidence from the records that Mr...
...I assert that in the spring of 1909 the Land Office urged me to an early trial of these cases before the investigation was finished, and when Secretary Ballinger, as the President has stated, knew that the Cunningham claims were invalid...
...Cunningham knew about the allegation in the Jones report to Ballinger that all indications pointed to the Guggenheims as the interests behind the Cunnningham claims...
...After Attorney-General Wickersham had decided against the position taken by Mr...
...Ballinger would have patented the Cunningham claims but for my protest...
...I knew what the law was and my superiors were against me...
...The chance for the wise regulation of Alaska coal lands urged by President Roosevelt would be gone...
...Glavis is possessed of sterling integrity as well as a high degree of practical intelligence...
...He feels that to remain in office under such circumstances is to become a party to the fraud or crime...
...The article is entitled "The Whitewashing of Ballin-ger...
...Glavis states that in conversation with Mr...
...that while in office Commissioner Ballinger urged Congress to pass a law which would validate fraudulent Alaska claims...
...Ballinger himself had told some of the claimants to make no statement until the charges were made, in order that they might know what they had to meet, but that I could not believe this statement...
...As to the action of the Land Office on these claims, I assert that the Land Office ordered the Cunningham claims to patent without due investigation when Commissioner Ballinger knew they were under suspicion...
...Dennett had been advanced to Ballinger's old position as Commissioner sf the General Land Office...
...that shortly after resigning from office he became attorney for the Cunningham group and other Alaska claims...
...Ballinger never commented to me on this phase of my report...
...GLAVIS makes the statement that Mr...
...Ballinger, the Land Office became more FRANCIS J. HENEY ENDORSES GLAVIS Senator Robert M. La Follette, My dear Senator: I have had occasion to learn that Mr...
...It was written by L. R. Glavis who was until a few months ago Chief of the Field Division of the General Land Office, under Mr...
...Glavis tells you...
...Ballinger Admits "Technical Violation" MR...
...Ballinger Becomes Attorney for Cunningham MR...
...This brought forth a letter from the President in which he expressed full confidence in Secretary Ballinger, decided that the facts laid before him by Glavis reflected no improper conduct on Ballinger's part, and granted permission for the dismissal of Glavis...
...Because I knew that these cases were to come before Mr...
...Against such haste Mr...
...Ballinger...
...I was not investigating either Mr...
...For instance, when Mr...
...The men had really no method of taking advantage of these coal measures...
...This information given by Moore, and announced by him in Cunningham's presence, came near preventing my obtaining the affidavit from Cunningham...
...that the terms of the act specifically precluded this...
...Ballinger was personally interested in the claims of other persons besides those represented by Cunningham, is charged by Mr...
...how Jones reported later requesting further investigation "by an experienced and fearless agent...
...In the course of his statement, he said: * * * 'the last section of the bill provides for a consolidation of existing entries and does not call for the proof of good faith of the original entry or location...
...Popular discussion, however, was hampered because the facts which prompted Mr...
...Glavis cites a statute of the United States regarding the impropriety of a government officer taking claims against the government after his resignation, which is as follows: "It shall not be lawful for any person appointed after the first day of June 1872, as an officer, clerk, or employee in any of the departments, to act as counsel, attorney, or agent for prosecuting any claim against the United States which was pending in either of said departments while he was such an officer, clerk, or employee, nor in any manner, nor by any means, to aid in the prosecution of any such claim, within two years next after he shall have ceased to be such officer, clerk, or employee...
...Now, for the first time, they are given to the people...
...With kind regards, Cordially yours, FRANCIS J. HENEY...
...Glavis, "was when in the fall of 1907 I discovered in Seattle, while investigating other matters, that some or all of the coal claims were not bona fide...
...A reversal of that decision on every point was obtained from Attorney General Wickersham...
...A Leak in the Land Office MR...
...At the time these fields were located, corporations were organized...
...My report of this matter to Mr...
...If I accepted their ruling, 100,000 acres of Alaska coal lands were slipping from the United States with no hope of recovery—and were going to claimants many of whom were fraudulent...
...He tells how the land officer resived the first suggestion that some or all of the claims were fraudulent from a report made by Special Agent Love in 1965: how Special Agent Jones was sent in 1907 by Fred Dennett, Chief Assistant Commissioner of the General Land Office, to make a complete investigation...
...Dennett wrote to the Chief of the Field Service: "Glavis has these coal cases on the brain and can not see anything but just one line...
...Ballinger A laimant MR...
...In fact, the information obtained by this claimant, Miles C. Moore, from the Land Office in Washington, considerably hampered me in my effort to get evidence...
...and how on August 2, 1907, Love made a report favoring the Cunningham claims...
...He is acting solely from a sense of public duty...
...Dennett, but the Alaska coal cases...
...Glavis, "how Cunningham got this confidential information...
...In May, 1909, however, Mr...
...Glavis, "as a charge of criminality...
...Miles C. Moore of Washington, one of the Cunningham claimants, came in and stated that he had had a recent interview with Mr...
...Glavis repeatedly protested...
...Glavis, "amount to over 100,000 acres...
...The President's letter is a defense of Mr...
...that soon after he became Secretary of the Interior his office rendered a decision which would have validated all fraudulent Alaska claims...
...He has told me some things about the present conditions in Oregon and the present conditions in the General Land Office at Washington which convince me that things are rapidly relapsing into a worse condition than existed before Roosevelt commenced to stir things up...
...Nevertheless, it is pointed out by Mr...
...He is prepared to resign his office the moment he becomes convinced that under the present administration he cannot prevent fraud against the Government from being perpetrated even after he has secured the necessary evidence thereof...
...He says, "It was agreed by Mr...
...Wickersham became interested in the cases has the matter referred to him, and ten days later delivered inion which "overruled the Pierce decision on every point, upheld my contention and saved the Alaska coal cases...
...I made no such charge, nor do I make it now...
...Glavis became convinced that he had exhausted every resource within the Department in preventing these valuable coal lands from falling into the hands of private interests through fraud, and decided to submit the facts to President Taft...
...Ballinger had about a year before represented a congressman in Alaska coal matters...
...The Department of Agriculture intervened...
...BALLINGER'S RECORD L. R. Glavis in Collier's Gives Facts About the Manner in Which the Alaska Coal Land Claims Were Handled in the General Land Office GOLLIER'S WEEKLY for November 13 publishes an article which raises the question, "Are the Guggenheims in charge of the Department of the Interior...
...He pointed out that in order to demonstrate whether or not the claims were fraudulent, a field investigation could take place only in summer...
...Ballinger or Mr...
...In order to refute this charge," continues Mr...
...I have not been informed what answer the Department of the Interior has made to my statement, but the public will judge whether I am right in thinking the Alaska coal claims are still in danger...
...Ballinger had told him in 1907 that he was "a friend of many of the claimants...
...BALLINGER'S interests in these claims did not cease with his retirement from the land office...
...Ballinger and Mr...
...You can rely absolutely upon everything which Mr...
...Glavis that the conduct of the Interior Department in handling the so-called Alaska coal land cases was such as to raise grave fears that these valuable coal lands would pass fraudulently into the possession of powerful private interests...
...The President has seen in this nothing but overzeal and insubordination on my part, and an opportunity to praise the Secretary of the Interior...
...This law has been interpreted by the Supreme Court of the United States to forbid speculating in coal lands before entry—either by dummy entrymen or by previous agreements to consolidate claims after entry...
...Ballinger was then well informed as to the defects in the Alaska coal claims (which included the Cunningham group...
...but previous to that time there were about 900 claims filed, covering about 100,000 acres (nearly the whole of the coal fields...
...These books contained a memorandum of agreement, dated 1903, between the entry-men to consolidate the coal lands...
...Glavis points out, Re became attorney for the Cunningham group of claims...
...Dennett from charges not made in my report to him...
...Dennett, Assistant Commissioner, notified me as investigator of the whole field, that the Cunningham claims had been approved for patent ON the Love report," and that "three days before this, a telegram signed R. A. Ballinger' was sent to Love in Alaska, directing him to forward the plats which the land office would require in issuing patents to the Cunningham claims...
...Ballinger in Washington, and that Mr...
...It resulted in their getting involved in conditions which, upon the records of the Land Office, are a technical violation of the statute, and it is a situation which should be cleared up.' * * * "Whether or not we agree that a fraudulent entry is a 'technical violation' of a statute, there seems little doubt that Mr...
...It does not appear," says Mr...
...Glavis states that both Mr...
...The conduct of the Land Office in this matter was such that Mr...
...Land Office Rules in Favor of Claimants SUBSEQUENTLY to this, Mr...
...Wickersham's decision every fraudulent Alaska claim would have gone to patent...
Vol. 1 • September 1909 • No. 46
