CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION OF ALASKA COAL CLAIMS
Congressional Investigation of Alaskan Coal Claims LITTLE testimony was taken during the second week of the Congressional investigation of the Alaskan land cases. But the developments of the week...
...Questioning Mr...
...This statement caused considerable merriment at the hearing and brought an explanation from Senator Nelson which cleared the Senator from any charge of interest in the schemes of McKenzie but gave added emphasis to Mr...
...Did you think it would aid the President...
...I didn't know: I didn't think it wmild injure him...
...Pinchot...
...but this was defeated, and a compromise reached by agreeing upon February 10...
...A week went by...
...Brandeis would not, however, be permitted to make any copies...
...Now, again, why was it you made that affidavit...
...Glavis...
...It was a rough country, of burned-over and logged-off tracts to a large extent...
...As it is, the delay will be much shorter than at first planned...
...You did not do it with the idea of attacking President Taft...
...Glavis, They were omitted from the report of the case submitted by th^ Attorney General...
...These are the papers and documents called for by Mr...
...asked Representative Madison...
...There were never any settlers in the Mount Rainier Forest Reserve...
...But Mr...
...No...
...Without these documents, Mr...
...Yes," replied Mr...
...In thus delaying the investigation so as to enable Secretary Ballinger to secure attorneys, the committee did not act unanimously...
...Gifford Pinchot appeared before the committee at the meeting on February 5. He announced that he had engagea~ Nathan A. Smythe of New York as his attorney...
...Glavis con-tends, the record is not complete and it is not possible to pass an accurate judgment upon the merits of the case...
...Pinchot, in reply to a question, said: "The story I have to tell is my connection with conservation...
...Who is this man McKenzie...
...Brandeis, as the record shows, called the attention of the committee to the fact that the documents had not been forthcoming, and repeated his request for them...
...Brandeis would be permitted to see them...
...During the hearings of the first week, Mr...
...WHEN he appeared before the committee on the 5th, Mr...
...This protest, sent to Secretary Bollinger by Chairman Nelson, was effective...
...The committee adjourned to February 4. After adjournment, the committee went into executive session...
...Who did McKenzie make this statement to...
...Chairman Nelson called for them...
...None of the papers would be placed in the record until the committee had passed upon it...
...inquired Senator Sutherland...
...Brandeis protested vehemently against the apparent indifference of the Secretary of the Interior to the committee's request...
...And it also appears that he is not to be allowed to finish until Ballinger's attorneys have had time to examine the record to date and to continue the cross-examination to which Mr, Glavis has been subjected by the members of the committee...
...oftener they ignored the law entirely, and sold for prices twenty times greater...
...Briefly stated, the events of the week were as follows: On Monday, January SI, Mr...
...Glavis, Senator Fletcher asked: "What relation did he bear to Commissioner Dennett and Secretary Ballinger...
...In one particular case in Oregon the conditions of the land grant required the railroad to sell lands to bona fide settlers at not to exceed $2.50 an acre, and not more than 160 acres to any one person...
...There may be a copy of it in the forest service...
...After some discussion, this resolution was withdrawn...
...This town he called Nelson in honor of Senator Nelson...
...Interest has also been aroused to a keen pitch by the difficulty experienced by Attorney Brandeis in securing from the Interior Department documents bearing on the Alaskan land cases...
...The Southern Pacific, which later acquired this road, sold these lands, not to settlers, but to land syndicates...
...The documents come to the committee late the same afternoon...
...The same afternoon the documents were sent from the Interior Department to the Committee...
...inquired Senator Root...
...Glavis added he thought the affidavit would al?o be of interest to Mr...
...But the developments of the week in this inquiry were fully as significant as those of the first week's hearings...
...Brandeis was not allowed to see them...
...It claimed that the word "settler" meant those who had already settled on the land at the time of the grant, and not those who, seeking lands, came after...
...SO IT appears that the committee is not through with Mr...
...Garfield...
...Chairman Nelson promised to call for them again, and added that he would attach a copy of Mr...
...The next day, February 5, after -a stormy discussion in exgciu tive session, the committee reached the following decision: ; The documents were to remain in the custody of the clerk of the committee, who was instructed to make a complete list of these papers...
...asked Senator Root...
...He specified those that were needed to supply documentary evidence in line with Mr...
...Brandeis, however, was not permitted to examine them at that time...
...but always they sold to themselves—for these syndicates were dummy syndicates—and in quantities as high as 45,000 acres to one purchaser.—C...
...asked Representative Madison...
...At this session a resolution was offered calling upon the Attorney General to detail one of his best men to act as attorney for department officials who might be involved in the testimony...
...but restrictions were laid down as to what use he might make of them...
...At this meeting on February 4, Louis D. Brandeis, attorney for Mr...
...Sometimes the railroads sold to these syndicates for the maximum price fixed by Congress...
...Finally, on the 4th, Mr...
...He was very friendly with both...
...Newspaper reports state that when the question of adjournment was before the committee, in executive session, three of the members opposed such delay...
...He is interested in the Dacon group of claims in Alaska and is known among the agents as a lobbyist here in Washington...
...News of the summoning of John J. Vertrees, a Tennessee lawyer, was given out from the same White House sources...
...Glavis' statement that McKenzie was a man of influence in legislative circles in Washington...
...He said he understood the documents were ready, but were being held back...
...Under the act of March 2, 1899, this company was permitted to exchange these 1,000,000 acres of doubtful lands for an equal number of acres of other lands "lying within any State into or through which the railroad of said Northern Pacific Railroad Company runs...
...Have you a copy of it...
...Glavis' testimony...
...But instead of continuing with the testimony, the members held another executive session, at which they determined to adjourn long enough to permit Secretary Bollinger to engage an attorney...
...The witness then testified to a conversation he had with a Judge McKenzie, in which the latter said the reason James R. Garfield was not in President Taft's cabinet was because of his antagonism to the coal claimants in Alaska...
...Significance is attached to the fact that this delay was brought about after the newspapers announced that the Cabinet had on February 2 discussed the necessity of Secretary Ballinger's employing an attorney...
...When did you make that affidavit...
...And that includes the Alaskan coal land cases and water power cases...
...I thought it might be of interest to President Taft if I had another opportunity to see him...
...Glavis in his testimony on January 31 related a conversation he had with Donald McKenzie, a coal land claimant, who, under the authority of an act of Congress, located a townsite in Alaska...
...Brandeis permission to examine the documents...
...They were Representatives Madison, James and Graham...
...After you had seen President Taft...
...Chairman Nelson explained that he was not responsible for the delay—he had promptly asked Secretary Ballinger to produce them...
...I remarked to Jones that if he had strength enough to get rid of Garfield he could also get rid of us too," said Mr...
...Why did you make an affidavit...
...I thought it would be worth remembering in the further investigation of these cases if we had to call McKenzie as a witness...
...Yes, sir...
...This brought about quick action...
...Glavis, made vigorous protest against the delay of Secretary Bollinger in furnishing documents thai had been called for...
...We made an affidavit to that effect...
...asked Senator Root...
...Under this act, by which the Mount Rainier Forest Reserve was created, the Northern Pacific has selected, in lieu of its doubtful lands, 100,000 acres in the State of Washington, 120,-000 acres in the State of Idaho, and 320,000 acres of the best timber lands in Oregon...
...L. R. Glavis resumed his testimony...
...Brandeis requested that the Secretary of the Interior be called upon by the committee to produce certain documents...
...Glavis • • • How a Railroad Got a Rich Chunk of Uncle Sam's Domain THE Mount Rainier Forest Reserve steal best illustrates the devious influences of the railroads in Congress...
...The transfer gave to the Northern Pacific a clean gift of over $30,000,000...
...You thought this statement a boast by McKenzie...
...I left one also in the office at Seattle...
...On February U the committee met again...
...It was decided to give Mr...
...Effort was mada to secure an adjournment until February 14...
...and determined that it should be printed in the published evidence...
...Vertrees in due time appeared and has been retained to represent Secretary Ballinger...
...Brandeis' protest to his letter...
...To Special Agent Jones and myself...
...The Northern Pacific land grant within this forest reserve included, in round numbers, 1,000,000 acres...
...P. Connolly, in Collier's Weekly...
...In September, 1909...
...Other subterfuges were resorted to by the railroads to acquire vast tracts of rich timber and agricultural lands...
...He was on the stand during the entire session of that day...
...On February 5, the committee went into executive session again...
Vol. 2 • February 1910 • No. 6
