BRANDEIS TO HELP PROBE CONTROLLER BAY AFFAIR
Brandeis to Help Probe Controller Bay Affair Noted Attorney Engaged by House Committee to Assist in Bringing out Facts about Taft's Secret Order CONTROLLER BAY will doubtless become as familiar to...
...Adams...
...The Chairman...
...The Chairman...
...The Chairman...
...Aside from the missing "Dick to Dick" letter and the mysterious disappearance of the map from the files of the War Department, there have come to light so many questionable incidents in connection with the withdrawal of these lands from the Chugach Forest Reserve and the subsequent filing upon them by individuals whose relation to the Morgan-Guggenheim syndicate has not yet been entirely cleared up, that the committee has decided to make a most sweeping and thorough investigation into Alaskan affairs...
...The Department of Agri-culture would have nothing further to do with it...
...The Chairman...
...Employees in the Forest Service who are concerned in the preparation and handling of these things, boundary matters...
...Yes, sir...
...Then, the only reason you have for thinking so is that that would be following the general course...
...The Chairman...
...Taft's Order Kept Secret The hearings last week were devoted mainly to laying the foundations for the more detailed investigation to follow...
...Yes, sir...
...Where was that provision taken out of it...
...It undoubtedly would if they published it...
...Brandeis to Help Probe Controller Bay Affair Noted Attorney Engaged by House Committee to Assist in Bringing out Facts about Taft's Secret Order CONTROLLER BAY will doubtless become as familiar to the American people as the Cunningham coal claims...
...It is quite possible that i was not there...
...After it left the Department of Agriculture...
...Brandeis was engaged by the committee to assist it in uncovering all the facts...
...But it did not follow the general course in other respects...
...Fennell...
...Did any others have any knowledge of it...
...And does not that letter state that the public lands have been eliminated by recent proclamation, will be subject to entry at the dates hereinafter mentioned...
...Do you think if it had been so placed the Washington newspaper boys have such noses for news that it would have gotten into the public prints—into newspapers, in short...
...Yes, sir...
...Adams...
...Where was the next place it would go to from that department...
...Adams...
...You are not a news paper man, of course, but even in your judgment do you think it would have been a good news item...
...Efforts to control the course which the inquiry will take, not unlike those exerted by the Administration in the Ballinger investigation, are being made...
...then, why do you think it did in that respect...
...And is not that letter dated February 11, 1911...
...Yes, sir...
...Adams...
...I can not say on what date...
...Following are some illuminating extracts from Mr...
...Adams...
...The Chairman...
...He has already shown aggressiveness in defense of the Administration...
...Adams...
...Fennell...
...The Chairman...
...I understand the practice to have been and to be that you have a hook or a box or a receptacle of some sort where you place such papers, proclamations, etc., as you wish the public to get, so that the newspaper boys have access to them...
...Yes, sir...
...This fine harbor on the southern coast of Alaska —the only harbor left to the public before the President issued his secret order last October throwing the lands upon the shore of the bay open to private entry—is the key to the immensely valuable coal mines, including the Cunningham group, twenty or thirty miles into the interior...
...Burke...
...Fennell...
...The Chairman...
...Reversing that and stating it conversely, is it not very likely true that when they did not get it and did not publish it the reason is that it was not there...
...Administration on Defensive The administration is greatly wrought up over this investigation into the Controller Bay affair...
...Yes, sir...
...The Chairman...
...The Chairman...
...There have been important developments in this Controller Bay affair since the House Committee on Expenditures in the Interior Department began its investigation a few weeks ago...
...No sir...
...Adams...
...Adams...
...Adams...
...Adams...
...When you first saw it you told us it had the provision as to notice...
...The Chairman...
...Adams...
...Publicity Clause Stricken Out Mr...
...They miss very few bets...
...Adams...
...Yes, sir...
...Adams...
...Adams...
...The Chairman...
...That is, on February 11 for the first time the commissioner gives out the information that the land in question will be subject to entry October 28, 1910, some months prior to the date of the letter...
...The office of the Secretary of the Interior, and from thence to the office of the Commissioner of the General Land Office...
...They would naturally have learned of the Executive order within a very short time after it was issued...
...After this Executive order of October 28...
...The Chairman...
...Adams...
...The Chairman...
...The Department of the Interior...
...Can you state whether the order of October 28, was placed in such a place or receptacle...
...Adam's testimony: The Chairman...
...Alfred H. Brooks of the Geological Survey testified to the enormous wealth of Alaska in coal resources alone, while James B. Adams, Assistant Forester and others, were questioned about government practices in matters relating to the public domain...
...Yes, sir...
...I think it followed the usual course as long as it was in the Forest Service...
...President Taft's action in restoring to entry the Controller Bay water front of the Chugach national forest by a secret order of October 28, 1911, and the ef-forts of tthe Guggenheim syndicate to grab this strategic key to rich coal fields were examined...
...Fennell...
...By a public letter Mr...
...Adams...
...Adams...
...On nothing more definite than that it was the custom---The Chairman...
...If you will turn back to the questions and answers I think you will find that you stated to him that you thought this Executive order took the usual course and was given out for publication...
...Adams...
...Now, then, is it not the invariable custom to send this Executive order to the General Land Office, and is it not published or promulgated ven out by the commissioner...
...1910, was issued, which department of the Government would be the department that would give it to the public...
...No, sir...
...Brandeis is expected to appear for the committee in October...
...Adams...
...Chairman...
...I presume it was...
...This report received strong confirmation by the selection of Representative Burke of South Dakota...
...Adams...
...Mr...
...In view of these facts, it is regarded by friends of conservation as a matter of congratulation that Mr...
...Yes, sir...
...Have you not before a public letter in which the commissions does give out that information...
...I can not say that all of the information which we place at the disposal of the newspapers is used by the newspapers...
...in fact, they would have received copies from the department much sooner than February 11...
...Fennell...
...Adams...
...If it was done it was probably within a few days or a week after the date of the order...
...Did you know anything about this land having been eliminated before February 11...
...They must have...
...The Chairman...
...Indeed, doing so would be a violation of a rule of the office which would probably cause the termination of their employment with the Government...
...Burke is an expert in Indian, Public Land, and other matters involving public domain...
...Adams...
...Adams...
...The Chairman...
...It was the custom to do that...
...The Chairman...
...In all these cases except that relating to Controller Bay the date is specified when such lands are subject to settlement and entry, the omission in the Controller Bay case being taken to indicate that these lands became subject to entry at once following the President's older...
...It developed that this order was not made public until February 11, 1911, when it appeared as a paragraph in a land office circular containing notices of sixteen eliminations from national forests...
...Louis D. Brandeis, whose great service to the country as attorney for Louis R. Glavis in the Ballinger-Pinchot investigation of last year won for him the respect and confidence of the American people, has been engaged by the committee to conduct this new investigation...
...Mr...
...Adams...
...Adams...
...I can not say where...
...Yes, sir...
...It is highly significant that Representative Catlin of Missouri, a Republican, last week unexpectedly resigned from the committee...
...Yes, sir...
...It could be no part of their official duty to inform the public of it...
...What others...
...I can not state positively whether it was or not...
...Adams...
...Certainly...
...Adams...
...Fennell...
...Immediately it was reported that this was done to make room for a strong, pro-Administration Republican, one thoroughly familiar with public land matters, whose presence on the committee would be a source of strength to the Administration's defense...
...Have you any information as to where the time notice was taken out of the original Executive order...
...When do you think that was done...
...On what do you base your presumption...
Vol. 3 • July 1911 • No. 30
