Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 76, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1911 — PINCHOT TELLS OF COAL LAND CLAIMS [ARTICLE]

PINCHOT TELLS OF COAL LAND CLAIMS

Reviews History of Cunningham Coal Case Io Alaska. ? Gifford Pinchot has-just made public in Washington the brief that he and his brother, Amos, have presented to President Taft in the Cunningham coal lands. The brief is 10,000 words in length and reviews the history of what Mr. Pinchot declares is a “fraudulent plan to acquire fdr a single association, public coal lands in Alaska greatly in excess of the amount allowed by law.” According to th 4 brief, the area involved is about 5,280 acres and the coal is estimated to be worth at least $25,000,000. The Pinchot brothers asked permission some weeks ago to present a brief on the Cunningham case before the president should approve the expected recommendatoins of Secretary of the Interior Ballinger that the Cunningham claims be validated. Mr. Ballinger has not, however, approved the Cunnigham claims, but bas turned the case over to President Taft with the recommendation that it be put up to the court of appeals of the District of Columbia for approval or disapproval The Pinc-hot brief was filed for the president’s information. Much of the evidence presented in the brief is old. The Pinchot brothers charge that the claimants made an unlawful agreement among themselves to defeat the provisions of the United States statutes. limiting the holdings of any one claimant to 160 acres, or any association to 640 acres. “We believe,” say the Pinchots, “that the duty of the executive in regard to the Cunningham claims is obvious and immediate. The record, in our judgment, abundantly proves that the claims are illegal and that from the beginning the claimants have conspired to defraud the government. No resort to a court, or a re-hearing of the-case is necessary to secure justice and protect the people’s property. ’Fhe case against tbe claimants is already conclusive. The claims should be cancelled by the president. “The Cunningham case is of enormous importance,” says the brief in conclusion. “It will decide whether many millions of dollars worth of coal lands, one of the richest deposits of semi-bitumincus coal on the North American continent, shall be held in trust for the people, or pass forever to claimants charged with fraud, under conditions which make monopoly an imminent probability. “No transfer of the Cunningham cases to a court for a decision upon the present record would relieve the executive department of responsibility for failure to have the case against the claimants fully presented by attorneys of experience fend ability and for omitting to produce all the evidence cf fraud available. The people of the United States are entitled to a full and reasonable presentation of their case."