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Show WILSON MAY BE - ASKEDTORESIGH Sccrcfary of Agriculture Likely to Be Drawn Into Ballinger- Pinchof. Row. IT ALL DEPENDS UPON PINCHOT AS WITNESS If He Js Called, Direct Question Will Ee Put Which May Be Embarrassing. BY RALPH M. WHITESIDE. By Leased Vi'ire o Tho Tribune. WASrnxtri'O.Y, Feb. o. Secretary ".Tim'1 "Wilson of the department of agriculture, ivho holds' the record of be-infr be-infr the oldest cabinet niombpv in point of service in the United States, may be rcriuested to retire from the service if certain evidpnoo ; Virmirrli. f nriTi .-7 I in the JBallinccr-Pjuchot controversy, showinc: Secretary Wilson wap copni-zanfc copni-zanfc of former Forester Gifford Pin-cliot's Pin-cliot's intention of sendiiif: a letter to jcuator Dollivor to be read in tho sen-ale. sen-ale. Ti all depends if air, Pinchot: is called as a witness. If bo. tho direct .question will bo piifc'lo the iormer for-pster: for-pster: "Did Secrotary Wilson- conour ill the. pending of your letter to Senator Dolhver?" Nr. Pinchot, it is said, must necessarily answer 'Yes.' May Shouldor Entire ' Burden. President. Taft dismissed Pinchot: on the chargo that he hud discussed matters mat-ters with a member of congress, apparently ap-parently without consultiuc tho head of lus bureau or the ' president of tho b nited Slates. Mr. Pirn-hot, took his , dismissal without one word in answer to the charce lodged against him- Friends oi. Mr. Pjnchot and Secretary Wilson account for tho silence of the "former to the lneaidslnp of tho men. It may be that tho former forester has chosen to stand the odium of his alleged offense and bear the full brunt without sharing his burden with another. And yet if Mr. Pinchot testifies, as T have, outlined above, it will mean an insiant summons to Secrotarv W7jlsou to take the witness stand. Tic. will be asked if Mr. Piiichot. sent, the Dollivor letter with his knowledge. ',. If the secretary sec-retary answers "No," it. will raise the question of veracity; on the other, hand, if ho answers. Yes." it. will place him in" the 'same predicament, that MivPin-chot MivPin-chot is now' in, for President Taft was not consulted by anj'pniv v.V' Joint Committee .-in5 Session. A nieotiug of l'Jc ';joint committee-was committee-was bfdd today to consider certain im portant documents sint by the secretary of thr interior late yesterday yester-day to the ei;airraan of the committee. Scnatur Nelson. Louis P.randeis, attorney at-torney for former Fiold Agent Olavis, scored tho dvpar Intent of the interior for tardiness in producing these documents, docu-ments, which are, said tho la-wyer, ''essential ''es-sential to the case of Glavis and essential essen-tial to the whole investigation because be-cause they have been .kept from the knowledge of President Taft." Tho meeting today was to examine the papers beforo turning them over to Glavis' counsel. Following the star chamber session an open meeting of the committee was hold, when it was announced an-nounced that attorneys could only iu-spect iu-spect the papGrs in tho presenco of the clerks of tho committee and that no duplicate copies should bo made. This adds an air of myster3- to the case, heightoning to that" which it enjoyed en-joyed before. Following this announcement announce-ment the joint committee adjourned until un-til next Friday. .1. .1. Yerlrccs of Nashville, Nash-ville, leading counsel for Secretary Bal-linger, Bal-linger, was introduced to the members of tho committee todny preparatory to his initiation into the investigation. |