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Show CUNNINGHAM COAL CLAIMS DISALLOVZ . . 1 ' FIGHT MADE BV GLAVI3 l SUCCESSFUL Were Chief Bone ef Ccntcn-tlon Ccntcn-tlon ln Eanini:r.r:a-t 'thot Controvert. CAUSE CF E! OF CIFFCID FIIXIIOT The Atatlon Also Fine.!! Forced ResinaUcn cf BaKinr. ' WAHHOTOW, June) 9 Tb fa-moo fa-moo Crmnlnghsm Alaskan coat land claim, through which' It ha been al-leged al-leged that th Morgan CrURrenh elm syndicate syn-dicate had plaanad to extend their vst lntsrecta la Alaska aad to control on of th most Talnabl coal fle'1 in t: world, war today formally disallow 1 by th departmaot of tb Interior. Secretary of the Interior Fisher hav. ing approved tbe department's decision as handed ;dowa by Vred Dennett, enm-miaaioner enm-miaaioner f tbe land office, the last dior is believed to hav bora closed to the Cunningham claimants. Their attornevg have threatened an appeal to the United Unit-ed fHtate supreme court, but such an appeal can be based only on some pmtit of law involved, and not oa the fmdm-s of fact, as anoouneed by the dcpais-ment. dcpais-ment. Oonte Lasted Over Two Tear. Th Cunningham alaima hav been In the public eve for more than two ver,. They brought about the halbnger -1'm-chut invest igation by eongresa and the dismissal from the pulilie eervue of Chief rorastsr GirTord Pmchot, lxiu'a R. Ohsvis, a chief of Anld division in th land ofne. nd everal minor of. Uriels. Beth Messrs. Pinrhot and vi wr dismissed for insuborutnation incident to their attacks on f.irsier Becretary Bellinger, whom tbev clniir- I wa favorably disposed toward i Claims. x ... .. , . , .. la announcing th decision of tos ' ' partnient tolay, Secretary Kisher, " suoceeded Mr. Ballmer, declared tu-t sew eul lead lass are. need i in Alaska if that territory ia te be developed de-veloped properly. In a statement tn aerretary says: . "This is a anal deciaioa of th Cun- aingham claims so far aa th department depart-ment of the interior i concerned. Anv further proceeding will be mare.y formal for th purnoa ef perfecting th record ia esse th claimants think thr ar sjnostiou of law which tbev asaire to present to the eourts. It i my understnnding that it ia eoaeeded that th finding upon the, facta by th department are coaelusive. ''It l tbk inUntiea of th department depart-ment to proceed at once to a final de-termiaatioa de-termiaatioa of all th remaining Alaskan Alas-kan coal claim so far aa this can properly prop-erly be don, denying t hose that should be denied, and granting those that should, be granted, a rapidly a posei-bl. posei-bl. Hope Law Will B Ohaogad. "I do ot believe th present law applicable to coal lands la Alaska ar wis or practicable laws. .Nevertheless .Neverthe-less th provision must . be enforced, first, -iccause they are the law. aad second, sec-ond, because they afford the only pro-tee pro-tee tioa to th public welfare against th abuses of monopoly aad unrestricted unrestrict-ed private exploitations. I sincerely trust that thee law will be modified t the asxt session of congress so aa to permit the development of th , Alaskan eoal laads aide provision tht will mors adequatelv protect aad promote th public interest. If, bow-ever, bow-ever, ther ara claims now pending which under th existing laer ar entitled en-titled to pateat, I ae ao justification for sot taking actios apoa them aa promptly as the department east b as- . sured that It is ia possssaioa of the facta upoa Which each actios earn, el-timaUly el-timaUly be taken. '-- Commissioner Dennett, ia his deci-aiso deci-aiso holding th elsim for cancellation oa th ground af fraud, declare that each of the thirtv three ontnaa wa improperly allowed because aft fatal defects de-fects appareat on their face. He assert thst tb gov era meet eoai-tlnsively eoai-tlnsively established the charges) brought against th claimaat aad that there i ao doubt that aa agreement rusted among them ia violation of ' hw- Coal rinwt la World. J . v Th thirty-three clarms . iavolved -amounted t aa aggregate area of &250 acre. Th value of the land ha bee estimated high ia the miliums. Th coal embraced ia tb claim is said to . be among th laeet ia th world. Commissioner Dennett make th frequeat reference to the work of Ulavie ia prnssrutiag the gnvcrameat's ease agaiaat the Coaaiagham rlaim-auta. rlaim-auta. He also refers at Icagtk to the agreement between Cunningham aad representative of Guggenheim, who wars ahowa at th Balliager-Fiachot hearing to have taken aa option on these coal lands, which wcre-to.be worked ia roaaeetioa with the other eiteaeiv Gaggeoaeim iatereei ia Alaska. Th govraaeat charged against Cunningham and hia associates that their eatrie of tb eoal lands wer -asad ia pursuance of aa anderstandiag aad agreement entered into by all th elaimaats prior to location, to combine the several claims for the joint use aad benefit af all. It was further claimed 4hat the entry was made with the ualawful purpose that thev shqaid isur to the ns aad benefit of aa a-aoeiatloa a-aoeiatloa or corporation. After reviewing all the facts bru-it . (Centiaucd on pae 2.) ' Suire a coal Held at joint expenae to be veloned for the common benefit. There waa aot at anv time a departure from thia original compact aave the ubstitutioa of tha aalary to Cunning-bam Cunning-bam for the one eighth interest he intended in-tended to aerure in the aevoral elaima. 'Carrying into aTect the purpose of acquiring thia eoaT (If Id for the common com-mon nae and benefit of the member ot the aeeoeiation. elaima were located and tntriee made ia the name of the individual!, but tha making of these lo cations and entries ia tha manner indicated in-dicated were means to an end. and the names of the individuala were used only to effect a colorable compliance with tha law. "They axerciaed no choice in the ae-lection ae-lection of their elaima. manifested no interest in their individual value, and (except perhaps Baker) sought no information in-formation as to their respective location. loca-tion. Tha field jointly acquired hv all of them and explored at the common expense waa tha only object of their solicitude." CUNNINGHAM CLAIMS (Continued from page I.) out at the various trial and hearings ia the cases extending over a period of several year and including the final hearing recentlv attended by Secretary Fisher himself,' Commissioner Dennett reached the conclusion that the claims had ao legal standing and ordered them eaaceled. Secretary Fisher promptly approved this finding, although to complete com-plete the record he must do ao formally upon appeal to him. Among the Cunningham claimant are a number of the prominent mea of the aerthwesf Commissioner Dennett refer to them aa having sufficient mean to have earned forward extensive exten-sive coal operation 10 Alaska. Tha various va-rious claimant were Interested in the Alaskan coal aituatioa ia 1102 by Clarence Cunningham, who made the various filings and conducted most of tha negotiations. The elaima onca were clear listed for patent, but final actioa was held np at the request of Olavia "There seems to be no doubt," said Commissioner Dennett in his decision, "that in the beginning the partici-panta partici-panta were subscribers for joint interests inter-ests and not owners of separate claims aad that theubtantial character of the transarfoa never changed. Ia 1906 they wera still 'co-owners'-of a single property, although in order to acquire it each particular claim had beea allotted ta a particular individual aad had bean catered by him ia kia name." Afraaaant With Ouff enhelm. The original agreement with the ftug geaheim contemplated the formal ios of a corporation aa aoon aa the titlea wera secured. This plan gsvs the Ong-I genheim the right to mine the coal oa a royalty basis. Tha Guggenheim were also to build a railroad from the mince to tha eoaat. Aa Anally catered into, the agreemeat with the Guggenheim! for a sale aroused serious objections from ssvsral claimanta. "The fact," sav Commissioner Dea nett, "that it wa reported te the Guggenheim that there wera thirty-three thirty-three iadependeat claimanta to be reckoned reck-oned with in ae wise strengthe. the defease. Is ia not to be supposed that any van mea representing these entry-men entry-men a a committee would suggest to a prospective purchaser ef the property that the claim were illegal and the sevsral antriea subject to forfeiture. 'That all the work ao far doae was paid for from the eommoa fund is not denied. It t aamiriea or cna clamant clam-ant and frankly stated la the brief of their eonaael that oaa claim of 1(0 acraa aaaot be nrontablr worked; that some time and somehow th claims must be operated together. I it reasonable to suppose that business mea would agree te th common investment of their moneys jointly ta explore a coal Held in Alaaka with the understanding that the several claim should be operated separately or with no underataading with respect thereto Would they cob-eat cob-eat to spend money toiatlv where there wa te be ao eommoa profit! Sob rolnted Quelana. "Knowing that aa area of ISO acre could aot be uccsfullv operated and that the greater th area the mora valuable valu-able the property would mean, would thev, connected bv the tie ot blood, have consented that their claim be Mattered throughout the field Would men who had beea associated together aa partnera sine tbsir youth, aad wh had growa rich together, have agreed t the placing of their claim at remote ants eras from each otherl If each claimant w ta receive a singl tract and a interest ia any other, would Cunningham bava located the great majority ma-jority ef the men who first went into the scheme aad made it success aa th timber claim of th souther tier, claims which possessed but little value as compared with the others t If there waa ao prior agreement, would Clarence fuaniagham. in April, 107, before manv of the certificate were ieaued. have entered into aegotiatioa with the Guggenheim looking to th disposition of the combined propertieaf "The amounts contributed bv the cral entrvmea were substantially the ssme. If it was aot understood there erss to be a common profit, would the sixteen upon whose claim nothing whatever was done have permitted the use of their fuads for the developmeat of the other claim, and would thirty-two thirty-two of them have Buffered their joint funds te be expended ia driving the expensive tuanela oa one claim " further discussion of the fact is aot accessary They speak for themselves, them-selves, and speak plainly. There wa of! at any time a single act performed that connected anv claimant with the precise tract be claimed to locate. There was not a dollar spent by aay locator individually or by agent ' on land he cleared, but acta dona and each dollar disbursed were for the purpose of determining de-termining whether the field a a whole contained workable deposit of coal. "Prior to th hearteg eighteen ef the claimanta admitted under the sol-esna sol-esna sanctity of aa oath that they pre ceeded from the beginning with the understanding that whea the pateats were secured thev would form a company com-pany for the development of tha prop ertv. "The alaa from the outset was ta ae- |
