The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-04-20
He TestifieS Before the Tele-
phone Investigators.
TELLS HIS SIDE OF THE TALE.
The Brief History OF His Connection
with the Pan Electric
Business
Garland Testihes.

nOunceDenr tnat AIJOrney-OeneEdi
Garland was to appear before the Tele-
phone investigating committee, caused
large attendance this morning. 1t
was nearly three-quarters OF an hour
after the regular hour of meeting when
the Attorney-General appeared looking
pale and rather feeble. With cour-
locus salute 70 the committee he imme-
diateIy took the stand and on the invi-
tation of the chairman he began to
make a statement of his connection
with the Pan-Electric. He wished, he
said. 10 lay before the committee and
reaffirm the matter contained in his
statement to the President on October
8th last.
In addition he wished to explain two
or three points of that statement. On
February, 1888, General Atkins had
said to the witness that he believed the
Rogers inventions were of great utility
II properly handled and that money
could be made out of them; being a
Door man like himself, General Atkins
had desired witness to enter into this.
Il told him" said witness, that had
never undertaken to make any money,
except by law and poker; had always
lost at poker and generally won at law.
/ was willing to go into this if he
thought il offered any inducements.
Continuing, witness said that Senator
Harris made substantially the same
statement about the invention and two
or three days afterwards he (witness)
had been introduced to Mr.. Rogers and
his son at their home. He briefly told
of their organization of the Pan Elec-
trio Company. as detailed by Senator
Harris and other witnesses, and then
turned his, attention to applications
made to him to bring suit against the
Bell Company. 1t was in the inference
and not in fact, he said, that the Pan
Electric had made the application. The
inference was founded on two reasons,
viz: First, that Col. Young came with
the other gentleman Tin the latter part
of Jusy) and witness knew him to be the
treasurer and secretary OF the Pan
Electric, and second, because witness
had on May 18th received letter from
Rogers requesting a suit to be brought
as stakeholder of that company, and
witness had treated Ben Rogers letter
as personal. and he knew Rogers had
no authority to make the application;
that such an application must be made
from the president of the company.
Therefore, the letter had remained I'M
answered and a personal paper had
not been filed. In July Van
Benthuisen had presented his
application for a suit, basing it on law
which. he stated, had been passed at
the last session of Congress. Witness
had not heard of the law before that.
and had some search made, but could
not find the act; the application, how
ever, was so well written, and apparently
set out the passage of the bill so posi-
lively, that the witness felt that the hill
had become a law. The application had
been referred to by witness TO the In
terror Department, where it should
have gone in the first instance, and
witness had heard no more of il until il
had been returned last January, with
other papers. After receiving Van
Benthuisen's letter, witness had set to
work 10 examine into the mat
ter, for though he had no
intimation to that effect, he
was satisfied that other applications
would be made. Looking over the
authorities, he concluded that he could
not order the suit and when Van Ben
thuisen, Young and the others came
to him he had determined that he
would not touch it at all, under any
circumstances. When witness was still
in the Senate, Senator Platt had come
TO him one day with Bell TO authorize
government suits and had asked his
opinion of 1t. Witness had looked il
over and had regarded it as unneces-
sarv. that il would do no good; that
was all he ever said or heard of the
bill until it had been brought to
his attention through the appli-
cation. In the early part of the
fall, Mr.. Humphrey, of
the Globe Telephone Company, had
called upon him at the department
about the application. He thought he
was going 70 jump over on me, said
witness; Humphreys had insisted that
he (witness) order a suit and had said il |
was in another company that his |
{ Humphrey's) rights should be dis
regarded. He got mad because would /
not do anything about it, SAID the wit
ness, land we parted not with mutual |
respect and admiration at ALL" Wit
ness denied that he had ever given an |
opinion about him; the opinion he had /
given, aud the only opinion, was to the /
eject that the Pan Electric inventions
were not arrangements, that they were
upon telephones, that
were differently patentable, q we'll
recognized principle. While a stock
holder he had been very delicate In at
tending the meetings for the reasons
that the place of meetings was inccn-
Veniently situated, that they we're held
at night when witness rarely went out |
Of his house. Although witness was at
torney for the company, yet Mr.. Young |
and Senator Harris usually drew up the |
legal papers and when they were refer |
red to him. witness made such altera- |
tons as seemed to be necessary. These /
papers had been submitted to witness |
in the Senate Judiciary room, but il |
was a mistake to say that any board |
meetings had been held in that room
Witness was satisfied that he had never |
attending a meeting of the company |
Iince the last Presidential election.
Mr.. Ranney wished to know to what |
extent he had acted as counsel for the
company. Witness replied that, as ne
had stated. he had looked over
Agal papers brought to him by others,
Nt had not performed any other duties