Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-02-19
,iILL1oNs FoR DEFENSE,
Row the roIephoue Cases will Probably
be Tried.

from tho Washington Post.
Within the past three or four days there
have been frequent conferences between
the President, Solicitor General Goode, Of
the Department of Justice, and the coun-
sol who will be associated with Mr..
Goode in the conduct Of the telephone
suits against the Bell Company. EX-
senator Thurman, who will be the senior
counsel in the case, was intrusted with
The direction Of the leading features, and
especially the place where suit should be
inaugurated by the United States.
1t is understood that Columbus, Ohio,
has been agreed upon as a suitable place,
since there has been no public agitation or
trial of telephone cases in that section.
and therefore an impartial hearing Is
guaranteed. Trial by jury has been de-
cided upon. Objection was raised against
Washington on account of Its bad rupu-
ration. established by the star route trials
here, when corruption and bribery was
charged. This, the President desires, shall
he avoided in the present suit; and while
there is no disposition to push matters un-
necessarily against the Bell Company,
vet it is deemed best to take the case out
intOa neutral community and endeavor to
secure an intelligent and competent jury
10 decide the point at issue between the
plaintiff and defendants.
The talk that the President is in any
manner, shape or form dissatisfied with
ms Attorney General is the veriest nom
sense. for no member of the Cabinet
stands higher in the Presidents estima-
ton than MIR. Garland. At no time since
the telephone controversy has there been
an offer, implied or direct, on his part to
resign his portfolio, and sensational
statement sent out that he had vOlun-
teered, in the presence of the President,
to surrender his stock to some charitable
institution, or dispose of it in any other
way, is most emphatlcally denied at the
White House.
Five millions of dollars have been set
apart, it is stated, by the Bell people to
defray expenses incurred in defending
their patents, and all their efforts are be-
ing devoted to preventing suit before the
courts to test the validity of their patent.
The agitation before Congress, apparently
in the interest of a thorough investiga-
ton, IS said to be really TO divert the mat
ter from a legal tribunal.
The government counsel are going
ahead steadily with the preparation of
their case. 1t has been brought to their
attention that serious oversight, only
discovered a short time ago, was made by
the Bell people when they withdrew pa
pers from the files of the Patent Office.
They left on file the interference papers
growing out Of the filings of the cayeat
Of Prof Gray for a speaking telephone
and the application of the Bell Company
for a multiple telegraph. These papers
prove very important link in the chain
Of evidence by which fraud and collision
Of officials are sought to be established.
This discovery has been made since the
hearing and decision by the Secretary Of
the Interior, and seems TO strengthen, if
such a thing is necessary, the govern
ment's case.
Should Representative Hanback's reso-
luton regarding a telephone investiga.
ton in Congress be passed, none of the
letters or books of the prominent men of
the Pan Electric and other companies in
terested will be withheld from the COM
mittee. and every facility will be afforded
for thorough and unbiased presentation
of facts.
Another point that has been
brought out and will be submitted in the
government brief refers to the investga-
ton and report by ex-(On missioner of
Patents Marble as to the Pan Electric tele-
phone. He was asked to exaHaine partic-
ularly as to whetherit was in any way an
infringement on the Bell Company's
patent. and after q careful investigation
he decided that there was but one clause
the ffth-in the Bell application claim
ing electricity that could be construed as
similar to the Pan Electric. The Bell
Company, Mr.. Marble declared at the
time, had no more right to claim eXclus-
i've jurisdiction over electricity than it
had to call the air ard water of tie earth
Js own, and the new company had not in
lringed upon any existing patents.
As there is some talk of introducing an
other resolution in the House calling for
inquiry into the pending contest between
the Department of Justice and the Bell
Telephone monopoly, Mr.. Morrison is de-
termIned that if another resolution is
proposed on the subjec it shall be conn
prehensiVe and thorough. But he has no
intention, he says, OF prOpOslngsany reso-
luton on his own account.