The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-12-02

things. There can be no mistake" he
said; 'the books show that. Go right
through them and you will find that Mr..
Stevens accounts and the books come
out to a penny. He has just taken what
is called the construction account and
added it mp, and has taken from it the
equipment and few personal items and
put down the result. The controversy is
not there"
Judge Dillon-Where is it?
Governor Bedle--It is what the cost of
road is
Judge Stevens-The matter stands
this way, as understand it:-that on the
proofs derived from the company's books
it appears that 500, 900 should be charged
to cost of road, which has not been SO
charged.
Mr.. -Thatdependsa altogether
upon what items of capital expenditure
should be included in "cost of road. "
Judge Dillon-What is included in it?
Mr.. Gummere-That is what / state in
my argument is for your honors to solve.
The question, what is cost of road'' is a
legal question which. when solved by
your honors, makes this very simple
case.
And so the sparring continued for an
hour as to what the items were that con-
stituted the difference between the two
reports-one the sworn report of the COM
pany to the Legislature, the other the re-
port OF Expert Stevens, as made up from
the books of the company-counsel for
the State claiming it was a question OF
law to be decided by the arbitratorS, and
the arbitrators insisting that, while it
was question of law as to what consti-
tuted cost of road, yet in order to deter
mine they must be apprised, as ques-
tion of fact, of what the difference be-
tween the company's amount of cost and
the States amount of cost consisted. And
x1oc Ar,a n hot oyfS
should endeavor to point out to the At
torney General. from the company's
books (Which are in evidence), If possible,
the exact items of which the difference
in each year was composed.
THE ATTORNEY GENERALS TERRIBLE AR
RAIGNAENT.
There was a sharp exchange of legal
blows by counsel on both sides. and
finally the Attorney General arose and in
q most eloquent pitch injected the follow
ing into the argument
"Year by year the property of this COM
pany exempted, as reported by the conas
pany, was growing larger, aud believing
that the State should have an opportu-
nifty of knowing how this company's re-
ports were made up it. was directed that
an examination be made. An eXamina-
tion was made from the books of the
company and the result of that examina-
tion was reported. Then this arbitration
was formed and the State undertook to
prove that the cost of the road was
largely in excess of the sums reported by
the company. They had no other means
than the books of getting the evidence,
and there can be no other way in the
nature of things. There may be clues,
such as the building of a tunnel and
other improvements in a certain year.
But we insist that there can be no better
evidence than the books of the company,
and we select an expert who examines
those books, and he reports to us the re-
suit of that examination, and that is the
evidence before you. An examination of
those books shows that this company
did not report large amounts of property
that were taxable, but on the other
hand reported them as non-taxable. And
our claim is that, If they stand upon the
books, their reports as made to the State
are not correct. and if they stand upon
their reports made to the State, their
books are not correct. Mr.. Stevens ex-
amined every one of these items. If he
had to tell you all about every item in
maintenance of way, and every item in
this and that separate account, or it he
had to go to the journals and ledgers and
spread those on the record, it would oc-
cupy a lifetime. But he tells you that in
every case he took the construction ac-
counts of the company, and that large
amounts that in their books were placed
being there. And the company has not
made any attempt to explain or answer
Mr.. Stevens testimony. That was
my view of it in reading the
testimony, and Governor Bedle has ju st
admitted that there is really no ma aterial
difference between Mr.. Stevens, the eX-
pert, and the books of the company; that
they agree to, penny. So that Mir.
Stevens testimony is nothing in the
world but presentation of the books in
a shorter form. They can go to the books
when they doubt his accuracy and see
for themselves the particular items that
make up construction, and what parti-
cular items they are it is impossible for
the State to know. If placed in a parti-
cuiar class in the books it is tor the COM
pany to show it, not the State.
The argument will he continued on
Thursday. 1t is not probable that the
close of the week will find even Mr.. Gum
no q fhrOr0h with hjS addraaa