St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-09-09
SQUEEZING OF A LEMON.
The Raum Investigating Commit
tee ELECTS New Information.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8.-The special
house committee Investigating the
charges against Commissioner of Pen
sions Raum continued the investiga-
ton. Judge Wilson, Mr.. Lemons at
torney, said that he was ready to exam
inc Mr.. Cooper. Mr.. Cooper objected.
He said that he did not think it was
right to take the investigation out of
his hands and turn it over to MIR. Lem
on's attorney. Judge Wilson said that
his intention was to expedite the case
, and not delay it or turn it aside. Mr..
Lemon was then sworn. He read a
statement covering the points of the
case which referred to himself and
his business. He presented to
, the committee a statement showing
i the claims allowed him by the pension
office for seven corresponding months
=. under Commissioners Black and Raum.
/ The former had allowed him 7.O47. and
the latter $3.50. He said that the charge
that he had been favored by the decision
OF Commissioner RauH any more than
other attorneys was an unqualified false
hood, and he further said that it was
impossible for any commissioner to do
this. The charge, he said. could only be
made through ignorance and malice.
cases affected by the decision of Com
missioner Raum, $4,000 were his, and
that he had received fees on these
claims amounting to $4,000 This
statement, he said, was grossly mae
curate. He had never asked Mr.. Raum
or any other commissioner to favor him,
and in making the charge Mr.. Cooper
had displayed
Ignorance and Malice.
He invited Mr.. Cooper to come
to his Office and examine all the
claims on file, his clerks and his
method of doing business. and requested
him to do this and not 90 and hunt I'D
discharged employees. Mr.. Cooper asked
him what was the amount of his fortune,
and what his annual income from the
pension business amounted to. He re-
fused to answer the questions, and said
that it was none of Mr.. CoOper'S bust
ness. The committee upheld him in
his refusal. In answer to questions by
Mr.. Cooper, Mr.. Lemon said that he
had suggested the ruling complained of
to Commissioner Raum, and had seen
him at different times and urged the
matter. He thought that the ruling was
just. He denied, however, that it bene-
flied him any more than it did others.
In answer to questions ty Mr.. Cooper
in reference to his indorslng the notes
for Mr.. Raum, he told the committee in
detail how and when it happened. Mr..
Cooper asked him if he did not think it
was improper to indorse the notes,
under the circumstances of the
relations he bore Mr.. Raum. He
replied that he did not, and if he had he
should not have done so. In answer to
a question by Mr.. Lewis, he said that
he held 1000 shares of stock IN MIR.
Raum's company as security. He said
the security was offered by Mr.. Raum
himself, and not asked for by him, as he
would have Endorsed the papers on Mr..
Raum's high character alone. He said
that he never had any assurance from
MIR. Raum OF any one else that he would
issue the order he had been urging be-
fore he Endorsed the note, and it merely
happened that he Endorsed the note the
day after the order was issued, and 1t
had 10 connection whatever with the
ruling. In answer to question by Mr..
Sawyer as to how many of the $4,000
cases
Put Into the Completed Files
were his, he said that he did not know,
but did not think there were more
than $500. After few more I'M
important questions had been answered
Mr.. Lemon was excused. Mr.. Cooper
then renewed his request to require
Commissioner Raum to present the
books and other papers of the Universal
Refrigerator company. and made all ar
gument in support of the request. In
reply, Mr.. Raum said that this subject
was fully discussed some time ago, after
which he had shown the books to the
committee with the exception of Mr..
Cooper, and he now refused to make
them public, as he held it was his prl-
vate business. Mr.. Cooper had charged,
he said, that the refrigeration business
was fraud. He denied this. Cooper
knew, he said, when he made this
charge, that it was false, and now that
it had proven failure, and he was un-
able to prove it, he wished to drag his
(Mr Raum's) private business into the
case to damage him personally. After
brief discussion of the request of Mr..
Cooper, the committee went into secret
session. and discussed the matter for
some time, and decided that they would
have to give the matter grave consider
alton. as they had doubts as to their au-
th0rity to compel the production of
private papers. The committee then
adjourned unfit 10 0,efOok tO-moprOu