St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-08-23
SAYS HE is NOT CORRUPT.
Gen. Raum Repels the Garages
Against His Character.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22.-Gen. RauIn,
commissioner of pensions, was again
placed on the stand when the house in
vestigating committee met this morn
ing. Representative Cooper, who so
unceremoniously left the committee
room yesterday because the committee
refused to allow him to ask Gen. Raum
how much he was worth, was present,
and conducted the investigation. The
commissioner described the details con-
nected with the formation Of the refrig
orator company in January, 1890. He
had paid part of the money to the COM
pany due ON his stock, probably using
some of the Lemon" money. He had
a good deal of money at the time, and
he drew check on the Bank of the Re-
public. Other questions by Mr.. Cooper
drew from Gen. Raum protest that
they were too inquisitorial. He de-
declined to say how much of the Lemon
money he put into the gypsum mine.
Mr.. Cooper had read an article from the
Washington correspondent of the Gin
cinnati' Commercial Gazette, published
in that paper ON June 9, 1890. in which
it was stated that the charges against
Gen. Raum were untrue and were cir
culated by discharged employees of the
pension office. Mr.. Cooper asked Gen.
Raum if the article was prepared in his
office or written by him. Gen. Raum
answered In the negative to both QueS
author, but declined to do so. Mr..
Cooper said that he expected to prove
that the article had been supervised and
authorized by Gen. Raum. Gen. Raum
stated. in answer to question from
Mr.. Cooper, that he owned majority
of stock in the gypsum mining company
about 100000 worth, but declined to
answer how much he paid for the stock.
Mr.. Cooper asked the witness if he had
any stock in an enterprise for making
smokeless powder, but there were pro-
tests and objections to the question.
Mr.. Cooper said that he was endeavor-
ing to test Gen. Raum'S Judgment by
asking these questions. He was trying
to show that at the time when Mr..
Lemon went on Gen. tRaum's notes
Gen. Raum was insolvent. He expected
to prove further that Lemon knew that
this was so. Mr.. Cooper added, some
what dramatically, that turpitude was
in every element of the case; turpitude
had been shown by Gen. Raum when he
allowed Lemon to go on his notes.
Gen. Raum here rose and made state
of any misconduct in Office. The men
who penned the articles against his
character knew they were false.
Cooper had said that he could
produce testimony to prove the
first charge (abOut selling stock In the
refrigerating company. He defied him
to bring single witness to prove the
charge. Not single man, woman or
boy, of the 1,5O0 employees of the pension
office would testify in support of the
charge. Under the guise of friendship,
Mr.. Cooper had stated he was seeking
to break down his (Gen. Raum's) char
acter. The issue in this case was ''did
l c0rruptly perform any act While III
office?" He was prepared to meet that
charge. He did not propose to
have his private business venti-
lated. He was not insolvent and
had never been lnsolvent. Gen. ID. v.
Boynton. Washington correspondent OF
the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette,
testified that the article published on
June had been sent out by him. He
had asked Gen. Raum for statement,
but the article published had been
handed him by another correspondent
who said it was something that Gen.
Raum would probably like to have
published. Gen. Raum described in
detail the operation of business in
pension cases. When he had finished,
Mr.. Cooper replying,t to Gen. Rauni, said
ne objected to taking cases from the
pending files and placing them OH the
completed files on certificates of attor-
news that they we're completed.
'sYou did not always object" said Gen.
Raum.
Mr. cooper asked for an explanation.
stWhy." was the answer you have filed
5000 cases tor one firm of attorneys.
There was much laughter at this.
Gen. Raum read statement giving the
number of claims placed on the COM
pleted files to Aug. 16 last. The total
number was 1864. and of these Lemon
filed the greatest number by one indi-
vidual, 8.11O. Martin Bailey, chief of
the law division of the pension Office,
was sworn and testified as to the cases
on the completed files, and how busi-
ness was conducted In the pension
office. Lemon had never received any
preference, and no instructions had been
given by the commissioner for showing
Lemon preference. No preference
could be given to attorneys without
his knowledge. Richard Durnan, chief
of the western division OF the pension
Office, told the committee about the
workings Of his division. As the re-