The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-03-07

Huntington said Cotton was interested
in that transaction and he (Hunting-
toni had nothing to do with the dis
posal of the estate.
did you not" asked Mr. Morgan,
buy Mrs. Colton's house in San Fran
cisco?''
At did,
and did you not find Colton's pa
pers in the house?"
4 found wall paper there"
'But did you find private papers
there and burn them?''
IF you charge me with that will
answer"
1T is charged by men who have
written to me, men as good as / am
Then they are good men,
| Huntington then asserted with much
emphasis that he neither found any of
| Colton's papers in the house, nor de-
stroyed any of them.
/ Huntington was examined as to his
partnership with Mark Hopkins in the
hardware business in San Francisco.
He declared the hardware BUSINESS
| was in no way connected as partner
ship with the railway business. The
firm, he said, loaned money to the rail-
roads, also bought railroad securities
which were divided between them as
individuals. He said Morgan was ask
ing too much when he asked him to
give details of business transacted
thirty-five years ago. There has, been
no general settlement of his and Hop
! kins' account upon the latter's death.
but Mrs. Hopkins had gone on as the
representative of her husbands inter
eStS in the railroads.
Mr.. Huntington said in reply to ques-
lions that he had considerable means
outside CT that invested in the hardware
business which he put into the con-
struction of the Central Pacific. He
could not, however. remember how
much actual money he had put into
that construction. Still he was conf
dent the amount was considerable. He
had bought, he thought, about 1000
shares of the stock at the rate CT 800
! per share before the road reached New
castle. He had also put money into the
Contract and Finance company, by
which the road was continued.
More than $5.000,00O had been put into
that company by himself and his asso-
ciateS, but much of the money had been
borrowed. some of it on the government
bonds. He resented with some show of
indignation,a question tending to show
that it was the government and not the
company who had conducted the con-
struction saying that the company,
with resources legitimately placed at
their command, had constructed it. He
added that the company had built
thirty-one miles of the road without
any government assistance.
Mr.. Morgan complained in this con-
nection that Mr.. Huntington was too
much inclined to give opinions and not
facts, but Mr.. Huntington contended
that he was giving all the facts he
said. He said that 74O miles of the
road had been built in seven years,
that $25. 0O0 900 in bonds had been re-
4t,or
mortgage bonds were issued for S25,-
100000 more and that there were $780,
100000 worth of stock. He said he would
not do the work again for twice the
amount he received. Taking up the re-
port of the Pattison commission, Mr.
Huntington said that part of the road
west of Ogden from Bonneville Table to
Promontory mountain had cost, accord
ing to General Dodge, $S7. 900 per mile,
whereas the commission had put the
price at 0,000 He gave this as an il
lustration of the inaccuracies Of the
commissions report. This part of the
road had been built by the Union Pa
cific and afterwards been purchased by
the Central Pacific for the purpose Of
getting into the Salt Lake valley.
Mr.. Huntington said the road paid
well for the first ten years, and until
the Atchison and Northern Pacific had
y.
Mr.. Morgan asked why the dividends
had not been put into a sinking fund
and used in paying the government and
first mortgage debt, to which Mr..
Huntington replied that it might have
been done, Except for the novelty Of
it. Such things are never done if"
he added 'the stock was entitled to
its dividend Furthermore, the gov
eminent had interfered with the pur-
70 10 :, rr1t-,
act. Mr.. Huntington said he could
not remember how much money he had
received on account of the dividends,
but he did not think the amount was
large. He thought the dividends had
never exceeded 10 per cent It ap-
peared upon examination that Mr..
Huntington obtained his dividends
principally through his interest in the
Finance and Contract company. He ad
mitted that this company had used a
part of it's assets in building other
roads, but these We're built in the best
interest of the Central Pacific COM
pany. The Contract and Finance COM
pany had begun to sell its stock when
it began to appreciate, and this was
done in order to pay the debts, which
amounted to from $1,000 900 to $4,000
900. They had disposed of a great deal
of the stock for this purpose. The price
from 10 to So cents. Senator Morgan
referred to the fluctuations in the stock
as the result of manipulation, but Mr..
Huntington took exception to the use
of the word. He said there had been
no manipulation, and "this is notS-a
proper word to use"
Mr. Huntington said he had sold
stock paying a dividend for 10 cents
on the dollar, but declared in reply
to question that this was not done
to break the market. He also declared
that this was not remarkable, and that
he had made the sale because he
wanted money.
Did you tell your broker to sell as
low down as he could get?"
THAT is a question: replied Mr..
Huntington, that the senator should
not ask me. But I did not tell him
that"
Mr. Huntington said that so far as
he knew these low sales had no effect
ON the Union Pacific stock He had
sold no Central Pacific stock to bear
the Union Pacific.
Then what did you sell for?" asked
Mr.. Morgan.
ITO pay my debts'
ITO whom were you indebted"
'"To those from whom had Dor
rowed money
'fWho were they?"
''Those who had let me have money
Mr. Huntington then declared that
he did not know who his creditors
were.
The committee then adjourned until