The San Francisco call., 1898-05-13

the easiest method of getting rid Of the books would be to burn them. But PI do not know whether his suggestion was carried into effect. AS far as l am concerned I wish they were still in ex- istence. I should like to see them and should like for you to have look at them.''
 Don't you think those books are still in eXistence?"
 ''I don't know, I'm sure. If they are, I have been unable to locate them. wish 1 were sure about 1t.
 Huntington admitted that the Con tract and Finance Company received for the work of building the Central Pacific all of the Government subsidy and all of the bonds and stock of the road, and at the time of the comple- ton of the work the road owed the con- struction company something more than s6, 900, 000 The latter debt was liqui dated, he said, by the issuance to the construction company of bonds on the land grant to the amount of $7,000, 000 He also said that the work of building the road was hurried to completion be- cause of a desire to accommodate the people of California and secure a great CT volume of trade for San Francisco, and not for the purpose of getting hands on as much of the Government subsidy as possible.
 Does the Rocky Mountain Coal Com pany supply the Central Pacific and Southern Pacific roads with coal?"
 Tt supplies the Central Pacific and occasionally the Southern Pacific"
 What is your connection with the coal company"
 'I am one of the stockholders in the company"
 You are also a director of the Gen. tral Pacific road and president of the Southern Pacific, are you not?"
 Yes"
 Then how do you reconcile your acts with that section of the constitution of the State of California which says No president, director, officer, agent or employe of any railroad or canal com pany shall be interested, directly or in- directly, in the furnishing of material or supplies to such company
 Well, that don't seem to be very definite, and l never paid much atten- tion to 1t. At any rate, I did sell fuel to the roads, and if there was anything to be made out of 1t made it"
 Huntington related at some length how It was necessary to spend consid- erable sums of money each year in or der to properly explain" things to members Of legislative bodies. He said It was frequently necessary to hire the constituents of Congressmen and Sen ators to do such explaining" because 1t was impossible for strangers to ap- proach sufficiently near to allow of con- f1dential intercourse
 some men," he said, "are very care ful of their reputations, and that is per- fectly right. It may be that their repu- tat1ons are somewhat tender and will not stand much bruising. A great deal or money used to be paid out here for this purpose, but I put a stop to that some years ago"
 Ihls admission regarding the use of money Tn San Francisco and California anorded an excellent opportunity for me or examination that would be pro- ductlve or some information of real local witness would no doubt have given the inside history of how thousands of dollars or hush money had been transferred from the treasury of the railroad company to the cofers of certain San Francisco newspaper that makes a speciality of pa rading It's virtues before the eyes of the puDl1c. T ne witness would also have re- lated, no doubt, how this same newspaper had TOT years levied blackmail on the cor poration It is quite possible that some information might have been gained re- gardlng the sums that have in the past been expended in corrupting courts and the State Legislature. But Judge Hayne allowed the opportunity to pass, whether intentionally or otherwise did not appear. AT any rate the opportunity was one of during the present examination without, apparently attracting the attention of the able gentlemen who are conducting the inquiry.
 The examination will be continued to-day