The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-11-16
ne during the legislative session of

time during the legislative session of
1904"
Mr.. Odell said he told James H. Hyde
at their first interview that the AInb-
Ter bill would be stopped by him, that
there was no fear, no matter what was
done about his settlement or any re-
taiiatory legislation. He did not bother
Mr.. Hartman about the matter.
Mr.. Odei1 said he wrote the letter at
the request of Mr.. Mcintyre, former
fourth vice president of the Equitable
in pehalf of Mr.. Hyde's candidacy for
the French enthusiastically. This had
nothing to do with the ship building
ambassadorship. This had nothing to
do with the ship building settlement
The letter was written before the set
tlement
1--WE have had mentioned in the
course of your testimony the subject of
contributions for political purposes;
you have stated that you never soiicl-
ted any from an insurance company.
Were any ever made to you voluntar-
ny?"
mo"
Did any ever come to your Indirect
Possibly. through the national COM
mittee and through Senator Plat"
What relation had Senator Platt to
the matter2"
When. Plat Came In.
He always gathered all the fund to-
gether ever since I have been connect
C0 Win 4NSPuD4ANcAA4 RO1ANA-o C@A~~RN N---
The witness said he knew nothing of
the efforts of insurance companies TO
prevent inimical legislation and knew
of A. c. Fields actively in that dlrec-
ton only by hearsay He did not know
Andrew Hamilton. He said no moneys
had ever been placed in his hands dl-
rectly or Indirectly for political pur-
poses or otherwise to influence legisla-
ton. His was not the ship building
suit settlement said Mr. Oden The
Untermyer suit was settled and so were
others. He felt that his claims were
Just
"Of course" said Mr.. Hughes, you
will understand the committee is not
here to try out the merit of the claim
We are simply inquiring because def1n-
ite threats were made that"
There is no truth in that statement
so help me God"
Whenahis settlement was under dis
cussion Mr. Hyde said to him, that
the Equitable Life had always made
political contributions. Mr.. Hyde did
Mr.. Odel1 was asked to tell precisely
the facts about the introduction of the
Amber bill. He replied:
why, had prepared the lntroduc-
ton of that bill and brought the whole
ship building case before Mr.. Jerome,
the district attorney Of New York ana
stated that he had better look into 1t
and see whether there was anything
connected with II or any LnlnS III COlt-
nectiOn with the syndicate which had
not been Investigated by his office. he
had the case for some time ana ne
said to me after several weeks that ne
had gone into it very carefully and had
come to the conclusion that there We're
no grounds for criminal prosecution
In the meantime such concerns as the
fire company and the Whiting Upper
company and American bicycle trust
and some fourteen or fifteen others
had been mentioned as having been
either projected by Alexander ana
Green and presumably with the ap-
prOval and support OF the MercahJlle
Trust. all of which had been failures
and it was suggested that something
ought to be done to stop it and in talk
ing over the matter in conference with
people who came in it was decldeo
that some legislation, some remedial
legislation, could be formulated and
would prevent the unloading upon the
public of these securities among 9th
er than those which I have mentioned
Papers Took 1t Up.
I'm the meantime the papers had
taken an entiely different and antagOn-
istic views of the matter; whether they
had been inspired or not do not know
but there was more or less talk about
it being a measure to get even with
somebody; and then when Senator
Abbler came in to see and talked with
him about it 1 said to him that under
the circumstances he better let the
whole thing drop
Mr.. Untermyer asked permission to
cross examine Mr.. Odel but was re-
fused.
Senator Chauncey NJ. Depew was
called and testified that he was asked
by James Hazen Hyde to use his in
fiuence with President Roosevelt to
secure Mr.. Hyde the ambassadorship
TO France; that he spoke to the pres
ident about it, and the president said
it was utterly impossible. The SEN
ator said he had been a director of
the Equitable since 1877 and was a
member of the executive committee.
He never heard of the various trustee
accounts until this investigation. He
knew of the campaign contributions
only in a general way. He did not
know the amount contributed to the
national campaign of 1904. He hoSed
both state and national legislatures
would pass laws prohibiting these con-
tributions. He thought the contribu-
assured at the time, but he thought
this investigation has changed the
minds of almost everybody.
Senator Depew said he was first
asked to go into a syndicate by Geo.
H Squire. He detailed the various
syndicates he had been in during
years past and said these had netted
him the sum of $1,219. In these syn
dicates he had 5000, 600 tied up most
of the time and 100000 IS stin tied
up.
Columbus Couldn't Help It.
10000 ~ -