The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-03-02
MRMWza0
sMzs9 z0z{Jzzzzz5sp

some of the others were working afte,
office hours outside: 1 think he said tina
Mr.. Tyler was. He said that the ex
perience and information that he hac
acquired there, would be useful to q
company of that kind.
Would Serve the State.
I had always been of the opinion that
q company of that kind would be OF use
In the State OF Virginia, and that tho
more there were of them. the better 1t
would be, on account of the inkorrec;
way In which the papers were drawn. and
on account of the fact that, under the
new Constitution, this new policy in re-
gard to corporations had been adopted,
and 1t was the duty OF both tho -Legisla-
ture and the commission to take advan-
tage of 1t and have as many charters
issued In Virginia ms possible. He asked
me about his taking some stock In 1t. / told
that that was a matter for him to Judge;
that as far as the law was concerned, 1t
was clear that there was no legal OBJ
lection to 1t and i saw at the time no
objection to his taking some stock In
the company, the theory. he explained to
me. being that the stock was issued. I
suppose, to Mr.. Gregory and Mr.. Camp
bell. and they were to give him part for
assisting them in the work of this COM
pany. | certainly told Mr.. Lanier SUB
stantially this. These things occurred
In the midst of not only increasing work.
but l think l can say fairly that l was
as busy and as hard-worked "a man as
there was in the State of Virginia, and as
there ever was in the government OF Fir-
GINA l mean. absolutely new. tremen-
dous questions of every sort. many OF
them involving the Constitution OF the
United States. and these things arose
incidentally. But l did unquestionably.
so far as | was concerned. though not
officially in any way. tell Mr.. 1anier
substantially that. Mr.. Lanier, l took II.
was asking me in a general way as to
the law on this subject, and his rights
on the subject. The law was very clear;
he had as much right to hold stock in
that as he had to hold stock in a bank.
l don't think it can be said that 1 adj
vised him to do those things. He asked
my advice. and / gave him my IDEAS
on the subject. my idea being that he
had as much right to own stock In 4
concern OF this sort, supposing he had
nothing to do with 1t. as he had to hold
sock in a bank. OF course. / was clearly
right in that from a legal standpoint.
beca use the Constitution and the statutes
are all clear. j may have been all wrong
from a general standpoint in not giving
that matter sufficient thought or sufi-
Client consideration. OF course. ! cay, see
now that 1t would have been far better
for me to have put my foot down at
once. Lanier being a clerk there, and
told him.
While you have a right to do this. and
II is a good idea that has occurred 10
you, 1 think you had better not do it?'
Offered to Contribute.
I simply did not, that ls all. Two or
three times, 1 don't know how many, |
he conferred with me about the matte.
and my recollection Is that the ultimate |
suggestion was that 1t would take some
$3.50 to make a tentative at..:npt ut the
working Of this company for twelve
months, to see whether IL wou ~ y |
success. l told him, sooner OF later. that
| would contribute 800 towards tint at |
tempt ] certainly gathered the impres-
sion in GONE way that X the company |
was pat On it's feet, the stock wnt..t, be
enlarged md 1t would th-l become ii
large working company. The idca Was, /
don't know whether that WIS the t.iie |
] got IT from him. that 4 wou d lie a |
large title plant. but the iai3ress.cn on
my mind was that he wanted u get the
money to establish a company OF this
sort in a tentative manner for twelve
months, and then they would enlarge II
II they could, and II 1t did not succeed
in twelve months ii would fall through. |
My Idea was that II was to be a company |
OF that sort. l did not connect ii In any
way at all with the work of the COM
mission. There was no reason for sup
posing that there could be in any way
any sort of collusion between the work |
of a company of that sort, and anybody
In it-and, in fact, it was absolutely i'm
possible, as shown here-and anything
that could be done in the office of the
commission, nothing that was not per-
fectly upen. unless, OF course, absolute |
corruption. which could nave heen done |
without any company or anything else.
subsequently there was presented 10
me some subscription paper. ! think Mr..
Campbell brought it up there. and l
signed it.
l simply say. In passing, that as far
as this statement was concerned. the di-
vision of the work, that | dictated that
statement. 1t had been on my mind and
discussed between us for several months.
| dictated that statement, and nj any
time, In my mind, 1t had about as much
connection with this company ms 1t had
with the Bank of England. bhat is all
have TO say on that subject.
Mr., Campbell, | know, was in the office
several times-not 10 see me about the
company, but to ask me questions about
corporation law.
Explains Lanier Connection.
Nt' iiuHb'H' Iou IluNe spoken about
your interviews with MIR. Lanier about
getting up this company. and you said
1t would he a good thing to got 1t IN.
Did you explain to him in any way what
connection he should not nave with this
company, as he was connected With the
commissions
Ans, Yes, l Remember that very dis
%ttnctly, In two or three conversations
had with Mr.. I.anler | told him that,
while would put In 800 n subscribe
Ia one share of stock, Of course. i could
have nothing to do with the company
in any way at all, and, of course, he must
nave no official connection with 1t and
nothlng to do with 1t in the office. lie
had put the proposition so that / could
not dispute that his time outside Of Of
flee hours was his own; that his nights
We're his own. and his time outside of
office hours was his own, Icould not dis
rate that. had found Mr.. Ianier. as
far as ! could see. q relinble. man, .tholsb
a