Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-19
AN ARDU0Us SESSION
Interstate Commission Looks
Into Coal Conditions.
FLOUNDERED ALL MORNING
Then Obtained Certain and Precise
Information.
ARRIVAL OF KR. E. ]. BERWIND
Answers All ouestions-Jugglsd NIL
lions Of Dollars and Many
Acres Of Land.
FLoUNDERED ALL MORNING
ARRIVAL OF MR. E. J. BERWIND

After foundering around all the morning
| In mist of ignorance and uncertainty as
| to the operations Of the Berwtnd- White
Coal Company the interstate commerce
| commission emerged this afternoon into the
glorious light of certain and precise infor-
nation furnished by Mr.. Berwind himself.
1t was a long and arduous session. TIE
secretary Of the company. Mr.. e. B. Chase.
was on the stand and could not give any
data that was satisfactory to Mr.. Glas-
cow. who was doing the cross questioning
on behalf of the commission. Then Geo.
Dickinson. the bookkeeper of the New York
office of the company, was called. He left
the commission in even. more uncertainty
| than before as to whether the Bcrwind-
White Company kept any books. wncther
they knew how much business they were
doing or even whether they had maze
profit or loss at the end of the year.
Mr.. Chas. Heebner, the counsel for the
company. plunged into the melee and OBJ
| 5ected to some of the questions Mr.. Glas-
gov was trying to ask, and abused the
newspapers roundly for the scandalous mis-
| information they had circulated about the
company.
Mr.. Berwind Testifes
Then the scene changed Mr.. e. J. Ber-
wind himself arrived. heavy set, gray
haired white mustached. very military
| looking and withal genial. He Just exuded
| Information. The fog rolled away. He was
| able to tell the commission anything they
asked, and he did for the space of almost
two hours He juggled millions Of dollars
and thousands of acres of coal lands az
most men would the price of last weeks
newspaper.
| He told just how the business of the
| conducted and how much the
Berwind- White Company disliked the Penn
sylvania railroad And he left the COM
| mission at the close Of the morning ses-
| sion without very much more information
| than they had at the beginning save only
| the general impression that Mr.. Berwind
I was pretty well satisfied with the balance
| Of dollars and cents that the company had
made at the end of the year, and IL there
were any books that the company might
| keep and did not it was because Mr.. Ber-
wind did not think 1t was necessary to
| keep them.
| It was a big hearing Seven witnesses
were down for the day. There were present
| Geo. and Thos. Patterson counsel for the
| Pennsylvania: Mr. Heebner counsel for the
coal company. and cloud OF attorneys and
| spectators
| MIR. Glasgow started In on the old ques-
| ton that had been left over from the Phil
adelphia hearing as to why the coal that
| the Berwind-White Company got from the
| Pennsylvania railroad at the Harsimus
pier in Jersey City was not weighed. and
why. when the company sent the coal out
| to load steamships In the harbor at New
York. the coal left over was not weighed,
| and whether any OF the officers OF the yes
sells loaded. or the dock masters, or the
| tally clerks got tipped for buying coal
from one company or another.
! 1t was a dry and toilsoIne business. Mr..
| Chase, the secretary of the Berwind- White
| Company, was asked by Mr.. Glasgow how
| the coal left in the barges was estimated
| after the barges came back to the pier from
| loading steamer. Mr.. Chase said cheer
| fully enough that 1t was guessed at. Also
| he said the coal sent to the company's pier
| by the Pennsylvania railroad was guessed
| at. Only he used the more dignified Ian
guage of saying that It was paid for on
| estimated weight"
Mr.. Glasgow Shocked
| Mr.. Glasgow was more or less shocked at
| this display of business looseness. But he.
was so when he learned from Mr..
| Chase that there was no claim for loss of
| coal in transit put in against the railroad
| unless there was strong circumstantial evil
| dence of an accident, or that the car had
| been tempered with.
Mr. Glasgow did not get much out of the
secretary though he asked that lot of
| tabulated statements should be submitted
| to him showing the amount of coal mined
| by the Berwind-White Company. the
| amount used at the mines and the amount
| shipped to New York. from all Of which
| he could figure out what the Berwind COM
~
| namely. the amount of coal that really
went over the pier in the course of year.
But Mr.. Chase was not a marker for
blank ignorance compared to Mr.. Geo.
Dickinson. the head bookkeeper who fol-
lowed him. Mr.. Dickinson said that he
was In charge OF the New York office.
He kept two books-a cash book and
an invoice book-and he did not keep
anything else. He never struck q bal
ance at the end OF the year, he did not
know how much coal the company han
died he did not know whether 1t made
q profit or a loss. In fact If there was
anything he did know. Mr. Glasgow did
not succeed in finding 1t out.
From the trend of the questions 1t seemed
that the chief inquisftor OF the commission
| harbored suspicious that the Berwind- White
Company was in cahoots, as 1t were, with
the Pennsylvania railroad. and possibly
somebody In New York harbor was getting
a rake-off on the coal sold to steamers, and
that this was the reason the records of
quantities were so loosely kept. He asked
what wages the tally men got, with view,
he explained, to seeing what class of men
they were. But Mr.. Heebner pitched into
the discussion. protested against asking
such questions and complained. though no
one could understand just why, about the
newspapers having misprinted some infor-
nation as to the Philadelphia hearing.
information Obtained.
Then into the midst Of this strife and un-
certainty, oozed Mr.. Berwind. cool, collected
and smiling. He began by giving the COM
mission some ancient history about the for
n tr1 ito M