The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-08
Testimony Before Commission Makes Him Immune De-
 Cided at White House
CASE EASTERN COAL ROADS
 WILL BEGIN NEXT WEEK
Notable Conference at White House By the President, Corteyou, Gar field, commssioners-Mr.
 Loeb's Statement.

Washington, June 7.--That E. H. Harri- man, the railroad magnate, Is immune from criminal prosecution, as the result O. his testimony before the interstate commerce commission in New York re- gently, that prosecution of bituminous coal carrying roads should be left in the hands of the Attorney General and that prosecution of the anthracite coal rail roads will begin in Philadelphia, prob- ably next week, were conclusions reached at conference at the White House to- night. The Hartman case and the cases of the coal carrying roads were dis cussed for three hours by the President, five members of the cabinet. two mem bers of the interstate commerce commits sion and special attorney for the govern ment.
 Following the general conference At torney General Bonaparte remained with the President to discuss the so-called Harvester trust.
 It Is thought that prosecution of that organization will be referred to the Attor- ney General
 
 ence on the subject of trust prosecutions was held at the White House tonight Those who participated were President R 'osevelt Sccietar. bot Secretary Cor telsou, Sseletesy Gagield. Attorney Cen erai Boneparte, Interstate Commerce Commissioners Knapp and Lane and Frank B. Kellog of St. Paul, special counsel for the. government. The confer enee began shortly after g o'clock, and the participants at the time expected it would continue until nearly midnight.
 The discussion took q very wide range. Much time was given to the Hartman Alton deal Every phase of that trans action was thoroughly gone over and dis cussion was participated in more especial ly by the President MT. Kellogg, Attor- ney General Bonaparte, Commissioners Knapp and Lane. The conclusion was promptly reached that however damak- Ing the evidence might be against Mr. Harriman the testimony he had given in the interstate commerce commissions in- Vestigation had given him complete im- mGnity from criminal prosecution
 Commissioner Knapp explained that he did not complete his investigation, and that therefore he was not prepared to give a definite opinion as to tine suffieiency of the evidence to warrant the government In instituting at thls time suit to nuIlify the Alton deal As soon as the evidence Is complete, report will be made to tns attorney general who will take charge of the matter and determine what action shall be taken. It is not expected. there fore, that proceedings will actually be begun Tor some time. Proposed prosectI- ton of the bitumlnous coal carrying rall- roads was discussed at some length blt une matter was finally left in the hands or the attorney general. No instructions to bring suit were given him, and there n hq ff.., action will be taken in the immediate fiI- ture. The prosecution of the anthracite coal carrying roads will. in all proba bility, be begun in Philadelphia in a week.
 Secretary Loeb was present Features or the Hartman railroad merger case. the charges relating to the coal carrying rail- roads, the so-called harvester trust, etc, were on the programme for consid- eration. The purpose was to formulate definite plans preliminary to the Presi- dents departure on his summer vacation. The conference continued frmb D. m. until few minutes before midnight Sec retary Taft, on leaving, announced that Secretary Loeb would issue a statement on the subject Special Counsel Kel- logg, who walked from the White House to his hotel, declined to state what had transpired at the meeting, and referred all his questioners to the statement which MT. Loeb was to promulgate
 Secretary Loeb at midnight issued this statement:
 The conference was held for the pur- pose of affording ample discussion con- cerning the matters which have been un- der investigation by the interstate com merce commission. The interstate. com merce commission has not yet formulated it's report and all of the discussion was of a purely preliminary kind After a report has been made the attorney gem eral will of course carefully consider 1t v After leaving the White House District Attorney Sims was in conference with At torney General Bonaparte at the depart- ment of justice for more than an hour. He refused to discuss this conference and the only comment Mr. Bonaparte would make was:
 "The conference related to matters pending in MT. Sims office at Chieago.'
 The roads involved include the Della ware, Susquehanna and Schuylkln tho Philadelphia and Reading, the Iehigh Valley, the Delaware and Hudson, the New York, Susquehanna and Western. the Delaware. Lackawanna and Western. the Central Railroad of New Jersey and the Erie.
 The Pennsylvania and one or two oth- CT roads may become involved as the suit progresses, but at this time no formal complaint will be filed against them.
 
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