Evening star., 1907-08-24
INTER-MET'S BOOKS OPEN
PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
WILL NOT GO TO LAW,
Eagerness to Keep Account Shut Nav
Be Misconstrued--Is Little
in Them Anyhow.

NEW YORK, August 24.-Chairman Will
cox of the public service commission and
William NJ WINS the special counsel to tho
beard, believe that the officials of the Inter.
Met will produce their books when for
maj demand is made The company so far
HAS refused TO open its books to the com,
mission on the ground that the Inter-ATet
is MOI an operating company, and. there
fore' does not come under the Jurisdiction
OF the commission. In order to follow out
the plan of the commission to investigate
not only the operating methods OF the local
railroad companies, but the financial details
OF the lnterborough-M metropolitan merger, IL
is necessary that access should be had to
the books of the company.
me expert accountants who have been
enPioyed Dy the commission have not as
yer peen allowed to go through these books
ana at the close of Thursdays inyestiea.
tlon Paul D. Cravath, one OF counsel to the
company, stated that the books would NOT
oe opened to the commission unless the
courts decided that the commission had a
T,ght to enforce obedience to an order for
the production of the books.
May Not Defy Commission.
IL was learned yesterday, however, that
| there Is doubt IL the heads Of the compauy
VIII defy the authority of the commission,
from Information obtained yesterday IL
may be said that while the Inter Met peo-
pie think that the legal point of view taken
Dy Mr.. Cravath as to the limited scope of
the commissions powers might be sus-
tanned by the courts, they are of opinion
that 1t would be impolitic to raise such an
issue, Tor the reason that the motives of
the company In attempting to keep its
DOCKS closed might be misconstrued The
statement was made yesterday by one who
was IN position to speak for the company
that the books would show nothing Of any
han ,hof
ready known of the terms Of the merger
and that there was no objection on the part
OF the company to submit its books for ex-
animation. Consequently the probability
Is that when the commission next week is
sues formal order for the production OF
the books that order will Immediately be
responded to.
Old Books Destroyed.
Admission was made yesterday by tho
officials of the Metropolitan company that
the books OF the Metropolitan system prior
to 1902. when the New York City railway
was formed to take over the Metropolitan
interests, had been destroyed. This adj
mission was made in the form of a state-
ment issued by the Metropolitan company
which read:
There should be no mystery or misunder-
standing on this subject. When in Febru-
ary, 1902, the New York City Railway Com
pany became lessees of the Metropolitan
system we opened new set of books The
old books for the period prior to the lease
soon became obsolete and were crowded
out of the vaults at our main office by the
accumulation of current books and papers.
They were then transferred to the storage
loft provided for the storage of amused
books and papers and were finally turned
over with other obsolete books and papers
to the person who purchases our accumu-
lation OF old papers, large quantities OF
which are thus disposed of and destroyed
each year.
Cost of Electrifcation.
Although a great deal of fuss has been
made over the destruction OF these books
and imputauons have been made that the
books were only recently destroyed so that
they should not fall into the hands of the
public service commission neither the men,
bers of the commission nor Mr. WINS are
of that opinion. All that the commissioners
want these books for is to find out just how
the costs of the electrification of the vaTi-
Gus lines in the Metropolitan system were
arrived at and it Is understood by tho
commissioners that they will find all tho
data they need in this respect in the new
books which were opened when the New
York City railway was formed 1t Is also
thought by the board that any Deficiencies
of details of expenditures in the changing
of the motive of the Metropolitan surface
lines can be made up by reference to the
reports made to the old state railroad COM
mission.