Evening star., 1907-08-23
IhTER-MET'S CLOSED BOOKS
WILL NOT TELL BUSINESS TO
PUBLIC SERVICE BOARD.
Contention That as a Holding Com
pany It Is Not Amenable to
Rules of the Body.

+ NEW YORK August 23.-The heads of
the Interborough Metropolitan Company
have refused to open their books to the
public service commission. The commission
has been notified that because the COM
pany is not a railroad corporation, but
merely a holding concern, in the belief of
the officers of the InterMet it is not within
the Jurisdiction of the commission. This
became known last evening after the ad-
jou nment of the continued investigation
by the commission into the local rail-
roads
The expert accountants employed by
William NJ WINS, special counsel to the
commission, to go through the books of
the companies now comprised in the Inter-
Met sought to get access to the books of
the InterMet for the purpose of ascertain
ing the details of the merger agreement.
These books We're closed to the representa-
tlveS OF the commission.
Must Show Books
The members of the commission, it can
be said officially, do not intend to rest
quietly under the conditions. If the att-
tude of the Inter-Mat officials is persisted
in the commission will in the course of the
next few days issue peremptory order to
the company to deliver up its books. When
tDal oTueT IS iSSu II lne company, acllllS
on advice which Will be given by Paul d.
Cravath and De Lancey Nicol, the Inter-
Nets counsel, will refuse to comply with
it When the next step is taken by the
commission, as may be expected to ask
the courts to enforce its order the Inter
Met will meet the issue by starting pro-
ceedngs to test the right of the COM
mission to examine the books of the CO..
poration.
The practical effect of this development
well may be to bring up the question of
the constitutionality of the act which
brought the public service commission into
being.
The Inter-Met intends to fight, if not
the legal existence of the public service
commission, at least the scope of the
powers it is vested with in the act which
created it.
Unless the commission and Mr.. WINS
can have access to the Inter-Met books
they will be powerless to G4ive into the
conditions under which the merger was
made or to prove the statement which
Mr.. Ivins has made so often in the course
of the investigation that in his belief there
has been imp oper imitation of the asseti
of the merged companies.
Obstacles of the Board.
Another obstacle that Mr.. Ivins has met
with in his efforts to get at the facts under
lying the consolidation of Il , various COM
panies which are now comprised in the
Inter-Met is that he has been told that
the books of the Old Metropolitan Street
Railway Company no longer in exist
ence. According to all that Mr.. WINS can
learn these books have been destroyed.
When the counsel for the 1nteIborouSh
Metropolitan company We're asked at the
close of yesterdays hearing If it was true
that the books of the old Metropolitan COM
pany were no longer in existence they
said that they had no knowledge as to
whether the books had been destroyed or
not.
All that they would permit themselves
to say was that the books of the New York
City Railway Company, which was formed
in February, 1902, to take over the Metro
politan system, were kept regularly and
that they would be given to the commission
for inspection. The explanation also was
made yesterday that there was no need
for the keeping of the Old books because
when the New York City Railway Com
pany was organized and new set OF books
opened there was no further use for the old
books, and that in destroying them the
custom had been followed of doing away
with such books after they had been au-
dited and their contents embodied in the
books of the new corporation.
Cost of Electrifcation.
Mr.. WINS has been depending upon these
books to throw light upon Inc high costs
charged for the eectrifcation of the Broad
way 3D. 9th and 9th avenue and 34th street
lines as well other routes. MI WINS
has already brought out that according to
the reports of the Metropolitan company
it cost S64122S7 to change the motive
power of the 31th street line to electricity;
that several of the othsr routes cost from
81 OUO 600 to S3,090Go0 the mile, while th1
Sth avenue electrification cost only Sl6o, lio
a mile. 1t was also placed record by
Mr.. WINS that the Fulton street line, stlil
operated by horse cars, was put down or
the reports of the company as having cost
So 2JJ5J;}O97 a mile to construct and equip.