Perth Amboy evening news., 1907-03-07
COPIES OF BILL
WERE STOLEN
Governor Hughes Measure for
Regulation Missing at Albany
Accuse Stock Gamblers.

ALBANY. n. Y, March THE sen
ate judiciary committee has adopted a
resolution directing the chairman, Sen
ator Davis Of Buffalo, to notify State
superintendent of Insurance Otto Kel-
Sey that at Its regular meeting nest
Wednesday it will be prepared to hear
him and his counsel and receive any
documents or dispositions in connection
with the pending recommendation of
Governor Hughes that he be removed
by the senate from the. office OF super
intendent of insurance.
At last the Albany legislature has
before 1t the bill supposed to embody
the ideas of Governor Hughes as to the
regulation of so called public utilities
by state commissions to take the place
of the present state board of railroad
commissioners. the state commission
of gas and electricity, the New York
city board of rapid transit railroad
commissioners and the state inspector
of gas meters The bill in form as de-
scribed in the statement given out by
Senator Page OF New York and Assem-
blyman Merritt of st. Lawrence was
introduced by them in the two houses,
In the senate 1t was referred after
some debate to the committee OH
finance, and the committee voted to re-
port it for reference to the committee
on judiciary for consideration of the
important legal questions involved,
with the understanding that subse.
quehtly 1t will return to the finance
committee.
Senator Cassidy criticised the action
OF the introducers of the bill in max
ing a public statement of its provi-
sions before presenting the measure to
the senate.
Senator Page replied, Il have no OBJ.
lection to saying that early copies of
this bill had been stolen and that erro-
neous statements were being made in
the press for certain purposes, and we
found that an incorrect abstract of the
bill was liable to be published today,
so under those circumstances we CON
sidered ourselves justified in giving to
the press n correct statement in order
that the public might not be misled."
When questioned about his state
ment on the senate floor that ''early
copies of this bill had been stolen
Senator Page said:
II am reliably Informed that copy
of the bill was In the possession Of
banking house--I do not know which
one-said to be close to the New York
city railroad interests and that gar
bled versions of parts Of the bill were
in circulation. The nature of this
version, especially with reference to
stock mergers and holding companies
made it evident that the stolen copy
was one of the first drafts of the bill,
materially different from the final
FORM
Didn't you see what happened in
the stock market? Didn't Brooklyn
Rapid Transit drop? Wouldn't that
he explanation enoughr'
Early copies Of the bills as introduce
ed were in great demand, and a first
extra edition of 1000 copies was or
dered The bill. which was the fruit
Of many conferences of the introducers
with Governor Hughes and his official
counsel. Ernest w. Huffcut. marks the
beginning of the ''intense" stage of the
session and with the matter Of the
recommended removal of Superlntend-
ent of Insurance Otto Kelsey is be-
lieved on all sides to make inevitable
the serious delay of final adjournment
of the Legislature.