Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-03-07
BILL
Copies of Governor Hughes Measure Stolen at Albany.
PAGE ACCUSES STOCK GAMBLERS.
Senate Committee Notifies Otto Kel- sey That It Is Prepared to Have Him Show Cause Why He
 Should Not Be Ousted,

ALBANY, N. Y., March 1.-The sen ate judiciary committee has adopted g resolution directing the chairman, Sen ator Davis of Buffalo, to notify State Superintendent of Insurance Otto Kel sey that at its regular meeting next Wednesday it will be prepared to hea; him and his counsel and receive any documents or dispositions in connection with the pending recommendation o1 Governor Hughes that he be removed by the senate from the office of super intendent of insurance.
 At last the Albany legislature has before it 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 on 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 subsc- quently 1t will return to the finance committee.
 Senator Cassidy criticised the action of the introducers of the bill in mak- ing a public statement of its provi- sions before presenting the measure to the senate
 Senator Page replied, T have no ob- jection 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 fin giving to the press 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:
 q am reliably informed that a copy of the bill was in the possession of a 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 be explanation enough?"
 Early copies of the bills as introduc- 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 Superintend- ent of Insurance Otto Kelsey is be- lieved on all sides to make inevitable the serious delay of final adjournment of the legislature.