The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-16

says. was wholly uninnuenced by any auestion of whos were or were nos Ss stockholders. either in the new or oiu 0V.1f~ IF as matter of fact" he explains the caiial company either or both. paa been owned by American citizens or py citizens. of any other nationality, 1t would not have altered in the slightest degree the action taken by this goy- eminent. Our concern was 10 seL Ths h'. the French company. and to see tnat inc title was clear. Our transactions were carried on openly. and were pub far as the interests of the old Panama Company were concerned) with the He quidator appointed by the proper French governmental body, the civil " tribunal of the Seine, and In accord ance with the decree of this same IT, bunal. with the new Panama canal company which also went Into. liqui.
 ss1 stsa gpHn X our aas sas s Were ried on openly and were puoallsnse in
 ~ Paaa ThrougA azorwam.
 The President states that the money was paid through the New York bank ing house of l.. P. Morgan & Co. act ing as ascal agsnts of shas govern. I,. ment. into the Bank o1 txaneAs ID
 Tsfa sfn these payments" he says. we followed to the letter the decree of the Rad the he anthority fo. make such. a 1e- cree the civil. tribunal of the Seine. We had neither desire nor Authority to go behind this decree of this proper governmental body as all. the connlct- ing rtghts of tho security holders of hokh companies had been settled by the dacree of said court by ratttcation oI the arbitration which resulted In that < .i wish to make as clear as possible and as emphatic as possible the state- ment that we did not have anytning to do with the distribution of a dollar Of the &4e,000, 900 we paid, as regards stockholder or bondholder of the French companieS. save that we fol- lowed out the award of the arbitrators appointed ln accordance with, the de. cree of the French codrt which had dealt with the subject in awarding . certain proportion to the old company and a certain proportion 10 the new company. Any question concerning the stockholders. bondholders or other ben- sticiaries of the proceeds of sale was Os Sras ths seins tSs FpenaS Gs s @ body with wh ich this nation had noth- ing whatever to dO.
 Under these circumstances, tasre was not the slightest need for MT. Cromwell to give any information on tha sub btect Of the companies for which he had been counsel. This govern wells relation to these companies or either of them, sor with the amount of his profasstona1 compensation; it was not the affair of this government to Of the companies. Nevertheless Mir. Cromwell of his own accord, has sub- mitted 10 me together with a copy Of hia statement punli9heds on the 11th- tn- stant and which transmit herewith, a fulI list of the stockholders of the new PanRma%c2nal company Of Erance oA January IS. 1900 pumbering over who were present at a special meeting of the company held February 2e, 1902, imniediately after the cable offer of States (Janhary 3. II, 1y02) to accept the appraisenent of S40,000.000 made by the 18th milan Canal Commission and to sell for said sum the Panama canal, concessions and other property and the shares of the Panama Railroad Com
 Referring to accompanying docu- ments the President says no payment will be made upon the stock of the old Panama canal company and he ts inc formed the payment of the bonded in- debtadness will be but 10 per cent. About 5000 Bhareholders of the new Panama company will receive payments and they win recover their OrigfnN 4n- vestments with annual interest of records of thIs liquidation which was concluded in June last. he says. "aro on deposit with the Credit Lyonnaise of Paris as a proper custodian of the etAAtASs AP0OAAtS0 upOA o0cA AAN1ASGSASAs Recently request was made by private Nindividual to inspect the rec ords of these paymenta. but answer was made by. the custodians that they saw no proper reason for granting such a request by a stranger and mas much, as there is not the iEhtest ground of suspicion of any bad faith in the transaction 1t hardly seems worth while to make the request; hut If the Congress desires I have no doubt that on the request of our Ambassador in Paris, the lists of individuals will be shown him.
 EveFything Made Public.
 "As a matter of fact there is noth- ing whatever in which this government Is interested to investigate about this ment is concerned every step of the sligh test importance has been made public by It's executive, and every step taken in France has there been made public by the proper ofiicials"
 Accompanying the Presidents mes- sage was large bundle of documents bearing upon transfer of the canal property to the United States. Many of these documents were in French without English translations. There was nothing which showed directly the persons who received the 34O,00O, 900 paid by the United States, but there was included a list of about 1000 stockhold- CTS in the old and new Panama canal companies, ali of them citizens of France and of the Colombian Republic . There was not the name of citizen of the United States in the entire list