The Washington herald., 1908-04-22


sented the second installment of what
may yet prove a serial on Legislation in
the District of Columbia; or, why do gov
ornment officials own stock in public
service corporations"
AS in the first chapter OF this thrilling
drama, which was read for the first time
Monday afternoon, Mr.. Sims, during the
reading of the second installment, again
introduced as a leading character VIII
lam Loeb. jF.. secretary to President
Roosevelt.
Rather almost it might be said that it
was William Loeb. jro who caused the
second chapter TO be presented to the
House. Mr. Loeb desired to take issue
with the statements made by Mr.. Sims
Monday as to his holding of the stock of
the Washington Railway and Electric
Company. and in a letter he asked that
a public denial be made from the floor OF
the House OF certain statements.
In order to make everything clear, Mr..
Sims read the letter TO the House and
then proceeded to define more concfsely
what he had meant by his previous state
ments, and what, he means now. IN say
ing these things, he went further than
he did on Monday and left Mr. Loeb
without any visible crumbs of comfort.
Speaks of NewIands.
Later in the afternoon, Mr.. Sims again
obtained the floor and stated that he de-
sired TO make a correction of his state
ment regarding a Senator, whom he had
said, Is interested in the stock OF the
traction company This Senator, Mr.,
Newlsnds. he said, is not the owner OF
the street company's stock. He is a trus-
tee, holding such stock.
Furthermore. Mr.. Sims said. he had
been informed that Senator Newiands is
selling the stock as rapidly as possible.
In addition, he said Mr.. Newlands. when
the Union Station trackage bill came up,
stated in the District Committee, that
ne wished 10 have nothing whatever 10
do with il.
Mr. Sims began his second installment
of the story by stating TO the House that
''in fairness 10 AIr. Loeb, he desired TO
read a letter received from him. The let
ter read as follows:
LOeb's Letter to Sims.
have read in the newspapers your speech Of yes
terday. Before making such statements in such
place. where one Is shielded by Congressional
privilege. it seems TO me the most scFupulOus
ought 70 aaye been taken 20 verify every fact to
the end that injustice might not be done to any
mans character CT reputation. If you had made
any attempt, even Che slightest, to verify the
facts. you would have saYed yourself from making
statement so false in its effect. 50 misleading in
its imputation and unfair 70 aud 70 your
own sense Of rectitude and honor. The facts are
as follows:
First 400 shares of tho common stock Of the
Washington RailRay and Electric Company stand
in my name ON the books Of the company. One
hundred Of these shares, enough to enable me to
qualify as director. are mine- -Four thousand SIX
hundred are holdings Of friends Of mine. for whom
I simply acted as representative ct the last an
nual meeting Of the stockholders Of the company.
az which ] was elected a director with the view
cf ny possible selection as president Of the COM
pany, If decided 20 take up that line OF work
after leaving official life. This record has been
and still Is open 10 you or any other honest man
at any time and it clearly demonstrates that any
way. OF in any way whatever. I had accumulated
such a considerable fortune your speech implies
is as unfair to it is unworthy Of you
Second as to your intimation that / have irn-
properly interfered in the traction legislation; I'M
mediately after ms election as q director Of the
company the chairman Of the House District
Committee Mr.. Smith, called upon me and started
to ask ms advice as 90 certain bills affecting the
traction companies pending before the committee.
I al once Informed him that while l occupied the
x dent e0frfG MT
and would not discuss with any member Of Con
gress any matters Of legislation affecting the local
public service corporations. ! have seen Chairman
Smith who viii verify this statement, and I
cits this instance TO show how scrupulously care
ful I have been to observe the proprieties in the
case. No Senator OF Representative. even among
my intimate friends, has been either directly or
indirectly approached BY me on any phase Of the
traction legislation.
I submit that in all fairness you should imme-
diately retract your statements rejecting me in
as public a manner you made them, and also
have them expunged ncm the Record
WILLIAM LOEB. JR.
Replies TO Letter.
Following the reading of the letters,
Mr.. sims continued. He said in part:
Il am the last man who would take ad-
vantage of Congressional privilege to say
anything about any man. I made my
statement from a fact that was taken
from a letter addressed to the Speaker,
signed by George H. Harries. vice presi-
dent OF the washington Railway and
Electric Company. There is attached
this affidavit: We, George H. Harries.
vice president, and William F. Ham,
treasurer of the washington Railway and
Electric Company, DO hereby solemnly
swear that the foregoing and annexed
statement is Just and true, to the best of
our knowledge and belief
Then follows a list of stockholders.
/ In It appears that Mr.. Loeb Is the owner
| of 400 shares. It does not appear wheth-
er Il is preferred or common, whether he
owned 1t or not personally, or as a rep
| resentative. I said the sworn fact In a
communication TO this Congress, to the
| Speaker Of this House, for the informa-
ton of the House. Now, Mr.. Loeb says
that / might have found out the facts
BY the slightest investigation.
| "Can I presume that this sworn state
ment did not speak the truth, the whole
| truth and nothing but the truth? It
showed Mr. Loeb to own 4,70G shares. So
| this report, that is here sworn to, is not
/ only false in effect, but false IN fact, &C
cordlng to the letter which / have Just
/ read. Mr. Loeb only owned 100 shares and
! the other 1900 shares were stocks that his
! friends held in his name in order that he
might be elected president of the COM
pany.
MIR. Loeb says; This record has been
and still is open to you OF any other
Continued on Page 4, Column 2.