The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-16

| present senator from Pennsylvania. l directed, or approved every action, and 1 am responsible for all that was done l in carrying out the will of the Con- l gress, and the provisions of the law | enacted by Congress after exhaustive examination and discussion were scrup ulously compiled with by the execu- tive. While the transaction was pend- ing I saw MT. Cromwell but two or three times and my communications i with him were limited to the exchange of purely formal courtesies. Seere- | tary Hay occasionally saw him in the same manner. I doubt whether MT. Root held any conversation with him. l The Attorney General saw him fre- | quently as he was counsel for the Pan anna company; their communications were official as representing the two l sides"
 Uninfluenced Action.
 The action of the government. he i says. was wholly uninfluenced by any question of who were or were not stock l holders either in the new or the old company.
 "If, as matter of fact" he ex- plains, "the canal company, either or l both. had been owned by American cit izens or by citizens of any other na- l llOndlllys II WOulQ uOl nave dil6tG0 III the slightest degree the action taken 1 by this government. Our concern was 1 to get the canal property, which was 1 owned by the French company, and 1 to see that the title was clear. Our 1 transactions were carried on openly, and were published in detail, and We dealt solely (so far as the interests of the old Panama company were con- cerned) with the Hquidator appoint ed by the proper French governmental body, the civic tribunal of the Seine, and in accordance with the decree of this same tribunal with the new Pan anna company, which also went Into 1 liquidation upon the sale to the United States. All our transactions were car ried on openly and were published in detail"
 Money Paid Through Morgan.
 The President states that the money was paid through the New York bank ing house of J. P. Morgan & Co.,. act ing as fiscal agents of this government, into the Bank of France in Paris.
 Tn these payments" he says we followed to the letter the decree of the governmental tribunal of France, which had the authority to make such
 
 We had neither desire nor authority to go behind this decree of this proper governmental body as all the conflict ing rights of the security holders of both companies had been settled by the decree of said court by ratification of the arbitration which resulted In that division.
 'I wish to make as clear as pos sible and as emphatic as possible the statement that we did not have any thing to do with the distribution of a dollar of the $40,000000 we paid, as regards stockhplder or bondholder of the French companies, save that we fol- lowed out the award of the arbitrators appointed in accordance with the de- cree of the French court which had dealt with the subject in awarding a certain proportion to the old com pany and @ certain proportion to the new company Any question concern ing the stockholders, bondholders or other beneficiaries of the proceeds of sales. was purely a question for the civil tribunal of the Seine, the French governmental body with which this na- tion had nothing whatever to do.
 Not Cromwe's Affair.
 Under these circumstances there was not the slightest need for MT. Cromwell to give any information on the subject of the companies for which he had been counsel. This government has no con cern with MT. Cromwells relation to tbese companies, or either of them, or with the amount of his professional com pensation; 1t was not the affair of this government to inquire who were the se- curlty holders of the companies. Never theless MT. Cromwell, of his own accord, has submitted to me, together with a copy of his statement published on the 11th in stant and which I transmit herewith, full list of the stockholders of the New Panama Canal company of France on January 15, 1900 (numbering over GOOD, and a list of all stockholders who were pres ent at special meeting of the company held February g, S,1902, immediately after the cable offer of the company was made t6 the United States January 9-11, 1902) to accept the appraisement of $40, 100000 made by the isthrlian canal commission and to sell for said sum the Panama canal, con- sessions an1 other property, and the shares of tho Panama Railroad com- pany."
 Accounts of Liquidation.
 Referring to accompanying documents, the President says no payment will be made upon the stock of the old Panama Canal company, and he Is informed the
  be but 10 per cent. About 5000 sharehold- CTS of the New Panama Canal company will receive payments and they will re- cover their original investments with an- nual interest of about 3 per cent.
 "The accounts and records of this liqui- dation, which was concluded In June last" he says. "are on deposit with the Credit Lyonnaise of Paris as a proper custodian of the same, appointed upon such liquidation. Recently a request was made by T private individual to inspect the records ot these payments but an swer was made by the custodians that they saw no proper reason for granting such request by a stranger, and inas- much as there Is not the slightest ground for suspicion of any bad faith in the transaction, 1t hardly seems worth while to make the request; but if the Congress desires, I have no doubt that on the re- quest of our ambassador in Paris the lists of individuals will be shown him.
 "As a matter of fact there Is nothing whatever !u which this government is interested to investigate about this trans action. So far as this government is concerned every step of the slightest i'm portance mas been made public by its executive .snd every step taken in France has there been made public by the proper