The Marshall republican., 1908-01-24
REPORT Not TAINTED
Civic Federation investigators
Not Influenced by Subscribers.

Professor Parsons. an N. o. tssmbs'
Of the Commission, Denies That Cor
poration Contributions Had Any In
husnes on It's Report - Rsssots
Newspaper Criticisms.
Professor Frank Parsons. president
Of the National Municipal Ownership
! league. was recently interviewed by Q
representative Of the Boston Herald
In regard to the testimony before the
public service commission In New
York to the effect that the Metropoll.
tan Securities company had contribut.
ed $4,000 TO the expenses OF the COM
mission which studied the prpblem Of
municipal ownership here and Gbroad
''The testimony before the commits
sion" said Mr.. Parsons. contained
nothing that In any way reflects on
| either the Civic federation or the COM
: mittee Of investigation. The sensation
al elements presented by fhe press
were read into the case by ar o
Gus Interpretation Of some Of the facts
stated In the evidence In connection
with some remarks OF August Belmont
In relation TO the investigation.
"a large part OF the funds wore con.
tributed by various corporations and
: Industrial interests. the Metropolitan
{, company among the number. and Mr.
Belmont Is quoted as saying that the
result OF the investigation was very
| satisfactory. Some newspaper mnn
put those two facts together and con
cluded that the corporations had got
what they expected and paid for.
AS n matter Of fact. however. Mr..
Belmont's remark meant merely that
the work had been thoroughly done
and n valuable mass OF facts brought
out. How fnr wrong In the impression
that corporation contributions had amy
influence on the character OF the re-
suits may be seen from the fact that
the Hnal resolutions OF the commits
sion. summing up the Investigation
are signed by every municipal owner
ship member ~ the commission.
Another fact which has q strong
bearlng on the case In that the super
vision Of the engineers aud experts u
Great Britain and the disbursement,
Of nil the funds across the water wer'
i~ntrusted to DR.. Milo X. MaltbIe. nov
n member OF the New York public
service commission aud well known q
q writer strongly favorable TO munic
ipai ownership.
.'The truth 10 that the idea Of inves
ugating municipal ownership tool
form In the Civic federation rs earl!
as 1900. or long before Mr.. Belmon
became president OF the federation.
About half the fupds. or over $40,
900. was raised by scattered subscrip
tons from persons all over the coun
try In amounts ranging from % ~
and the remainder Of the fund wa
contributed by large Industrial Inter
ests or men connected with them.
IAN the money was spent under th
supervision OF a committee Of Ave. Of
which there were two well Known mu
nicipai ownership Representatives an
the chairman Of which waS Professo
: Goodnow OF Columbia university.
chairman Ingalls, Of the COMMITTEE
; on Investigation. who II also chaiI
| man of the board Of directors Of tn
Big Four railroad. 10 one Of the falres
A and most honorable men IN tile Unite
States. and the Investigation froI
start to finish wal conducted withou
q shadow Of influence from the corps
ration contributions which were mad
, to the finance COMMITTEES.
"ln fact, the committee on investigl
ton did now know where The none
d came from nor who the contributors
were. with a few trinins exception
r until the investigation was all dnishs
and the report was In type.
. II wish to say further In oil fairnef
. that while personally do not at q
Il approve of many things 10 the histor
. OF Mr.. Belmonts corporations there
no question In my mind but that
and the Civic federation have acte
,r with perfect fairness toward this COZ
N mission on public ownership.
1.-THE engineers and experts works
in pairs. q Of each pair representa-
municipal ownership and the 9TH
representing private ownership. Tn
nearly doubled the cost. but results
In securing q body Of facts, signs
by experts Of the highest cbaract
and representing both sides OF n
question. This gives the report a vel
unique character and confers on Il
statements Of facts SO agreed upon
degree OF authority far beyond tn
/, which attaches to any previous inve