Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-10
HARTMAN INVOLVED
IN MUCH LITIGATION

WASHINGTON. Sept. 9.-Figuring in
litigation that led up to the supreme
court of the United States, in con-
gressional debate, in Interstate COM
merce proceedings, the interests of E.
H. Hartman have been conspicuous
at Washington.
The government has pending suit
against the Hartman roads for the
dissolution of a combination among
them. In various parts of the country
testimony in this proceeding is being
taken.
Mr.. Harriman's claim for reimburse
ment on account of the $2000,000 or
more which he expended several years
ago in rebuilding the Salton sea dam,
excited great interest all over the
country.
Mr.. Hartman and his counsel con-
tended that the Southern Pacific rail-
road in building the dam was doing
a work that should have been done
by the government and for this reason
insisted upon reimbursement. Con-
gress, however, never has acted favor
ably on the claims.
Noted Recent Case
Perhaps the most noted of the re-
cent cases in which Mr.. Hartman has
figured is the litigation that grew out
of an interstate commerce commission
proceeding in which Mr.. Hartman de-
clined to answer certain questions. The
supreme court decided the case in
favor of Mr.. Hartman last December.
The questions which Mr.. Hartman re-
fused to answer bore on the ownership
of stock and according to the supreme
court decision related to business or
Kuhn, Loeb & Co., not to the
Southern Pacific, which Mr.. Hartman
controlled.
The relations between the Union Pa
cific and other connecting roads were
under investigation. Among other
things the Union Pacific bought 1O9 4Ol
shares of the preferred stock of the
Chicago & Alton road.
These shares had been deposited with
Kuhn, Loeb & Co., by their own
ers and on an agreement author
izing the bankers to sell them to any
purchaser at such price and on such
terms as should be approved by Har-
riman and two others, Messrs. Stewart
and Mitchell
Refused to Answer
Mr. Hartman was asked whether he
owned any of the stock so deposited
and how much, if any. By advice OF
counsel he refused to answer Again
he was asked as to the Santa Fe stock
which had been bought b. the oregon
short line. He was asked if that was
part of the stock that had been ac-
quired previously by him and by two
others.
II think not" he started to reply.
Counsel stopped him, however, and he
refused to answer all questions.
It was in 1907 that Mr.. Hartman
figured in a political controversy in
volving the name of Theodore Roose-
welt, then president.
Through a disgruntled stenographer
there was brought to light a letter
written by Mr.. Hartman to Sydney
Webster, a lawyer, in which Mr.. Har-
riman complained that the Roosevelt
administration had not treated him
fairly after he had been instrumental
in raising $225,00O for the campaign of
1904 The letter closed with the now
famous question: Where do 1 stand? 2"
Roosevelt lncensed
Mr.. Roosevelt was greatly incensed
and came forth with a letter, now
equally famous, which originated the
expression Undesirable citizen"
To strengthen his case, Mr. Hartman
then produced a letter signed "Theo-
dore Roosevelt" and dated Oct. IA,
1904 two weeks before Mr.. Roosevelt's
election to the presidency in that year.
The letter with the word personal
inscribed at the top suggested that If
Mr.. Hartman thought it unwise to
visit the White House at that time he
defer his call "to few weeks hence,
when I shall get you to come down to
discuss certain government matters not
connected with the campaign"
Much correspondence on both sides
was produced after this and it came
out that in 1906 Mr.. Hartman de-
clined to contribute to the Republican
congressional campaign fund, on the
ground that it was useless for him
to do so.
It was not long after this that the
federal investigation of the lines under
his control was begun.