The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1910-06-23
BY Robt. +. Wilson.


Dembzti Brandeis, attorney for
CLAWS in the Ballinger investiga-
Eon, been accused of employing
detectives.
Ballinger and Lawler accuse
him of it. Brandeis displayed a
wonderful knowledge of LAWYERS
and Ballinger's actions during the
week prior to the publishing OF
the Lawler-Taft whitewashing let.
ter of Sept. 10.
And in December. after Bran.
deis published figures showing
the New York, News Haven
Hartford railway was classifying
its books, the officials acknowl.
edged the truth of the charge by
accusing BrandSis of getting de-
tectives in the railroad offices
and stealing secrets.
AS a matter of fact Brandeis
hired no detective either time. He
himself has been the detective. He
is a pure deductive reasoner-
Sherlock Holmes in the flesh. He
laughingly says that his system
of deduction is practically that OF
Sherlock Holmes.
The tracing of Ballinger min
ute by minute was quite simple
Brandeis did it by studying news
paper files and the evidence that
other witnesses had given. A far
better piece of work was his de-
duction that brought the admis-
sion that the Wickersham sum
mary was .predated. Brandeis de-
duced this from the manuscript
itself. He is probably the pre-
mier detective of America. Like
Sherlock Holmes, he does most OF
his work for personal satisfaction
rather than for money. But Bran
deis is the bloodhound ON the
trail Of tile malefactors of great
wealth.
Brandeis' genius for deduc-
tion makes him the terror of his
enemies. Sometimes, like the
victims of Sherlock Holmes pur-
suit, they confess because they be-
lieve this wonderful man must
have had his eyes on them during
every one of their guilty moments.
The most remarkable deductions
he ever made were in reasoning
out the secrets of the New Haven
railroad.
Culver, the great French nat
uralist, could take a single bone
of a prehistoric animal and con-
struct the complete skeleton" said
Brandeis. "He could do this be-
cause Of his special knowledge of
anatomy
"My special field of knowledge
is figures. And so I was able to
take the few published figures of
the New Haven, and, working
backward, build up their complete
system of bookkeeping"
Brandeis has trained up In his
Boston office the man whom he
calls the best expert accountant
in America. This man set the
New Ravens figures in order.
Reports to the stockholders sup
piled the first information.
But there we're many gaps In
the system. 1t was Brandeis' de-
ductive mind that filled in the
gaps. 1t was Thanksgiving day
afternoon, 1907, to be exact, and
Brandeis was musing over the fig
ures in his library at home.
Brandeis that afternoon came
to the conclusion that the New
Haven, far from being one of the
most prosperous railroads In
America, as was the popular be-
lief. and as its report showed, in
reality had even failed to pay the
latest dividend out of the proper
earnings of the road, and had con-
cealed the fact that it was going
down hill by falsifying its books.
The New Haven wanted to swal-
low the Boston and Maine. It
gave as an excuse that 1t was a
moneymaker, whereas the B. & M.
was financially weak. The New
Haven proposed to set the B. &
M. on its feet-make It come up
to the requirements Of the shippers
of New England.
The New Ravens published re-
port showed 1t was paying big
dividends, and there was a good
deal OF sentiment favorable to the
merger.
Brandeis pointed out that the
New Haven, under President Mel
Ions management, had become a
new company, holding company,
bearing, as nearly all holding
companies do, a tremendous bur-
den of dividends guaranteed to
the subsidiary railroad, steam
boat. trolley and public service
corporations. Brandeis set about
20 show that the New Haven
couldn't possibly be making
money
In the bookkeeping system his
accountant had worked out, Bran
feis could find no provision for