The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-08-05
Special from United Press.)

Especial from United Press-)
 New York, Aug. 5-For the hrs time in the history of the United States, former President appeared before a legislative investigation com | mittee. when Colonel Theodore Roose I welt presented himself before tn Stanley Congressional Investigation Committee to tell what he knew re
 garding the gobbling up of it's strong
 est rival, the Tennessee Coal & IroI
 CO. by the steel trust.
 Apparently bubbling over with en ergy and good humor, the former President hustled into the aldermanit 7 chamber at the City Hall, shouted { How are you,'' to several of hi! friends and greeted Chairman Stanle1 ; with the old Roosevelt handshake i q am glad to see you, indeed ht f exclaimed, and turned to greet Rep
 resentative Young, the ranking Re publican member on the committee All of the committee filed by as th' Colonel held an impromptu reception
 As the Colonel took his seat in th' witness chair Stanley announced Colonel Roosevelt appears voluntaril, and wish to thank him for the com { mfttee Now Colonel, wish vol would tell the committee just wha was told you by Judge Gary and MT Prick as to the panic of October. 1907 when they called on you in the fal of that year seeking permission tt buy the T. c. & I. Co.,"
 Roosevelt drew forth a voluminous roll of manuscript and said: After receiving your courteous re , quest to appear before the committed I went back over the records. have 1 reduced my part in it to writing. Witt ! y6ur permission, will read that and I then your committee may question m< if you wish-'' "A The Colonel then reviewed condi. tions in the financial world at the time of the panic. He declared thai 1t was a time that threatened "gread misery and woe to the whole country and that the greatest caution and judgment were needed to prevent
 7ssf9ne evening. rrecefyed wotsk @.haa two representatives of the steel cor poration wished to see me-" he con- tinued. land the next morning I was told that Judge Gary and Mir. Prick I were waiting Tor me at the office. As the attorney general, MT. Bonaparte was in Baltimore. I called in Secre- tary of State Root We talked mat ters over and dictated a note to the attorney general, setting forth what the gentlemen had told me and what I had told them"
 The Colonel then read the letter which had been already made public in which he told that he would inter pose no objections to the absorption of the T. c. & I. Co.,, by the steel trust.
 T wish it distinctly understood" he said, "that I acted solely on my own initiative in the matter. I wish to accept all of the responsibility con- cerned herewith.
 | "A panic is unreasonable fear and the only way to stop a panic is to restore confidence. At the time the so-called Morgan interests were the only ones who retained hold on the confidence of the people of New York. Not only the businessmen but | the small holders of stocks and the small depositors in banks believed ir them.''
 "The Knickerbocker Trust Com | pany and other similar institutions 1 were on the firing line and it was to | tHe interest of everyone concerned to assist them that the situation might be saved. Everyone knew that they or those interested in them held the Tennessee Coal & Iron Company se- curties. The proposal of Prick and Gary was that the steel corporation acquire these immediately and 1t was necessary for me to decide on the in-
 stant before the stock exchange open [ ed because of the situationi n New York.
 My action later would be useless had believed that the action Itook | was for the general good as a means of arresting the panic.
 T answered Prick and Gary that would not interfere. The result justified my action
 T was in Birmingham, last spring 7 and everyone cognizant with the ac- IT TI nf Every step took was as open as the day and every detail known The public press had full accounts of the visit of Prick and Gary to me- The danger was too appalling for me to condemn those involved yet l knew attacks would come." Then Stanley said:
 T was greatly interested in all you 1 had to say, Colonel Roosevelt, but l would like to ask what representa- necessity Of an exchange of the bonds of the United States Steel Corpora ton for the stock of the Tennessee Coal Iron Company and as to the
 relative intrinsic value"
 Several big bankers" replied Roosevelt desired the acquisition of the Tennessee Coal & Iron Company Ito save certain trust company from disaster. Prick and Gary said, in ef- fleet, that they were urged to acquire EIne tennessee coal cZ Iron Com pany because its securities were assets in at least one big trust company which was threatened with failure and they believed it would fail if nothing was
 done
 ''The securities had no market
 value at that time. They were will ing to purchase for the steel corpora- ton, they said, although the steel
 corporation did not want to do this for the sake of the transaction it. self"
 What trust companies did they
 mention as being doubtful?" asked
 Stanley. They did not mention any
 particular names and I did not press
 them"
 The impression that you gained
 was that several of the big trust com
 Fanfes were tottering because they
 were overloaded with T. c. & l. stock
 and that by replacing these with steel
 bonds the situation could be saved 2''
 That was my impression from what
 had heard from New York. Prick
 and Gary only spoke of one com
 pany
 Did they say they preferred to
 Iedeem IT. C. & l. stocks, rather than
 other industrial cOncerns2"
 They also said that in their efforts z to save a big brokerage firm they had refused to redeem other indus frfzTr f.rrf had nfffoT o1r~ TT G T