The Washington times., 1912-12-30

on tho fact that, II had purchased the
Southern building and II was revaiued
in two or three days at an increase Of
$4,000 or 100000. He said he could
:sd 81 n *. report e 81 a ss
$4,000. and no could not understad
why the value was showed up to ~.
100000. He added that he himself had
Tie lie ssid fistly IN the course Of the
building worth S.ooo.ooo.
He recalled that Mr.. Darneille had
come 70 him not long ago and asked
MY recollection 10 that I valued y
at N,<o000o." He put the land at 80
to SS per foot. After the recent testi.
mony. no had heard, he said. he would
put It at tsS.
Statsmsnts Doubted.
But Mr.. Bell doubted statements
about offers for adjoining property at
very high figures. He referred to the
alleged offer for the ehoreham Hotel.
Church property near by . few years
ago he knew to be worth go per foot.
He admitted there had been an In.
crease OF about 70 per cent.
Dissecting the statement Of the Com
Bell said his fundamontsi objection was
ITO carry - an asset an equity IN q
building subject to one or more mort.
cages amounting to LOO. 900. especially
Is that company hs: sa,,'.,, an undivided one
Mr.. Bell then said the report OF the
Commercial for the ten months ending
November / showed It had lost consij.
erable money. Colonel Judson ventur-
Mssornsy .ns sT ptISs pousias is sharply oS,ccted
Mr.. Bell then interpreted the Novem.
ber statement Of the company for the
nrst ten months of this year % snSw'nS .s,s ins;
dividend i % 10 stocsSoiderS. or about $4,000
outside OF dlvtdsnds.
He proceeded to 90 into the receipts
ard expensos in detail and showed that.
incudnf az. g S'y,dcnd the apprCSxi%sts :S loss
actually greater than that because the
receipts included premiums on certain
policies for . longer period than one
Mr.. Bell declared that II his prem
not Justified in making the claims Il
did - to profts. He reiterated that
he did not think the undivided one
ss,1 sssr,sx interest ,nr II an ssGSit W:s
Gave Conservative Value.
Questioned by Mr.. George. Mr.. Bell
admitted It was his disposition to put q
conservative value on property. He
gave ~ per cent ~ the hgure on which
he could capitalize real estate In most
cases. As to the shorcham property.
said to Yield q net return Of s6S.Ooo. he
would capitalise this at ~ per cent.
s as Eon 10 ns tAts
the opinion Of Mr.. 6tellwagen. should
be capitalized at 3 per cent. Mr. Bell
admitted that much property In the
business section was 10 highly valued
be got on the valuation.
Asked about the New Willard, he said
he would not capitalize that at ~ cents
now that the New Arlington was being
built.
Commissioner Judson led MIR. Bell over
the Insurance statement Of the CONNER
cial by another route. This analysis
showed that the actual surplus of the
company at the time Of the recent state
crease In the book value Of real estate
were not included. II was In this con-
nection Mr.. Bell was led up by Colonel
Judson to give Il a. his opinion the
SsnE !hTIuss sss
conditions A. tustifyinG an increase IL r
stock. were guilty. I'm moral sense. ="
Of false pretenses.
Crillsd By Attorneys.
Attorneys Csrusi and Douglas then
took the witness In hand and grilled
him a. to some Of the statements. He
was asked concerning the personnel of
the directorate Of the Commercial. about
Judges Atkinson and Goulrd. and for
mer Postmaster General Wynne. He
testified to his high opinion Of them.
but thought they might not have known
about the affairs Of the Commercial
when the resolution Of November II
was passed.
Mr.. Douglas tried to get Mr.. Bell to
admit that II the value Of the Southern
building had increased. AZ alleged. It
was entitled to 10 into the earnings.