River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-07-10
CAPITAL STIRRED
BY LAMAR STORY
New York Broker Admits Having
Posed as Various Con-
greSSmen.
INQUIRY PLANNED BY HOUSE
Lamar Tells Amazing Story of His
Activities In Lobby Work-$e2r
100000 Fraud in Union Pa
cific Is Charged.

Washington, July 5.-Extraordinary
Developments occurred In the lobby
situation In the house of representa-
tives and before the senate lobby
committee. They were:
A brazen confession by one David
Lamar, who admitted this name to be
an alias, and who described himself
as a New York operator In stocks,
that he had impersonated members
of congress In behalf of the employ
ment Of Edward Lauterbach, New
York lawyer, to prevent national
legislation hostile to big financial in
terests.
A detailed charge by Lamar that
the Union Pacific company's books
had been forged in 1901 on an item
covering $82,000,OOO, one of the re-
Kuhn, Loeb & Co. and the late e. H.
Hartman amassed enormous fortunes
Denials by Congressman Sherley of
Kentucky, Calder of New York, Webb
of North Carolina, and Bartholdt of
Missouri on the floor of the house of
representatives that they had had any
connection whatsoever with or that
they had been controlled or Influenced
in the slightest degree by the National
Association of Manufacturers or it's
agents
Demands by these congressman and
others for an immediate investigation
of the MulhaIl revelations by spe-
cial committee to be created by the
house
Reference of these several resolu-
tons to the committee on rules, with
instructions to report a comprehen-
sive resolution on Saturday next call
ing for a thorough investigation of
all lobbying operations directed on
members Of the house.
Witness Enjoys Own Tale.
Lamar, or whatever his real name
may be (and the committee proposes
to force him to reveal it before he is
finally excused), deserves study by
psychological experts. AS if he were
telling joke the whole country would
relish he smilingly related his tele-
phone conversations with presidents
of and counsel for the Union Pacific
Railroad company, the Standard Oil
company. the United Cigars company,
and others. all designed to bring about
the employment Of Lauterbach as
their legislative agent
At one time he said he was Con
gresham Palmer, at another Con-
gresham Riordan. Again he was
Chairman McCombs of the national
Democratic committee endeavoring to
make an arrangement with Chairman
Hilles of the Republican party to
benefit through pressure on senators
and congressman the interests with
which Hilles now is associated.
He impersonated so many congress-
men that he could not remember them
all.
Claims He Aided Public.
His sole motive, he claimed, was to
impress the big financiers with the
ability of his friend Lauterbach Nor
was Mr.. Lauterbach the sole benef-
ciary Of his philanthropic conduct.
The American people, he declared,
were heavily in his debt, for he had
saved them the tidy little sum of $780,
100000 In connection with the reorgan-
ization of the Union Pacific In 1897
For this patriotic act he said that he
and the late Russell Sage with whom
ne co-operated, were denounced as
a pair Of constituencies blackmail-
ers."
But this was not all Of Mr.. Lamars
disinterested service for others. He
told how James r. Keene and his SON.
dn-law and some friends acquired $42,-
100000 of the stock of the Union Pa
cific, how he took measures to save
them
He told how ''the golden moment
FOR which he was working arrived and
how Mr. Keene failed to grasp it
when he told him to do so, with the
result that Keene lost the greater
part Of his fortune, and the firm of
which Keene's son-in-law was the head
was forced to suspend.
Tells Of "War" on Lauterbach.
And then, touchingly, he described
how ]. Pierpont Morgan, Kuhn, Loeb
& Co., and E. H. Hartman, forced into
consolidation Of their interests by the
panic of 1907, determined to starve
Mr.. Lauterbach out in the practice of
his profession and bring about his os-
tracism from the business and profess
Sional world
The price of the withdrawal of their
opposition was that Lauterbach should
have nothing further to do with the
witness, Lamar. Magnanimously La
mar offered to release Lauterbach. but
the latter magnanimously refused.
But. Mr.. Chairman" continued La
mar, in the most convincing tone, lit
was most distressing to me to see
the mental condition of my friend, to
see the low estate into which he was
falling in the practice of his profess
sion, and the curtailment of his in
come. l would have done anything in
my power 20 change that any to anne
liorate those conditions.
I realize perfectly that l could not
talk with these men directly. Their
hatred and dislike of me was so bit
Overheard on the Train.