The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31
Selheimer Replies to Gov ernOr's Last Statement
 Published Sunday
ASKS QUESTIONS
 ABOUT AGREEMENT
Says. However, Henderson and Gov. ernOr Need Not Answer If They Do Not Want to En-
 tighten People,

H. C. Selhemer special counsel for the state of Alabama in the railroad rate litigation. yesterday replied to the state ment of the governor published Sunday.
 Regarding the governors assertion that
 MT. Selhemer was offended because the
 pipe line which supplied him s1ooo a month
 had been severed" Mir seheimer says he has never drawn any such amount from the state and that the governor knew 1t when he made the statement.
 Regarding another of the governors assertions. MT. Selhemer says; Tt is worse than ignorance; it borders on im-
 becllty."
 He asks a series of questions of Mr. Henderson and the governor and says if they are afraid to enlighten the peo- pie by answering them. they may remain mute as he would not ask them to in- crimlnate themselves. His statement ia as follows:
 q have carefully read Governor O Nears reply in Sundays Age-Herald | to my denial of the statement made by him in his Montgomery speech with ref
 erence to my connection with the recent
 settlement of the rate cases. As he does
 
 of course, be conceded that he did enter
 upon and complete negotiations for a set
 clement of the rate cases and reduce all
 the terms of the settlement to writing
 without consulting either of the special
 counsel for the state or the attorney
 general, and that he and the president of
 the railroad commission did sign and
 execute the agreement of settlement with
 out seeking or desiring the advice of
 the states attorneys as to the advisability of making the settlement.
 Lawyers Will Understand
 Governor o'Neal seems to think. how
 ever. that, although he had completely
 ignored me in deciding upon the terms
 of the settlement. yet when the attorney
 general sent me a copy of the agreement already signed by the parties. 1t was my
 duty to communicate to him or to the
 attorney general my objection to the
 terms of the agreement. If Governor O'Neal, himself a lawyer. cannot under
 stand why, under the circumstances, aft CT he had completely ignored me in mak-
 ing the settlement, l should feel reluctant, after the agreement had been signed, to volunteer any advice in regard to 1t or
 to express to him my objections to tho
 terms of the settlement already made.
 then l fear nothing I anyone else can say will enlighten him. The defect which renders the governor unable to understand this feeling on my part, what
 ever else 1t may be, is not intellectual Any lawyer with proper respect for him- self or his profession will understand my subsequent silence.
 "If Governor O'Neal means that If I had any objections to the terms of the settlement I should have made my obs iections known to the public between tha date of the signing of the agreement and the date of it's formal approval by the | commission then 1 call his attention to | the fact which he doubtless knows that when the attorney general telephpned to me on February 2l that the agreement of | settlement had been signed, he impressed upon me very urgently the necessity of keeping the matter secret until Monday. ! March 2, when the agreement was to be | filed. 1 told him that We had five sten- ographers at work on the transcript for | the appeal and that if we discharged them at once the fact of the settlement would | immediately be suspected. He replied l that they had considered that fact and decided that we were to keep the stem | ographers at work during the following week just as though there had been no | settlement and so instructed me. Does | Governor ONeal think, under these cir | cumstances, that l should have violated I | of the attorney general of which ha doubtless was aware, and made pubic the agreement and my objections to it: Regarding Pipe Line' Assertion "Governor ONeal says in his reply. as quoted in The Age-Herald. that the sct- | clement of the cases caused the sever | ance of the pipe line which for seven years has lead from the state treasury to | him (me) at the rate of sl000 per month | In the copy of his reply as printed in the Montg Advertiser he says this by 1 innuendo, and intimates that my an guish' Is caused by this severance of tho pipe line. Governor O'Neal had positive knowledge when he made this statement | that it was not true He knew that in | August, 1912. 1 myself severed that pipe | line by severing my connection with the | rate cases for reasons which he knows. | He knew that my connection with the | cases since then has been only tempor- | ary and only at his urgent solicitation. He knew positively that the only com | pensation drawn by me from the state | treasury, exclusive of expenses. between | August. 1912. after l had withdrawn from | the cases and March 1. 1912. period of | l9 months. was $500. and he knew posi- l lively that I had not received 5000 per month during all my previous connec- -