The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-01
Firms Books Are Believed to Show Real Character
 of Its Business
MOST OF THE FACTS ARE ALREADY KNOWN
Elder Morgan Thought Many Years Ago That the Plan of Railroad UnificatiOn Was Best for
 New England
By HOLLAND.

New York, May 31.-tSpecial )--For tne second time within a year and a half the authority of the government has Leer invoked for the purpose of making an examination into the books, the accounts and the affairs of the firm of J. P Nor gan & Co. So far as the members of this house are concerned it would not have been necessary to invoke the aid of the government except that it is felt that there should be authority for such exam ination. J. P Morgan & Co. have for years professed their willingness to submit their affairs to the inspection of any properly constituted authority. The examination of the books and ac- counts of this house now under way has been undertaken with intent to secure some light upon the transactions of the New Haven Railroad company and espe- cially those which were recently related to the interstate commerce commission by C. S. Mellen, for 10 years president of the compony. If the members of this firm have any suspicious that the examination is prompted by political motives rather than the desire to obtain business infor- nation for business purposes-that is to say, for legislative purposes that will make solely for good business-no inti- maiion of that kind has come to any mem- Der of the firm. The constituted authority which is now making the examination is fully recognized by this firm. Those who are conducting the examination do not expect to run against any subtleties of bookkeeping, any trickeries of accounting perfected for the purpose of concealing transactions. The reputa tion of this house itself would be sufficient to prevent a sus- picion of that kind. But in addition to that there was experience at the time of the so-caled Pujo investigation which fully persuaded the members of that com- mittee and also persuaded MT. Unter- myer, the counsel of the commission, that no subtcrfuges or tricks of skilful book keeping would be disclosed by the inves- tigation.
 MT. Untermyer knew before Mir Morgan vas called to the stand that he could
 obtain any information within the scope of the Pujo investigation which he sought.
 He was informed of the amount of de- posits carried by the Morgan house. He was frankly told many details. some of which he purposely did not bring out be- fore the Pujo committee.
 Mir. Morgan had caused to be prepared { al exhaustive statement so that he might
 be able to answer fully any questions 4 which MT. Untermyer saw fit to put to him. After his examination was ended, it was with surprise that he recalled the fact that he was prepared to make any statements under oath and to make full explanation of some statements made un- der oath, but was not asked or even per- mitted by Mir. Untermyer to do so.
 What the Accounts Will Disclose
 haf fI,A A1- . nf L Morgan will disclose will not be known, if known at all, until after the next meet ing of the interstate commerce commits sion, some 10 days hence. But the chances are that they will disclose nothing which has not been in general way already known. The expert accountants of the house were occupied last winter in pre- pairing exhaustive statement of the ag- gregate financial transactions handled by this house for the New Haven company, together with the aggregate commissions paid for that service, going back to a time 20 years earlier, or about the time when the late J. P Morgan became inter- ested in the New York and New Haven system. This disclosure did not follow command by any lawful authority for its production, but, instead request It showed that the aggregate financing done for the New Haven by the Morgan house for period of 20 years was approximately $50 ,000, 000 and for this service the house had received aggregate commissions of $S33. 900.
 No responsible person either in the bank ing world or in Massachusetts, from which state the request came for this infor- nation, has ever doubted it's substantial accuracy.
 No Improper Bookkeeping
 It is thought not to be conceivable that the investigation now under way should disclose or even hint at improper identifi- cation of the New Haven financing with personal advantage by any member of this firm. J. P. Morgan, now the head of the house, has said several times that no member of the firm ever took advantage If this position to gain personal profits through participation in New Haven financing. All that any member of the lrm ever gained through these transac- Ion was his rightful share as partner in he commissions earned by the firm. No examination of the books and ac-