The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1915-04-09
NEVER HEARD OF
A SLUSH FUND
INVESTIGATION SHOWS THAT
RAILROADS HAD SPENT NO
MONEY WRONGFULLY.
Another Text Book Fight
Supt. Keller Opposed to Uniform Text
Book Bill and viii Fight
Measure.
BY DOUGLAS D. MARTIN.

Gus railroad investigation has come
and gone. 1t started as serious
drama, it ended as q farce.
The production was in four reels
and each reel was funnier than the
one before. The finis showed the rail
roads to be much abused corporations
and displayed several prominent gen
tlemen in the act of pointing their
Anglers at one another and crying
''lisr."
The one noteworthy fact unveiled
was that nobody has heard of q
"slush" fund, nobody has seen any OF
, the banknotes from a slush fund. no
body has ben approached with i'm.
proper offers and nobody has tried to
influence anybody else.
Every witness called to the stand
testified that he had never heard that
tho railroads were using money un-
lawfully, or that they were trying by
improper means to influence legisla-
tors to vote in their behalf.
Commissioner Cunningham still sur
wives the attack and his official head
Is safely where it belongs, on his
shoulders. Commissioner Glasgow
called q newspaper man a "liar" and
denied an interview which he was said
to have given only to have Paul King.
receiver for the Pere Marquette, go
on the stand and substantiate the
newspaper mans testimony. Mr..
Glasgow's oratorical demand for a
probe OF the railroad commission was
turned down by the investigating COM
mittee and Mr. Glasgow himself was
1'called" by his chief, Lawton T. He
mans, for making remarks concerning
his colleague, Mr.. Cunningham.
The hearing opened by the calling
of all the newspaper men in the CAPT
tol to the stand. In all but one case
the writer's testified that they had
never heard of "slush" fund or of
any illegal operations on the part of
the railroads. The representative Of a
Grand Rapids newspaper, who had
written a story to the effect that a
"slush" fund was being used, testified
that he got his information from Rep
resentatives Symonds and Wiley.
This was in reality the story which
started the investigation. Represen-
tatives Symonds and Wiley compli-
Gated matters by taking the stand
aud declaring that they had never
made such a remark. They qualified,
however, to the extent of admitting
that they had said that the railroads
had plenty of money and were using
1t quite freely for publicity.
Call Cunningham to Stand.
On the second hearing Commission
er Cunningham was called to the wit
ness stand. He testified that he had
been called upon by a newspaper man
and had given him a statement con-
corning his personal views in the
case of the railroad rate question,
which were to the effect that the roads
were entitled to an increase and that
II they did not get it they would prob
ably take off some trains.
Mr.. Cunningham testified that he did
not know his interview was to be sold
to the railroads for advertising, and
that if he had known he certainly
would not have given it. But he adj
mitted freely that the views expressed
were his and he chung to them tena
ciously. He said that according to the
figures of the railroads they were los
ing money at the present rates. He
further declared that the next step
on the part of the roads would be to
cut off some of their train service and
he stated that in view Of the decision
of the supreme court in the West Vir
ginia cases that it would probably be
impossible to make them renew such
service unless they were given right
to charge more for passenger service
| oh ody no H.
might have been indiscreet in givine
out such a statement, owing to his
position on the railroad commission
but declared that he stood by his guns
and that lie had spoken the truth.
Advertising men called to the stanC
bore out Mr.. Cuningham'S statement
that he did not know the interview
was to be used for advertising pur
poses, but that he thought it was &
news item. 1t was freely stated tha
Mr.. Cunningham gave an excellent &C
count of himself, which seems to b,
the way in which Gov. Ferris was
impressed.
The governor Is said to have fel
that Mr.. Cunningham, while indiscreet
was not guilty Of any breach of trus
with the state, and that the thing h,
viewed with more concern than Mr.
Cunningham interview was tn,
trouble which has been caused in tn,
railroad commission.
Glasgow Says "Damn Lie"
The announcement that c.. S. Glas
COW was to be called to the stan,
brought out big crowd of spectators
What followed was worthy of the au
dience.
1T has been stated here" sal
Chairman Murtha, that you gave on
an interview on the case of railroa
rates"
Its a damn lie," said Glasgow.
"What?"
ats a damn lie"
Mr. Glasgow then admitted that h
was present in the office of the attol
ney general when the resolution wa
] drawn up denouncing Mr.. Cunningham
|, and asking for an investigation. II
denied that he helped write the con
nurico ton. denied that he knew VIII
did write II, and was very hazv q