The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-01-21
THOMPSON TELLS
INSIDE FACTS OF
MCCALL INQUIRY
Strongly Advocates Continual
ton of Probe of New York
p. S. Commission.

New York. Jan. 21-Senator George
F. Thompson, of Niagara, chairman
the of Joint Legislative Committee,
which has been Investigating the Pub
lie Service Commission. was aroused
yesterday by the charges made by
| Assemblyrnan R. Hunter McQuistion,
| of Brooklyn, that bills had been en-
tered in the records of the Committee
for expenses charged up to him, Nc
| QUESTION, which he had never incurred,
/ Senator thompson practically defied
Whitman, who, he said, was bringing
pressure to bear upon him to call off
! the investigation. He charged that
! the Governor, in the first place. had
desired the ejectmen from the Com
j mission of Commissioners J. Sergeant
| Cram and Robert c.. Wood, and had
been strongly opposed to any steps be
ing taken against Chairman Edward
! z. Mccall and Commissioner G. Y. s.
Williams.
/ He also announced that he had re-
/ ceived word from the United States
District Attorneys office that a repre-
sentative of H. Snowden Marshall Dis
trict Attorney, would confer with him
today about the advisa bility Of start
ing proceedings under the Sherman
Antitrust law against certain per-
sons and corporations whose activities
| had been shown in the course of the
Committees inquiry Senator Thonp-
| son said he had no knowledge as to
/ the District Attorneys meaning, but
it is generally understood that the
matter referred to was the testimony
! dealing with arrangements between
the several companies manufacturing
i railway signal equipment in their bid
/ ding for contracts.
/ Politicians who heard of Senator
/ Thompson's assertions were inclined to
connect the Governors attitude toward
! the investigation with the visit to AL
banyy of Lernuel Ely Quigg, the ttacceI-
i orator and attorney for the INTERIOR
/ ough, who, it has been Isaid--and de-
niedAvcaried to the Governor Woods
resignation. It has also been said, and
/ also denied, by the Governor and
/ Quigg, that they conferred regarding
a successor to Williams and other APP
pointm ents which must shortly be
made to the Commission. Commits
sioner Wi1lians's resignation takes ef-
! feet February Land Commissioner
Cram retfres automatically through
the expiration of his term on the
same date.
/ When Senator Thompson was asked
about Asse nb1yman McQuisti ion s
/ statement, he replied:
THAT bill was settled last April dur
/ ing the first investigation by the Com
mittee. It's a funny thing that Nc
| QUESTION has just found out about it
now, when the Speaker of the AsseI1b-
! Iy is telling me that have gone far
enough. That bill was paid out Of
| the appropriation of $25, 900 for the
first investigation of the Committee.
of which sum $4,000 was turned back
into the Treasury unexpended. So far
as know, the money was spent Ie-
ultimately for the purpose outlined
All dish urse merits haye been through
the Observation-Disclosures, who has kept
.ases
I'VE have asked for an appropria-
ton of $4,000 to carry *on the work
of the Committee two months longer,
and the Senate has approved It, We
have. the Senate right behind us, but
we have the opposition of the Cover
nor ANDY Speaker! Sweet If we get
that sum- our total expenditure will
have~been only $45, 0e0 for this inves-
tigati on-which, you must bear in
mind, has been quite distinct from the
first Investigation, which ended in the
dismissal of the charges we brought,
because the Governor only wanted to
remove Cram and WOODS and wanted
to keep in office Mccall and Williams,
and if he had removed Cram and
Woods he would have had to remove
the other two with them. That was
why our first investigation ended as
it did. |
Now, how do the expenses of this
Committee compare with the expenses
of cher Investigating committees 2 No \
committee that did the sensational |
work we have done ever cost less than.
$4,000 or 100000. Why the Arm |
strong Committee spent over 800, oOO,l
for stenogra piers fees alone. We
spent 100000 on our first investigation
returning the balance Of 5000 from
the appropriation and now we want
$4,000 to complete our second inves-
.tigation, which has had most import
mt rs T ink To- viii
favor us, if they know the facts. T.
have been so short for money that in
engaging lawyers and special account
ants to do the work we. have done
already I have had to say to them:
You viii have to take your chance
of, the States paying you. L haven't
got the money now 1t was either that
or break off in the midst of our lab
ors.
IF I can get that $4,000 so that we
can pay our bills and run on for two
months longer, I can show the people
a complete picture Of the Pubic Ser
vice Commission and its relations to
the rai1ro Dads and other public service
corporations. We can demonstrate
that the community has had to pay
between $10.000,O00 and. $25,00e,000
to them. The Public Service Commits
sion could save 100000 a year in
extra charges The proposal to pay
81, 500, 900 extra. for the Fulton street
elevated, is a sample of this. AS
matters stand, I can keep up the
Committees work for two weeks, but
I don't feel like leaving off now
Speaker Sweet said he was willing
to pay my bills, but that he thinks I
have gone far enough. The pressure
which was brought on me. and later
on the Senate, evidently has been
transferred to the Speaker. They tell
me have done great work, and now
is the time to leave off. but I don't