The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-01-08
Tumulty and Lansing
Deny knowledge of
"Leak";; Lawson Witness
Continued from Page One)

I
chief of the information bureau. He
| at once took it up with the printing
office.
'It was read by one man and then
sent to the printing office.
| "At about II o'clock I received the
| newspaper correspondents and told
| them 1 would have an important COM
| nunication at o'clock to be released
| next morning I told them in conf
| dence. as I was afraid its contents
might come back from Europe In
! garbled form. Further, I thought 1T
courteous not to make it public until
! it had been received by the countries
| to. which it was addressed. told
| them it did not contain any proposal
| of peace nor offer of mediation.
"That evening at my house, AM
bassador Wilcox, of Spain, told me
he had been advised of the contents
of the note by the President and we
discussed the DISABILITY of his adj
dressing Spain on the subject. The
next morning the note was made pub
lie in the press
Have you any information as to
a leak on the note about IL O'Clock
on Wednesday," asked Representa-
"Not to my knowledge" said Mr..
Lansing.
tits been suggested here that rep
resentatives of two newspapers may
have sent out information at that
time"
II have seen references to it in the
Newspapers
HAS anything been done at the
vi, Ny,+ 70 WhRfhnr
there is any foundation for that"
Nothing at all. I think 1t would
be easy to find OUT
Mr. Lansing said that on the morn
ing Of the conference with the news
papermen, three other men were walt
ing to see him, but that he did not
know they were in the room until
after he had talked to the newspaper
men.
"who were these menu" asked
Representative Lenroot
s'Mr. A. E. Snowden, Of New York;
E. R. Gaylord, a civil engineer OF the
navy, and DR.. N. T. Mclean of the
navy" said Mr. Lansing.
The two naval officers were about to
proceed to Haiti.
"It is not likely that they would say
anything about your statement?" sug-
gested Representative Bennett.
VERY improbable"
Mr.. Bennett recalled Secretary Lam
sings statement that he never specu-
lated and added: ''For that reason
isn't it possible that you gave little,
thought 10 the effect some statement
made by you might have on the stock
market?"
"I never gave it a thought" SAID
the secretary. "It never entered my
mind. I was merely anxious to pre-
serve the courtesy due to foreign ma
tons in the matter"
'eWas Mr.. Snowden connected with
the National Manufacturers associa-
tion?''
IT think 500
did it occur to you that, he might
make use Of the informationa" /
"I didn't know he was there"
Questioned further about his con-
ference with the newspapermen, Sec
rotary Lansing said:
"My statements regarding the note
were entirely negative. I said moth !
ing whatever about a request for
terms having been made. I gave no
details I stated that at 5 O'clock |
they would be able to get an important |
sent to belligerent |
governments. I said that it was not |
a proposal Of peace or an offer of me- |
diation Then I explained to them |
the reason T wished them to preserve |
confidence.
1.-THE new note was in the hands of
the printer and I wanted to guard |
against any mere rumors that might |
get out"
Representative Chipperfield asked
Secretary Lansing about his two
statements explaining the note after
it had been made public.
Were these statements made en-
tirely on your own initiative?" asked |
Mr.. Chipperfeld.
''See here Secretary Lansing de-
clared with emphasis. THAT is way /
beyond the scope of this investiga-
tion'
Democrats of the committee OBJ.
jected that such a line of questi oning
was improper and the chair ruled
that the secretary need not answer.
Thomas w. Lawson followed Mr..
Lansing. Told by Chairman Henry
that he might proceed in his own |,
way for the present. Mr.. Lawson |,
asked if he were to be stopped at any
point. Mr.. Henry said that would
depend upon whether he confined
himself to the subject before the COM
mittee. /
my name is Thomas w. Lawson"
he said "My home is Boston. My
occupation, you might say is that of
a farmer" I
The crowd burst into roar of
laughter and Lawson fastened to ex-
plain. II don't say I am a farmer
to be facetius,'' he said. 'In a way
I also am connected with financial
matters"
II will give testimony" he said, Ere
,arding the damnable condition which
has existed for two years, for the pull
bose Of finding remedy for conditions
which caused hundreds Of thousands
# persons to be driven to enormous
osses."
Lawson flew into a rage after he
lad proceeded for half an hour when
Interrupted by Representative Chip
oerfield. He declared he proposed to
lay all he had to say regardless of
What's the penalty?" he shouted,
and I'll take it in advance
The committee room was in an up
oar and Representative Henry threat
med to clear and hold the proceedings
|