Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-01-16

AFTER a long conference, he said, Mrs.
Visconti told him that Mr.. Price had
a part in the leak affair between Sec
rotary Tumulty and others. No refer
ence was made either by Lawson or
the committee to the amount of money
referred to in Mrs. Visconti's letter.
Asked to whom he referred as the
alleged senator, an alleged banker
and an alleged member of the cabinet"
Lawson said he understood Secretary
McAdoo was the cabinet member; H.
Pliny Fisk the banker and the sena-
tor was a man whom he had heard of
only as Senator 90"
This information, Lawson said, came
to him from one source and was cor
roborated by another. He was not ask
ed for the sources Of the information.
The seventh question asking to whom
Lawson referred by saying a member
OF Congress had given him three names
or persons reported to have been in
VOWED in the DEAL for the third time
brought the reply: Chairman Henry"
The next question and the two follow
ing were virtually the same.
Other Information
Lawson then was asked if he had any
'N'iSt III IcidllOU u MS lnti-
nations that another "bigh official CT
the government had information regard
ing the leak" and that a relat tive Of a
cabinet official also had been mentioned
He replied that the firm OF c. D. Barney
4 Co, III Wall Street; Malcolm McAdoo,
a brother of Secretary McAdoo. and Stu
art G. Gibboney of the firm of McAdoo
4 Gihboney with Offices at the Grand
Central station and at 165 Broadway.
were the men to whom he referred. He
added :hat the public nan who knew OF
the leak machinery was Paul Warburg
of the Federal Reserve Board"
Suggestion by committeeman that
there might be other persons who could
give the committee valuable information
caused Lawson to say that John r.
Rathom, managing editor of the Provi-
dence Journal and the editor Of the Bos-
ton Transcript might be good witnesses
lie held in his hand at the time clip
ping from the Journal which he said re-
ferred to white House leaks" and he
thought Rathom might shed some light
on it. The Transcript. he said had y
"fat-footed' story recently about one
III III iildhlIS VoVV,oVV III Tie IhSI oIl
Dec. 20, and he thought that should be
investigated.
At that point Chairman Henry took Vi,
list of cabinet officers and asked Law
son If he had connected" each of their,
with the leak" Coming to the name
of Secretary Lansing, Lawson said he
had not made a suggestion of him In the
affair in connection with the names the
congressman had given him as being
parties to the leak
do you refer to Secretary Lansing In
any connection" Mr.. Henry asked
Yes" replied Lawson. Henry then
accused Lawson of dragging the name
, of Lansing into the hearing and Lawson
fiared up furiously.
Il have held the names Of Lansing
and tho German ambassador out of
this" he said. Il have kept quiet when
have been charged with Withholding
information which l have not, and 1
have been libelled in the press of the
country as a result One of your own
members has said on the floor that it
was matter of dispute as to whether
I should be in Jail or lunatic asylum
| will not have this thrown on me-"
His Meeting with Henry
Lawson then related in detail how he
had come to Washington at the re-
quest of Chairman Henry and had
called on him at his office; how Hen
ry had told him that he wanted his
help to run down the leak charges.
Lawson said he thanked Henry and
urged that they talk freely and in con-
fidence. Henry, he said, explained his
position as chairman Of the commit
tee charged with looking into all in
formation that might bear inVestiga-
ton. Congress wanted something tan
gible, he quoted Henry as saying. and
added that the chairman asked him to
give him any information that he had
about any individuals involved.
Il told him that the only thing to
be done was to get first-hand informa-
ton and to get it from other people"
said Lawson. II said that I would not
give him hearsay information: that my
principal reason was that l did not
want to besmirch anyone unjustly but
declared that 1 could give him a
formula for getting all the information
through a real investigation.
Il asked him what the committee
had heard He said the committee al
ready had heard that Secretary Lansing
had gone to the Biltmore hotel in New
| York four times to meet Bernard Ba-
ruch. The chairman also said that he
believed Secretary Lansing absolutely
! innocent of giving any confidential in
! formation and he asked me what I
/ thought about it.
| II said L will stake my head on 1t
that Secretary Lansing did not do
anything wrong ] also said that
! thought Secretary Lansing might have
been giving information that was per-
fectly fair for any man to give
/ Chairman Henry also told me that
! there had been given to the committee
report that the German ambassador
had profited over 100000, but he said
he did not think there was any truth
in it,
: Lawson further declared that Henry
planned with him at the end of the
second conference to cease urging an
investigation of the leak charges 1t
would be serious thing to the coun-
! try. Lawson quoted Henry as saying,
to have an inquiry at this time. 1t
might be possible, however. Lawson
said Henry pointed out, to inaugurate
a wide inquiry into the stock market
situation in the course of 80 days or
! 90 Such an inquiry being to LawSon's