William Nelson Cromwell again appears before the Senate Committee on Interoceanic Canals. He continues to refuse to answer questions as to his dealings with Secretary Taft and the amount of his fees. Senator Morgan, of Alabama, produced a copy of Cromwell’s contract with the French company, or Panama Canal Co., which gave Cromwell the power to organize companies, issue stock, bonds, etc., and finance any and all sorts of organizations to further the idea of selling the canal to the United States.
February 28.—It is reported from Pittsburg that the United States Steel Corporation, through President W. Ellis Corey, has demanded of the Pittsburg Coal Company, with which it has a twenty-five-year contract for coal, the minimum for each year being set at 8,000,000 tons, that there be no strike in the Pittsburg district. At the same time the Gould interests, so heavy in the West and Southwest, have ordered peace. As a result there will be no strike of the bituminous miners, who will receive a satisfactory advance.
It is reported from Springfield, Ohio, that local militia, called out to check a race riot caused by the shooting of M. M. Davis, a brakeman, by a negro, has been unable to stop the riot. An appeal has been made to the Governor to send more troops. Early this morning houses were burning in the negro quarter, and the authorities are powerless.
Yesterday the President signed the Urgent Deficiency Bill, which contains an appropriation of $118,000 for New York State to pay its claim for money to equip Government troops during the War of 1812.
Five hundred delegates of the Independence League, guests of William R. Hearst, appeared yesterday at Albany to plead before the Governor and the Legislature for the passage of measures in which the league is interested.
The Commissioners of Insurance in the states of Kentucky, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Nebraska have requested the Insurance Department of New York State to co-operate with them in an investigation of the Mutual Life Insurance Company.
It is reported from Little Rock, Ark., that Thomas E. Jordan, former Controller of the Equitable Life Insurance Company, and who could not be located during the Armstrong Investigation, is stopping with his wife at Hot Springs, Ark.
The debate in the Senate on the railroad rate question opens today with a speech by Senator Foraker, of Ohio.
Yesterday, before the Senate Committee on Interoceanic Canals, Senator Morgan, of Alabama, in his examination of William Nelson Cromwell, produced an agreement between the Panama Canal Commission and William Nelson Cromwell, showing that for a large compensation the Panama Canal Company contracted to pay William Nelson Cromwell a large compensation to Americanize the Panama project. Mr. Cromwell said the enterprise proposed in the document was abortive and died long ago. Senator Morgan tried to learn from Mr. Cromwell how much he had received in fees from the old or new Panama Company and by persistent questioning deduced the fact that the total payments to Mr. Cromwell did not exceed $200,000, extending over a term of years, and giving to him from $10,000 to $15,000 a year. Mr. Cromwell declined to say what service he had performed for these sums, admitting only that his clients were satisfied. The inquiry will be continued.
At a dinner yesterday at Washington the Republican members of Congress from New York proposed as the next nominee of the Republican Party for Governor of New York State, Charles E. Hughes, the inquisitor of the Armstrong Investigation Committee. The platform indicated was based on general reform and municipal ownership.