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Show I; REPORTED ON : ST. LOUIS PAIR f j Caucus Sustains the Committee. Speaker Hull Favored a Whitewash of Certain Delinquents. I There Is Still a Strong- Sentiment in Favor of -Appropriating Money to Cover Deficit, t I i , . , i In caucus the -'House , members de cided to adopt the rcport'of 'the Louisiana Louisi-ana Purchaso Investigating-' committee without change. Spcakor Hull came out Rtrone in favor of cupprcrslng the Htr!oture3 on tho employec3 and certain , members of tho commission, but his re marks brought an equally strong reply from the members of tho committee. They declared that their work should not he undone by evading the obvious j conclusions to be drawn from the tes timony and documentary evidence. 1 The report of the general committee with the report of the St. ILouls .subcommittee, .sub-committee, were presented to the House , tho last thing last night They had j been gone over In committee and were adopted without reading. J Favor an Appropriation. , The general sentiment of the Repub licans Is In favor of making an appropriation appro-priation to cover the deficit In the fund which has been made up by private subscription. This will take about $7000 of the State's money. Some members mem-bers talk of presenting a, resolution calling the attention of the Attorncy-I Attorncy-I General to the facts stated In the re- j ports. These matters will be threshed out Monday. Following Is the, text of the reborts: ICommlttea'Sj Roport. ., . . Roport of special" committco appointed to Investigate tho affairs of tho Loulsi-' Loulsi-' ana Purchase Exposition commission of the State of Utah. Committee room, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1 Mnrch 9. Hon'. Thomas Hull, Speaker, and tho members of the Houoo ' of Representatives, Representa-tives, State of Utah. Gentlemen. Pursuant Pur-suant to IIouso resolution No. 1 by Mr. Clcsson S. Kinney, passed February 14, 1KB, which Is hereto attached, marked "Exhibit A," and mndo a part of this report, your committco beg leave to report re-port as follows; That your committee met In tho city and county building In Salt Laka City on Tuesday, February 21. 1005, and proceeded pro-ceeded to take testimony relatlvo to tho affairs of tho Louisiana Purchaso Exposition Expo-sition commission for tho State of Utah, and said Investigation continued with adjournments ad-journments from tlmo to tlmo until tho 7th day of March, IMS. at which tlmo said Investigation was complclcd; that the evidence of all members of tho commission com-mission was taken, with the oxccptlon of tho former treasurer, Hoyt Sherman, who was absent from tho State of Utah at tho tlmo of tho Investigation; that. In addition to the evldenco of the members of the commission, the ' evidence of a large number of other witnesses was tnken. all of which cvldonco was reduced to writing, and la hereto attached marked "Exhibit B," and made a part of this report. Your committco found it necea-nary necea-nary to secure tho services of a competent compe-tent accountant, with his assistants, to examine carefully Into all of the account-, of tho commission and for the purposo tho committee retained J. W. Heywood, who has mndo a report in writing of hln Investigation to this committee, which Is hereto attached, mnrked "Exhibit C " and made a part of this report. Your commlttoo further report that owing to the condition In which they found tho books of account, vouchers and other records rec-ords of the commission that It Is lmpos-plblo lmpos-plblo for thv committee to tell to what extent tho accounts are correct or to arrive ar-rive at any satisfactory conclusion as to the expenditure of the money entrusted 1 1 to tho commission. The first secretary of tho commission was John Q. Cannon, who retained this position until about the ISth day of "February. "Feb-ruary. 1905. at which tlma S. T. Whltakcr was ehoson secretary of tho commission. Iho books and accounts of- Mr. Cannon as secretary aro in such condition as to lender it hnposslblo for your committee to dotcrmlno whothor or not they arc cor-rectV.ln- accordance with section 8, chap-n' chap-n' I"ra 0JuUlah' 1!KG- a11 Payments for the expenditures of tho commission were required to be made by the trcas- urcr upon orders Issued by the secretary and countersigned by tho chairman of the commission. Tho evldenco shows con-rliis con-rliis vcly that tho name of Heber M Wells, chairman, was forged to tho following fol-lowing orders, and that the amounts of money therein sot forth, wero paid pu-majit pu-majit to said orders: 1 H, , Theao 'rscd onicrs wcrc ca3ned . .ho Commercial National bank of Salt Lake City, Utah, between tho 10th day of Octobor, 19CG. and the '14th dav of issssfl JUP1504' nnd that all timeT between isssH hiVV,101".0, sufficient money i" issssH Xl bnnk 'ol'iS to the State of Utah isssH Jtf deposited by tho commission w-lth lv lchMto paJ aH of 3aid orders: with, the exception of May 2. at which tlmo issssH t&VVa8,un Yerdra" at the banlVf ESS-91, but on, Ma' 3- 'W. a. deposit of SnWa?,mnd01bi: 1,10 commlsson to isssH f?IS yurdfa". Tho evidence fur- fhnn ,lndv.to 8how- without contradlc- i t,on- hat tho namo of Heber M. Wells 11 was forged to all of said ordors by tho Cannon0' th COmrn,sIon. John'Q. 1 ina.ucr hls vPPohitment. tho secrc- lar of tho epmmlsslon. John Q, Cannon. rf,M!nr d ? cop a ?ct of b00ks con-fisting con-fisting of a ledger and voucher record. d " Journal, but very many of the ltc,n,v Pertaining to the affairs of tho com-mission com-mission were not entered In theso books at tho t mo tho transaction occurred, and at tho tlmo your committco begnn to cx-rt??infl,th0 cx-rt??infl,th0 acco,unts of the. commission this first set of books had disappeared nnd a new cot of books, bearing evidence that they had been recently wrltton, wero substituted In place of tho original books of account. Your committco llnnl-ly llnnl-ly located tho original set of books and found that they had beon ho badly mutilated muti-lated and wero In such condition that they wero of little value In determining tho real stato of affairs of the commission. commis-sion. Voijr committco was unable to secure se-cure tho presence of the secretary, John Q. Cannon, to receive from him explanations explana-tions relatlvo to tho books and accounts therein contained. From tho evidence and records It appears thnt tho salary of tho secretary, John Q. Cannon, was overdrawn over-drawn J2o. Tho treaeuror of tho commission, Mr. Hoyt Sherman, kept books of account pertaining to tho affairs of tho committee commit-tee entrusted to him, but at tho tlmo this committee commenced to lnvestlgato tho accounts, the leaves of tho book wero lorn out and delivered to the committco In that form, so that that portion, which would otherwise have constituted a public pub-lic record, appears In the form of leaves torn from the original record, und tho record Itself Is not In tho possession of the commission. Mr. Sherman gave tho commlttoo no Information, except what was contained on these sheets. Your committco further reports that there wns paid to tho treasurer of the commission, "Willie Johnson, shortly after af-ter he becamo treasurer, about the latter part of January, tho sum of 2131.12, which was paid to tho treasurer by John M Cannon, who represented himself to bo tho attorney for John Q. Cannon. Tho . evident purpose of tho payment of this sum of 52131.12, as shown by the evidence, was to cover tho amount paid out on the forged vouchers. In addition to tho orders that were torged, voucher No. Ill to tho Utah Light nnd Railway company ior IC.7'j was not used In payment of any obligation incurred in-curred by the commission, but went to pay the electric light bill of Emily H Cannon In favor of the Utah Light and Power company. Order No. 124, to O'Blad & Knight for 32, was not used to pay any Indebtedness of tho commission, but went to pay a private obligation of the secretary of tho commission, John Q. Cannon. Can-non. From the best Information obtalnablo by your committee, there pnsscd through tho hands of Willis Johnson, a member of the commission, the sum of 5SC.S0. Mr. Johnson claims that this amount was expended ex-pended for his expenses during tho time he waa engaged In the work of the commission. com-mission. Ho does not, however, present a slnglo receipt from tho person to whom he Is nlleged to have paid tho money From the best Information obtainable, thero was received, all told, by L. W, Shurtlln from tho commission tho sum' of S10CG.S0, for which amount he has signed vouchers to the commission. He has left, however, with tho commission no books of account showing the money received and disbursed by him, and bus died no receipts whatover from any person to whom ho Is said to have paid any part of this money. In voucher No. 115 an Item appears on February 20, hotel, flvo days at St. Louis from 20th to 21th, Inclusive, at ?5 per day. on February 22, In tho samo voucher, sleeper to Chicago, J2.&0, February 23, same voucher, slcopcr from Chicago to Ogden. 9.S0; February 24, snmo voucher, meals, J4.E0. The explanation offered of-fered In a number of Instances In tho accounts of L. W. Shurtliff are unsatisfactory unsatis-factory to the committco, and a number of his expenditures seem to be excessive exces-sive ' , From tho best Information obtainable, there pnsscd through the hands of tho , director-general, S. T.-Whltaker, the sum of $33,K)1.0C. According to his own testimony, tes-timony, ho kept no books of account showing show-ing the money received from and paid out on behalf of the commission. Tho evldenco evl-denco discloses thnt in many Instances the accounts of Mr Whltakcr ore In a hopeless state of confusion, and It Is Impossible Im-possible for tho committee to tell to what extent thoy are correct A numbor of serious discrepancies appear In his accounts ac-counts nnd the explanations In respect to them aro wholly unsatisfactory to tho committee. In voucher No. 79 S. T. Whltakcr Whlt-akcr received J249 IS for honey exhibit contract with E S. Jovesy. A check was drawn on January 2, 1904. to pay this amount by tho treasurer of tho commission, commis-sion, Hoyt Sherman., Tt appears from tho evldenco that Mr. Whltaker took this check to Mr. Lovcsy In payment of the balanco duo him at that time. Mr. Lovesy, however. Informed Mr. Whltaker that tho commission was not owing him more than $10r. After further conversation conversa-tion Mr. Lovvsov Indorsed tho check back to Mr, Whltakcr. and Mr Whltaker cashed tho check for tho full amount and paid Mr. Lovcsey out of It $105, for which no took a rcc-fnt, and the balanco, amounting to $144.18, was rotalncd by Mr. S. T. Whltaker. The explanation made by Mr. Whltaker as to what was dono with tho balanco, $144. IS, Is not satisfactory satisfac-tory to the committee. Mr. Whltaker Is unable to tell to whom ho paid this money; when ho paid it, how ho paid It. whether bv check or cash, and he took no receipts re-ceipts whatever for It. Voucher No. 113. for $590.50. purports to be for money paid to R. G. Shlsler for labor and material. On tho voucher Is stated: "Includes also labor, excavating, preparing cyclorama and work by G. S. Alien." This voucher shows exactly what tho money was paid to Mr. Whltaker for. Mr. Whltaker admitted ad-mitted under oath on tho stand that Mr, Shlsler had nothing to do with tho"-labor, excavatlig, preparing cyclorama and work? done by G. S Allen, and was not entitled to any portion of the $200 which was charged for those Items. This voucher is O. K.'d by Mr. Whltakcr In his own handwriting. Check No- 4, for 390.CO, was used to pay tho amount mentioned men-tioned In the vouchor, Mr, Whltaker admitted" ad-mitted" under oath that ho had given to Mr. Shlsler this chock and asked him to Indorso It, which Mr. Shlsler did, and the check was returned to Mr. Whltakcr. Out of the total sum of $M0.EO Mr, Whlt-akor Whlt-akor paid Mr. Shlsler In cash $352.50 and took no receipt for It, except tho voucher No. 113 Including the full amount, Mr. Whltaker. also admitted on tho stnnd that ho received at least $200 In cash out of ibis $590JA Ho claims to have paid tho money out, and could not tell to whom ho paid It, when he paid It, or how he paid It. whether by' check or In cash, and he took no receipts for any part of It and roportfl lc In no other way, excopt as having been paid to R. G. Shlsler. Voucher No. 13D shows money drawn from the commission to pay R, G. Shlsler Shls-ler $2S2 90. Check No. C, signed by S. T. Whltaker, was drawn, to pay .this, amount. Tho check bears tho indorsement of R. I Oct. 10. 19.13. John o to o paid. Amount. ; 44 Oct. 10 1&03 John o ?non- Sec. Oct. 13, 1903 X. $ 21.75 1 7 Oct. 17 1903 John O S""?' geo- Oct. 14, 1903 '. 78.25 4S Oct. 3L 1903 John n annn. Sec. Oct. 17, 1903 165.(0 JM Mar. i. m, yJl" y Cannon, Sec. Nov. 3.1903... i 3-5.10 121 Mur. 4 1904 John O ?2non' lec' 1. 1904 83,35 121 Mar. 4. 1904. 0?nL?ti ?aTn-n?ni,.Scc- ar. C. 1901 93,40 Ma": : S: a &fce- tfn7:"rN:: 133 Mar. 1G 1904 j,hn" o r ! ' ec' Mar. 11. 1904 1C2.E0 134 Mar. 1G 1901. John 8' r? 1 icc' Mar. 17, 1901 153.&0 IM Juno 2 M4 So teoec' Ma' 31.' 190i:-.. W.75 IC1 Juno 6 1901 oto & ?CC' JuA & mi 137,G0 ' Juno 9 1904 JohnoS CC" Juno , 7. 1901... '..r... 2127 Ira Juno 11 1901 John O & ' cc Juno . "15.90 171 Juno 14 190 1. Jo n Q c, nSn ' CC' June mi '6.15 172 Juno 14 isol Jo n Q C nnon qS Uno 15 mi 293-15 73 Juno 14. 1901. John Q Cannon' i J"o 21. .- 49.20 ! ov- JoK 8: camion; fl:l j : . . Total .. .$2108.90 G. Shlsler and S. T. Whltaker. The special spe-cial committee that went to St. Louis interviewed. Mr. Shlsler and his bookkeeper bookkeep-er relative to thls Item, and both contend that no such Item was duo by the com-mlsslon.to com-mlsslon.to Mr. Shlsler:. that no .such Item was ever paid. In cash, check or otherwise. other-wise. Tho bookkeeper for Mr. Shlsler mudo an affidavit to theso fact, and tho committee examined tho books of account ac-count of Mr. Shlsler relutlve to nil transactions trans-actions had with tho commission, and the accounts show that no such amount was 'n It1furtlicr appears that , there was paid for brass rails used In connec-lon connec-lon with tho building tho sum of $503.23-l't $503.23-l't Mr. Whltaker sold tho whole of tnom for $45. .Iqasmuoh as tho Tiamo rails could doubtless have been used By "he nnri wn!'k Co'Ucnnla exposition and Oriental fair at Portland, It would appear to tho committee that they shou d havo been returned for that purposo. .rho 'ld,e.Il(:0 "hows that at tho time Mr. s. T. Whltak-r returned to Salt Lake City from ho oxnosltlon ho had In his nos-i-esslon $1600. $lco of which ho has pafd to tho treasurer of the commission. The remaining $000 ho has retained, and he Mid that hla (Whltaker's) accounts uhow that It belongs to him. In tho ovent that It can bo shown that It belongs to tho State, ho Is willing to pay tho monsy over. This samo $600 was withdrawn from the Third National bank of St. Louis and had been deposited In the namo of S T. Whltaker, director-general. From all evidence, ev-idence, the committco Is of tho opinion that tho accounts woro so loosely kept Unit It Is Impossible to arrlvo nt tho correct cor-rect conclusion with respect to these accounts. ac-counts. Tho evldenco further shows that tho bank account for all money deposited by Mr. Whltaker was kept In tho name of S. T Whltakcr, director-general, and that his own private money, If ho had any, was deposited In tho bank In tho snino account. Mr. E. S. Lovcsey pre-hents pre-hents a claim against tho commission for $10, balance duo him on the honey contract. con-tract. After an examination of such evidence evi-dence as the committco had on hand, wo believe that this sum Is still duo to Mr. Lovcsoy and recommend that It bo paid. On October 5, 1903. the commission Sapsed a resolution that tho plans anil tsign8 for the Stato building mibmlttcd by Dlroctor-Goneral Whltaker, were approved ap-proved and accepted, and the cost of such work was not to exceed the sum of $0750. Lumber and material In connection with tho building was contracted for nnd paid for by the director-general in tho sum of $21S3 In excess of tho amount contained In tho resolution by tho board. Wo are unablo to say, from the information at hand, whether or not this sum was properly prop-erly oxpended. It further appears that tho minutes of tho meetings of the board woro written up a considerable tlmo after tho meet, lugs woro held, and that nono of tho minutes min-utes aro signed, with two exceptions. It Is, therefore, quite Impossible, to tell Just what action tho commission has, In fact, taken relative to tho affairs of tho commission. com-mission. Exhibit D hereto attached and made a part of this report Is tho tlnnnclnl report of the sub-coinmlitce Messrs. Stookey. Gundry and Joseph upon tho financial affairs, as near ns thoy could bo ascertained, ascer-tained, relatlvo to the transactions of tho commission In St. Louis. Said report of i-ald BUb-commlltoo was duly, upon tho 9th day of March, unanimously adopted at a moctlng of all of tho mombcrs of said special committee. Exhibit E hereto attached and made a part hereof contains a further report of said sub-commltteo on the subject of tho awards granted by tho St. Louis exposition. expo-sition. Upon the 9th day of March. 1905, the said report of said sub-committee was unanimously adopted as a part of this report re-port at a meeting of all tho members of snid special committco. The tlmo which your committco was allowed for the Investigation of this mat-tor mat-tor would not pormlt of such examination as should bo made, but In conclusion wo say that wo cannot too strongly condemn the system of keeping accounts employed in tho affairs of the commission In handling han-dling public money, and In conclusion we recommend: 1. That the roport of tho Joint commit-tco commit-tco of the Senate and tho House, to whom this matter wa3 orlgli.ally referred, be not adopted. 2. That this report herewith submitted be adopted. 3. That this roport. Including the two reports from tho sub-committee hereto attached, bo spread upon tho Journal of tho House. ... 4. That- the original roport, with tho reports re-ports of the sub-commltteo, hereto attached, at-tached, and all exhibits roferrcd to horc-In. horc-In. be filed with tho Secretary of Stato and kept by-him. It is the further desire of tho committee commit-tee to thank Attorney II. A.- Smith and Assistant Attorney-General White for tho valued assistance they have given to us In tho conduct of this Investigation. Respectfully submitted, CLESSON S KINNEY, Chairman Special Investigation iommu-tce. iommu-tce. W. N. GUNDRY. RUDOLPH KUCIILER, II. S. JOSEPH. J E. PETERSON. S. J. STOOKEY. Report of Sub-Committee. Committco Room, Salt Lako City. March 9. 1903. Hon. Clesson S. Kinney. Chairman Committco Com-mittco St. Louis Purchnso Exposition Commission: We. your sub-commlttcc, after visiting visit-ing St. Louis as directed, beg leavo to further report as follows That after ns thorough an Investigation Investiga-tion as tho time at our disposal would permit, we are unanimous In reporting that, according to our knowledge nnd belief, be-lief, tho so-called awards, consisting of medals, ribbons, etc.. supposedly given as marks of merit by The St. Louis official offi-cial award ribbon committee by authority au-thority of the Louisiana Purchnso exposition, expo-sition, to tho so-called successful ox-hlbltors ox-hlbltors at tho said Louisiana Purchaso exposition. Is In our opinion an Immense and gigantic fraud, with President Francis Fran-cis standing as sponsor for and approving ap-proving tho same Wo nre convinced from tho result of our Investigation thnt the peoplo have been deceived, and have been led to bollcvo that tho awards received re-ceived represented real merit of exhibits offered, whllo In fact they wero nothing but a mock and a fraud. Issued' by a straw Incorporation for tho solo purposo of being sold to be used In a commercial way as advertising matter, and In order that they might appear as genuine on tho face thoy wero Issued undor tho authority au-thority of tho president, Mr Francis, and the exposition commission, which gentlemen, according to tho Information, received In turn for Issuing theso awards under their authority -received a handsome hand-some profit'. We met one oftho agents, a Mr. Pnge, who was employed specially to sell on commission these awards. Ho showed us one award which wzuj Issued as superior over all others, which he assured us that, as agent for tho St. Louis Official Award Ribbon committee by authority of the Louisiana Purchaso exposition, he had sold for $500 and received his commission thereon. Ho also showed us another official offi-cial ribbon award which he had sold, and declared to us that tho person to whom he had sold It had never had an 'exhibit In tho fair at all; he also declared that tho National Cash Register company had paid ns much as 20,009 for these so-called ofllclal awards, to be used expressly ex-pressly for tho purpose of advertising the business of said company. Ho Informed In-formed us further that there wero many more awards that ho had sold, as well as great numbers sold by other agents. Wo visited tho ofUco of tho St. Louis Award Ribbon committee by authority of the Louisiana Purchaso exposition, In tho Domcnll building, and found that tho representative In cjiargc was on hand and ready to do business by selling additional ad-ditional awards, although tho exposition had closed months ago. Wo also learned from tho testimony of Director-General Whltakcr and other witnesses that this system of awards was a gigantic schemo for tho securing of money. Wo also find that no medals havo been received by prlzo wlnnors so far as we havo been able to learn, and that when they nro received they will havo to bo paid for, and still further, that they aro not likely to be roccived tin long as this Official Award Ribbon committee can continue to sell Its goods. We. your committee, condemn this system of commercialism In awards as bolng pernicious and dishonorable, Instigated Insti-gated arid maintained to deceive and defraud de-fraud tho public and to bring reproach and dishonor upon this nnd all similar expositions, and at the samo tlmo to brlnjy many thousands of dollars profit to the so-called official concocting and carrying into effect this scheme for self-nggran-dlzement. S. J. STOOKEY. Chairman. W. N. GUNDRY. H. S. JOSEPH. Secretary. Sub-Committee. |