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Show TOM LAWSON IS WITNESS Boston Broker Tells of Big Wall Street Elec- tion Scheme Washington, Oct. J 7. "The sinister I system' formed n deep-laid plot to control tho p'resent presidential olec- ' tlop, Thomas W. LnuEon of Boston told the sonate campaign contributions contribu-tions committee today. Mr. Lawnon was careful to Impress upon the commlUeo that he knew, , only In a "general way" of an alleged colossal flchomo to nominate and elect a candidate 'oatlsfactory to the Wall Btrect interests." All of his testimony wiu of matters mat-ters which ho knew in the same "general "gen-eral way," and he became Involved In a heated controversy with the com-mltteo com-mltteo in defining Just what he meant by this phrase with which ho prefaced pre-faced practically every statement ho made. The conspiracy of the Wall street interests of which Mr. Lawson know In a general way lncludod, ho declared, declar-ed, the defeat of Colonel Roosovclt at the Republican national convention, the nomination of President Taft and the Injection of Colonel Iloo3ovclt into the campaign as the third partv candidate can-didate to "split tho Ropubllcan party." All this without the knowledge of Colonel Roosevelt. Taken the Credit. Thn, Mr. LnwBon know in a general gen-eral way a mysterious fund of $1.-000,000 $1.-000,000 had been raieed in Wall street to doadlock the Democratic convention at Baltimore, prevent the nomination of any candidates before the convention nnd to name a dark horse satisfactory to the "sjstem v.ho was to be elected. ' I communicated this Information to Mr. Bryan at Chicago during tho j Republican convention." said Mr. Lawson, "and as a result Mr. Wilson was nominated and tho scheme J failed." Frank A. Munsey, who preceded Mr Lawson, argued at length with the j committee against the publicity of ' campaign contributions, declaring it ( was necessary that rich men contrib- , utc to political funds and that such j publicity as tho present investigation ' had enforced had "frozen up the pock-et-bools" of the wealthy. Ho outlined out-lined his own expenditures in the Roosevolt pre-convcntlon campaign ' fund, amounting to moro than $11S.- j I uoo. and told the committee that .compared to the amount ho was reported re-ported to have contributed, the real figures made him 'look like a piker." He estimated the total expenditures of the Roosevelt pre-conventlon campaign cam-paign at $177 000. ' Cieorgo B. Cortelyou. chairman of ( the Rcpublloan campaign committee ln 1904. gave the committee his recollection rec-ollection of the so-called Standard Oil contribution of 310(1.000, which John D. Archbold testified he gae to the Ropubllcan fund that year. Mr Cor-telrou Cor-telrou EaM that when President Roosevolt demanded that any Standard Stand-ard Oil company monov bo returned ho was told b Cornelius N Bliss, treasurer of tht committee, that no 1 contribution had bc?n received from the company Tho witness cald ho bud a v?guo rcrollcctlon that Mr. J Bliss said somctbinir to the effect that "no questions should be asked as to individual contributions." and that after the election Mr. Bl:ss had said something Io him about a con-tribut'on con-tribut'on from II. H. Rogers of the Standard Oil company, which ma havo bc-en the Archbold mouoy. Mr Cortelvou said he never discussed dis-cussed the financial conduct of tho -IW4 campaign with Prssidcnt Roosevelt. Roose-velt. Mr. Cortelyou snid he knew nothlne of T.'o-can. Hnrrini'in standard uu. v-ick. New York t ife Mutual Life or 1 General Pletric contributions to the fund until after election. I Drew Line. I Mr Cortelvou naid that he did not c-nsUer President Ronrovolfs direction direc-tion that no Standard Oil contribution bo received had any relation to indl-1 viduaH connected with the companv. "1 probably would not hae ac-, cepted any direction a3 to personal I contributions by any Individuals," he j said. . , ! Mr. Coitelyou said he wrote the letter let-ter placed in the record Inviting E. II. liarrlman to become a member or an "auxiliary campaign" committee. He said that the letter had been written to about 100 Rcnqbllcans. and rolat?d to a "purely honorary" committee Sonatar Payntor wanted to know nhs the lottcr enjoined secrecy as "thf committee wus not to be made public," pub-lic," If It wus an honorary committee. commit-tee. Mr. Cortelyou did not explain The committee 6harp1y went after tho storv of a Wnll street consplrae this year, and endeavored to pin Thomas W. Lawson down to a state- ment of his grounds tor tne reciuu. 1 He said ho had private means of in- I formation, many of them confidential. , f and finally Informed the commlttoo b that when a bit of information be- came known to him, ho took particu- lar pains to arrange matters ro that R ho might not know the exact source ifi of the Information. More of Lawcan. tj He said that In an effort to dcrca B the "svstem" plans, lie had financed l a $100,000 independent advertising . campaign in bolialf of Colenl Ros-, 9 vclt In the hopo Uint he could be ! nominated on the Republican ticket and elected. ' Mr. Lawson tcstlfed that he knew , "In the same general way" of can -trlbutlous amounting to from $500,000 to $700,000 to the fund of Alton B , Parker in 1901. These contributions, he said, came from the Standard Oil group. Ho said that his information j on this point camc partly from con- . creation with tho late II. H. lasers of tho Standard OU company. In dofondlng his "general way 01 knowing things, Mr. Lawson Bad- -I am in the public statement business. busi-ness. All I know Is In a geuornl way r sometimes say I know in a puuuo statement when I think I know I When I say I think, 1 usually guess. |