| OCR Text |
Show MELLEN STORY CALLEDJNTRDE Former New Haven President Says Testimony Stands as Given, Under Oath. MORGAN'S STATEMENT Son of Late Financier Takes Issue With Statements Made Regarding Father's Methods. New York. May 26. Charles S. Mellon former president of the New Haven system, last night made this comment, when his attention was called to Mr Morgan's statement: I testified under oath. My testl mony s-tands as it was given If Mr. Morgan wants to testify under oath he can do so, so far as I am con corned." New York. May 26. J P. Morgan last night characterized as untrue the testimony of Charles S. Mellen, former for-mer head of the New York. New Haven & Hartford railroad, before the interstate commerce commission In Washington last week, that J. Pierpont Morgan concealed from Mr Mellen facts regarding the New Haven Hav-en road, which Mr. Mellen should have known Mr Morgan offered to produce before be-fore any proper tribunal at anv time the records of J P. Morgan and com pany and the personal records of his father. Taking full responsibility upon himself for the change, in the road's presidency, by which Mr. Mellen resigned. re-signed. Mr Morgan said it was untrue un-true that his father in any sense took from Mr. Mellen the management manage-ment of the road or any part of its affairs. Boston &. Maine Absorption. Regarding the absorption of the Boston and Maine by the New Haven, Mr Morgan said his father deemed it advisable for the public benefit 1 since it was recognized b others as well as by the late Mr Morgan himself, him-self, that changing economic condi tions threatened the commercial posl-1 tlon of New England. Mr. Morgan's statement wa his first direct reply to Mr Mellen's Washington testimony, which he examined, ex-amined, he said, from a stenographic report The statement read. "I became a director of the New Haven railroad in April 1913, and re signed December 31, of the same year. The only reference to me per sonally which I hare found In Mr. Mellen's testimony has to do with the fact that I. as a director of the com-, pany. called upon him and told him that a change in the presidency was j desirable For any blame that attaches at-taches to that act. whether It be ac corded me as a member of the board of di-ectors os as an individual, I accept full responsibility. There is, however, in Mr Mellen's testimony something more Important to me than an possible criticism of myself Mr Mellen In substance charges my father with having concealed from him the president of the company factj which the president of the company com-pany should have known. Every one who knew my father knows this to be untrue. During the last ten years of my father's life he was abroad more than one-third of the time During Dur-ing the last three years of his life, he was abroad one-half of the time. Asthe world knows, he was actively connected during this whole period with many different affafc-e That he woud have had the time, een if he had had the desire, to interfere actively in the management of the New Haven is impossible. Morgan Reviews Affair. "Mr Mellen Is right In describing my father as a forceful man. He is right also in picturing my father's deep interest in New Haven affairs. My father was born In New England and he believed in the New Haven railror.d. He recognized, as others have lecognlzed, that with the shift ing of the center of population in this country, and the changing economic eco-nomic conditions. the commercial position of New England was threat ened and that a change In this commercial com-mercial position would, unless an ef fort were made to counteract it. re suit In an unfavorable effect upon New England's leading railroad. He undoubtedly believed that a railroad peculiarly situated as is the New Haven, with a growing passenger traffic at very low rateB and with expensive ex-pensive improvements required all alon its line, must make every ef-'fort ef-'fort to increase Its traffic and main tain its position. He believed, moreover, more-over, that the New Haven and the Boston and Maino which were not in his opinion In any sense competing lines, could be operated to the benefit bene-fit of New England more advantage ously together than apart, and that no harm could come to the public from this amalgamation by reason of the full measures of state and national na-tional regulation which the laws afforded af-forded I am quite ready to believe, aJso, that he agreed with Mr. Mellen that the entrance of the Grand Trunk railway Into Providence would have Involved the unnecessary duplication of facilities for which the New England Eng-land public sooner or later would have had to pay But the imputation that my father in any sense took the management of the railroad, or any part of Ub affairs, out of the hands of the president, is untrue. ' Public Report of Firm. "On the ninth day of March of this year our firm made public a letter, showing in detail ihe total net prof-Its prof-Its from erery source to the firm of J. P. Morgan & Company or to any of it-3 mlembers, growing out of I transactions of any kind whatever, connected with the New Haven lines, for a period of 20 years. Those total net profits amounted to approximately approximate-ly 1350.000, which included their compensation for handling, alone or In connection with others, securities of the par value -of $333,000,000. "The records of my flnn anl tne personal records of my father are still intact; they are available and ready for production before any proper prop-er tribunal at any time. 'In the present state of the New Haven s affairs, the shareholders are entitled to have made public every obtainable bit of evidence, bearing not on one, but on all sides of the Question. Meanwhile, the honest and - capable man now managing the rail- road should have the active co-opera tlon not only of all shareholders, but of all public bodies as well, to the end tuat this great property may be I restored to the position to which it is entitled." nn |
