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Show LAWSQN TBSIJE Y Will Later Disclose Alleged Al-leged Participants in i Leak in Wall Street. Washington, Jan 9. The leak in-! in-! vestigation seemed to make its first progress toward some definite point today when Thomas W. Lawson. after much questioning and urging promised promis-ed that should the house order a formal for-mal inquiry he would disclose the names of the cabinet officer, the senator sen-ator and the New York broker, who. he said, a congressman told him, were engaged in a stock gambling partnership partner-ship and had profited through advance ad-vance information of President Wil-i Wil-i son's peace note, i To disclose the names to the house fyr rules committee Lawson repeatedly) refused, even when confronted with three separate resolutions to put him in contempt, for two reasons. First, he contended, the rules committee com-mittee had no power to conduct a j thorough investigation including one i of the stock exchanges such as he i urged and he would not be assured 1 of an investigation if he disclosed the i names. Second, Lawson said, he considered that disclosure of the names at this time would have a disastrous effect for the country and the administration. administra-tion. In preference to that he preferred pre-ferred being punished for contempt of congress. Congressmen Plead In Vain. Congressmen examined, cross-examined and pleaded in vain with the Boston financier to give the names of the informing congressman, the cab- inet officer or the senator. "I cannot name the cabinet officer to whom I have referred without mentioning men-tioning another official of higher position." po-sition." said Lawson, "and that would be more serious than if I cast a cloud over the entire congress and was sent ' (I to jail myself for life. All through his testimony Lawson hinted at names "higher up,'" but no amount of questioning would bring him down to a detinue statement. When the committee recessed for lunch the members seemed to think they had gone as far as they could with Lawson at this stage so they excusrd him as a witness temporarily but told him to remain within jurisdiction juris-diction of the committee until the resolutions res-olutions putting him in contempt are disposed of. Wants Stock Market Probe. At today's hearing Lawson frankly acknowledged he was more interested in a congressional investigation of the New York stock exchange which would result In remedial legislation! than he was in investigating the! "leak" on President Wilson's peace note. In the course of the discussion of ihe unnamed trio, of whom the congressman con-gressman Is said to have spoken, Law-son Law-son declared he not only would give a special committee their names, but also the amounts of money they were supposed to have made from stock transactions- Lawson promised to furnish competent testimony. Will Give Amounts of Money. "Will you give their names7" Chair-man Chair-man Henry asked. "I will go farther," said Lawson. "I will name amounts of money; great amounts of monev. More than ?1,000,-000." ?1,000,-000." Representative Garrett then demanded de-manded that Lawson give the names and when ho reiterated his refusal, Mr. Garrett introduced a motion to compel him to answer. It was laid aside for action with the three pending pend-ing contempt resolutions. Washington, Jan. 9. Continued refusal re-fusal of Thomas W Larson to answer ategorlcial questions by the house rules, committee in the leak inquiry today caused the committee to entertain enter-tain a second motion by Represent a-tive a-tive Bennett that he be cited before ihe bar of the house for contempt. Representative Bennett demanded that Lawson name the man who, he sas, told him that a New York broker, brok-er, a cabinet official and a United States senator participated in a stock gambling partisanship Lawson lla.iy refused for two reasons, one that h was cited for egntempt and the other that he did not think it necessary to give the names at this time. The lien of examination then turned to the stock exchange and Lawso i s own operations particularly during the month of December, 1916, (luring which the ' leak ' occurred. Leak Could Have Been Worse. Lawson said that, bad as the break on the market was when ihe Irak came, it probably would hae been worse if thecr had been no leal: 'My opinion is that the break was weeks in coming and that rhe )rak gave certain operators an opportunity to prepare for the crash," said Law-son. Law-son. "They were left in a position to I know just what to do. If the market I had broken without that preparation, j made possible by the leak, the 'weak I would have been much more diss-Itrous diss-Itrous to the country. We didn't have any bank or stock exchange failures aerompanying this crash So I realiy think the leak was a good thins in j one way. Representath e Chiperfield que" I tioned Lawson about seeking to show that he was a beneficiary of the falling fall-ing market. Lawson Makes Cenlal. Lawson denied that he was ronnect-ed ronnect-ed with an stock brokerage firm, j but admitted that ho operated i i r,i ; Bionally as an individual through brokers "My purpose" said ChiperfieM, "13 ; to show that Lawson, ho savs :ie was not the recipient of any leak, 'dealt largely on the stock exchange during this break I want to show up I his transactions which were conducted conduct-ed independently of a leak if no jean operate successfully without a , leak then I condemn the effect nc-ing made here in indict other men for operating suecessfull on the same 1 market. Chlperfield Demands Names. I 'Give us the names of j our brokers," he demanded. After a wrangle Lawson said one brokerage firm with whieh he opt rated was H. Content & Company. ill Broadway, New York. Chlperfield then asked ? series of questions to 6how that Lawson began a selling campaign in Dr ember and asked if his transactions in Stool did 1 not aggregate as much as 1300,000, Lawson said he had no Idea what they I aggregated. He would not gh 9 a I direct answer when asked if hi had operated a selling campaign Thomas W. Lawson today promised the house rules committee he would disclose the names of the cabinet of ficial, the senator and the New York banker, who,' he says, a member of, congress told him were engaged in a stock gambling partnership, if the house ordered an investigation as aj result of the rules committee's pre-' liminary hearings. A third motion to report Lawson for contempt was entertained by the I committee on demand of Representative Representa-tive Chiperfield when Lawson con-tinued con-tinued to refuse to tell who gae him the names of three men alleged to1 K n . r, ,-.-.1 ! V I.. 1. T l I 1 luiunou in iiit-- ieM, lawson. insisting in-sisting that his informant, a congress I man, had said the names should not j be made public because it might be disastrous to the nation and the aa- 1 ministration. In answer to a question by Repro ; sentative Cantrill in case an inest!-gation inest!-gation of the leak were ordered by house, he would agree to give the new committee the name of members of congress he had in mind and of the cabinet official whom he said had been a beneficiary of the leak, Lawson said emphatically; 'I will." Efforts by Mr. Chiperfield to indue Mr Lawson to state the amount of his profits on the stock market during Deeember were futile. Lawson main tained he did not know whether he made $1,000,000 or $500,000. Answering Mr. Chiperfield, Lawson again declared he had no direct know) edged through a "leak" of the cormng of the president's peace noie. "Weren't there others throughout ' the country who might have foreseen a break in the market as you did," asking Mr. Chiperfield. "Lots of them," Lawson replied. By a process of elimination Chi per-field per-field then established by questions that Lawson had no knowledge which would be accepted in court of any broker, including Bernard Barucli, who was operating on a "leak" of any officer of the government who had any knowledge of a "leak" or of arv member of either house who operated on the exchange during December either on a "leak" or otherwise. Representative Chlperfield then urged lawson to give the name of the "leaker" he was reported to have given giv-en to Chairman Henry in confidence ten days ago. Again Lawson refused to answer on tho ground that to make public the name would result in more serious consequences to the country than hlr, being punished for refusing to answer. 'Did you give any name to Chairman Henry"" persisted Mr. Chlperfield. "Whateer I said to him was aaid in confidence " "I'll release the witness from any confidence" interrupted Mr Henry. "Did you mention any name to Mr. Henry as that of the leaker?" repeated repeat-ed Chiperfield. "I did not." Aftr persistent demands were made that he give the name now, Lawson said "I would rather take the consequences conse-quences than to mention the nanus now," said Iawson 'There is another anoth-er name that might be mentioned that would precipitate even more serious consequences But this is not the time nor the place- " Will Face Special Committee. Representative Cantrill then asked Mr. Lawson if he would furnish all the names to a special investigating committee should the rules committee commit-tee recommend and the house order an inquiry. "I will," replied Lawson emphatically. emphati-cally. "If there is a drastic investigation' I'm willing under those clrcumstani to say that it would be more serious for me not to give the Information i il have than to give it. But. I do believe it la too serious a matter to give before this committee has determined deter-mined what ir will do." "Do you really have no interest in an investigation about the leak .my-way?" .my-way?" asked Representative Garrett. Wants Stock Exchange Probe. "All on earth you want Is an investigation in-vestigation of the stock exchange thai will lead to federal regulation, is it nof" "Yes. that's true." said Lawson frankly, arousing the surprise of some members of the committee Would Force Drastic Inquiry. "The only motive behind your a.71 tation of this matter is to force a drastic inquiry into the stock ex Garretl continued. "Absolutely," said Lawson. "And you are a common stock gambler are you not"" interjected Representative Harrison. "The same as you are," retorted Lawson. "What do you mean by that?" demanded de-manded Mr Harrison "Only that I deal in stor ks just as I you or any other citizen seeking investment in-vestment might do." "I cannot name the cabinet officer offi-cer to whom 1 have referred,' Lawson replied to renewed questioning by Rep-resentatlve Rep-resentatlve Harrison, "without mentioning men-tioning another official of a higher position po-sition and that would be more serious than if I cast B cloud over the entire congress and was Bent to jail myself." In response to questions by Representative Repre-sentative ration. Lawson said he did not think the leak got into Wall street through nnv newspaper man or from any printed document. He reiterated he would disclose his information to a committee that had power to summon sum-mon books and papers for a thorough investigation of the stock exchange. |