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the JEFFERSONIAN Vol. 111. No. 17. Poor Trades Made by the Naby Tor ‘Boats Washing-ton, April 18. —While Expert Car valho was testifying today, regarding the anonymous letters which have been written in connection with the submarine boat legisla tion, Representative Lilley gave out a state ment denying all knowledge of the authorship of those letters. Representative Lilley, of Connecticut, under whose resolution a special committee of house has been investigating the Electric Boat Co., reiterated his charges yesterday before the committee that the company has made excess ive profits on the contracts it lias secured from the United States government and most rigid cross-examination by members of the commit tee, assisted by Martin Littleton, attorney for the Electric company, failed to make him re tract. Mr. Howell, Mr. Stevens and Mr. Olm stead manipulated the probe relentlessly and vigorously, the latter two especially, trying to get the author of the charges to admit that the secretaries and other officials of the navy department were incompetents and that they were fooled and duped into entering into con tracts with the Electric company. Mr. Stevens devoted more than an hour to a remarkably earnest effort to have Mr. Lil ley charge the secretary of the navy and his predecessors within the last six or seven years, the chiefs of the navy bureaus and naval officers generally, in whose hands are the construction of vessels and the letting of warship contracts, with “gross ignorance, in efficiency and incompetence” in that they were responsible for the awarding of con tracts to the Electric company which netted that concern, allegedly, more than $1,000,000 of excessive profit at the government’s cost. Officials Not Implicated. Mr. Lilley steadfastly refused to father such a charge. He maintained that to the contrary he believed these men were highly competent, “in their line and so far as their informa tion carried them,” but he insisted that they were not good business men, that the poor bargains they made proved that, and that to none others than shrewd, able business men should be entrusted the letting of government contracts. An attempt by Mr. Stevens to have Mr. Lilley testify that on the shoulders of the president should be placed the responsibility for the alleged incompetence of navy officials elicited the reply that the policy which has brought into office five secretaries of the navy in as many years is a poor policy. “Officials Nervous.” In the course of his testimony relative to possible influence having to do with the award ing of contracts to the Electric Boat com- A Weekly Paper Edited by THOS. E. WATSON and J. D. WATSON. Atlanta, Ga., Thursday, April 23, 1908. pany, Mr. Lilley said he had “reason to know there has been a, good deal of nervous ness in the executive offices and the navy and war departments,” and that this may have persuaded the government officials “ that they should procure submarines at any cost.” Mr. Lilley assured the committee that no person connected with the Lake company had the slightest intimation from him that he in tended to introduce his resolution. After the resolution was introduced, he said, he thought it would assist the committee if he secured information from every available source, and he welcomed any suggestions from Mr, Neff or Mr. Thurston. In reply to a question by Mr. Howard as to how much information Mr. Lilley’ possessed at the time he brought his charges, and how r much additional information he expected to get from the Lake Boat company in order to prove them, Mr. Lilley replied: Had Sufficient Evidence. “I did not expect to get anything at"the time from the Lake Boat company; I thought I had sufficient evidence or could procure suf ficient evidence myself to substantiate these charges. ’ ’ Mr. Howard: “At the very outset the charges themselves were drawn by the attor ney for the Lake Boat company.” Mr. Lilley: “A great many of the charges were suggested by me. Senator Thurston put them into shape.” Mr. Lilley said he thought the books of the Electric company would show that a very large sum of money had been expended by this company—“some such fund as the ‘yel low dog’ fund developed dining the insurance investigation in New York.” Mr. Lilley claimed that if the witnesses had been called in the order suggested, they would not have had knowledge in advance of his information, and it might have been possi ble to bring out something from the officers of the Electric Boat company. “You mean by that to say that the testi -mony that has been delivered has been false testimony?” asked Mr. Howard. “I do not mean to say anything about it. I think they had a chance to cut their cloth according to ray knowledge,” False Swearing? “You think that the methods of examina tion have facilitated false swearing on the part of witnesses in evading the charges?” “I think it was -unfortunate in my disclos ing my knowledge to them before they were summoned.” Mr. Howard asked Mr. Lilley whether it is the-policy of the Lake company to inaugurate investigations. “Without conceding that you could become an unconscious agent of the company, have you any knowledge that it has been for several years the policy of the Lake Boat company to bring about this investiga tion ? ’ ’ “I know there has been a feeling among the Lake Boat company that they have not had a square deal here,” was the reply. “Are you friendly to the Lake Boat peo ple?” asked Mr. Howard. “I am friendly to every human being,” re sponded Mr. Lilley. “I have no personal feeling against the Electric Boat people, not withstanding the fact that I have been told some of the officers of the company have said Hobson and myself are blackmailers. ’ ’ No Corruption Charged. Before the committee adjourned for the day Mr. Lilley, in reply to Chairman Boutell, said that he did not charge corruption on the part of any official of the navy department in the matter of this alleged excessive profit. “Then,” said Mr. Boutell, “w T e are perfect ly in accord now that you are still convinced that there has been a million-dollar excessive profit, notwithstanding the testimony of Ad miral Cappe and Secretary Metcalf, but that you think it is due to the practical business inefficiency of the officials of the navy depart ment?” “Practical business inefficiency and lack of competition—solely to that,” responded Mr. Lilley. “So far as the duties of the committee is concerned in investigating the corruption charge, they are at an end, are thev not?” “Yes.” The committee has been endeavoring to trace the authorship of the two anonymous letters that have been read during the inves tigation. On Wednesday the clerk of the committee was sent to the Washington office of the Lake company to obtain samples of the type of the writing machines there, and today Benjamin Webster, secretary to Mr. Lilley, was handed a number of bills that have been introduced by Mr. Lilley. These bills were typewritten by Mr. Webster, and he so stated to the committee. Mr. Webster also identified the resolution introduced by Mr. Lilley asking for the investigation, and said he bad written it on a typewriter in Mr. Lilley’s office. —Atlanta Journal. The cackling of a goose aroused the sentinels and saved Rome from the Gauls. “Sobriety, Honesty, and Determination is the best capital a young man can possess.” A cinder on the eye ball will conquer Na poleon. Five Cents.