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The Commoner.
VOLUME 6, NVMBEIt
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TAMES HAZBN HYDE, former president of the
Equitable Life Assurance society, testified
November 14 before the insurance committee.
Mr. Hyde bitterly denounced some of his former
associates. His testimony tended to clear up
the mystery concerning the $685,000 loan of the
Mercantile Trust company, which loan appeared
on the books of the Equitable under the caption
of "The J. W. Alexander No. 3 account." Mr.
Hyde said that former President Alexander told
him that he and Mr. Jordan, the auditor of the
Equitable, had incurred the loan to take up stock
that was being bid up to fictitious values to the
detriment of the company, to settle suits that were
interfering with the business of the society, and
also for campaign contributions. Mr. Hyde said
that the contribution referred to was the only
one in the 1904 campaign.
LATER WHEN THE SETTLEMENT of the
loan referred to was forced, according to
Mr. Hyde's testimony, Alexander and Jordan
raised all they could to pay it, and he was re
quired personally to put up the "balance, amount
ing to $212,500. Mr. Hyde said that in the begin
ning, seven years ago, he received from the Equit
able a salary of $30,000; in 1902 he was made
chairman of the finance committee, and his sal
. ary was advanced to $76,000; In 1903 it was ad
vanced to $100,000. At that figure Mr. Hyde's
salary remained until he resigned as vice presi
dent of the society.
THE INSURANCE COMMITTEE undertook to
thoroughly probe the operations of the syn
dicate known as "James H. Hyde and Associates."
On this point Mr. Hyde referring to the $50,000,000
"Union Pacific pool, said that Mr. Harriman, of
the Union Pacific instigated this pool, and that
It was understood that it had for its purpose the
control of the Union Pacific railroad. Mr. Hyde
said that at Mr. Harriman's suggestion he signed
the syndicate agreement, talking only with Hard
man on the subject, and that the executive com
mittee was not informed of the transaction. Mr.
Hyde said that this was at the special request of
Mr. Harriman, and he added that Harriman even
refused to give a statement of the purpose of the
pool to the superintendent of insurance last
spring.
THE SHIP BUILDING SUIT against the Mer
cantile Trust company was touched upon in
Mr. Hyde's testimony. Hyde said that Harriman
came to him and advised a settlement of Governor
Odell's suit, as he (Harriman) feared that power
ful influence at Albany would be invoked in
retaliatory measures. Harriman seemed fearful
lest the Mercantile Trust company's charter would
be revoked. Mr. Hyde said that according to
his understanding the Mercantile retained the
bonds and paid Governor" Odell about $75,000.
Odell's original claim was $180,000. The bonds
subsequently netted about $50,000. Hyde seemed
particularly bitter against Henry C. Frick and
B. H. Harriman. It seems that Hyde was am
bitious to be ambassador to France, and he said
that Frick suggested the idea, and that both
Harriman and Frick promised to use their influ
ence with the republican .administration to se
cure the appointment. He said that he thought
their idea was that "they would acquit tkem
. selves of their friendly stewardship with greater
profit to themselves," and he added that the na
ture of their interest in his personal fortunes
had become very obvious in the recent disclosures
before the insurance committee.
T N THE COURSE of his examination Mr. Hyde
1 was asked if, while he was an officer of the
Equitable, money could be obtained on his
voucher without the same coming under the notice
of any other officer. He said that this could be
done, and that such a method had been put into
effect by an order of the president (Alexander )
Referring again to political contributions, Hyde
said that the only contributions of that character
of which he had personal knowledge was that
of $25,000 made to the republican national com
mittee inthe 1904 campaign, on the recommenda
tion of H. C. Frick, and that a feW months prior
to making that contribution the company had also
contributed $25,000, making the Equitable's do
nation toward Mr. Roosevelt's election $50,000.
Mr. Hyde's testimony to the effect that $75,000
was paid to Governor Odell in order to prevent
an attack upon insurance companies created some
thing of a sensation. He explained that even after
this $75,000 had been paid to Governor Odell,
O'Dell retained his holding in the bonds of the
ship building company.
E. H. HARRIMAN, chairman of the board of
directors of the Union Pacific, and formerly
member of the board of directors of the Equitable,
testified before the insurance committee Novem
ber 15. He said that Hyde asked him to use his
influence with Mr. Roosevelt to have him (Hyde)
appointed ambassador to France, and that while
he promised to speak to the president, he did
not recommend Mr. Hyde for the post. Mr. Har
riman positively denied that he had told Mr.
Hyde that the Odell suit should ,be settled be
cause of any prospective danger of the repeal
of the Mercantile Trust company's charter. He
said that Hyde had asked him to use his influ
ence with Governor Odell toward a settlement
of the suit. He said that he did ask Hyde's in
dividual signature to the syndicate agreement
for the $50,000,000 Union Pacific pool, and he
sought to justify this on the theory that it was
difficult to guard confidences when more than,
one individual represented the same interest."
Mr. Harriman intimated that his memory was
faulty on some of the evidently important trans
actions, but it was made clear that he appreciated
the importance of the Hyde disclosures and that
he was anxious to protect not only himself, but
Governor Odell, from the criticisms naturally
resulting therefrom.
np HE EVER INCREASING number of people
n Jo deliSkt in the study of dumb beasts
will be interested in a letter written by Harold
Begbie, and printed in the London Daily Mail of
Wednesday, September 27. Mr. Begbie's letter
is written in such a simple way and deals with
such a simple subject that "profound" people will
not appreciate It. It is, however, worthy of re
production. The letter follows: "We have just
buried In our garden a little dog dear to us, and
tl ff? ci,cle of human beIn6B. y reason of a
remarkable joyousness and vivacity of disposi
tion which could not fail to Inspire sympathy
and create affection, even in those who saw him
only occasionally. The manner or his death an
pears to be sufficiently strange to interest others
besides those who now miss some touch of
SS2f uG S the 1Wrld because of his absence
from it. For a day or two he had appeared sud
denly heavy and downcast; his joy left him, and
he crawled painfully about the house and garden,
with arched back and drooping ears eazinc- nn
at us with a pathos in his eyes which defies the
interpretation of words. A robin 'wept' all S
SriSSSliSt Last emissld
our faithful little dog. Round the garden and
through the orchard we hunted for him wh
candles, calling him by name, and searching
every hedge and bush for his whereabouts Al!
in vain. This morning before six o'clock the
gardener was continuing the hunt, and as he fin!
ished I took it up. I had lost heart altogether
and was making my way back to the house when
an inspiration I know not whence urged me to a
corner of one of the gardens where a lateowner
of this house put up in 1870 a tombstone above
the corpse of a favorite dog. I rememw Jl
baking myself for my supersitutious ?o?ly as i"
turned in this direction, but when I reached th
Sh Vbr ,n the bronzln aves of laurefs
with his head near the tombstone, lay our poor
little dog shivering in the last struggles of death
Why he should have chosen this spot I cannot
tell. It is near the road, and there are manv
Places in the garden infinitely morl silentand
forsaken. Perhaps, stealing away from human
,ww' aS f?Ugh he wou Wdeythe pan of his
death from those young lives so devoted to h
Pleasure, our" faithful and well-loved little do
went, by some mystic sympathy with death to
MM5 VUman l0ye ad laid anothei faith?
fill friend of his race. I know not how it was buf
buHoV death' and thori he now lies
0 symn,Thf wuf "a?" ave this sense
01 sympathy with death is justification for our
belief that coincidence is not the onlv Pxninn
tion of this strange event. And who slnX It
how the friend of this little dog was suddenly
directed to the place of his dying?" uuuny
OOME ONE RECENTLY suggested that even
O if the constitution did not by implicate
forbid the president from leaving the territory
of the United States, the deck of an American
war vessel is constructively American soil and
hence the president's presence on the cruiser
outside of the three-mile limit and on the hiKh
seas would not be a violation of the prohibition
Referring to this suggestion, the New York
Sun says: "It floes not seem to us
necessary to assert this doctrine in order to
justify the legality or propriety of his voyage
The constitution makes the president the commander-in-chief
of the navy. According to Story
and other eminent commentators on that instru
ment, this provision contemplates the actual ex
ercise of command in person, if the president
should see fit to assume it. He is at liberty to
act as general-in-chief of the army in the field,
or as admiral-in-chief of the navy at sea. It ia
inconceivable that the framers of the constitu
tion should have inserted a provision entitling
the president to take personal command of any
or all the fleets of the union without at the
same time contemplating the exercise of his naval
functions, if need be, upon the high seas that
is to say, outside the three-mile limit, and hence
outside the territorial boundaries of the United
States. This consideration, we think, ought to
set at lest all doubts upon this interesting ques
tion." HERMAN MENZ, a contracting stone mason
recently unveiled ivhat he called a statue
of Satan in front of his residence in Detroit. Re
ferring to this incident the Detroit correspondent
for the New York World says: "The neighbors
knew he had been erecting something, but wero
horrified when they found the nature of the work.
Church-going people are freely expressing their
indignation, and there are hints that the sacrili
gious statue may be wrecked. On the base of
the statue is this inscription in a sort of dog
Latin: 'Homo non est creatio, sed evolutio. Deus
non fecit heminem, sed homo fecet deos.' (Man
is not a created being, but the product of evolu
tion. God did not make man, but man has made
gods.) Menz has long been an avowed infidel,
and last summer when evangelists were holding
tent meetings he appealed to the city council
to have them stopped or licensed 'like any other
humbug.' Asked about his unique monument,
he said he didn't believe in God, but did believe
in the devil, so why shouldn't he erect a statue of
him? The monument is fourteen feet high and
stands on an elevation commanding a good view
of the neighborhood. Satan is shown in a stoop
ing posture behind a pulpit. He looks over the
landscape with a fiendish glare, with his horns
protruding from his head. Carved in the stone
in front of him is the big ugly fork. Menz was
born in Germany, but has lived here twenty-one
years. He has a wife and two daughters who,
he says, share his views."
A HAPPY TAKE-OFF on New York's insuranco
inquiry is given by the New Orleans Times
Democrat, in this way: "Mr. Hughes I find an
entry of $38,000 donated to the Subway Saloon.
President McCracken Yes, sir; we thought that
was in the interest of the policyholders. 'How
so?' 'Many of them drink, and if they could
have been .persuaded to drink at the Subway they
would all have lived much longer; which clearly
meant deferment of payment on many contracts
and opportunities for fine investments with the
capital not withdrawn. And besides ' 'Be
sidos?' 'I was just going to say that the company
would naturally receive the prayers of Bishop
Potter and his associates.' 'Ahem! Here's another
entry: $10,000 bet on Nelson in the Nelson-Britt
contest.' 'I have only to, say with respect to that
investment that the society cleared a large sum
on it.' 'WJhat did it make?' 'I cannot say just at
this moment. But deducting the commission or
the syndicate that placed the be; I should say
about $5,500. I am not positive, you' understand.
The syndicate of which you speak was it neces-
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