Remember, the file name is a variable in this discussion, so you're method of calling cat is unacceptable. First fix the major bug that your script treats file names as shell commands, then you'll notice it's silent.

Update: eh? It's suppose to be. Since when does open output error messages on its own!

$ PATH=/tmp /usr/bin/perl -we 'open my $fh, "-|", "cat", "/etc/motd"'
Can't exec "cat": No such file or directory at -e line 1.
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