The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-11-02
OIL TRUST TRIBULATIONS.
GEN. THOMAS ADMITS THAT he
DID NOT DO HIS DUTY.

DID NOT DO HIS DUTY.
How He Accounts for the Discrepancy
of 100000 in the Expected Prof
its-The Benefits of the New Organ
ization - President Flasler's Report
Not To Be Made Public.
NEW YORK, Nov. 1.-The annual meet
ing Of the American oil trust was held to-
day. The meeting was called to order by
President ]. H. Flagler aud about fifty Of
the certificate holders were present. In
addition proxies representing $4,000 GER
tificates were handed in. The presidents
report was read and showed that the net
profits of the trust for the year had been
1855, ,7S3. The attacks made upon the
trust and its products were spoken of in
detail in Mr.. Flagler's report, and legisla-
tion against trusts in many Of the states
was mentioned as a reason for changing
the state Of New Jersey.
NOT TO BE PRINTED.
At the close of the report when a motion
was made for its adoption one of the certifii
cate holders asked if it would be printed for
their benefit, to which Mr.. Flagler replied
that while there was no objection to the re-
port being seen by all certificate holders
there was great objection to its being made
public generally. 1t would put facts and
figures into the possession of business rivals.
which could not be permitted. The certid-
cate holder replied that what he wanted
was an opportunity to study the REPORT. He
was told that he could have this, and he sat
down.
THE FIRST SIGN OF TROUBLE.
Now came the first sign of trouble. Ell.
Bonner, one of the certificate holders. rose
with printed paper in his hand and asked
If he understood rightly that the profits for
the fiscal year were 81 ,600, ,000 Mr. Flaeler
said yes. Then Mr.. Bonner wanted to
know why the trustees had said in the last
| circular that the profits of the year would
be $2,600,000. Where had the missing
| 81, ,000, 900 gone tol
Mr.. Flagler attempted to explain, but be-
fore he had concluded another shareholder
wanted to know if this statement in the
circular that the cash and cash assets OF the
| company were $7,00O,0O0 was not also
81 100000 too much?"
BASIS OF THE CIRCULAR.
Gen. Thomas, trustee, now took up the
business of explaining. He said that the
circular had been issued on reports from
various properties of the trust which were
believed to be correct Since then, how
| ever, the regular reports had come in, and
| loss of 100000 by shrinkage of value
had been shown. He was one of the
| trustees, but had done as the other
| trustees and directors In railroad companies
had usually done; he had attended meetings
| and listened to reports. What had gone in
one ear had gone out Of the other, and he
had taken his fee, eaten his lunch and gone
away.
READY TO BE oENsURED.
| He realized now that he had been remiss
in his duty, and was present to-day to take
the censure of the certificate holders. II
| they wanted his head, as trustee, they could
have it. Gen. Thomas undertook to define
what the trust was, and related that he had
spent three weeks trying to get out Of the
tangle in which he had been in
regard to its nature. When he had lnvesti-
gated the affairs of this cotton oil
trust he had found that the men who had
been officially conducting its business had
| been buying good deal Of oil from rival
| companies when the price was up, and had
| been obliged to sell out at less than they
| bought it for.
HAD MADE A MISTAKE.
They had done the best they could, but
| had made mistake. That accounted for
part of the loss of $1,000,000. One other
thing which contributed to the loss was the
poor quality of last years cotton seed crop.
| They had kept this fact secret for q num-
| ber Of reasons, but it was fact, and might
as well come out, that for some reason the
oil had been Of so poor quality that money
| did not come in for it as had been expected
in the estimates.
TO PUMP OUT SOME OF THE WATER.
He then spoke Of the plan Of merging the
! trust into company and said that by the
plan proposed, there would be a reduction in
the capital to $2l 900, 600, thus pumping out
| some Of the water"
A Certificate Holder-I bought my stock
with the water in it.
Gen. Thomas-So did l. | acknowledged
| that | brought at high price, and l am
willing to take my medicine with the rest
William Wilson Cromwell then moved
that the certificateholders desire that the
American Cotton Oil Trust be merged into
the American Cotton Oil Company, and
that committee be appointed to consider
plans and arrangements for the purpose to
report at an adjourned meeting OF the GER
| titicateholders.
NOT CUT AND DRIED.
A Certificate Holder--Is the plan all lready?
Are we to have any voice IN the election of
the directors of the new company or is the
whole thing cut and drieds
81 tGen. Thcmas-You will have the right to
decide the whole thing when it comes be-
fore you.
The resolution Of Mr. Cromwell was
adopted unanimously, and a committee was
then appointed, as follows: Frederick 2.
Olcott, chairman; William L. Bull, Nicholas
Sheldon, James II. Benedict, Edwin d.
Adams, and Samuel Thomas The meeting
then adjourned, and the certificate holders
seemed generally satisfied with the outcome.