The Bottineau pioneer., 1892-02-13

The UniteI States Investor sives T.
A hley' Mssrs, tue Fargo banker the FOL
lowing uient ion:
Concerning q. Ashley Mesrs and hi,
methods uf business in North Dakota, y,
shown in The operations uf the bank o
Mihot, w have been given tho 'iollU Ing
informa'iom This gentleman came /,
North DskOts. and s'artel his Miuot bank
Sometime in 1887. haili"g from . point il,
south Dakota, where his business me; hs,l.
had been y little to, angular, snd his sta,
determined in consequence. H. com enccJ
" making chattsl loans, advertising al
tue same fin'e for eastern moneys, gunrum
teeing return Of u certain per cent Oh III.
investment coupled with this option, viz
that. At any time. ~, investor should be
UUms disSatisfsl iris burvi,usvt
security, he :ould receive on returning il,
in exchange, . certificate Of deposit f r ia.
amount at stake on the Minot ba ak
drawing b certain rate per cent interest
In oths: words, a time certificate OF lie posi-,
This, OF course, was rather ingeniou.
and naturally proved q good bait. Ill.
advertising made the little Mint ros,
office presidential one; and, it is suid
for q long time he spent on an averax.
$ll5 day in stamps, advertising hi,
enierpri 20.
So successfully did this plan work thu
in Ju"e 1880, il WAS reported to u. tim
he WAS Receiving money 1t the rate o
&7.OOO = day from his eastern clien,av~
Worxing the bank OF Minot as the hea
of his concern. lie has. since this, ss,ab
lished little banks Al probably Is or 2,
P"ihts throughout the state, buying Mer
chants National Bank, Of Devils LAX. an
0, yanized the National Bank VI North d..
kota. ~ Fargo. He also has q concer,
down there that he calls the Mortpap.
Bank Investment Go. another tia: he cali.
the Phoenix Insurance 20. Of North Da
kotA, and third one If some other name
that he uses for the purpose Ct avoiding tn.
usnry lav, having ths borrower pay tba
CONCERN 50 much 10 endorse aud guarante. e.
payment of the loans at maturity.
Now, ~ to the loans that the man has
made, they have been without scruples
providing he could get the rates deman,ie.l
There probably never as been an. operate,
in this country who has carried on such q
peculiar business as tas Mr.. Mears. I'll.
far ~ we know, have been poor; in fact. h,
"S"O tOSuO SlHut nuu IO'G out IN kueSe
western counties, ate, all tho decent con
Germs hal closed business there. securing
BIZ. second mortgages wherever co,nmi-.
si"ns we're not cash, hy crop liens and con
tracts, with heavy attorney fees to protec,
himself. letting tie investors interest tax,
care of itself. H. =
His policy toward eastar7 creditors, 0.
far ~ the hanking stuck goes. ws are NO
so familiar with Suffice it to say that al
ofa controlling interest IN this in-titntio,
IL q" mel by widows. orphans. and orhe !,
.iown there. which have heen bought on III.
guarantee thx, Il will net IL per cent. W,
cannot tell whether hs il taking care o
them or not ...... -, -, :
Mr.. Mears claims tn he the snhstanii.,
manager Of . s5O0,OOO sheep concern. q,
that his operations are ~ extensive a.
name il well known. He il man a
nnnsut cunning. with IN extrsordin ar,
capacity 'or business. and certainly keep,
his affairs pretty we'll under the cover o
confdence