Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1892-01-21
Manager Gotten and Itookkeeper Byrne
Fully Exonerated From any
Dishonest Conduct.

Account oil the STOCK tOminlttee.
To the President and Members of Lincoln
County Alliance:
We. the undersigned, being a major
ity of your executive committee, beg
permission to submit the following re-
port for your consideration
1t is painfully well known that one
year ago, last May, the directors of
what is known as the alliance Ex-
change" located in Brookhaven, made
an assignment of the enterprise to Mr.
L. r. Sherman. 1t is also well known
that out of this assignment and things
mot generally understood leading
thereto, grew a very unhappy state of
feeling among certain members of our
great organization and stockholders in
THE Alliance Exchange"
1t was said and believed, by some of
our good brethren, that rank dishon-
esty brought to our organization this
disaster. Others, as loyal brethren,
protested earnestly that we could not
have been defrauded by those of our
own household.
Conscious of having to deal with
brethren honestly holding to these
conflicting views, touching causes, and
utterly without bias towards one view.
or the other and with well fixed de-
termination to "hew to the line. let
the chips fall where they may" we en-
tered upon the tedious task of a thor
ough investigation of 1.-The Alliance Elk
change failure
We examined, with great care and
patience, the dispositions taken and
used in the legal proceedings against
the assignment. /. e., all of said depo-
sitiOns that were on file in the Chancery
Clerks office. We had before us the
sworn testimony of j. p. Mcfarland
Jno. W. Boone, Allen Smith, T. S. Cot.
ten, Edward Smith, P. T. Byrne. w. 7.
Barham, w. r. Montgomery and f. r
Sherman.
We also had and examined, "a complete
record of Mr.. Shermans transactions
as assignee, from the time he took
charge of the business till he made his
final report to the Chancery Court.
The stock book of the exchange
shows that the total amout paid in, as
stock, by sub-alliances and individuals
and on which the business was con.
Quoted was S2.03700. The large volume
of business carried on was out of all
proportion with this small amount OF
capital. The evidence also shows that
various small amounts were deposited
with the Exchange" from time to time
which appear to have been used as
part of the operating capital, and
which are included in the indebtedness
mentioned below. This S2,037OO was
paid in at various periods Some of ii
only few days before the directors
made the assignment. The assignee's
inventory shows that the goods that
went into his hands were worth 5000
y. The house which belonged to
this Alliance, he sold for S2,275OO. The
accounts due the Exchange amounted
to SS20.Ol. The aSSignee'S final report
to the Chancery Court shows the total
amount of assets to have been S7,73O.-
%. This report, also, shows that the
Exchange" owned S11, 71275. This diff
ference, therefore, between the total
assets and total liabilities was and is
S3,982.47. Your committee deem it lust
to say that it believes that Mr.. Sher-
man made the best possible DISPOSE
tons of the business.
The question naturally arises,
what became of that S3,9S2.47? Who
got that money? Your committee
ought to be perfectly candid in dealing
with their brethren. We, therefore,
unhesitatingly say, in our Judgment.
formed by the testimony before us. many
people got that money. We distinctly
and emphatically declaim any DISPOSE
ton to charge any one with dishonest
purposes or deeds, but the evidence
compels ust to frankly say that the loose
methods by which the business was
conducted, the incapacity of those
charged with the responsibility of
managing the affairs of the Elk
change" from the Board of Directors
and Stock Committee down to the last
man employed by the Directors, was
quite sufficient to wreck the strongest
financial concern in Mississippi in a
short time. Dozens of men who visit
ed the Exchange" were too polite to
permit clerk to wait on them, but
went behind the counters and waited
on themselves Honest men did this.
and so did dishonest men, no doubt,
and what was their gain was our loss.
The Board of Director instructed the
manager, T.. S. Gotten, and he put
up printed notices requesting every
body to keep from behind the counters,
and some of the Directors were the
first to violate their own order. The
manager is, in our Judgment. censur-
able for failing to put such men out of
the store, if he is to be censured at all
Honest men ought not to lead dishon-
est ones into temptation.
We repeat, incapacity to manage the
business, from the Board of Directors
clear down, was the rock upon which
1.-The Alliance Exchange" was wrecked.
This point was clearly proven by the
testimony of every witness Men with
out business experience were appoint
ed as board of directors. These indi-
vidually and collectively were good
men, doubtless, but their incapacity to
manage the affairs of mercantile en-
terprise, laid the sure foundation for
the disaster that followed. The Lincoln
County Alliance, unquestionably
wrecked its own enterprise. The tes-
timony of no witness even squints at
dishonesty on the part of the manager.
4: 8. Gotten, or bookkeeper, P. T. Byrne.
We deem it our duty, as Alliance men.
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