Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-08-18
LESSONS THAT COST MILLIONS
Cudahy Fairbank Schlessenger And
Other Operators.

\
| Cudahy Fairbank Schlessenger And
Other Operators.
John CudahyS creditors are consol.
| ed by the announcement that the
terms OF the joint account deal between
| the great Spectator and n Il. Fair
| bank are i'll black and white The
trades are not yet all checked up, but
| it is known that Fairbanks indebted
ness Cudahy approximates S5OOOOOO
for which sum it is conceded that he is
| amply good, if given time to convert
slow assets into cash. The black and
white agreement referred to is doubt
less Il pleasant memorandum for the
losers by the lard failure to contem-
plate, but if they were not protected by
Fairbanks "SpOrtSmanlike' sense of
honor the claim against him might not
be worth the paper it is written on,
and no man knows it better than Fair
bank himself. He knows it because he
paid over 81 100000 to find it out and Il
S1,OOO,OOO discovery is likely to- make Il
lasting impression on any man.
This is how he happened to acquire
the information alluded to: A few
!! ears ago B. p. Hutchinson, \. X. Fair
bank, w. 7. Baker and C. H. Pilsbury
went into a big wheat deal OH joint ac-
count They were each to take a Ger
tain interest in 4 pool, the aggregate
amount of which was something like
S,GOOOOOO bushels, and q provision was
also made for the regulation of the in
dividual side lines. The agreement
was reduced to writing and signed by
all the members of the pool The man
agcment of the deal was given to
HutC .nSon. The deal was run through
several months and was widely adver-
tiscd lis 'Fairbank's deal" Everything
went sWimmiEgly for a while, and then
conditions changed and the success of
the deal became predetermined. The
pool had to take on a great lot more
wheat than had been originally inten-
ded and the situation grew serious
Finally. at a critical point, the market
was deluged with offerings and the in
lividual members of the clique had to
put thier shoulders under the market
to prevent it going to smash. When
the storm was over it was learned that
Hutchinson had sold out the pool hold
ings on his associates without saying a
word and left them td do the best they
could.
10 say that Fairbank, Baker and
I'illSbury were indignant over the un-
mercantile trick Of the man they had
is TO put it too mildly They determine
ell to make him reinstate the pool
trades OF stand whatever losses might
ensue. a hypothetical case was pre-
pared presenting the facts and the law
points involved, and the matter was re-
ferreu to the late Writ Dexter In his
opinion the contract was absolutely
! nd, the acts which the signerS had
committed themselves to do being i'll
restraint of trade and therefore unlaw-
full. That was enough for the dis
appointed three. When they found
they could not hold Hutchinson they
resolved to abandon the deal. Some
body told Leopold Bloom about the
case and gave him the tip that they
had resolved to carry it through. Ac-
| ting on that exclusive information
Bloom bought the first 100000 bushels
| of clique wheat that came out the next
morning and lost $350,OOO before night
| That was the single humorous feature
| OF the deal. From the day he threw
, the Fairbank deal Hutchinson never
saw Il lucky moment. Fairbank has
J admitted that he lost over S1,OO0,OOO
| by the failure of the deal and the other
members lost possibly 100000. How
Hutchinson Jared does not appear, but
he subsequently blew in $2,OOO,OO0 and
i went broke" 1t may be assumed that
whatever Fairbank does toward liquid
ating his share of the losses Of the
| Cudahy lard deal will be entirely vol
untary and not because he considers
himself legally bound by contracts
which tue courts might construe into
an agreement to perform acts in res
traint OF trade"
Since Ferdinand Schlessinger, Mil
waukee'S financial star, went into par
tial eclipse the mystery that enveloped
some OF his brilliant performances has
been dissipated. 1t now turns out those
German millions were entirely myth
| zeal and that he had literally nothing tC
back him but his own amazing nerve
When he bought the famous Chaplin
iron mine for $1,G00,OOO he didn't
have $1,00O,000 cents. He had been
down to New York trying to interest
foreign capital through Ladenburg
Thalman 4 Co. and had failed. Re
turning to Milwaukee be went to Presi
dent Day, Of the Plankinton bank, told
him all about the $1,GOO.COO option OF
the mine and said he had made arran
:semeH,s with Ladenburg, Thalman &