The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1893-02-17
A VICTIM OF A CORPORATION.
How u President and General Manager
Was Frozen Out by His Companions.

~"Speaking of corporations" said o
prominent st. Louis banker, Il recall
with painful "Reminiscences the first one
of which ! had the honor to be II stock
holder. 1t happened in 1865. and | was
just fifteen years of age. OF course l
had no idea that it was really IA corpora
ton in which l had invested, but as !
look back upon the incident the ~realiza-
ton PUSHES upon me that | was Il victim
of corporation methods.
at happened in this way. AT II very
early age my tendency for mercantile
pursuits developed. At school / noticed
IL very general demand for candy and
cakes and an exceedingly limited supply
in the market. Many of the children
possessed coppers and nickels, hut it
was nearly u mile from the school house
to the country town, and the boys were
compelled to forage upon the neighbor-
ing sugar cane fields and orchards to sat-
isfy the youthful stomach. After a care
full survey of the market l decided that
the school was confronted by a condi-
ton, not a theory.
SIN a few days l had secured the CO.
operation Of half a dozen boys, with a
capital of thirty cents, in which l held
ten cents of the stock, and was conse-
quently named as president and man
ager OF the candy store which we pro-
posed to open or the grounds. We found
an enormous dead and fallen tree, whose
butt end offered little resistance to ou-
penknives. At noon n day l notified
the stockholders that a meeting would
be held Immediately after school, and at
that meeting !, as president and man.
ager, cut an opening into the dead tree,
fashioned u shelf therein and attached a
door, while the stockholders looked Oh
in admiration. Ithen proposed that early
in the morning each stakeholder should
bring with him five cents worth Of
candy Mherewith to stock the juvenile
store.
ITO my establishment it was moved
and seconded and carried that the candy
should be purchased and delivered at
once, so that the store might have an
early and perfect opening. Tired as J
was | repaired to the town, invested my
ten cents in cheap candy, returned to
the school grounds, where already the
twilight WIS making ghostly figure
among the trees, and deposited my treas
IRE n the store. 1t WAS quite dark when
| reached home, and being unable to ac-
count for my whereabouts the pres
dent and manager went to bed supper
less and with Il back singing from tho
effects Of Il switch literally applied
Next morning / hastcncd TO the schOu.
grounds in order to be first at the cerl-
monies. Imagine my surprise when !
found there, seated in u row, all the
stockholders. congratulated them on
their interest," III the enterprise, and the.
threw open the door Of the candy store.
1t was empty.
"For Il moment l was speeches.. Tn
stockholders bent their heads ana sd,
nothing. &hcy looked s~uSpiciOusly con-
tented, and when | intimatcd that some
good man among as had gone WrOn~,
they were all prepared TO prove that ~
daring burglar had, in the midnigh-
hour, deprived the corporation Of lis a.
sets.
''Teu years later II of the stOckhold.
ers admitted that he had helped HI
brethren in disposing of the stocl;.'-St
Louis Republic. .