The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1894-01-06
THE ALLIANCE,

and Je'auld counties are just now respinl
some moro of the fruits of the labor o
the leaders of reform. At til. time whel
the Alliance was i'll Il prosperous condi
ton, when farm implements were tigh
crops..good and money among the farm
srs fairly easy, the leaders OF tho Alliance
determined to s%tart..an incorporated com
pany within it's own membership for thu
purpose Of handling a limo of farm i'm
PIGMENTS and furnishing the same to thu
farmers at factory price, adding. freight,
and a small percentage for expenses. The
intention of che promoters was undoubt
edly honest and praiseworthy, and sc
long as the purchasing company was con
Quoted with q view to..cheapening the
price of tho farmers purchases, it was
fairly successful. Its first great binder
Irvine deal astonlshed the business world
and reduced the price eff binder Irvine
from two and a half to three cents pei
pound.
The organization was incorporated with
a capital of 100000, and was divided
into shares of $40 each. So anxious
wero the farmers of the state to take
stock in the company, that the board OF
directors passed a resolution limiting the
number of shares that could be held by
any n individual to fifty. The stock
was sold only to members OF the Alliance,
and us much as possible in single share
lots, on which 50 cash was collected and a
note taken for SIS, subject only to a call
of the aboard of directors" and then
only in such proportion as they might
deem advisable. In this manner the col
lection of such notes was taken entirely
out of the hands of the officers. The AL
lance farmers %patronized the company
literally, and at the end of the first years
business m exhibit of over $350,OO0 trade
sales was made and a satisfactory surplus
was credited up. When the time came for
tho Alliance to take a hand in politics, the
the split came, and many of the old
wheel horses quietly dropped out of the
work and the ship began to founder and
sink. Thensthe company was sold ont to
the National Union, and the binder twine
trust gobbled mp the National Union
Luthy d Co. of Peoria, Ill.,. had been fur
nishing some goods to the Alliance. Pur-
chasing company, and it is a noteworthy
fact that all contracts that had been made
with the Luthys had been worry one-sided
at that. Prices contracted to BIO paid
were higher in many instances than local
dealers throughout the state were retail
ing the same or similar goods for.
At the time the National Union pur-
chased the business and good will of the
Purchasing company tue officers in a
statement to the stockholders said that
whom the business was closed up thore
would he S. returned to the stock holder
for every dollar he, had paid in. Stock
was at a big premium just then, and an
attempt was made by some parties to
capture the whole of the stock, but for
the reason of the resolution referred to
and the fact that tho books of tho con-
cern had been closed, this would probably
have been done. 1t was supposed in Alb
erdesn (the home Office of the concern)
that L.uthy had, Through the aid of some
of the officers, succeeded in taking unto
the mselves II goodly portion of the sur.
plus of tho company, and now it appears
they intended to feather their nest in
great shape. OF the $20o,Oo0 subscribed
capital, some $4,000 is supposed to have
boon paid IN cash and notes given for the
b~alance-$16O.O 900. These notes now turn
up in the hands of Luthy d Co., and are
being sent out to the different banks
the state for collection, it ia
said, with instructions to sue two or three
parties who will be apt to come in and
pay So rather than have a suit, and thus
others to do the same. Who ie
for all this ? Not the board
of directors. as they, or some of them, at
least, claim to have known nothing of the
notes ever having been in Luthy's hands,
and they have never made a call for the
payment of tho same. Who then ia re-
sponsible. and who is to be proft.d by it?
Ask who prodted by the failure of the
Elevator scheme, the Fidel-
ity insurance r,ud, tas Alliance hail swim.
die, the Alliance Life Insurance boomer
ang VIII furnished tho capital that
the Rulalist to boom governors
United States senator's? Tho same
who are now asked to pay the i'd
Her for this Last great "ghost dance" of
he party of reform. Where are we at?
1t would look as though the reformers
at the gates leading to the gang
plank and ready to embark on the fiat
ooat for a trip up Salt river, and in the
tho farmers will, or they will
lot. pay the demands made in this last
'all. The best attorneys in the state say
hat they are uncolleetible. How did Luz
ny d Co., come in possession of them
an order by the board of direc-
N.