St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-02-23

gard to Mr.. Menage's whereabouts
has been printed He has guarded
that secret well, but he has broken
the silence of q year and half, and
deigns to give an account of himself.
In a, letter written to personal
friend in this city, the Guaranty
Loan man. reviews his financial
transactions in the Northwest at
great length, and offers many plausi-
Bile excuses for; his hasty departure.
In short, the man who cherished
schemes of wealth beyond the
dreams of avarice, says he is a
muchabused man and citizen, and
indicates that he would like to re-
turn to Minneapolis and help
straighten things out His letter is
as follows:
Nearly all guarantee mortgage and
note companies in the country have suf-
fered heavily or failed entirely; and it
is doubtful If, with an equal amount
of business from other resources, the
result would have been different. The
principle of guaranteeing large
amounts on a comparatively small
capital, especially when such capital
is permanently invested, is seen to be
unwise during a financial crisis, how
ever smoothly the business may run
in ordinary times.
My own real estate operations in
Minneapolis are well enough known to
need little reference here.
The Menage Realty company, hand
ling central property, was not more of
q Of 10 Of
and time to improve it's property.
The New England association, in
which l was the principal stockhold-
er, succumbed because of inability to
! float the large amount of short paper
1t had out (mostly on account of the
old Tribune property until. it could
place the amount in long time mort
gage. It's enterprises were good and
demonstrated success.
AS to my outside investments, the
facts regarding them are very differ
ent from the conclusions formed by
the public since the failure, which
seem to be that they swamped me. AS
a matter of fact, considering their mag
nitude, very little ready money was
put into them, and, with few excep-
tions, they were the result of eXchang-
ing Minneapolis property, much of
which had come back to me by fore
closure or on account of my guaranty
to Mr.. King, before alluded to.
Referring to the operations in Chi
cago: For the West Pullman prop
erty, valued at S1,O00,OO0, was paid $25,-
600 cash and the balance of the equity
in Minneapolis property, heavily mort
gagged. Some money was spent to Sc
cure right of way to the property for
the Illinois Central Railway company,
but the property was turned into in
terest-bearing bonds and cash within
a few months, making a very satisfas-
tory outcome.
I believe the creditors committee
eoncede an equity of 100000 in the
Worth property in Chicago, for which
I paid $4,000, and Minneapolis and
land equities for the balance.
For the Maynard tract of 1854 acres
was paid about $3.50, ,OO0 $4,000 in cash
and the balance Of the equity in mort
gagged Minneapolis property.
The Matteson deal, of 1900 acres,
took $4,000 cash and about 1,200, COO of
Minneapolis property, heavily encum-
bered, for the equity.
The object of all these deals was to
rid myself of the least valuable por-
ton of my Minneapolis property, and
place the paying of the mortgages and
interest, that L had stood so long, in
other hands. The first deal was a
complete success, and the others
would have been except for the panic.
The history of the company dates
back to 1881, and it is very much my own.
1t was formed principally as an auxil-
iary to my business to guarantee and
sell mortgages that were taken in the
course of the same. I held the stock
of the company and furnished the cap
ital, $500, COO The securities on which
this was invested were converted into
money and others substituted. 1t was
generally understood to represent a
part, or branch, of my business. About
the time of the Incorporation of the
conpany,t the King-Remingto law suit
was instituted attacking the title to
the Lyndale farm. The development
and sale of this, in building lots, was
at the time, and had been for two
years, my principal business Com