The labor world., 1897-12-04

DOHN VI tIle lld1nc Ol I -l11Slle, OI t1c llT1
of Christie &; Collier, was secretary, an
| alst members. SO far as I can find ou
| Wef" uJdge Lewis of Washburn & Lewiy
anc a man by the name Of Macdonald.
| pond broker Of Chicago know anyth1n
about that company?
| Al know Mr. Macdonald, he has beel
an tsmploye of mine in the past.
Q-Has this company any connection
A.-NOne to my knowledge.
| Q:-Were YOU at the Chicago conferenc
J VITA the mayor?
! Al was not. I arranged that with Mr.
! !Untemeyer in order that he might himsel
meet the mayor and your chief, 1 think
| who went with him, SO that both sides di
| rectly interested in the controversy nigh
| come together and carry their interview
entirely apart from any negotiations tina
had done and [ purpOsely avoided, al
though my interest justified my presence
there, purpoSely avoided making such re
Quest in order that they might cu!ne to
getEcr as they did.
Q.-Was any representative OF the Ing
llsh bondholders at tHat conference
ney, Mr.. Fleming; his honor, the mayor
Mr.. Washburn was there.
Q.-Mr. Gay, did you not, some time last
season sea IN get H1 ia an option from the bondhold.
ers, the bondholders agreeing to give yOC
ST. ia 900?
A.-No, T did not. never had an op-
ton on these bonds. The foreign bond
won't today.
Q.-Have not the bondholders entered
into an agreement with you to take pei
cent in exchange for their bonds, but il
you can get per cent bonds, they, the
bondholders, will pay you 10 per cent for
doing the business?
A::-Nothing Of the sort, On the con-
trary, they decline to receive a city OF
Duluth bond bearing 10 per cent interest
Q.-Have you any kind of an agreement
with the .bondholders, they agreeing to
pay you if you SUCCEED in getting the
A.;-Nothing at all. have no commission
in ssny way, directly or indirectly
Q;.Haven,t you some agreement Of this
an old fogy sort of fellow and can't get
these things down in scientific terms as
the attorneys do?
Alderman Sang: Do you want that taken
down?
Alderman jefferson: Oh, no. Have you
entered into some kind of agreement with
the principal bondholders OF the company
whereby they leave this Duluth matter as
your: exclusive territory andi will not
come into competition with you for buying
of bonds, and also that if you happen to
be the only buyer, and OF course it you
know you are you are going to be great
deai less than par, that the company give
yoal. the difference between par and what
youz bought them in for?
AS-No, there is no arrangement of that
kind; the only understanding that exists
is IS. l have described to your council
here
:. Q-Does your offer of s1,25o,ooo include
the Lakeside plant?
A.--Yes, sir, that's part of it,
CIT is, eh?
C*-Will your offer be that you will give
amabS9l@tely s1a perfect title to the plant
A perfect title, satisfactory to your
city attorney.
eff, after an examina ton of your IT,
to be claims that you have not included
some claims turn UP, you know, in your
offssr will you agree to allow the city to
hold back a percentage of the bonds suf1i-
those claims are tried in the courts and
decided that the city is held by them
will YOU agree to forfeit the bonds to the
city so held back? .,1
foreclosure proceedings would shut out
any possible claims and when turn over
title from sale under master it would
Alderman Simpson: Mr.. Gay, what, if
any, contracts for water or gas have the
diVidualS?
Al do not know of any contract except
the one with the West Duluth company
which was referred to at our last meet
ing.
Q:-Don't you think the city is entitled
Mr.; Washburn: I don't know what the
question means.
Q.-I mean for rates in the future-do
you know?
A.-No, I do not
Q.-How can you expect the city to
act not knowing but that the rates are
years?
A.-That would not be possible.
Q.-Would it not be possible for the
gas and water company to make a con-
frC C0f with oil f0r
two or five years?
Al presume it would be.
Q.-Might it not be so low that they
would give a bonus to get it
Al never heard yet of a water COM
pany making a contract more than one
year in length except with a city; L
never heard Of one for several years.
With taey Of the padRns
houses, or do you know?
Al do not know. supposed they were
held to their rates by their charter.
OIL suppose they could make a low
rate?
A-Presumably.
Q.-How could the city be sure there
was no such thing?
Al think it would be very simple
thing for the managers to give a state
ment. That is quite a minute detail that
as bondholder would not be expected
any contract of that kind. although
could not say that such a contract does
not exist.
Mr. Washburn: In order to avoid the ex-
pense of a receiver pending this foreclos-
ure proceeding, all Of the expenditures Of
the company have been limited to paying
the current expenses such as receiver
would pay and every payment that has
been made has been first passed upon
by me as attorney for the Central Trust
company, the mOrtgagee In the course Of
that work I have become advised that
there are with a few people where large
nJ1 q mi Of t-D toy h honr
tract rate made instead of the ordinary
rate-I do not know how to express that
franchise rate. and I think that there
are few persons who have such rates.
L am not guaranteeing anything here in
that line, but I am morally certain that
the only way any Of those contracts
have been made was by the year, and L
inquired some into it and was advised by
the managers that the reason they made
those contracts was that if they didn't t
make the contract that the parties would
not use the water. They were, for in
stance, for running elevators-they used
some other method and so they made con-
tracts in that way, but 1 am morally GER
to year and made by the year. l do not
think there is such thing as a contract
made for a term of years.
Q.-But you have never looked it up eSpe-
cially?
Mr.. Washburn, continuing: And in any
event there can be no contract at this time
that was not made long subsequent to
this mortgage. I would be willing to bet
my hat-and it it pretty tGold night to
go home without it-that there is not a
contract that would not be sawed off by