The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1898-01-21

The hearing on the order to show
(, cause why the knitting mill should
not continue to be operated by
Assignee Moffatt came up before
. Judge Severance, at 1880 a.. m. Pres
dent Lammr and Cashier Linder ap-
peared for the First National bank,
. which is creditor, and A. R. Pfau
! represented them as attorney. Thos
y. Jones appeared as a creditor. Thos'
and Evan Hughes appeared for AS
signee Moffatt, who. was present.
Judge Severance said that 1t must
appear that no extraordinary ex-
pense would be incurred in running
the mill, There must be time given
to we'll advertise its sale, in order to
]. to, obtain a reasonable price.
Thos. Hughes said that he thought
that about. two months would be
needed in order to dispose of the mill
at a reasonable price. r...
1.-THE court said thatit would be no
J excuse that the mill could make
80 900 profit. The only reason for
operating the mill would oe to save it.
Mr.. Hughes said that it was not de-
sired to run 1t as speculation, or for
any length OF time.
Ii Assignee A. B. Moffatt was sworn.
.1 He said that. judging from last year,
it would require 1000 week to run
the mill. One-fourth Of this would
be for, labor. The mill could not run
week without ordering new supplies.
Some yarns have been ordered since
the assignment that haven't yet
come. The mill makes its own wool
yarn, but can make only a few styles
OF goods with this, and there would
be no profit in running thus limited.
The fine cotton yarns are purchased,
as the machinery here does not make
it. The mill has never. been run to
it's full capacity, which is 500 dozen a
day. 1t has only made from 100 to
200 dozen day. Since the assign
rment, 81, 900 to ST. 200 worth or maBeri-
al has been purchased, and about
$1,000 has been paid out in all, taken
from money received from accounts
receivable. There have been orders
for sales amounting to S6.57S, and
$1,012 of these orders have been filled
in April aud paid for by June. There
is not much demand for goods on a
cash basis. When the assignment
was made, there was $4,000 of &C
counts receivable outstanding, and of
this, $4,000 has been collected. The
balance is mostly collectable and fell
due Dec. 1st, Jan. 1st, or will fall due
Feb. 1st. They are all over the
Northwest. About $4,000 remains un-
collected.
The court,said $4,000 is a good deal
too much to be behind. If this was
the kind of credit that the. mill
would be Obliged to rely upon here
after, he did not want much to do
with it, 1y.s" 1881. 4''.
Mr.. Moffatt, continuing his testi-
mony, said that when the assign
ment was made the stock on hand
amounted to Sl1. 1897, the largest item
being finished hosiery, s6,370. OF the
accounts receivable, only $1,000 was
for merchandise sold. A large part
of the balance consisted Of royalties.
The knitting mill machinery was
bought of an eastern company, with
the exclusive right Of use in this terri
tory. Afterwards, the company
wanted to sell other machines, and it
was agreed that the mill should re-
ceiye $40 royalty on each machine
sold. The royalties received now foot
up Sc, 900. There are notes due the
company for machines, and the
royalties included in these notes
amount to S2,677. The notes are held
by VIM. H, and Geo. T. Mayo, Of
Franklyn, N. 81. There is now 81, 500
due on merchandise, and of this 81, 500
is for old accounts. The collections
during the fall and winter were very
good.
The court asked whether Mr.. Moi
fatt thought that he could run the
mill two months and not at loss.
Mr.. Moffatt replied that he thought
that he could. 1t should turn out 200
dozen day in order to be profitable.
The expense would be S8,000,. and
goods to the value of $4,000 could be
manufactured during the two months.
1t would be necessary to borrow Sc, 900
to operate the mill.
The court remarked that if it was
not necessary to incur the indebted
ness to save the mill, he would never
thing of letting 1t run minute.
Mt. Pau asked how much cash
there is now On hand.
Mr.. Moffett replied that he has
$1,000. He would have to pay out
about 81, 900 for labor and supplies al
ready had. The Citizens National
bank had offered to loan what money
was needed.
Mr.. Hughes asked what would be