The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-07-17

fore the close of 1881, thus returning to
the depositors the face value of their
claims. A year later they received their
interest in full, and the stockholders
were left, nearly five years after the
close of the bank, with a score of pieces
of expensive real estate most of which
had Comparatively little present cash
value, and quantity of doubtful
claims and costly lawsuits, the legacy
of the panic.
But Chicago was growing. The sub
urb in which the 100-acre tract was To-
Gated became part of the city. A cable
line reached down and almost touched
1t; an electric line dropped passengers
Immediately in front of it; an elevated
raliroad approached it within half
dozen blocks. Early in the eos the
Worlds Fair found root in Jackson
park, which adjoined the tract immedi-
ately on the north. A city of great ho-
telS, apartment houses and residences
sprung suddenly into existence around
IL, and Chicago was a metropolis far
out beyond the park.
AT the time of the banks failure Chi
cago had a formidable rival in st.
Louis. Its population scarcely ex-
ceeoed 100000, and there was no reason
Tor arguing that in twenty years time
1t would be the second city in the
country, with a population of more
than 100000. And yet the men who
managed the affairs of the bank had
the faith which builds cities and their
real estate appreciated in value on d
scale commensurate with the astonish-
ing growth of the city.
IN July, 1891, the receiver called the
stockholders together and laid before
them an offer of 1000, 900 for the de-
spised 100 acres of land, and the stock
holders. upon mature deliberation, re-
Jected it, feeling that it would be
worth much more a few years later
If the offer had been accepted it would
have paid. off not only the entire cap
ital stock of s750,000, but it would have
left comfortable s25O,O0O to be divided
among the stockholders for their pa
thence. In a manner hardly less
remarkable the forty-fve acre cabbage
patch became valuable Car lines
passed it, and the suburb of Oak Park,
itself considerable city, grew out
around it, and every year has added
thousands of dollars to its value.
Under the receivers care the bank
has been as marvelously fortunate as
1t was unfortunate while it was still in
the hands of the directory. There were
many fierce lawsuits to be fought, and
In nearly every case the receiver has
oeen successful in recovering the losses
or the bank. One asset marked doubt
ioi, lue DonQS OF an ABSORBED railroad
company, yielded more than $780, 600 at
the close OF a case that went to the
supreme court of the United States.
A Wisconsin gas company, after lying
dormant for nearly a score of years.
walked up and paid large per cent of
its worthless bonds.
And so it happened that in 1899 the
receiver was able to pay a dividend of
III per cent to the stockholders, and
he followed it in 1895 with a second
dividend of per cent.
When the receiver had finished the
payment of the liabilities of the bank.
the law required him to resign in favor
or an agent who should dispose of the
remaining assets of the bank and di-
vide the proceeds among the stockhold-
erS.
But the stockholders had other ideas.
They had confidence in the receiver,
and they wanted him retained in the
management of the business with
which he was now so familiar Be
sides, an agent mig . entangle the title
or the property. A committee appoint
ed by the stockholders appeared before
congress during President Harrison's
administration and succeeded in get
ting the banking law changed so that
the receiver could ptinue TO manage
the affairs of the bank subject to the
will of the stockholders.
And thus, by a combination of good
fortune, shrewd management and pa
thence, the Third national bank now
presents the spectacle, probably I'M
equaled in finance, of a business insti-
tuition for twenty years defunct. and
yet paying dividends on stock worth
nearly twice its par value.