Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-04-02
MINORITY RUE BILL
Bysrs' Minority Corporation Bin 70
Come Up Tuesday Likely
to Pass
s.fourths Vote Of stesk Msess-
sary to Fix Salaries or Elect
Oficers.
Adjournment Expected On Friday
Interesting Book From His.
torical Department
Special to Times-Republican.

Special to Times-R Republican.
Des Moines. April 2.-The bill known
as the minority corporation bill, ,sor the
lthree-fourths bill, is calculated for the
protection OF minority stockholders Ia III
corporations, will be considered in the
senate Tuesday morning. This bill, In
lstroduced in the house by ex-Speaker
Byers, passed that body by a large ma
ijority after thorough discussion.
Since then some good people have dis :
covered that it has horns on 1t and they
desire to amend the bill, in the Lam
guage OF one of them, by striking out &
i all after the enacting clause. They
characterize it as a bill to give one
fourth Of the stockho olders Of a Corpora
ltion control OF that corporation. The
\ fact is that it simply provides that the
consent OF three-fourths OF the stock
sholders Of a corporation must be se-
cured for the election OF officers who
1are stockholders in the corporation
and for the fixing Of their salaries.
i5Corporations are very often organized
by desisning men who get a majority OF
the stock and absorb all the profits by
lsl'1S Aa&9 sAASIAlSC4NSS taAkSA
4 lotherwise manipulating the operation
land expenses of the concern. Thus the
minority stockholders who were led to
invest their money expecting to get .
fair return for it, are frozen out and
4 compelled to sell their stock at a sac
srifiee or be satisfied with little or no
Income upon it. The bill provides that
5Isif the stockholders cannot agree upon
i officers the board of directors may elect
4 officers TO manage the corporation, but
4 these officers must not be stockholders
4 in the corporation. But 1t is not chief
ly upon the merits of the bill that II Is
being opposed. The main objection to-
lit is that It is believed Judge Hubbard
& would like to have the bill passed be-
cause he 10 minority stockholder In
Z the Sayery Hotel Company and lis obs
! ljecting to the payment Of certain sale
!. aries by that corporation for which it
: is alleged small service i is rendered.
The attempt is therefore being mAAeato
defeat the bill with q hue and cfss
e against Judge Hubbard. The chances
!, are very strongly in favor Of the pAss-
age of the bill. Its enemies expected 10
secure its defeat Saturday BY having
4 ut come up when there was large
number Of absentees, so it could not get.
ftsNolSs pass fSul
4 scheme did not work, for the bill Was,
: made special order for Tuesday. very
. much to the surprise of its opponents
3 Senator Hubbard, of Sioux City; made
{ an extraordinary effort to kill the bill
in the absence of its friends by calling
+ it up out of its order with the avowed
purpose of killing It, but this the senate
would not permit. Even those who
We're opposed to it We're willing to give
it fair chance.
The legislature Will probably be
obliged to leave town before perform
lance of Sapho, unless, perchance. some
! lof the members remain in town over
next Sunday to attend its performance
: on Saturday night. A news dealer here
told me the other day that he alone
3 l5hass sold in less than week more than
!, 800 copies of Sapho, and that other
o dealers had sold as many or more.
. More copies of this thing have been
. sold than of any other book in Des
A1oines for years. Even the pages in the
8 legislature are calling for 1t and those
s Who have read it. many of them, say in
e disgust that there is nothing in it after
all''-that is, they mean nothing like
q they expected. The play will probably
S be a rather cheap performance.
The business activity of the country
= is manifested every day in the leading
! hotels, which are crowded with COM
Y mercial traveiIllg men. The Iowa rep
Preventative OF ii large dry goods house.
= in speaking of the business activity and
prosperity of the country, told me the
: other day that all manufactured goods
= had advanced so much that the great
est difficulty dealers had to contend
was to get the goods that had been or
II dered from the manufacturers. You
/. see, there is hardly any line of manu-
factured goods. especially cotton and
n, swoolen goods. that has not advanced
n. from 10 to 90 per cent. There has beer
d an advance of more than so per cent or
II the raw material entering into nearly
n all cotton fabrics. Manufacturers whc
i, have taken orders based on the ole
"a prices are finding all kinds of excuses
"a for not delivering the goods, because
s. the demand is SO great they can easil.
q. sell all that they can make at the
i present prices They simply do not de
the goods. They. do not have then
~ and we have tomake the best of 1T ant
ii find some other factory where we car
get even. think this business reviva
-, is a permanent one. The country il
4. growing, everyone is doing we'll and
see no reason why we should not al
continue to do WE'LL The prices are no
no TOO high, either. The fact is, prices
4 have been depressed for several years
"a Manufacturers have been either losint
,,s money or barely keeping afioat, ans
- they should raise their prices to rea
M ny sonable figure and earn a reasonable
ha profit. !"
-. Charles Aldrich has issued anothe
~ valuable ard interesting number Of th
Annals Of Iowa. He calls 1t the steam
=, boat number. and the leading article
~ by Tacitus Hussey, the well know
~ - boating specialist and poet Of De
- Moines, ON EARLY steamboating q
!. the Des Molnes.' It is q complete hi
- =. tory OF the navigation OF the De
'u Moines river from 1887 to, 1850 and -
CONTINUED on EisAtA Fa0ll e