The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1900-02-02
THETROUBLE WITH BREIDENTHAL

disappointment which suggest "a
awyer who has lost a case rather than
m unpreiudiced public official, Mr.,
ohn w. Breiden hal, incidentally
Bank Commissioner, but chiefly cand-
date for Governor, continues his as
iault upon the Lanyon Zinc Com
pany And he continues as he began
by making statements wholly at
variance with the truth. For ex-
ample he says:
81 am aware Of the fact, and do not pre-
tend to deny that the company is trans
acting large business, but insist that
this is all done on the two millions of
borrowed money, and that the stOckhold.
ers have not contributed dollar to the
business of the company as such; that
they paid for their stock wholly by mark
ing up the value of gas leases and OF their
other properties. This is the wind and
water referred to by me in my eXplana-
ton of my vote"
The truth is that the. Lsnyon Zinc
Company has not borrowed a dollar.
1t is true that two million dollars in
bonds have been issued against the
property, but every dollar of those
bonds is owned by, the stockholders
of the Company. The stockholders
put up the money to buy the proper
ty which the Company now owns
and the REGISTER cannot resist the
temptation to add that the
same stockholders could have put
up hundred million dollars just as
easily as they did the one million.
Mr.. Credentials next statement is
this:
81 am always ready to welcome outside
capital to our State and to permit it to
utilize a portion Of our great natural re-
sources, but Kansas has suffered serious
drawbacks as result of the inflated in
debtedness aud watered stocks of enter
prises promoted bv alleged eastern CAPT
talists who come to our State only to alb
sorb our wealth in the form OF interest
on excessive bond issues and watered
stocks and for one, will not give my as.
sent or approval to this sort of business.
1t may be true that Kansas has i'm
the past suffered from the inroads of
irresponsible corporations, but the
implication i'm the foregoing para
graph tina, the Lanyon Zinc Company
is one of the en- erprises promoted 10y
alleged eastern capitalists who come
to our state only to absorb our wealth
in the form of interest on excessive
bond issues and wa cred stock, makes
the very horses roar with laughter
here where the facts are known. Who
are some of these "alleRed capitalists"
Fl. o. Havemeyer is one, and he is
commonly rated at hundred million.
l.. n. Palmer is another. and he
would hardly sell out for fifty million.
Perry Belmont, who ought to have
Mr.. Credentials consideration on
account of the good dinner he gave
Col. Bryan the other day, Is another
and he could buy and sell everything
the Lanyon Zinc Company claims to
own several times. John Flower Is an
other and the money he represents runs
up close TO the hundred million mark.
These are some ofthe alleged eastern
capitalists" that Mr.. Breidenthal is
trying to drive out of the State for
fear the company which they have
organized may contract obligations
which it cannot pay! Allen county
people have sold this company a good
many dollars worth of property in the
past year and there has never been
any trouble about the pay. Kansas
miners sold it something like million
dollars worth of ore last year and the
Company managed to dig up the
money somewhere. Several hundred
men are working hard for the Com
pany every day and they have found
their wages ready each payday in good
coin of the realm. And yet Mr.
Breidenthal is scared to death for fear
this Company will ."absorb our
wealth." Thus far we have been alb
sorbing theirs at the rate of about
a million and halfa year, and the
prospect is that this rate will increase
rather than diminish.
Consider now what an absurd atti'
tude Mr.. Breidenthal has taken: Here
is company the responsibility OF
whose individual members aggregates
probably five hundred millions of dol
lars. This company comes out tC
Kansas and buys manufacturing en-
terprise that is Already in operation
paying cash for it and for such Other
property as it needs in its business
l t Immediately spends large sums o
money charging and improving it'
plants, giving employment to hun
dreds of men and becoming the largest
J single factor in the development Of al
entire section of the State. 1t has al
command resources from which it may
, draw for fifteen or twenty millions o
J dollars as easily as for one if the eSta b