Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-03-18

But the chief outlay and rnat WHICH,
brought about the diffiulty was an as
ISOLATED blast furnace deal John M.
Thomas had a furnace close TO tne
Searles plants and the latter agreed
to take the entire product of the fur
mace at "Pittsburg prices" for term
of months. Mr. Thomas began max
ing iron under tins contract when the
Pittsburg price was $3.50, the very
top Of the boom of year ago. Searles
was not ready to take the iron from
his Duluth plants and took 1t very
slowly for other disposition. Finally,
when there had. accumulated about
Is 900 tons, and the Pittsburg price
had declined by drops CT a dollar or
moreaa jump a settlement was made
under whlehSMr. Thomas kept the
iron and received $1OU.vvO in cash ano
notes from Searles in consideration Oh
cancellation Of the contract. 1t IS
these notes long overdue that preclpl-
tated the crisis.
The Lake Superior Steel company
under the Searles plan, as recon-
mended by some of the foremost engl-
neers Of the country, was to be an I'M
portant factor in steel making. me
plans contemplated daily capacity
for 600 tors of finished material. In
Guiding ship plate and beams as well
as merchant iron. 1t was also ex-
pected to buy the Thomas furnace ana
an option was taken, as well as 10 Duy
ironf ore mines in order to make the
concern independent from raw ma
terial to the finished product. The
underwriting statement figured out
profit of $1,90O,000 year figured on
| the then price for the material pro-
duced.
The Case Summarized.
John E. Searles is, a good represent
alive of a type that is rapidly passing
into tradition, both as to his physical
appearance and as to his business
methods. The modern business man
! Of New York, even If he is past ~,
has youthful, alert, vigorous appear
! ance, and in the conyenti0nalties fol-
lows the methods that the younger
| generation has adopted. There is lit
| tie of the old-fashioned heavy dignity
| that was so striking a characteristic
of the old-time merchant. and espec-
| tally of the banker of an carrier gener-
alton. But Searles, in his physical
characteristics, strongly suggested the
old-fashioned type, even in the cut OF
his whiskers. He stuck to the frock
coat, and to the severe simplicity OF
general attire that was the habit OF
| the men of affairs Win whom he was
brought up and with whom he was in
| Intimate association until he connect
ed himself with the Havemeyers.
Then, too. in his temperament and
his intellectual qualities he was a
striking example of that mingling of
| credulity and cautiousness. of abso-
lutte faith and yet it considerable dis
| trust that used to be not uncommon
and was possessed at the same time
with that pecunar national quality
| that was satirized by Mark Twain in
his creation of Colonel Sellers, while,
| on the other hand, he had some of the
narrow, cl~se-fsted characteristics of
those who are absolutely dominated
by ayariciousness.
This latter quality was disclosed
when Searles was sued by his house
keeper because he had discharged heI
| on the ground that the household ex
penses we're too great. The revela
| tons that were made in that suit were
astonishing, for they showed that q
Y,aoy, rohIn IF incpiYiro tho fret Gro
| gestion which led at last to the ere.
alton of the colossal sugar trust was
also dominated by what seemed to be
kind of penuriousness. The jury
seemed to take that view, for they de
cided this litigation in favor of the
discharged housekeeper
The striking feature of Searles' con
fession of insolvency is that it reveals
him as having been unable to take ad
vantage of the superb opportunities
| for amassing vast fortune which
| came to every one of those who were
upon the inside of the charmed circle
that is the commanding authority in
| the sugar trust. 1t ma be that Searles
was not unlike man others who found
it easier to make fortune than TIC
keep it: At all events after the sugar
trust was we'll established. had be-
come powerful. and was making
rapidly vast fortunes for all who were
upon the inside, Searles became what
in diplomacy is called persona non
grata" to the trustees or directors OF
the corporation. They detected what
they believed to be not so much irregu-
larities as unsoundness in his bus
mess methods. He seemed to have
lost his capacity for close reasoning
and accurate foresight.
AS one of them described it, using a
metaphor borrowed from the race
track, he went off his feet as soon as
he had struck his best pace. He had
a fine opportunity as president of the
Western National bank, but seemed
not to be equal to it, and his success
sor in that institution emphasized
Searles' failure there by making of it