Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1903-12-17


heard of the collapse of the ship
yards trust.
The embarrassment of the Town
send-Downey company at Shooters
island, n. Y, is attributed to public
distrust caused by the shipyards scan
dals. This firm built Kaiser vii.
helms schooner yacht Meteor, and its
troubles will be keenly scrutinized
abroad. SO of the Crescent shipyard i
in Elizabeth, N. j. When the crash I
it was building two ships for
Mexico. Thus the collapse of an
industry is advertised both
IN the old and new worlds.
A hard winter faces Elizabeth, with
1900 men out of work. The receiver /
of the trust, ex-senator Smith of New
Jersey, is delayed in settling its
affairs because its plants are in so
many different states under different
laws. Some OF the plans, under the
peculiar arrangement that leased"
them back TO their former owners
after they were sold" to the trust,
manage to keep a little work going.
The trust was formed by men who
wouldn't know marlinspilie from
lee bilge, but who were looking for
something to Capitalize" They
needed plants, a trust company and a
figurehead.
The figurehead they found in Lewis
Nixon, man of engaging personality
and great energy, who had designed
the Oregon as naval constructor and
who was earning repute as a builder
of torpedo-boats.
The trust company selected was the
Republic, of which Daniel lie Roy
Dresser was president of the Mer-
chants association, was a brother
inlaw of George Vanderbilt and
trustee of the estate of John Nicholas
Brown. Mrs. Brown was Dresser.
His name suggested Vanderbilt in
1uence and support and hence was
valuable
The plants which he combined were
the Crescent; the Harlan & Holdings
worth company of Wilmington, Del,
which has built many ferryboats ana
river steamers plying about New
York, and some street cars; the Bath
Iron Works aud Hyde Windlass com
pany of Maine; the Eastern Ship
Building company, Samuel l.. Moore
&c Son company. and the Union iron
Works of San Francisco.
The capital of these companies was
s4,506,0O0 Some of this was water.
&A-1@n M fha
profitable.
To the list was added the Cana
Manufacturing company, which made
prcssed-steel cars, not ships. Is
president, Charles ]. Canda. once as.
sistant treasurer of the United States.
swore that it never made cent. YET
S1.100,000 in stock and bonds was
paid fol it,
This payment was commensurate
with the trusts other operations.
Tho vendors were to receive over S1S,.
100000 in cash, stock and bonds.
Underwriting was to cost abroad
SG,OOO000 and in the United States
$3.O00,000. Bond and stock issues
were voted in the Jersey City trust
factory by boy clerks who could not
tell under oath where their ICON |
stituent companies" were or what
they made. One of these clerks had |
acted as incorporation in companies of
$500,O00,000 capitalization. Another.
Kenneth McLaren, had acted as an in
of the defunct Franklin |
Syndicate robbery in Brooklyn, foi |
whose thefts $3.50 per cent" Miller
and Bob" Ammon went to Sing Sing. |
Up to this time the shipyard trust |
had not engaged the attention of ]. p. |
Morgan & Co. Now Charles N. |
Schwab proposed to Nixon and Ores
ser that they buy the Bethlehem Steel |
company, which he said he owned |
They consented and guaranteed to pay
for 1t first 100000, then $4,000. 600 |
A day or two later Schwab reported |
that the price of the Bethlehem works,
whose value he mai stated at $780, |
900, would be s10.G50.0)0 in bonds of
the ship-building company, $4,000 900
in stock for J. p. .-crgan G. Co, and |
S15,000,000 in stock for himself
Who owned the Bethlehem com
pany? Schwab called it his own, but |
deferred to Morgan for terms. AS
the officers of the steel trust had IN.
spected IL with a view TO suggesting
economies it seemed that the steel |
octopus might be the real owner. It
would have been awkward to incor-
oorate 1t in the steel trust, however.
rs it was its only competitor" in
bidding for government armor con
tracts. But it was equally awkward
Tor Schwab, then the steel trusts
or the Morgan firm. its
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