Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-02-18
TO CENTRALIzE WORK
a. i. LeImbrook General Asen. oi
Southern Iowa District and In
Charge OF Local Branch, Goes to Au.
rora-other Employees to Davenport,
and Des MoInes. =

From Fridays Daily.
The local offices of the International
Harvester company in this city are to
be permanently discontinued March 1.
While 1t Is impossible to verify this
information from the local office owing
to the fact that A. H. Leimbrook, gem
eral agent and in charge of the local
branch of the concern, could not be
seen this afternoon, the report comes
upon reliable authority.
While rumors to the effect that the
local branch Of the big harvester con.
cern in Ottumwa was soon to be per.
manently discontinued 1t was not un.
I'll today through reliable information
from correspondents that the Courier
was able to announce the early re.
moval as fact. Even now owing to
the fact that access to Mr.. Leimbrook
is denied it is impossible to give all
the details of the transfer
Mr. Le1mbrook 1t is understood Is to
go to Aurora, III, where he will have
charge of branch similar to the OF.
tumwa branch. &Other employees. In.
Guiding office men and stenographers,
repair men and travelling representa-
tiyes are to be distributed to the OF.
hces OF the combine in Des Moines.
Employs Many Men.
The Ottumwa branch is one Of the
TOUR branches of the state. The terri.
tory covered by the branch consists Of
the two southern tiers of the county
making fourteen counties in ALL The
volume OF business done has reached
into many thousands of dollars.
In the busiest season the local
branch has had as high as seventy-fiye
travelling men employed. Twenty-Five
I Eorsthirty more have been employed In
the branch as repair men an in many
ofnces, making the branch in many
ways one of the most important ones
of the city.
Formerly Four Companies.
Previous to the formation OF the
Harvester combine in November, 1903,
four of the big harvester concerns
maintained offices and branches In OF.
tumwa. These were the Mccormick.
the Plano, the Deering and the Cham.
pion. Three of these offices were
closed and the quarters occupied by
the Champion on West Main street,
became the location Of the new con-
solidated offices.
\ IHe oIHeT quarters were occupied
as storage rooms for the various ma.
chimes handled. The large storage
rooms of the Champion company were
fitted UP to handle the repairs for all
the machines.
| 1t was on November II that A. II.
Leinbrook arrived in the city and took
charge of the local branch. Mr.. Lein.
brook came to this city from StLouis
where he occupied a position Of a sim.
liar nature to the present one for the
Champion company
Statement by LeInbrook.
When seen late this afternoon Mr.
| Leinbrook stated that it was a fact
that the office of general agent In OF
! tumwa was to be abolished but the
4 equipment of the International con-
Germ in Ottumwa in the way OF storage
and repair rooms would be maintained
under the supervision Of j. r. Utley,
4 general agent at Davenport
/ A few of the storage and repair men
are to be retained but the office men
and employees will practically all be
transferred to other offices. The rea.
son given for the changes was the re-.
duction of expenses to bc accom-.
plished by placing the local branch un-
der the Davenport officials, thereby
saving the salary of the general agent
and the heavy office expenses.
T