The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1905-12-28
Creditors Of the Hadden-Rodee
Co., in Milwaukee to Receive
Little For Their Claims
SETTLEMENT TO BE MADE NOW
Receivers For the Bankrupt Firm are
Forced to Cut Down Their Fees in
Order to Pay Dividend-M Many
Kenosha People Lose

Kenosha creditors of the bankrupt
Hadden-Rodee company, commission
brokers, which conducted an Office ia
| this city, will receive a dividend Of
| but per cent on their claims, ac-
cording to the final accounting Of
Trustee Ralph E1mergreen, filed with
Referee Maxwell of Milwaukee Wed
nesday. The full amount of mon.
in the possession of the trustee, after
all expenses have been paid, includ-
ing attorneys fees and trustees fees,
1 that have been allowed, amounts to
$3.50.
! Since March 20, 1905, when DR.. Ell
mergreen assumed charge of the bank
rupt irm, he has collected accounts
! to the amount of nearly $4,000. This
! he declares is all he is able to realize
on the credits of the firm. w. A.
Hayes, the attorney for the trustee,
was paid $4,242, on his tented ac-
count for services rendered, and the
trustee, for his own arduous work of
Strengthening the tangled affairs of
the bankrupt Sgrain company, takes
S757. Altogether he has paid out for
other incidental expenses $81O.11.
Mr.. Hayes and DR.. E1mergreen
have agreed, however, to permit their
claims to be cut to such an amount
that will enable the trustee to pay the
1 per cent dividend.
The trustees report comprises
thirty-one typewriter pages, and
bristles with pithy satire on the firms
business methods. It declares that
prominent attorney stated in open
court that no other estate tangled like
this one had passed through bank
ruptcy since the court was established
IN 1898. At the time Of the failure
there were over forty branch Offices
located in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota
and Illinois. The bulk Of the business
of the Hadden-Rodee company, ac-
cording to the trustee, was carried on
margins of 2or points, which, among
grain dealers, is generally known as
'bucketshop business"
The largest creditor of the firm was
the w. E. Woodend company of New
York, which has since also failed. It
owed the Hadden- Rodee company at
the time the latter went into bank
ruptcy over $4,000, claim valid in
every respect, but, DR.. E1mergreen
says, ''the trustee of the Woodend
estate could not lay his hands on
money sufficient to pay for the ad-
ministration of the affairs through the
bankruptcy court"
The bulk of the assets of the Had
den-Rodee company consisted of Office
furniture scattered in various states,
and attempts to realize~on it entailed
an expense nearly equal to the amount
it brought at sale.
bankrupt firm consisted of notes and
bills receivable, and claims against
stockholders of the firm for unearned
dividends. The books, declares the
trustee, never were balanced, no
statement appears when dividends
were declared ana paid, and that sat
no time when dividends were de-
clared and paid was there any war
rant for such action
When DR.. E1mergreen began his
trusteeship he found flour tons of
books and papers" lying in confused
heap about the Office. No one but the
members Of the firm, he says, was to
blame for the failure, and adds that
those who lost money in the concern
may attribute their loss to tavarice
and credulity Of human nature"