Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1906-08-31

tlOI, OlpOIdIiOh having poV'VVV VI
capital stock. Until about 1898 its stock
was paying 6 per cent dividends an
nually and was considered good prop
erty. 1t was good enough so that about
that time P. w. Clement paid S25, 900
for $4,000 of this stock; that is, he
paid $156.25 for every hundred dollars
of stock. He evidently thought it was
worth something at that time. A little
later on The News will say something
about the methods by which Clement
secured the property.
By that purchase Mr.. Clement became
the owner of Observation-Disclosures of the
Rutland Herald, bare majority of it.
And from that moment it ceased to be
public newspaper and became his
| personal organ, run purely to advance
his personal interests. Since he bought
this majority and began to manage the
Herald its stock has never paid one cent
of dividend. On the contrary, the mi
nority stock has become worthless and
the minority stockholders have been re
formed" out of their property.
| In 1902 the trial balance of the Herald
& Globe association showed 1927, 300 of
notes payable. In order to balance its
statement of assets and liabilities there
then had to be included in its assets
among other things 0,562.72 for good
will-that is, its reputation1-and s., $685.
So for the Woodbury. libel suit. The first,
of course, is not tangible property, and
the second is not property at all but
simply represented money spent in de-
Tending a suit brought against it for
libeling a worthy and reputable man,
From Mr.. Clements standpoint the
Herald is successful enterprise. He
has been reforming it now for some
eighteen years. He has created debt
against the corporation which four years
ago amounted to over 1927, 900 and had
been growing for several years. He con-
bank and can wipe out the corporation
when he chooses. He has succeeded
in wiping out the Observation-Disclosures
of the stock and rendering it worth
less.
And yet the Herald has done a great
business. AT the present time it is
sending out its papers by tons, and
literally flooding the state in a wild eff
fort to advance Mr.. Clements governor
ship campaign. If Mr.. Clement really
has such horror of graft" that he
is paying for these papers, the income
from such papers ought to put the
Herald and Globe association on its feet
again. But eighteen years of history
shows that the more Mr.. Clement has
dealt with the Herald the deeper in the
ground he has buried the property in.
terests of his associate stockholders. Mr.
Clements painstaking care of their in.
terests illustrates his deep aversion tc
graft and his strong attachment tc
''a fair deal"
While Mr.. Clement, owning sixteen
thirtieths of the Rutland Herald treats
the whole as his private property to
DO with as he chooses, his associates
owning fourteenthirtieths are so ignored
that when few years ago one of them
owning $4,000 of the stock asked to be
put on its subscription list and to have
a bill for it sent him he was Informed
by letter that if he wanted the paper
he would have to pay in advance.
Clement is now seeking to get con
troll of the majority of the stock of the
state of Vermont. He is willing to pay
a premium, very large premium, tc
acquire majority of that stock. Il
the record of his trusteeship of thu
Herald & Globe association such thai
the voters of this state desire to Civ,
him the chance to exploit the state o.
Vermont for the next two years ?-Rut
land News