The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1906-10-12
FAILURE OF cEEALLOS e CO, Ex-
PECTED TO DELAY DEVEL.
OPMENT OF ISLAND.
)EfAulTeR A FRIEND OF GOMEZ
STOLEN FUNDS MAY HAVE BEEN
USED TO PROMOTE THE RE-
CENT REBELLION.

failure of j. NJ Ceballos & Co., with
liabilities of from $3,O00000 to $4,000
900. was great surprise to the bank
ing and commission houses In the
financial district, where the head of
the house was regarded as the most
aggressive merchant and banker In the
Cuban-American trade.
Ceballos & Co. spread their vast en-
terprises over the West Indies, South
America and as far as Spain. Silveira
& Co., OF which Manuel Silveira,
whose alleged defalcation of s1,00O.0o0
caused the failure. has been for many
years their agent In the Latin-Amer-
ican countries.
Silveira & Co. were bankers and
merchants in Havana and the firm
was considered bulwark of financial
responsibility. The two firms were in
the van Of the big developing COM
panies on which Cuba relied for her
future prosperity.
Juan M. Ceballos. the head of Ce-
ballos & Co.. has been for years prom
ineutly identified with many interna-
tional enterprises. He has had few
Wall street connections and his house
was regarded as not SO much Wall
street concern as a promoter Of Latin
American enterprises. The effect Of
the assignment on local firms Is prob
lematical.
Blow to Cuban Development.
The failure is considered certain to
have damaging effect upon business
In Cuba. Among other things 1t means
the abandonment of comprehensive
Cuban railroad scheme. which contem-
plated the construction Of an entire
new railroad system reaching all the
Ceballos properties and covering all
that large part of the island now with
inadequate transportation facilities.
Manuel Silveira's firm has had an
excellent standing In Cuba. The firm
is one Of merchant bankers" the bus
iness consisting Of handling merchan-
disc of various sorts instead of secur-
tiles. like American banking houses.
The firm Is the largest importer of
cattle into Cuba, bringing In cattle
from Venezuela, Texas and Colombia,
and 1t was on one of his cattle boats,
a craft Of 1000 tons burden, that Sill
veira, with his family, left Havana on
Oct. 3. One Of his speculations, in
which Mr.. Ceballos is said to have
been associated with him. was the pur-
chase after the war which freed Cuba
from Spanish control of a large mass
Of soldiers warrants, which he got for
little money. but which subsequently
were redeemed at par and per cent
interest He cleared large sum by
this operation.
Large Sums OF Cash on Hand.
As the financial agent of Ceballos &
Co. Silveira's Arm handled money in
bulk and often had on hand an excess
consisting OF more than a million dol
lars Ceballos g. Co. were the business
agents for many New York firms and
individuals interested In Cuban pro-
jects and In this business handled
large sums of money for their GUS
toners.
At the Hotel America, where Gu
bans and Spaniards make their home,
the opinion among all who would ex-
press their sentiments was that the
expected had happened They said
that Silveira had employed Jose Mig
uel Gomez, the Liberal candidate for
president, whose defeat by Palma had
brought on the recent revolution, as
general administrator of vast sugar
plantation In the province of Puerto
Principe
And the way they spent money on
that plantation" said one, was amaz-
ing. They spent many thousands of
dollars just as II they were building a
palace"
The suggestion was made that Sill
veira might have lost lot of money
In promoting the recent revolution.
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