The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-03-18
American Naval Stores
Co. Announces Suspen-
sion of Business.
FEDERAL SUITS
DESTROY CREDIT
Secretary De Loach Says Action
Is Result of "Insensate Crusade
Against Big Business of
Country"-Assets $4,000
600 More Than Liabilities,
and No One Will Lose.

Savannah. Ca March f7.--%ith as
sets said to exceed its Liabilities By Sd.
1000. the American Naval stores
Company day announced that ii has
suspended business. In u statement
given out by &. j. DcLoach. secretary
of the company, he asserts that the
fight the government has made upon
the company and its officers has prac
tically destroyed the company's credit.
and has made II wise 10 discontinue
operations.
\ meeting of tho creditors OF the
company has been called for Friday Of
ths week, at "A local hotel. The credi-
tors are mostly banks, numbering over
sixty. The loans OF the Savannah
banks are secured b. ample collateral.
il is believed by leading creditors
that means will hc devised by which
carried on without loss of more than
few days.
Come. without Warning.
News that the company would sus
pend came without forewarninG,
there had not been an intimation in the
trade that such a course was impend-
ing.
A meeting OF tho Savannah bankers
interested in the affairs OF the COM
pany WAS held here tonight. and the
situation was carefully canvasscd. AZ
forward. IL was stated that all OF tho
loans We're fully secured, as explained
In tho statement issued by Secretary
DcLoaI;h in part aS follows:
The American Naval stores Company
has been forced to suspend The COM
panr has not lost a dollar. and it's as
sets. at conservative present values.
exceed it's liabilities by about $4,000
on0, but the credit OF the company has
slowly becom contracted. due almost
entirely To the persistent snd continu-
ci assaults made upon the construc-
"a ira ~ tI.l al ,,f i,n
corporation by the government in its
suits under the antitrust laws.
with tiSo of its executive officers
now awaiting tho final determination
of their case by the United States Su-
Dremc Court, and the government
pressing civil suit for the dissolution
OF the company, and the destruction OF
its business "a business which IL has
taken thirty years OF intelligent work
tn construct, and which has opened up
to the producers of naval stores the
markets OF the world). ii goes without
saying that the company is in no posi-
ton to solicit new capital, and must
depend entirely upon its present re-
sources. These resources. although
large and valuable, with the company's
credit contracted. and with the market
ing of the new crop of naval stores al
most at hand. are insufficient TO meet
It's financial requirements. This situa-
ton has recently become still more
l.
nancial stringency throughout the en-
tire world, thus closing to us almost
at the last moment avenues for relief
which ordinarily would have been at
our disposal.
The loans of the American, with its
seven or eight Savannah banks have
always been. and are now. secured by
ample collateral, which is we'll mar
Rined, and no one bank has any excess
SiVe amount of paper. There is. there
fore, no possibility of any loss Our
largest Indebtedness is in New Yorl;
and the East.
An "Insensatc Crusade.-
The American and the Naval Stores
INDUSTRY are among the first victims
of an insensnte crusade against the big
businesses OF the country.
rms is the only statement that will
be made by the company until after the
meeting of lis creditors"
The company's assets consist large
~ Of immense stocks of naval stores at
various points in this country and
abroad. The company engages eyclu-
siNely in selling and exporting naval
stores.
Both on the civil and criminal side
of the United States Court tho Amer
,can Naval Stores Company. OF its Off
GERS now has interests waiting to he
ndiudicated.
In Washington before the United
states Supreme CoNrt, Judge Samuel
=. Adams tomorrow will argue an
appeal from the lower courts decision
In the case, where two of the officers
of the American Naval stores Com
pany were sentenced to Jail for six
months and fined $4,000 each for viola
uon of the Sherman antitrust law
rho civil case, which was filed last
summer, seeks to dissolve the Amer
lean Naval Stores Company on the
theory that it is q trust" This case
was filed here and later was trans
fcrrcd so as to be heard by Judge
pardee in Atlanta. Only recently the
defendants answer was filed in this
cause.
In its answer. filed in the United
reiterated the claim it has often made
that it had not done anything con
trary to the laws of the nation
The suspension OF operations and
the liquidation of the companys assets
will, 1t is asserted. make it unneces-
sary for the government to press this
cause further.
Tho American Naval Stores Com
pany was chartered December ], 1906.
Merged into this corporation were the
interests of several naval stores con
Germs, namely, the S. p. Shotter Com
pany, the Patterson Downing Company
and the Antwerp Naval Stores Com
pany. The company is now capitalized
at $3,000,000 Its chief officers are 8.
l.. Shotter, chairman of the board of
directors; q. II. Nash,. president; j. f.
G. Myers. vice president, nnd c. j.
DeL.oach, secretary.
This concern ranks as one OF the
most potent and influential corpora
tons in the United States.
Case Gomez lin To-Yax