The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-07-05
/. G. s. HEAD INSISTS
CONCERNS WILL PAY
Expects Fat Dividends From
S125.O0O.OOO Companies
He Has Fathered.
ALASKA FOSTER EXPLAINS DEALS
Scranton Man Denies Getting
Promotion Fees or Big
Salaries.

SCRANTON. Pa. July IT J. Foster. |
the man who spread the correspondence
method OF education all over the globe,
is an optimis. He proved that TO-DAY
when he admitted that he ha;
fathered corporations having par
value OF almost si25,oooo 900 and that
on.; one Of them Is paying even small
dividend. yet he believes that in time
all will be fiourishing companies. paying
Fat dividends. That Is. unless mora
things 20 wrong, as they have since the
war started In Europe.
Mr.. Foster. short. rotund. white
haired. with gold trimmed spectacles. has
sprung into the l!melight in the las.
week because the International ext
book Company. sl0.000,o0o concern
that controlled the International Cor
respondence Schools. was compelled 20
suspend its az per cent. quarterly divi-
dend and ask loan OF at least 100000
to tide II over. He built UP the company
from a small beginning and the company
was able TO maintain It's big dividend
for years and to give stock to its stock
holders
Management Accused.
with the passing OF the dividend came
charges that the management had not
only been extravagant but that the
textbook company. with its 100000 stu
dents and LIS system OF agents through
out the country. had been used to sell
stock in various Industrial, mining. lum-
ber. agricultural and poultry companies;
that these companies had little real
value and never would amount TO any
thing.
With THE Sun reporter Mr.. Foster
spent many hours to-day going over in
detail the history Of the financial affairs
not only Of the textbook company and the
concerns that grew naturally out o: that
educa tional enterprise bu, also the many
other companies Into which he had put
money and to which he had given part
ot his time.
He admitted that tho par value OF
the educational And the various other
concerns might total Sl25.ooO. 900. but
he denied emphatically that he ever had
received one share OF stock or one lond
for promotion purposes. In fact, he
declined to speak OF himself as a pro-
moter. insisting he was an inventor who
had given his time for nothing to .he
various speculative companies with the
aim OF making them profitable.
R3S,OOO,OOO Invested.
Bankers here have asserted that prob
ably between 335.oo0.o0o and 100000
900 had been poured into the corpora
tions Of which Mr.. Foster was the DOM
mating figure. there being at least 5000
stockholders Of the International Text
book Company. 1t has been asserted
that the majority OF the investors in
the various Foster companies were stu
dents Of the correspondence schools. Mr.,
Foster insisted that II was not right to
Judge the companies by the total par
value Of their stock and bonds. saying
that the common stock was given as a
bonus to purchasers Of preferred stock
or bonds SO that the investors might
gain reward for their risk in the enter
prises.
| Mr.. Foster divides his financial oper-
atoms into two parts. namely. the COM
! panies dealing with the correspondence
work and the mining and industrial
companies. which. he says. he kept dis
tinct from his educational work.
| Until this year the International Text
book Company. controlling the corre-
spondence system In the United States
and Canada. and the International Edu-
cational Publishing Company. capital
lied at 320.000,0 900, handling the same
work in foreign countries, have been re-
garded as highly successful.
The Textbook stock has sold at sl45
a share, the 6 per cent cumulative pre-
ferred /. f. r. $50 stock. selling at S55
a share.
Owns Only 1000 shares.
Despite the fact that Mr.. Foster origi-
mated the system OF teaching by mail
and developed the Textbook Company
| from an original capital OF 100000 ia
$40, 900 900. he said to-day that he
never owned more than 1000 shares OF
the Textbook Company stock.
II have that much to-day" he said
II received 333 shares at the original
incorporation OF the company, repre-
senting ten years work. got perhaps
$50 more shares as stock dividends. All
the rest OF the stock l bought at the
same price as other persons bought at
II never got one share Of stock for
promotion In this or any other compan,
In which l am interested. When we
needed more capital to increase ouI
educational work We sold the stock, al
lowing Is per cent, for the commission
OF the selling agency,
1T was back in 1906" continued Mr.
Foster. that we probably had 25C
stockholders, the stock being held b,
mining operators. ! decided that NOR,
money was needed to increase the eff
cheney of our work. ! built up a sale.
agency to OFFER the stock Of the text
book Company to students. The stool