Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-29

crete road will be lost to T. Coleman du
Pont.
In Kent County General du Font would
have to combat Allec IN the latter's strong
hold. Alice would flight him to stand
stil' according to the political sentiment
, expressed In that county. and in view Of
what occurred when Allec was defeated
by Harry Richardson this can readily be
believed.
This means that r. Coleman du Pont
would have to rely on New Castle county,
from whcih Colonel Henry \. du pOnt
comes. But even here. where his inhu-
enCe would be most powerful he would
undoubtedly have the bitter opposition Of
salisbury.
There IL no doub, ,rat T. Coleman du
Pont could command almost Iimttlcss
sums Of money with which to carry out
a campaign on tremendous scale lie
Is reputcd to be sole owner Of the Equt-
able Life Assurance Society. which has
assets Of more than half billion dol
lars. and also to he heavily Interested in
n number of New York and Philadelphia
banks and trust companies
Recent financial history shows that he
Is able to deal in large figures with the
leaders of the banking world Transac-
tions between the house of Morgan, Pierre
S. du Pont and r. Coleman du Pont will
be aired in the so.called "du Pont suit
now pending Tho late j. =. Morgan not
only disposed Of his majority stock inter.
est in the Equitable Life Assurance Com.
pany to r. Coleman du POut. but the
house of Morgan toated the loan with
which Pierre s du Font and his "asso.
Ciates" were enabled to buy all of Y.
Coleman du Points holdings IN the T., !,
du Font de NemourS Powder Company.
THE EQUITABLE SALE.
The controlling interest of the Equitable
Life Assurance Society was bought BY
gan for $500 900. according TO reports
spread broadcast through newspapers and
reliable insurance journals. The par value
Of this stock ijl shares Is S5l000. Tn
der the charter granted by the state OF
New York to the Equitable Company the
maximum dividend that can he paid on its
stock is per cent Of the par value.
In other words. the return on the
shares owned by T.. Coleman du Pont is
about $500 per anuum. or interest at the
rate of one-tenth Of ! per cent. on his
investment of $SjO0,OO0
"You forget that he controls the com
pany," is the answer. Control Of such
an organization means that he has un-
told possibilities for manipulating the
various funds"
But T. Coleman du Pont does not con-
troll the Equitable Life Assurance Soci-
ETY., even though he owns 81 per cent. ot
its stock" say the wise ones. The policy
of the board of directors and the stock
holders only Is per cent
Again, the stock required by r. Cole
man du POnt Is held by three trustees who
vote it according to their best Judgment.
There is no possibility of the owner OF
such stock Juggling the company's finances
or debating where bank accounts shall
be placed. The laws of the State and Of
the various insurance departments in this
country require the annual publication of
all such data and also provide for inves'
tigation of these matters at any time by
the state officials"
Insurance men assert emphatlcally that
Mr.. du POut Is the owner of white ele-
phant" which he can only dispose of at
a loss.
Nevertheless the Equitable deal and the
sale of r. Coleman du Points powder stock
are so interviewer that they make an in
teresting chapter of heretofore unwritten
history. Henry i. Hyde founder of the
Equitable Life Assurance Company, left
control of the company to his son, James
II. Hyde The younger Hyde sold his in
terest to Thomas f. Ryan. who in turn,
sold to j. p. Morgan.
On January .. 1872, the Equitable Life
Building in New York burned As the
Stale laws had been changed so that no
insurance company could build to house
more than its own offices no skyscraper
could be erected on the valuable down
town lot owned by the society. Neither
was il practical 10 build small building
on property so costly.
r. Co enan du POnt, a director of the
company, probably wished TO be known
as one OF those who had helped in the
development OF upper New EOrlS-the
sFyscrapers. Al any rate he undertook
"a see that a suitable building was placed
on the site of the old building, All went
well until December 1914. when II was
needed to complete the Equitable Build
ing.
WHY DC PONT SOLD OUT
Whether or not this is true. r. Cole
man du Pont about that time offered to
sci! a large block OF his powder stock to
the H. !. du Pont de NemOurs Powder
Company, OF which he was president, In
his official capacity he knew this stock
was sure 70 Increase in value tremen-
dOusly, because of the muuition orders
placed with the powder company by the
warning nations of Europe
Vet r. Coleman du pont offered to sell /
AT $IG0 a share ana SS5 "A share for the
preferred and common stock respectively. +
He realized that within "A few months
these war brides would more than tre- /
BILE in value, but he was willing TO sell, /
nevertheless
Then Pierre $ du Pont and his II
Associates on the board Of directors of .
ARRANGEMENTS
to purchase this stock for $500 a share
and $50 a share, for the common and pre- I
ferred stock, respectively. II was the I
acquisition Of this stock which is pro-
tested I'm the suit brought against Pierre
s. du Pont and the other defendant dl- /
rectors of the powder company by Philip 4
+. du Pont, OF Merton, Pa.
At that time the market for du Pont /
Powder common stock was about Sl25 a /
share. In. other words, the public was
not wise as yet. 10 the boom that du /
Pont common was about to undergo. Z
There were Just two markets where T. /
Coleman du Pont could get more than the /
market quotation for his stoCk-the DOW /
der company and Pierre 5. du POnt And /
the latter was Offering 5000 a share!
General du Points offer to the powder
company had contained a stipulation of 1
payment 10 be made In 30 and 60 days l
Pierre 5. du Pont, It Is said, did not have |
that amount Of money available. At this 1
point according TO the story told in in /
suFance circles il was suggested that f.
Morgan might ioat a loan for the du
closed.
II Is generally supposed that Morgan
was approached and agreed 10 float the
loan provided T, Coleman du Pont would /.
take the sol.OOO Of Equitable Life Assur-
ance society stock from >iargan's hands /
Whether or not this was the case, the
record:
The loan Of SS5OoOOo 70 Pierre 3. du
Pont was hoated by Morgan
4, Coleman d. POnl bought 5l.0o0 sharsa