The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-04-19
Control of Du Point Powder Company
At Stake In Greatest Private Lawsuit
Property Is Valued At $500, O00, 900

than $4,000 men and women are on
1.-THE eompany's payrolls.
Melons of such huge size have
been cut that they have made ordin-
airy distributions of gains even by war
brides seem petty.
Plans have been perfected whereby,
even if the war ends and the demand
for explosives is greatly curtailed, the
manufacture of the implements of
peace will be carried forward on such
a huge scale that the profits will not
be appreciably diminished.
| So much for the size of the stake.
Now for the developments that led
up to the strife for it. They are re-
| lated in the proceedings which Federal
Judge Thompson had before him for
a month and they are substantially
as follows
Retirement of the General.
| Gen. T. Coleman du Pont, who as
president of the concern guided it
through period of prosperity, re-
solved to retire from powder making.
He notified his cousins Pierre and AL
fred /. of his intention. Both of them
aspired to the control of the COM
pany through the Coleman du Pont
stock, but neither was willing to let
the other have it, So securities
company was formed and the deal
went through. Pierre du Pont became
president and Alfred l. vice president
Once out of the company Gen. du
Points interest was drawn to other
affairs. He conceived the vision of
erecting a great office building which
should be a marvel of it's kind. Fur
thermore he wanted to be president
of the United States on the platform
of "a business candidate"
To crafty the two ambitions he
needed a lot of money, so he APP
preached Pierre du Pont and made an
offer to sell 10000 shares of common
stock at $3.50 share. Alfred l. du
pont and William du Pont showed
their hands and their hatred at this
juncture and as members of the fin
apce committee blocked the deal,
contending that the stock was paying
only s per cent and was not worth
more than 1925 share.
Just about this time the war orders
began to pour in. Pierre du Pont and
John j. Raskob, treasurer of the
company, saw what a gold mine the
du Pont property was going to become
and they determined to get that stock
of the Generals if it was still in the
market. 1t was, but the owner, too,
had observed the growth of the du
Pont war business and had raised his
price to 5000 a share He asked that
for his common Stock and agreed to
dispose of 1894 shares as we'll as
1889 shares of preferred.
The Fight Begins.
TO swing a deal of this magnitude
more than $13,O00,0O0 was needed.
Pierre du Pont and Raskob didn't
have that sum but they We're willing
to take a chance, so they went to j.
p. Morgan & Co. and borrowed it.
They got $S,000,O00 in cash and gave
notes for the rest to Gen. du Pont,
who went ahead and put up his mag
nificent building-the Equitable-and
who had enough left over to buy con-
troll of the Equitable Life Assurance
Society. He did not, however, win
out as a presidential candidate but
that is another story.
No sooner had the stock passed to
its new owners than the real magni-
tude of the war business the company
would get became evident and instead
of a gold mine they had a diamond
mine and ruby mine and pearl
mine all in one. The price of the
shares went to hitherto undreamed of
heights and in short time the pro-
fits of Pierre du Pont and Raskob on
their deal with Gen. du Pont alone
had mounted to $56,OO0,0O0 If the
General had any particular feelings
over the loss of that huge sum which
would have been his had he held his
never expressed them, but hid them
like a soldier and a philosopher
Pierre du .Pont and Raskob within
a short time We're not only able to
take up the notes given to the Gener-
al but they also paid Morgan & Co.
every cent of the $S,OO0,0OO which had
been borrowed in cash. Just about at
this period the real trouble began.
Instigated by Alfred l. du Pont,
Philip du Pont, his cousin, brought
suit to have the stock bought from
the General turned over to the COM
pany for the benefit of all stockhold-
ers. Francis, William and then Alfred
Gu Pont finally joined Philip in the
suit and almost Immediately they
We're politely invited to resign their
positions in the company. They did.
Later another polite invitation came
to them to get off the board of d.
rectors for control Of which they had
been fighting in the meantime.