Evening journal., 1917-04-13


In that proposition ! stated the stock
would 90 TO $4,000 early in 1915. Hav-
ing made up my mind that it was wise
10 get the young men of the company
interested, l took the question up with
Pierre, who agreed with me that it was
a good thing for the younger men of
the company, and, therefore, good
thing for the company. Pierre told me
that you too had agreed it was a good
thing. That it was a good thing, sub
sequent events have proven.
A few days after my operation, Pierre
advised me there was some nisunder-
standing in regard to this proposition
and that you were not prepared to ac-
cept it, while ! had fully understood be-
fore leaving Wilmington that you would
accept it,
l Immediately wired Pierre to with
draw the proposition, unless he was, in
some way. committed
In the third paragraph of your letter
you say, The one point on which there
seemed 60 be difference of opinion was
the question of price
If YOU will have the date of my prop
Osition to the Finance Committee looked
up, you will find that the then accepted
orders, and the money in our hands, was
NhiAiAfilA W liAAhN the NlOtk nave a N0nk
value beyond the price at which I offered
IL, and the earnings by reason of the
accepted orders, would make the 6 | ,
per cent you mention in your letter,
look like a drink of water
On the second page of your letter, you
say i believe it an excellent time to
make an offer of this character TO the
employees at as low a figure. etc
To guide me. won't you please advise
how much of your common stock you
are willing to let 90 at this time to
the important employees, at prices sug-
gested by you, 1928 per share. Proba-
bly, ! can Join with you in an offer.
The position that you take, that it is
wiser to buy outstanding stock than
to issue new stock, is, / think, correct
one.
am really sorry. but, to he perfectly
frank with you, ] cannot understand the
purpose of your letter to me.
Yours sincerely.
Coleman DUPONT
Meanwhile, on February 18TH or 18th,
Mr. Durham, Coleman duPont's agent,
called upon Pierre and stated to him
that he had authority to sell 10000 to
q 10000 shares of Coleman's stock. The
d terms of the offer made through Dun
MUM NfiN apparently AAf same as LNOeH
contained in Coleman's letter of the
18th. Upon that point Pierre testifcs
My recollection of the letter is that
81 he stated he was still firmly of the opin-
p ion that it was a good thing for the
s company for the principal men of the
7 company TO be owners of considerable
3 amount of stock and for that purpose he
q was willing to SELL ] think twenty
thousand to forty thousand shares That
was exactly what Durham had stated tc
l me-"
+ He further testifes that Durham was
$ asked whether, if II. G. DUPONT sold q
d large amount, say forty thousand shares
he would be willing to pool the voting
T power with whoever bought the stock
n lie said he didn't know, but that h,
would communicate with T. c. DUPONT.
At directors meeting on March 10
1918, Mr.. Connable, one of the directors
asked the question:
l. AS | understand this stock was Of
y fered by Mr. T. G. dupont for sale. /
% was offered on the general market. Thi
II syndicate knew of thatfact and did no
id want to see the stock get into the hand
Pr of outsiders. They organized a group {
z acquire to stock. Is that correcti"
N Pierre replied:
4 "Not exactly. ! did not know that tn
stock was actually offered to anybody. I
n was not offered to the syndicate. Tn
Sc syndicate made a bid for it,"
I'd II is found as fact that Coleman
nc offer to sell was general offer to sci
m to any one who would buy and tina
s, Pierre so understood it.
G. On February 18th having Coleman
letter of the 18th and Dunham's verba
n offer, Pierre showed tho letter to John .
ne Raskob, the Treasurer OF the Compan,
| and one of its directors. Later on Pierrl
We Raskob, lrenne and Lammot duPon
~ Pierre's brothers, r. r. NJ Carpente
r. Pierrc's brotherin-law, all directors
ed the Company, had one or more confer
X ences, at one of which A. Felix duPor
d. was present, the result of which was
BY decision that the six mentioned woul
e endeavor to purchase substantial bloc
81 of Coleman's stock. Durham sent a tell
IT. gram to Coleman on the 18th as 70
"a lows:
MT "Wire me II you would he willing
as sell 10000 shares and pool balance I,
ais voting purposes. Another proposition
in would you be willing to sell entire hol,
IT. ings; both cash?
of az. L. Durham"
Durham reported to Pierre that Col
ID man replied that he would sell all
be his holdings, but would not pool an
in part OF them with those who purchas,
ih a part, unless he knew the condition
lot IF the pooling agreement.
his As result of the conference. Rask,
for was sent to New York and called up,
nd Mr.. Porter, representative of j. p. Mo
ne. gan Company at his office and endea
Ike ored TO make arrangements with hi
yes Tor loan to enable Pierre and his a
it'll sociates TO purchase all of Coleman
lat stock. AT that time Morgan g. Cor
re- pany were the financial agents for [
di- allied nations at war. Through the
lite the Powder Company was transacti
hat its business in the sale of munitions
ock war and carried a large deposit wi
be them. RaskOb stated 10 Mr. Porter IN
Ter, he and his associates contemplated bu
for ing all the shares of Coleman's sto,
including 1880 odd shares of PREFER
rou and $1,000 odd shares of common
tie about $500 per share for the common q
ont that they would like to borrow the d
ion ference between approximately Sl4OO
for 600, the total purchase price. and I
lin amount that Coleman would take as
inn ferred payment upon a note to be civ
ing TO him. He proposed giving as collate
the for the amount of the note which IN
would sell in New York to j. p. Moro
& Company all the preferred stock ID
chased from Coleman and an amount
nj !" common stock which would margin
was loan down to so per cent. Mr.. Port
,rre after discussion OF the proposition,