The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1917-04-30

iii ) iiEtilN IttS 1F'tENi'tl ~ ''ts-
preme Court oil United States.
Wilmington. Del. April 29.-All
Delaware is awaiting impatiently the
final outcome of the DUPONT litsa-
ton in which Alfred /. dupont. who
had been looked upon as the leader
of the minority faction OF this noted
family, won conclusiVely in the first
and probably the biggest battle
Probably no law case in years has
attracted so general and 50 personal
an interest in the Eastern States as
this, but here in Delaware the strug-
gle is more than 4 matter of inter-
est. it is one in which hundreds and
thousands Of men and women have
direct and acute individual concern.
In a large measure. the DUPONT
family is the State of Delaware, and
it's well-being or its suffering, Its
pride or its chagrin, its peace or It's
strife affects every Delawarean. The
family not only owns the greatest in
dustrial enterprise of the State, but
it practically dominates the politics,
through the Republican party, with
which it is identified and which is
the majority party, and TO some eX-
tent through the Democratic party.
in the councils of which it has GER
tain factors; it controls great bank
ing institutions, with all their power
to make or break men; it Is supreme
in the social life; it is potent in the
churches; it colors the tone OF phil
anthropy; it comes very near being
the heart of organized life in Della
ware.
Naturally. the bitter fight of the
last three years between the faction
led by Alfred I. dupont. and that led
by Pierre S. DUPONT, generally re-
garded before the recent decision in
favor of the former as the majority
faction, has kept the State throb-
bling. There is nothing comparable
to this controversy in the annals OF
this country. For 100 years the
: family had been close-knit, almost
feudal in its unity. Producing in ev-
cry generation men of brains, it had
a sort of unwritten law that the eld-
est male should become family
chieftain by virtue of going TO the
head of the great DUPONT enterprise.
That unwritten law prevailed in let
ter and spirit until about two years
ago, and then collapsed. under a
struggle in which brains and. millions
clashed, with out thought of quar-
ter
In the fall of 1914, Just before the
outbreak of open hostilities, there
were three leaders of the family, all
cousins-Gen. T. Coleman dupont
who was a president of the powder
company Che was a candidate last
year for the Republican nomination
for President): Alfred I. DUPONT ,ano
Pierre S. DUPONT, who were vice
presidents of the company. All are
men of real brains Each was and
is very rich. Each had great hold
-ings in the DUPONT Company- Cole
man being the largest sfocKh0Tder
Alfred the next largest. and Pierre
the next.
Some time during that fall, Cole
man suggested that he sell 20,70(
shares of his common stock, earning
per cent, to the company, to be re
sold by the company to important of
ficials of the company for the pur
pose of stimulating their interest IL
it's business. That led to the Difficult
ties, which resulted in open hostili
ties between Alfred and his faction
of the family and Pierre and his, ant
to the indescribably bitter litigation
between them. For the upshot o.
>Coleman's offer was that Pierre ano
his associates obtained all of Cole
mans holding s-the largest in the
company at approximately S13,
100000. and found within few
months that they had a profit of for
ty-odd millions, the value of Cole
mans interest increasing to 50-odt
millions because of the company:
immense war profits; whereupon AL
fred went into court to compel Pier
ne and his associates to turn these
tremendously valuable holdings into
the dupont Company, SO that all o.
the stockholders would share il
them.
= 1t is out of the question TO at
tempt consideration of the numerous
phases of the litigation or to de
scribe the steps in the negotiations
prior to the institution of the suit b!
Alfred's faction against Pierre's, Oh
to recount the various financial
movements within the company
which were studied in the litigation
such as the reorganization of the ole
dupont Company, known as the E.
duPont-de Nemours Powder Com
pany, into E. l. duPont-de Nemours
& Co, with the consequent distribu
ton of vast stock dividend, anC
the organization by Pierre and his
associates of the DUPONT Securities
Company as a holding concern fol
the stock they purchased from Cole
man. Five thick volumes of records
and briefs contain these matters as
developed in the proceedings in the
court
1t will suffice to say that Coleman's
offer to sell the company 10000
shares of his common stock, to be
resold to officials, was considered al
a meeting of the finance committee
held on December 20, 1914 The
members of the finance committee
present were Alfred, Pierre and Will
liam dupont, the latter of whom be-
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