Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1919-01-16

livery Able Man, Your Husband, But
headstrong as the Deuce"
Wagstaff. / wouldn't want Bill to
think I, Or any Of us, was trying to
bring pressure on him. But the fact
is, Bills got a mistaken impression
about the way we're conducting the
financial end of this mining PROPOSE
ton. You understand? Very able
man, your husband, but headstrong as
the deuce. I'm afraid-to speak frank
ly-he'n create a lot of unpleasant
ness. Might disrupt the company, in
fact, If he sticks to the position he
took this morning. Thought I'd run in
and talk it owe with him. Fellows
generally in a good humor, you know,
home"
I'm quite in the dark" Hazel con
fessed. "Bill seemed a trifle put out
about something. He didn't say what
it was about"
"Shall l explain?" Mr.. Brooks sug-
gested. you'd understand-and you
might be able to help. don't as a rule
believe in bringing business into the
home, but this bothcrs me. / hate to
see a good thing go wrong"
Explain, by all mcunS," Hazel
promptly replied. eli l can help, I'll
be glad to-"
"Thank you" Mr.. Brooks polished
his glasses in~dustriously for Il second
and replaced them With p"inStuking
exactitudc. "Now-all--this is the sit
uation: When the company was
formed, five of us. including Your hus-
band, took up enough stock to finance
the preliminary work of the undertake
ing. The remaining stock, Seventy-fve
thousand dollars in amount, WAS left
in the treasury, to be held or put on
the market as the situation warranted.
With the first cleanup, Bill forward
ed facts and figures to show that we
had Il property far beyond our great
est expectations. And. of course, we
saw at once that the thing Was ridicu-
lousy undercapitaliZed.
$50 we held a meeting and author
lied the secretary to sell stock. Nat
urally, your husband wasn't cognizart
of this move, for the simple reason
that there was 40 way Of reaching
him-and his interests We're thorough
ly protected, anyway. The stock was
listed on Change. A good bit was dis.
,Socn1 of nJivafn1v NNn NOW ho,-n n
large fund in the treasury. It's a
cinch. We've got the property, and
it's rich enough to pay dividends on
q million. The decision of the stock.
holders is unanimously tor enlarge.
asent Of the capital stock. You under
stand? You follow me?"
Certainly" Hazel answered. "But
what is the difficulty, Bill?"
"Bill is opposed to the whole PLAN
he said, pursuing up his lips with evil
dent disarproval Of Bill Wagstaf and
all his works. "He seems to feel that
we should not have taken this step.
He declares that no more stock must
be sold that there must be no enlarge
ment Of capital. In fact, that we
must peg along in the little one-horse
way we started. And that would be
a shame. We could make the Free
Gold Mining company the biggest
thing on the map, and put ourselves
on Easy street."
He spread his hands in a gesture OF
real regret.
"Bill's a fine fellow" he said, "and
n of my best friends. But he's q
hard man to do business with. He
takes a very peculiar view Of the mat
ter. I'm afraid he'll queer the com
pany if he stirs up trouble over this
That's why I hope you'll use whatever
influence you have. to induce him tc
withdraw his opposition"
But Hazel murmured, in some per-
plexity, "from what little I know OF
corporations. I don't see how he can set
up any difficulty. How can he STOP
YOU from taking any line Of action
whatever?"
ooh, not that at ALL" Brooks hastily
assured. "Qf course, we can outvote
him, and put 1t through. But we want
him with us, don't you see? We've q
high opinion of his ability. He's the
sort Of man who gets results; prac'
tical, you know: knows mining to a T.
Only he SHES at our financial method
And IL he began any foolish litigation
or silly rumors got started abou,
trouble among the company officers, it's
bound to hurt the stock. It's all right
l assure you. We're not foisting q
wildcat on the market. We've got the
goods. Bill admits that. It's the reg
ular method, not only legitimate. but
good finance. Every dollars worth OF
stock sold has the value behind IT.
Distributes the risk n little morc, that's
all, and gives the company a fund to
operate successfully.
"If Bill mentions It, you might sug'