The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1921-03-24
Office furniture & fixtures
7O5.75
$4,000.

Total ---------$2O,251.34
Sacks on hand ------ 4,086.58
We call especial attention to this
famous item; The statement of the
expenditures of the mill show that
bags have been purchased to the
amount of ~$26,719.81, since the null
began operating. It will be recalled
that during the primary campaign,
several of the I. v. A. speakers, and
especially Karl Kositzky and Tom
Hall, were busy retailing the story OF
the 4 or S bales Of sacks which they
had found in the mill and for which
the management had paid the sum Of
$4,000. According to the Bishop,
Brissman audit some Of those sacks
are still there. The inventory Of 49,
O86.58 is itemized as follows as to the
kind and number Of bags on hand:
Flour sacks, cotton ----------2O,33O
Bran sacks, jute ------------- 4,264
Rye sacks, etc. cotton ------- 5,674
The statment Of the expenditures
shows that wheat had been purchased
during the period Of operation to the
amount of $4O7,532.59. Of this amount
84,S5O bushels had been bought in car
load lots and 63,766 bushels had been
bought locally. Dockage had been
paid for to the value of $2,571.80 in
the amount of 1922 tons. The lowest
price paid for dockage was So and the
highest $40 per ton.
Other expenditures were for pay
roll, $21,O81. O2. Plant and equipment
$29,439.97.
No Loss on Co~nsignments
Much has been made of the fact
that the mill has marketed flour on
consignments rather than by cash
sales. No noise would have been made
about this were it not for the fact that
some of these consignments had gone
out to the Consumers Stores Co. and
other cooperative mercantile enterpris
es and an attempt was made to create
the impression that these consign-
ments would show a loss According
to the Bishop, Brissman report the
Consumers Stores Co. has received, on
consignment, in it's 80 stores in var
ious parts of the state, merchandise
to the amount of $129, 004.52. Of this
sum $95, 8O3.22 had been paid at the
time of the audit, leaving a balance
due of $33,201.3O. Other mercantile
enterprises had received, on consign-
ment, merchandise to the value Of
$41, 802. 80, of which amount $21,287.07
had been paid, leaving a balance due
of $20,515.8S. Relatively, therefore,
the Consumers Stores Co. was averag-
ing fairly we'll in meeting it's obi
cations to the mill and there is no ap-
parent reason to fear loss from this
source. "
No Balance Sheet
Another defect in the Bishop, Briss-
man report is the fact that it con-
tains no operating statement or bal
ance sheet showing a profit Or loss
account of the mill for the period of
operation. Were the Fargo Forum and
other agents for the dissemination Of
misinformation for misguiding the
public, dependent on this report alone,
we would have no information as to
whether the Drake mill shows a prof
it or loss in operation. The statement
as to a loss of $17,668.32 at the mill,
comes from the Industrial Commits
sion and resulted mostly from failure
to hedge purchases and sales at the
proper time.
To this sum Herbert Temple, of the
auditing firm of Temple, Webb and
Co., st. Paul, attempted to add the
sum of $15,088.09 expense of main
tanning the Fargo office Of the Mill
and Elevator association, thus show
ing a total loss at the Drake mill of
$32,756.40. If this statement is accept
ed as correct then it must also be ad-
mitted that the Fargo office has been
maintained only for the benefit of the
Drake mill and for no other enter
prise Of the mill association; the ex-
pense of Investigating and appraising
other mill sites and properties must
also be charged to the Drake mill;
all of the costs incident to the Grand
Forks project must also be charged to
the Drake mill; and all of Mr.. Meow
ems time and expenses were charged
to the Drake mill alone.
Plausible Liars Figure
No unprecedented person would in
sist on such misleading conclusions.
But the House Investigating commit
tee was not composed of unprejudiced
persons. That is why they brought in
the man Temple who had no connec-
ton either with the Bishop, Brissman
Audit or the Equitable Auditing Com
pany's audit but was brought in sole
ly because Of his ability to juggle. fig
ures and make them serve the purpose
of plausible liars. He became known
to Francis Murphy, the leading mind
Of the !. v. A. distortionists when
he was associated with him in prose-
cutting Mr.. Townley in the famous
bankruptcy case. So Of course it was
evident that his eminent services
could be fittingly used in the investi-
n.o&so- III naxcn u scnn orNb on6