Grand Forks herald., 1922-06-20
FACTS ABOUT EQUITY MORTGAGE D
SHOW LEAGUE PROPAGANDA TO
BE WITHOUT ANY FOUNDATION
A. G. Divet Point. Out Thai
Land Is Worth Much
Than Amount OF -
Made With The Pes
Money, Which Must
Protected; Site OF Pla
Not Involved In Tran
tion. d

\ Fargo. N. D.. June 20-Fulls Es
ments have been issued by Gov
r. A. Nestos. Attorney General sSS
o]orn johnson and A. G. Divet,a
ciai attorney for the Bank of WI
Dakota in regard to the possible e:3 -
closure of mortgage held ~ as'
Bank of North Dakota againS< $b1$
acres Of land Of the Equity PanES
Co. ssssf
An effort has been made by Is,srM
Reichert. receiver of the paxikHfSl
company, and the league pre-
make 1t appear that the packing co x3g
pany stockholders are being 'robbe1ss ssss
by the Bank of North Dakota. ~
statements issued, especially that W.
Mr. Divet, effectually disposes Of tlGxss
claim.
In the first place it is pointed n n
that the land covered by the m6FfAS
gage is not that on which the PACKING
plant itself stands but tract in%xhSs
vicinity of the plant. sss
The value of this land MI. sDaV4EE
estlma ates Is not more than S16,NDD.N
while the amount owed the bank iss
already more than $50, 900 and stGAA-
lly increasing. asSSE
1t may not be necessary to- f0ra-s
close the mortgage. Foreciosurepros
ceedings will take at least 8 n0tl( hS
however. SO it was necessary to aeex~s
office at this time in order to pr0keetF
the interests of the state Of GSth
Dakota whose money is involvS ~ sss q "
Mr.. Divet's statement which kssss
t9s atiu1l.. fettfy clear is 14 fNsg
lows: s.ss,-s 5
Under ordinary circumsta Noes sI \
would refuse to discuss with repre-
sentative of the press a business nlat-s
ter. But as a purely business traaAas-&
tion has been sought to be given POI
'litical significance and the businesss
involved concerns the public, IwilfS
state the situation as it is.
There is mo political signifcanGHF i
whatever to the attem pied collectiana
by the Bank of North Dakota of3thess
Indebtedness owing to it from tilea
packing company. If politics was to-
be considered at all l am sufficientlys
familiar with the situation to undeE.
stand that it would be poor politir4S
to have agitated the matter at th14
time. ssss|!
About two weeks ago my firm WaA4
employed by the manager ofathA&
bank to ascertain what was necaSsa42X
to be done to protect it from the AdaMS&
ger of large losses in addition to loss-
es that had already occurred in con-
nection with this indebtedness and
was given instructions to take what
ever steps seemed necessary to safe
guard the moneys of the state in that
regard The employment was entered
upon exactly as it would have been
for any individual or private bank.
Facts About the Loan. I'm
The banks mortgage amounting
to over thirty thousand dollars now
does not cover the packing plant, but
the tract of farm land lying near It.
This land is not in my judgment
worth over sixteen thousand dollars.
The entire property of the company
was sold for taxes of 1920. the taxes
of 1921 have been paid by the pur-a
chasers at the tax sales and added to-
the amount necessary to redeem the
personal property of the company.
These taxes amount now to about
ten thousand dollars OF these taxes
only about five hundred dollars would
be the amount that should stand
against the land covered by the mort
gage. but the tract of about twenty
acres on which the packizn plant