The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1922-05-11

/
| fees to, attend these lectures and tc
obtain the book, called Danger Sig
! nails, which Mr.. Seyler had published
at the outset of the stock selling cam
paign.
One passage reads, GAS was stated
in the lecture, we. have securities to
offer that will stand the acid test
however applied, These securities are
positively free from all danger sig
nails"
Gone of the best evidences of the
soundness of our securities is the fact
that under our policy of management
no company that we finance is per-
mitted, under its bylaws, to issue
stock in excess of it's policy to pay
dividends at the rate of II per cent per
annum from net earnings, based upon
settled production"
Clifton Williams, former city attor.
ney, now personal attorney for Mr..
Seyler and for the Seyler company a ex-
planned the cause of all the trouble Fri
day.
Called Victim of Plot.
T "Mr. Seyler is absolutely honest and
his system of investments is correct"
he said. "He is the victim of plot
to GUST him and to throw discredit
upon him and to do away with the
Seyler Co. There are a number of
agencies trying to wreck the com
pany. The agencies are on the i'm
side and betraying Mr.. seyler
"The chief of the wrecking crew is
able to sway others in power. The re-
port of the directors is based on
truths, but only small part iof the
truth is told and no explanation of the
statements is contained. 1t is an eff
fort to prejudice the shareholders
against Mr.. Seyler and the company.
1t is manifestly unfair"
Mr.. Seyler stamped the report of
the board of directors as "cowardIy
and dastardly" He asked that his at
torney be interviewed, but said he was
willing to put all his cards on the
table and let anyone see just what
had been done with the money taken
| in from the sale of stock.
Dirtrict Attorneys Helped.
District Attorneys and men high in
state political circles were often boost
ers and as such actually statesmen for
the two oil companies which the Sey-
Ter fiscal company represented. 1t is
said that at least 16 district attorneys
in the state were Aeither boosters or
had large blocks of stock in the oil
companies.
One special train, known as the Sey-
Ter System special, took a group of
boosters to the properties in Okla
homa and Kansas. Reports were cir
culated that the trip cost $4,000.
Annual banquets were given. More
than 1000 dined and danced and lis
tened toNthe educational part of the
system in the Hotel Pfister in Janu-
airy. Picnics and social gatherings in
some communities frequently turned
into Seyler affairs. Chartered street
cars, bearing the banners of the rec
ognized financial wizard, frequently
carried groups into the country on
tours.
were OFSHulZeu W ell mere.
The Seyler System was organized in
Kenosha in the same way as in many
other cities of the state. A system
of lectures was started here and the
men who were invited by the original
boosters to attend the lecture course
for 800 were also~made boosters. AS
soon as man was qualified booster
he was made salesman and a per-
nit to sell obtained from the railroad
commission at Madison.
Boosters Sell Stock.
The boosters sold stock in the Ell
bucan and the M. T. C. Oil and Gas
companies. The money from the edu-
cational enterprise was invested, in
these stocks and Mr.. Seyler made a
director in both companies.
Men who were prominent in the va
rious communities were made boosters
and every thing was done in good
| faith. The boosters who were allowed
to sell stock in the two companies and
were given large commission on each
sale had perfect confidence in the oil
and gas companies.
| In every case IL per cent year was
promised the purchasers of the stock
and the dividends were. paid annually
No dividend payment was missed until
March, 1922, when an audit was ordered
by. the blue sky committee of the rail
road commission. Directors of the
companies were then involved in q
wrangle and the dividend payment
| stopped
Acted as Advisors.
While the boosters were authorized
as statesmen by the Wisconsin laws
they did not appear in their communi-
ties as statesmen, but simply acted as
advisors in financial matters to the
! people of the community.
] The 5000 or more investors. in Wis
consin have purchased more than So
/ 100000 in stock in the two oil com
panies through the efforts of the
/ boosters.
i One day last November in London,
100000 pieces of SCOT were found in
each cubic foot of air and the diane
ter of each piece was one of twenty
five thousandths of an inch
!
I