The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1928-07-14
Money King Heads
Drive to Elect AL


of the company. He made Raskob
treasurer.
Raskob continued in this job. In
1918 came a turn Of fortune that
was to be of.vast importance. The
General Motors corporation, then
more or less in it's infancy, was rec
commended to him by Z friend as a
good buy" Raskob looked into it
and agreed. He bought some stock
and persuaded Pierre du Pont to buy
more. Between them they got 5000
shares.
Two years passed. In 1915 came
the expiration Of voting trust un-
der which the corporation had been
operating, and bankers and stock
holders got together to reorganize.
Then a surprising thing happened.
It was found that the $4,000 shares
of stock represented at the meeting
were evenly divided among two op-
posing factions. The 5000 shares
held by Raskob and du Pont, all that
remained outstanding, was the bal
ance Of power.
Enter General Motors
Raskob and du Pont were notified.
They went to the meeting, and at
Raskob's suggestion reached . COM
promise whereby each Of the two
original factions was to name seven
men for the board Of directors with
Raskob and du Pont naming three.
Raskob became q director and du
Pont was elected chairman Of the
board.
Thus did Raskob and the du Points
enter General Motors.
After the war. they got in deeper.
Wartime prosperity had rolled up
an enormous surplus for the du
Pont de Nemours company. 1t had
to be invested somewhere. Raskob
persuaded the directors to buy Cen
eral Motors stock. They agreed,
buying $25,000,0 900 in one block and
an equal amount . little later. A
year or 50 later they bought third
block of equal size, thus getting TOR
the du Pont company ownership Of
40 to As per cent Of the corporation.
Since that time, it is worth noting,
the du Pont company has received
in dividends far more than the $780,
100000 it invested, while the mar
ket value Of the stock is many times
the original figure.
General Motors is Raskob's pride
and Joy. He likes to tell Of ito prog
ress and Of the progress Of the men
who have been associated with it.
Made so Millionaires
i "They say Carnegie made thirty
millionaires over . period OF years, :
he once said. "Well, we made sc
millionaires in General Motors. In
1923 we induced so Of our senior and
junior executives to 60 into debt ia
buy Genera! Motors stock. We got
them to pledge themselves to buy
$33, 100000 worth. That stock il
worth $3.50, 600, 900 today. All obi.
cations have jeen paid and every
one Of those men, even the Juniors
who put in only $4,000 apiece. art
millionaries.
For . giant Of the business world
Raskob has received surprisingly
little personal publicity. His picture
has seldom appeared in the papers
before, he 10 seldom interviewed and
the general public knows very LITTLE
about him.
He makes his home in Whining
ton, Del, with his wife and their 4
children. He II . ,devout Roman
Catholic, and has given extensivel.
to charity. For years he has beef
IN intimat. friend Of Governor
Smith.
Not long ago Raskob came on
, publicly for modification Of the pro
hibition law, writing IN open lette
to Col. Patrick H. Callahan Of Louis
Vile, KY, ia which he declared tina
prohibition seemed to him Z harm
1ul influence On the country becaus
it led to disrespect for law.