The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-05-11


The fault. of course. was a lack
of imagination in the old dodgers
who ran them, no modern bust
ness methods. They had gone
backward while the world was
progressing-all this when the
world had entered an era of con-
solidation, of efficiency.
There was the light of genius
in the young mans eyes, and
there also was hard logic in his
reasoning. so, in 1918, War Kreu-
ger had grouped around him not
only his family's two match fac
tories, but fifteen more. All the
others we're watching the expert
ment doubtfully at first, and then
eagerly. The man was ma
gician. Money poured in. The
town grew. The Swedish match
trust was in the formation.
DUT Kreuger, Ike John Law Of
ID Lauriston, 200 years before
him, was not satisfied with his
provincial trust. His imagination
carried him to other countries. He
wanted an empire, not a small
kingdom
His opportunity came after the
war, when impoverished nations,
their finances absurdly distorted,
their banking judgment warped,
we're looking for miraculous
means, however fantastic, of
pulling themselves from their eco
nomic morass.
And following that came the ex-
pansion, the imitation of values
as with the Mississippi Bubble of
John Law.
John Laws scheme had been
sound enough in the beginning
The currency issued by his-or
the state's-bank was to be based
On a good and sufficient gold re-
serve, as we'll as upon the wealth
of the French colonial territory
War Kreuger's schemes also
had logic behind them. Match
monopolies in European countries
could be made to pay enormous
dividends. Most governments
placed heavy taxes on matches
and tobacco, because the first
item is small, but it is in uni
yerSal use.
So Kreugler would lend strug
Cling nations money, in return for
the monopoly by which he would
supply all the matches burned in
the country. The government
could tax the matches and thus
help to repay the loan to Kreuger.
In this observation-disclosures
could not only eat his cake, but
have it. too.
so the trust. the monopoly.
and its subsidiary enterprises
grew.
II REUGER saw his match en-
N pire expanding. gobbling up
other enterprises. He saw and
coveted forests and mines. He
toyed with the idea of linking his
empire together under his own
communication system. and began
with the Ericsson Telephone Com
pany.
Very largely, however, this was
a phantom empire. 1t existed
only on paper and in credits. and
when the credits vanished-pouf!
No more empirel
Kreuger bolstered it up with
false props. Dummy corporations
we're formed with fictitious assets.
Books were juggled. Fake mon
opolies we're granted and signed
They were forgeries. Foreign
bonds also were counterfeited and
signed" with the forged names OF
great statesmen.
The millions thus gained by
juggling books, in slapping under
the noses Of near-sighted bankers
great piles of worthless ''secur-
tiles" went the way Of the wind,
into other dubious enterprises.
Each new loan weakened the
whole financial structure, in
creased Kreuger's interest pay
mentS, and brought the day Of
reckoning closer at hand.
A man of mystery for the most
part-that is. as far as his pri-
vate life was concerned-Kreuger
vas believed to have no woman
interest. Unmarried. devoted six
teen hours a day TO business, he
was not play boy.
INSTEAD, this Kreuger appears
IL TO have had something Of the
Napoleonic attitude toward wom-
en-. He might delay his operations
for a moment for fifteen minutes