280 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[May 



1905. 



representatives of the government, and entitled to be entrusted 

 with mail addressed to the companies whose assets had been 

 placed in their charge. 



PEDIGREE OF THE UBERO COMPANIES. 

 I. 

 MEXICAN COFFEE AND RUBBER CO.— W. I). Owen, 

 president. Incorporated in Indiana with 1^75,000 capital; W. D. Owen 

 and his stepson, Henry A. Luce, held about $50,000, represented main- 

 ly by land (5000 acres) which they put into the company. Capital in- 

 creased later by ifio.ooo, which sum was paid to Owen on his claim to 

 have spent that amount for the benefit of the company. The land was 

 conveyed to — 



a. Ubero Plantation Co. (Indianapolis) — W. D. Owen, president — 

 an Indiana corporation with $200,000 capital, which the public was 

 asked to subscribe in pai t. This company took 1000 acres ; consid- 

 eration not reported, except that $200,000 was to be paid to the 

 parent company for development work during 5 years prior to the 

 linal transfer, and this condition is said to have been met. 



b. The Tropical Sureties Co. -W. D. Owen, president — a Maine 

 corporation ; |;400,ooo capital, of which W. D. Owen held $200,000 ; 

 Luce, his stepson, $So,coo ; Charles T. Crocker, of Massachusetts, 

 f 100,000 (for which he is said to have paid cash) ; small holdings. 

 $20,000. The consideration for the land taken was $300,000 in bonds 

 of the Consoliilated Ubero Plantations Co. — W. D. Owen, director — 

 the sale of the bonds being guaranteed. An additional $140,000 in 

 bonds (sale not guaranteed) allotted tp holders of some minor tracts 

 previously sold by the Mexican Coffee and Rubber Co. 



Allotment of the Consolidated Ureko Bonds. 



Mexican Coffee and Rubber Co $300,000 



Holders of small plantations 140,000 



Tropical Sureties Co. — For developing plantation 360,000 



Tropical Sureties Co. — Commissions on sale of stock 500,000 



Tropical Sureties Co. — Profit 1,200,000 



Toral $2,500,000 



[The Consolidated Ubero Plantations Co. — W. D. Owen, direc- 

 tor — incorporated in Maine, with .'^2,500,000 capital, in shares to be al- 

 lotted to the holders of the bonds, the shares to control the property af- 

 ter the maturity of the bonds. The development work on the Consoli- 

 dated plantations to date has been done by The Tropical Sureties Co. 

 under contract. The land on which the bonds are based amounts to 

 6267 acres — including something more than what war, acquired from the 

 Mexican Coffee and Rubber Co. Mr. Wadleigh in his inspection re- 

 port speaks of the Private Estates above mentioned as 800 acres, par- 

 tially planted, and now " valueless."] 



II. 

 THE UBERO PLANTATION CO. OF BOSTON— W. I). 

 Owen, director^incorporated in Maine, August :o, 1900, with $1,000,- 

 000 capital. Contracted to purchase for $750,000, payable in install- 

 ments. 3000 acres from — 



La Puerta Plantation Co — W. I). Owen, president — incorpo- 

 rated in Indiana, July 24. 1900, with Jiso.ooo capital, which under- 

 took to plant and develop the property for 50 months before trans- 

 ferring the land. The work of development was sublet to — 



La Puerta Development Co. — W. D. Owen, president — an- 

 other Indiana corporation. 

 [Another contract for certain planting was entered into with a Mexi- 

 can firm by \V. D. Owen, as " managing director " of The Ubero Plan- 

 tation Co. of Boston, '\ 



THE RUBBER MEN IN THE CASE. 



The connection with the Ubero companies of two gentlemen 

 prominent in the rubber trade, one as president and the other 

 as vice president, while primarily their own allair, neverthe- 

 less arouses a certain amount of interest and comment. As 

 both are men of position and integrity, and far removed from 

 the class who attempt to profit by the folly of unwise investors, 

 the following statement seems in order. 



Back in 1900 much less was known about the planting of 



Castilloa rubber than is known now. Many honest men more 

 or less familiar with the tropics entertained opinions regarding 

 the possible yield and profits which have not been justified by 

 experience, and it was not then appreciated that plantation 

 management was nearly 90 per cent, of the problem. The de- 

 velopment of the Ubero enterprises as recorded in the preced- 

 ing columns involved the sanction of many reputable men, and 

 the distribution of dividends by the companies first formed in- 

 dicated to outsiders that the planting business was profitable. 



About November, 1900, after the promotion of the Ubero 

 Plantalioii Co. 0/ Boston, and the contract with La Puerta Plan- 

 tation Co. to develop the property, to which the Old Colony 

 Trust Co. (Boston) was a party as trustee, Mr. Owen succeeded 

 in securing Arthur W. Stedman as president and Fred C. Hood 

 as vice president, the salary of each to be $1000 a year, and to 

 each was issued 67 shares of Ubero stock and 400 shares in 

 the development company. Prior to the acceptance to these 

 ollices and the issuance of the stock Messrs. Stedman and Hood 

 procured the services of Frederick L. Bardwell, professor of 

 chemistry in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who 

 went to Mexico and examined the plantation properties, and 

 came back with a glowing report. It is nothing against this 

 estimable gentleman that he gave such a report, which un- 

 doubtedly he did in all honesty. He was not familiar with 

 tropical propositions, and in view of the wonderful luxuriance 

 of the region he visited, the apparent richness of the soil, and 

 the fact that everything seemed to grow without effort, it is 

 probable that had the gentlemen who sent him down there, or 

 indeed had any other rubber manufacturer, gone on the same 

 errand the report would have been equally favorable. Messrs. 

 Stedman and Hood attended the meetings and worked in the 

 interest of the company, accepting in good faith the reports 

 made from time to time by inspectors chosen by the sharehold- 

 ers, and by Mr. Owen himself. 



Upon the formation of the Consolidated Ubero Plantations 

 Co., two years later. Messrs. Stedman and Hood accepted the 

 same offices in it that thev held in the Ubero Plantation Co. of 

 Boston, receiving each a salary of $1000 a year and $10,000 

 worth of bonds and 2000 shares of stock. Apparently every- 

 thing was all right until the latter part of 1904, when, Presi- 

 dent Stedman's suspicions being aroused, he consulted a law- 

 yer, upon whose advice he refused to pay any more money to 

 the development company, and after a little more investigation 

 he and Mr. Hood turned over all of their stock and bonds for 

 the benefit of the investors. He also sent Mr. Wadleigh, a 

 shareholder and director, to go over the property of both com- 

 panies and report fully on the conditions there. As a result of 

 these reports Mr. Stedman took the initial steps toward having 

 the contract with La Puerta company canceled as a means to 

 realizing as much as possible on the large sums that the inves- 

 tors had put in. 



The pressure of Mr. Stedman's work in this connection had 

 made him very nearly a nervous wreck, and his physician or- 

 dered a rest. He, therefore, resigned from the presidency 

 temporarily, leaving as a substitute Mr. C. VV. Rider, and went 

 to Europe, both for the benefit from travel and to seek an in- 

 terview with Mr. Owen, who had been for a consideiable time 

 abroad. As this paper goes to press Mr. Stedman is on his 

 way home. It is understood that he will resume the presidency 

 if the majority of the shareholders desire it, but if they prefer 

 some one else he is more than willing to resign. Mr. Hood 

 has also resigned. 



This is not an apology, nor is it an inspired explanation. It 

 is simply the way in which the Editor of The India Rubber 

 WoKi.D sizes up the connection of the two gentlemen named 



