400 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September i, 1905. 



One day it was discovered that some one was manipulating 

 Amalgamated Copper stock in a manner that surprised the 

 members of the inner circle. Apparently one of the heavy 

 holders of stock was selling his shares. Both William Rocke- 

 feller and Henry H. Rogers, of the Standard Oil Co., who were 

 known to carry large blocks, denied that they had parted with 

 a single share. Traps were set and it was soon found that James 

 R. Keene had managed to get hold of Mr. Rockefeller's secretary 

 and through information thus secured had been able to take 

 advantage of all the inside news concerning the company. The 

 secretary was promptly discharged, and Mr. Keene's name was 

 placed on the " black list " in the office of the Standard Oil 

 Co. 



Soon after this, while Mr. Keene was engaged in acquiring 

 the Third avenue street railroad in New York, a raid engi- 

 neered it was asserted, by the Standard Oil crowd, was made on 

 the stock, and the company was forced into bankruptcy. Mr. 

 Keene, to recover from the blow, sailed for Europe, where he 

 spent several months. 



In the meantime Amalgamated stock had fallen into disre- 

 pute. No one wanted to buy it, and the price declined alarm- 

 ingly. Lawson told Mr. Rogers that something would have to 

 be done at once if the company was to be saved from absolute 

 disaster. The latter agreed that the situation was grave, but 

 how could it be improved - Mr. Lawson replied that the only 

 man who could put new life into the enterprise was James R. 

 Keene. 



For some time Mr. Rogers would not even consider the sug 

 gestion. He bitterly hated the man who had seducedMr. Rocke- 

 feller's secretary and would have nothing to do with him. But 

 when hesaw Amalgamated stock fall still lower he realized that 

 his personal feeling toward Keene should not be allowed to stand 

 in the way and consented to Lawson's plan to bring the two mag- 

 nates together. As the outcome of the conference Mr. Rogers 

 agreed that the Standard Oil Co. would subscribe S7.5°°.ooo 

 toward the capital required for consolidating the rubber inter- 

 ests in which Mr. Keene was then interested, provided the lat- 

 ter would put his shoulder under the Amalgamated wheel and 

 lift it out of the mud. 



Under this agreement Keene at once began work. His influ- 

 ence was soon felt in the street and within a remarkably short 

 period he had sold 293 000 shares of stock at $22,000 000 net for 

 Mr. Rogers and his friends. 



When Mr. Rogers promised Mr. Keene the support of the 

 Standard Oil Co. in promoting the Rubber company he did a 

 great thing for the latter project. Keene naturally made all the 

 capital he could out of the matter. It was taken up by in- 

 vestors and success appeared certain when the blow fell that 

 knocked the enterprise in the head. 



It was on the day that Keene had made the final payment to 

 Mr. Rogers on his purchase of a block of •' Flower pool ' stock 

 and had turned in the last installment of cash on account of the 

 sale of the $22,000,000 worth of Amalgamated that he received 

 the following note from the oil magnate : 



You may now cancel our subscription of $7,500,000 to your 

 rubber company, and please announc ■ to the public or I will — 

 that we will have nothing more to do with it. 



Mr. Lawson, who was in Rogers's office when the note was 

 written, and to whom it was shown before mailing, says of the 

 incident in his article : 



" I looked up at Mr. Rogers prepared to remonstrate, but I 

 caught the expression of his face and I got no further. Never 

 have I seen on human countenance such a look of devilish sat- 

 isfaction. He spoke, and then I realized that the man's nature 

 knew no relenting, and was incapable of forgiveness, and that 



he felt as bitterly against the man who had seduced his trusted 

 employe as though the man had not since waded through blood 

 and fire to prove his repentance ; as though he had not con- 

 ferred on the property and the credit of him whom he had 

 sought to injure benefits absolutely inestimable. 



" It was a staggering blow to Keene. He saw the result of 

 his magnificent work fall and vanish like a tower of cloudland, 

 yet he dared not resent what had been done to him." 



When a representative of The India Rubber World asked 

 Mr. Keene if Lawson's story of his connection with Standard 

 Oil and Amalgamated was true, he replied : 



'• All the statements in which my name is connected with 

 Mr. Rogers and Mr. Rockefeller or any oneconnected with them 

 are pure fabrications. I do not know Lawson and have never 

 had any business dealings with him. At one time Mr. Rogers 

 and myself seriously considered the advisability of solidifying 

 the various interests in the rubber business, but it never got 

 far beyond the preliminary stages, owing to a defalcation by 

 the treasurer of the rubber companies which Mr. Rogers heard 

 of, and we abandoned the idea." 



Regarding the beginning of the interest of Mr. Keene in rub- 

 ber, it has generally been accepted as a fact in the trade that 

 through representations made by Charles R. Flint. Mr. Keene 

 was induced to purchase the holdings of Robert D. Evans in 

 the United States Rubber Co. when the latter retired from the 

 presidency of the company, and also later to invest consider- 

 able money in the Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co. In April, 

 1902, the control of the last named corporation passed into the 

 hands of Mr. Keene and his friends, with Talbot J. Taylor in 

 the lead, the board of directors at one time being made up 

 largely of the employ6s of Talbot J. Taylor & Co.'s stock brok- 

 erage office. The consolidation movement which Mr. Keene, 

 with Standard Oil support, is reported to have been interested 

 in promoting, was to bring other important rubber manufactur- 

 ing interests, directly or indirectly, under the same general 

 control with the two companies named above. 



G. H. C. 



MR. RUCKER'S TIRE PROFITS AND LOSSES. 



IT will be remembered that when one Ernest T. Hooley came 

 into such prominence as a promoter in connection with 

 the flotation of the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co.. Limited, by 

 which he was reported to have made some /[2, 000, 000 profit_ 

 he had associated with him Martin D. Rucker, who had been 

 already interested with him in company promotions. Mr. 

 Rucker was recently examined before the London bankruptcy 

 court, at which time he told the story of his financial career, 

 when he said that the net profit divisible between himself and 

 Hooley from the tire deal was something like /i. 000,000, and 

 he actually received ^401.241 from that gentleman in cash, 

 bills, etc., together with other valuables, making m all a profit 

 of £^s^M^ [=$2,231.97643] as his share in the Dunlop trans- 

 action. Later Mr. Rucker purchased estates and figured as an 

 owner of race horses and yachts, but instead of investing h s 

 capital and living upon the income therefrom, he used it ai d 

 lost it in various speculative investments. At the hearing 

 above referred to, the statement of affairs submitted for Mr. 

 Rucker showed total liabilities of i;i2 643 (unsecured ;^i2.o8l) 

 and assets £30 [=$146], absorbed in the preferential claims. 



The Ideal Comb and Novelty Co. is the name of a new con- 

 cern which will manufacture celluloid combs and novelties at 

 Northboro, Mass., under the management of Frank H. Foster. 



