1911. 
109© 
OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY. 
As one of the victims of E. G. Lewis, 
I write at the suggestion of one of your 
readers to ask you if I cannot send my 
claims against him direct to the receiver, 
without employing a lawyer. Also, what 
advantage would there be to me to send 
my claims to Claud D. Hall? Would I be 
as safe in sending my claims to the reor¬ 
ganization committee as to a lawyer or 
sending it myself? creditor. 
Pennsylvania 
If you have a simple claim, that is, 
an original note, you could secure a 
blank, till it out, attach the note to it, 
acknowledge it before a notary, and 
safely send it to the receiver at the 
proper time. But Mr. Lewis adopted 
the old swindling trick of inducing the 
creditors to exchange one certificate for 
another until the claims have become 
quite involved, and it is hardly safe for 
such creditors to dispense with the 
services of an attorney. Those credit¬ 
ors especially who have received “In¬ 
terim Receipts” probably have a claim 
against the 1 rust Co., which may give 
them some value, though the original 
claims may have been practically worth¬ 
less. It will require the services of an 
attorney to protect the best interest of 
such claims. 
The claims themselves may be proved 
up as well by any other competent at¬ 
torney as by Mr. Hall. But Mr. Hall 
is already the attorney of all the credit¬ 
ors before the court. The practice of 
the court is to make such attorney aft 
allowance for his services before any 
distribution of the funds is made, so 
that each creditor helps pay for his 
services, and may as well have the 
benefit without the expense of another 
attorney. This is the only reason why 
we have suggested sending claims to 
Mr. Hall—simply to save expense to the 
creditors. In some cases there may be 
a trifling preliminary expense, but the 
bulk of the services comes under the 
services for which the court makes al¬ 
lowance. 
Under no circumstances will those 
who take our advice send claims to the 
so-called reorganization committee, or 
to John M. Williams, the alleged con¬ 
troller. We advise those who have al¬ 
ready deposited claims with them to 
withdraw the claims. If you are in 
doubt about the wisdom of this advice, 
get a copy of Lewis’ National Weekly 
of April 15, 1911, containing the “De¬ 
positors’ Agreement” in full. Take this 
to any attorney and ask him what your 
rights are after you have signed that 
agreement and deposited the securities. 
He will tell you that you have no con¬ 
trol of them whatever, after depositing 
them with Mr. Lewis through his al¬ 
leged committee. They have the right 
to do anything with them that you 
could have done while they were in 
your hands. They can sell them, assign 
them or pledge them for debt or for 
their expenses. By the following pro¬ 
vision of the agreement they can: 
Organize one or more new companies 
and take all steps that it may deem proper 
for the purpose of creating such new com¬ 
pany or companies and of investing in them 
the “Properties” or any of them, or any 
part of them. 
(Iv> Authorize the “Reorganization Com¬ 
mittee” to construe this agreement, and its 
construction hereof, or action hereunder, 
in good faith, shall be final and conclu¬ 
sive; and to supply any defects, or omis¬ 
sion, or reconcile any inconsistency in 
such manner or to such extent as shall he 
necessary to carry out the same properly 
and effectively; and to he the sole judge 
of such necessity ; and to apportion among 
the various “Depositors” payment of all 
actual expenses incurred by the “Reorgani¬ 
zation Committee” the “Controller” and the 
“Depository.” 
There you get the key to the whole 
situation. They can organize one or 
two or a dozen new companies and in¬ 
vest the proceeds of your securities in 
them. You are entitled to nothing for 
five years. They control it all for that 
time. Being the sole judge, they could 
organize a company the only asset of 
which was a hole in the ground; or 
some worthless patent, or a lot of land 
already mortgaged for its full value. 
At the end of five years the worthless 
stock of such a company could be 
turned over to you, and you would have 
no recourse but to accept it. 
There is no limit to their expenses, 
and no limit set to the salary for their 
services, or for the fees to their attor¬ 
neys or agents. Now read the pro¬ 
vision of the agreement: 
The “Depository,” “Controller” and “Re¬ 
organization Committee,” save for wilful 
default or for gross negligence after per¬ 
sonal notice of distinct specifications in 
writing from some person interested in the 
trust, shall not be liable or responsible 
to anyone. 
The “Depository,” “Controller” and “Re¬ 
organization Committee” may select and 
employ in and about the execution of any 
of the duties incumbent upon it, him or 
them, hereunder suitable agents, attorneys 
and counsel, and shall in no wise be liable 
or responsible for their acts and negligence 
if selected with reasonable care. 
THE RURAL 
The “Controller'’ shall pat / from time to 
time, out of the income and assets of the 
“Properties” and ‘'evidences of Indebted¬ 
ness” and “Depositor!/,” the “Controller” 
and the “Reorganization Committee” a rea¬ 
sonable compensation for their services, 
and all expenses incurred bn them re- 
sp'cctively, and the “Depositorif” and the 
“Controller” and the *' Reorganization Com¬ 
mittee'’ shall have a lien upon the “Evi¬ 
dences of Indebtedness” deposited, for the 
amount of all compensation and expenses 
due them and remaining unpaid. 
They do as they please. They are 
sole judge. They are responsible to no 
one. They fix their own salaries. They 
employ whom they please and pay what 
they please for the service. They pay 
for it all as they go along out of the 
income and assets of the properties. 
Note out of the “assets.” There being 
no income, all this must be paid out 
of the proceeds of the securities them¬ 
selves ; and note further that they have 
a “lien” on the papers you deposited 
until their salaries and expenses are 
paid them. 
In other words, you who have de¬ 
posited your securities with this com¬ 
mittee are employing an organization. 
Of how many people, you do not know. 
At what expense, you do not know. All 
you know is that this committee is un¬ 
der the control of the man who has 
been collecting large sums of money 
from yourself and other country people 
for the past 10 years. Not one of these 
credulous people has ever received a 
cent of profit; few have been able to 
get any portion of their money returned, 
and thousands of them have not been 
able to get any of it back. 
Every scheme that Lewis ever pro¬ 
moted—with the single exception of one 
lottery scheme—has been a financial 
failure. On his own admission his nu¬ 
merous concerns are now bankrupt. 
With all of this record of failure and 
abuse of confidence you are asked to 
turn over what little remains of your 
investment that he may use it and live 
off it for five years more, and then give 
you something of value or nothing as 
he may please. Does any sane man be¬ 
lieve that he prepared the “Depositors’ 
Agreement” giving his committee such 
unlimited powers for the benefit of the 
creditors? Go back over his record 
and you will find that this reorganiza¬ 
tion committee is only one more link in 
the fraudulent chain of-schemes that he 
has developed during the past 10 years. 
The exchange of one paper security for 
another and the reorganization of 
worthless and bankrupt concerns is as 
old as the art of swindling through 
promotion schemes. Six years ago 
Lewis got possession of the assets of 
the United States Bank in practically 
the same way. The notes and stocks 
he gave in exchange are worthless. He 
promised dollar for dollar. He now 
promises you nothing. Will he give you 
anything better? 
If you collect from the receiver what 
is coming to you on these claims, you 
will have the money to use for your 
own purposes and the comforts of your 
family. If you allow Lewis to collect 
it through his committee, he need not 
account to you for five years. Then 
you must take what he is pleased to 
give you. Seven years ago he promised 
to “burn your pockets” with the weight 
of your profits. You got worthless 
paper. Those whom he fools again 
probably merit the sneer he flung in 
his Washington testimony at the old 
victims. 
NEWS FROM ALBANY, N. Y. 
Control of Chestnut Blight. —As al¬ 
ready told. Commissioner Pearson invited 
officials having to do with the forests 
from six States to meet here October 19 
for the purpose of considering what is to 
be done to combat the spread of the chest¬ 
nut tree hlight. Two dozen scientists as¬ 
sembled in response to the call, and after 
listening to a message from Governor Dix 
in which he said he regarded the spread of 
the disease as a catastrophe and hopes to 
see effective measures adopted in all States 
where the chestnut is native which will 
result in saving this valuable tree, both 
in forests and private plantings, .imme¬ 
diately went into executive session. It is 
understood that after going over the situ¬ 
ation it was decided to treat the disease 
as a conflagration would be treated, that 
is to fight it from the front* Infected 
trees must be cut out and their bark de¬ 
stroyed. The most active work will be 
done in areas where infection is least wide¬ 
spread. It is to be hoped that the Gov¬ 
ernor, knowing as he does the graveness of 
the situation will, in his message to the 
next Legislature, call attention to the situ¬ 
ation and recommend an appropriation be 
made with which to fight the blight. 
American Good Roads Conoress.— The 
officials of the State Highway Commission 
are bending all their energies to make the 
American Good Roads Congress to be held 
in conjunction with the Eighth Annual 
Convention of the American Road Build¬ 
ers’ Association at Rochester. November 
14 to 17. the biggest kind of a success. 
Last month Governor Dix invited the gov¬ 
ernors of all the States and the provinces 
of Canada to send delegates to the con¬ 
gress, and nearly all have complied, thus 
attesting their interest in highway im¬ 
provement and showing that they are im- 
NEW -YORKER 
pressed with the importance of this meeting 
as an educational factor. All of the county 
superintendents of this State will bo in 
attendance, and it is hoped that committees 
from boards of supervisors will be sent 
from each county. The exhibition of road 
and street building, machinery and mate¬ 
rial will be one of the largest ever as¬ 
sembled. 
Motor Car Registry. —The automobile 
bureau of the Secretary of State’s office 
gives notice that all licenses must be re¬ 
newed January 31, 1912, if the cars were 
registered during the year beginning Feb¬ 
ruary 1, 1911. Three offices have been 
established by the department where new 
licenses will be issued and wfiere renewals 
may be filed. They are Broadway and 
Seventy-fourth street. New York, 760 Main 
street, Buffalo, and at the automobile bu¬ 
reau, Capitol, Albany. 
One Thousand Dollars Daily. —It is 
costing the State something more than 
.$1,000 a day to conduct the investigation 
into the city and county governments of 
Albany. Large crowds flock to each ses¬ 
sion of the “probe,” as the investigation 
is known here, and frequently the crowds 
are so great that the doors of the Senate 
chamber, where the sittings of the committee 
are held, have to be locked against them. 
Attorney Osborne, of New York, who is 
conducting the “probe” frequently gives the 
audiences a thrill of excitement by putting 
on the witness stand a “veiled woman of 
mystery,” or by some other device, so as 
to whet public curiosity. There may 
some good come from the exposures of 
double charges for printing and the laying 
bare of the fact that there is a printing 
ring, hut it is doubtful if the political ends 
sought by the originators of the investiga¬ 
tion will be served. 
Proper Quarantining. —Attorney Gen¬ 
eral Carmody informs the Agricultural De¬ 
partment, relative to the enforcement of 
a rabies quarantine, that “in order to se¬ 
clude a dog under the quarantine regula¬ 
tions. it is necessary to confine it within 
either a building or an enclosed yard, so 
that it will not be upon the public high¬ 
way.” The Attorney General does not con¬ 
sider that a dog is “secluded’ when he is 
being led by a leash on the highways or 
any other public place within the quar¬ 
antine district. This would seem to apply 
to dogs being carried about the country in 
their master’s automobile. 
Ttte Schenectady Railway Strike.— 
Employees of the Schenectady railway re¬ 
cently went on strike for the sole purpose 
of asserting their right to organize a union. 
For about 36 hours no cars were run in 
that city and communication between there 
and Albany, and other adjacent cities, was 
discontinued. Fortunately the employes 
exhibited a degree of moderation and self- 
restraint unusual iin such disturbances, 
with the result that only one person, a 
conductor on a car running into Watervliet, 
was injured, and he not seriousiy. It 
was a “sympathizer” who struck the 
only blow, and not one of the strikers. 
The management of the railway finally 
yielded to the demands of the new union 
and the men at once returned to work. 
There was no question of wages involved; 
merely of the right of the men to organize, 
and the outcome appears to meet the public 
favor and approval. Schenectady is a 
strong “union” city ; indeed it is said that 
the Socialist candidate for mayor stands a 
good chance of being elected ait the coming 
election, so strong has the socialistic spirit 
impressed the workers in the great shops 
of the General Electric Company, the loco¬ 
motive works and other industries. 
SnoRT Measure Dealers. —The city 
sealer of weights and measures, under di¬ 
rection of Dr. Reichmann, State Superin¬ 
tendent of Weights and Measures, recently 
seized a large quantity of false weights 
and measures in a raid confined to the 
western portion of the city. Sixty stores 
and shops were visited and false apparatus 
was found in 30 of them. Warrants have 
been issued against those found violating 
the law and who had been previously 
warned. Senator Sullivan’s bill, which he- 
came operative as a law on September 1, 
makes the possession or use of any false 
apparatus for determining weight or quan¬ 
tity of commodity presumptive evidence of 
the knowledge of its falsity by the user. 
Heretofore dealers have claimed they did 
not know they were violating the law. and 
frequently escaped punishment. 
Eriro of a Scandal. —Governor Dix re¬ 
cently vetoed a bill designed to pay the 
attorneys of Senator Allds in the inquiry 
which resulted in his removal, the sum of 
$35,938.60, and gave excellent reasons 
therefor. Tt is not necessary to go into 
details; ’most any reason will satisfy the 
taxpayers. 
Excise Law Enforcement. —The State 
excise department is doing excellent work 
in cleaning up the illegal liquor traffic 
which had got to be a disgrace in the capi¬ 
tal city. Eight licenses were recently re¬ 
voked in one batch, and other violations 
are waiting decision in the courts. This 
activity is not confined to this city alone, 
but inspectors are abroad in many places 
in the State, seeking evidence upon which 
to base suits for cancellation. Thus far 
no charge has been made that these actions 
have any political hearing and as long as 
this condition exists every good citizen 
will applaud Commissioner Farley. 
Nurse for New Banks. —Bank Superin¬ 
tendent Van Tuyl has instituted a new bu¬ 
reau in his department, charged to act as 
a sort of nursing mother to those State 
financial institutions requiring first aid. 
His plan is comprehensive and has already 
been tried out in the case of a threatening 
situation in one small up-State bank. The 
bank was in a dangerous condition when 
taken in hand, but is now running along 
smoothly. j 
Busy Days.- —August 16, sowed Alfalfa, 
August 17 started to Detroit and Grand 
Rapids. Mich., for two weeks; since then 
we shipped 20 acres celery, four acres let¬ 
tuce. put 12 acres in wheat and Timothy 
seeding, bought, erected and filled new silo, 
11x30, and old silo. 12x30. besides caring 
for 10 cows and other farm work, and the 
old man, 62 years old. is tired. I put in 
four acres of rye silage according to The 
R. N.-Y. My stock won’t eat it; not hun¬ 
gry. It is nice, but they prefer browse. 
Crops all good here except hay and potatoes 
Wellsboro. Pa. h. w. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—The New York Court of 
Appeals has decided that if the directors 
of a corporation simply declare and pub¬ 
lish the declaration of a dividend upon its 
stock knowing that it is to be paid out 
of capital instead of earnings for the pur¬ 
pose of inducing the public to purchase 
stock in the company, any member of the 
public who so purchases in reliance upon 
the dividend declared may hold the di¬ 
rectors personally liable for losses upon the 
stock. This upholds the minority opinion 
of Justice Miller of the Appellate Division 
in the case of Marx Ottinger against the 
directors of the old American Ice Company. 
Mr. Ottinger is suing the directors per¬ 
sonally on the ground that he and others 
purchased ice stock under the false impres¬ 
sion that the dividends declared were to 
be paid from earnings of that concern. 
The directors demurred that there was no 
cause of action and the demurrer was up¬ 
held by the Appellate Division, Justice Mil¬ 
ler dissenting. The Court of Appeals 
adopts Justice Miller’s dissenting opinion 
and directs the defendant to answer. 
Dissolution of the United States Steel 
Corporation and its subsidiary companies 
was asked for by the Government in a 
suit filed in the United States Circuit 
Court at Trenton, N. .T., October 26. The 
petition charges that the Steel Corporation 
is an illegal combination in restraint of 
trade and therefore prohibited by the 
Sherman anti-trust law of July 2, 1890. 
The defendants named in the bill include 
37 corporations, five individuals sued as 
trustees and 18 in their capacity as officers 
and directors of the Steel Corporation or its 
subsidiaries. Pending final hearing and 
determination of the case the Government 
asked that a temporary restraining order 
be issued enjoining the defendants sever¬ 
ally and collectively from continuing the 
alleged illegal monopoly. When reports of the 
steel trust prosecution reached Pittsburgh 
financiers and steel men were astonished. 
Probably the greatest dismay and apprehen¬ 
sion exist among the Carnegie philanthrop¬ 
ies in that city. The Carnegie Institute, 
the libraries, the Carnegie Technical and 
the Margaret Morrison schools, the Car¬ 
negie pension system, the Carnegie Hero 
Fund Commission and others, representing 
probably $30,000,000, would be affected 
should the Government succeed in dissolv¬ 
ing the Steel Corporation. These philan¬ 
thropies are supported by five per cent 
first mortgage bonds. Should the subsi¬ 
diaries of the Steel Corporation be re¬ 
grouped the effect is problematical. 
That the bedrock “key,” specified in the 
plans for the Austin, Pa., dam was omitted 
in the work of construction is the con¬ 
clusion of Alexander R. McKim, New York 
State Inspector of dams and locks, who 
has returned from an inspection of the 
scene of the Austin disaster. Inspector 
McICIm’s deductions have been embodied 
in a report. There were other defects 
alleged, which appeared to make the dam 
insecure. 
Unusually cold weather for this season 
is reported from Big Hole Basin in the 
southwestern part of Montana. Thermom¬ 
eters at Wisdom, Mon., registered 10 de¬ 
grees below zero October 28. The cold 
wave has swept the entire Northwest and 
has been accompanied by snowstorms. 
Three inches of snow was on the ground 
at Dillon. Mont.. October 29. Sheep have 
suffered from lack of grass due to the early 
cold, but otherwise no damage has been 
done. 
President Taft reviewed the great naval 
parade in New -York Harbor November 2 
The review included 24 battleships, four of 
them, the Delaware, North Dakota, Flor¬ 
ida and Utah, the most powerful afloat; 
two armored cruisers, two protected cruis¬ 
ers. 22 destroyers, 16 torpedo boats, eight 
submarines, four gunboats, nine auxiliaries, 
eight colliers, one oil tanker, and several 
miscellaneous vessels. 102 in all, aggregat¬ 
ing 577.285 tons and witli a complement 
of 1,100 officers and 25,000 men With 
the exception of the Iowa, Indiana and 
Massachusetts, veterans of the war with 
Spain, every battleship has been built since 
1900. In all they carry no less than 124 
12-inch guns, eight 13-inch guns, 128 8- 
lnch guns, 100 7-inch guns, 96 6-inch 
guns, 60 5-inch guns and 10 4-inch guns. 
Twenty-four warships of the pacific fleet 
were reviewed in Los Angeles harbor No¬ 
vember 1. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The tenth an¬ 
nual convention of the National Nut Grow¬ 
ers’ Association was held at the Battle 
House, Mobile, Ala., October 5. The at¬ 
tendance was large and representative of 
all parts of the country. A number of 
cities tendered invitations for the next 
meeting and Gulfport. Miss., was selected 
by the committee and endorsed by the 
convention. Officers for the ensuing vear 
were elected as follows: II. K Miller, 
Monticello, Fla., president; W. N. Nutt, 
Raleigh, N. C., first vice-president; ('has. 
A. Van Duzee, St..Paul, Minn., second vice- 
president; .T. F. Wilson, Poulan, Ga., sec¬ 
retary; Nathaniel Brewer, Jr., Newport, 
Fla., treasurer; Theodore Bechtel. Ocean 
Springs, Miss.. E. W. Kirkpatrick, Mc¬ 
Kinney, Tex., IT. S. Watson. Bloomington, 
la., Robert T. Morris. New York City, and 
B. W. Stone, Thomasville, Ga., executive 
committee. 
The next regular Winter meeting of the 
Eastern Fruit Growers’ Association has 
been called by Hon. S. L. Lupton, presi¬ 
dent, for Tuesday. December 12, at 8 p. m., 
at’ the Raleigh Hotel, Washington, D. C., 
the sessions to continue on the following 
day or days as the business of the asso¬ 
ciation may ivquire. Matters of legislation 
and interstate problems which will be dis¬ 
cussed include a standard package law; a 
law giving the Secretary of Agriculture the 
right to quarantine against infested nursery 
seedlings; inequality in the present freight 
rates on apples in the eastern territory; 
how to make fruit crop reports of more 
value; and such other matters as delegates 
from the horticultural societies or members 
may bring up. 
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company be¬ 
gan its fourth season’s work November 1 
by sending out a special educational train 
over its Pittsburgh and Conemaugh divi¬ 
sions. The train will make a throe day 
tour of western Pennsylvania, stopping in 
all at 17 stations, at which lectures will 
be delivered by professors from the Penn¬ 
sylvania State College of Agriculture on 
subjects most vital to each section. 
