The producers news. [volume], June 15, 1928, Page PAGE SIX, Image 6

About The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
The Story of the Promotion
Of Brotherhood Banking
By JOHN GABRIEL SOLTIS
(Continued from last week)
MR. GEORGE T. WEBB
He was vice president of the Brotherhood Bank of
Cleveland. Also was first vice president of the Empire
Trust Company of New York. The latter company
joins with the Brotherhood Investment Co. in under
writing bond issues.
He owes his position, indirectly, to be sure, to Jack
Hastings.
Mr. Webb was a large scale farmer, a small town
banker and general all-around promoter at Ellendale,
Koith Dakota. He failed in the deflation of 1920. Mt
Webb and Hastings are very close collaborators.
Webb, it is hardly necessary to relate, has had abso
lutely no connections with the world of labor. He
could not differentiate between a trade union and a
woman's sewing circle.
So, upon Webb's failure as a Capitalist Farmer,
Banker and Financial Proomter, Hastings took it upon
himself to take care of Mr, Geo. T. Webb. This he did.
About the year 1920, upon the pull and influence of
Jack Hastings, Webb was appointed by the INDUS
TRIAL COMMISSION of North Dakota, a Nonpaiti
san League creation, as fiscal agent for the Bank of
North Dakota, a state institution.
It was the duty of Mr. Webb, as fiscal agent of the
Bank of North Dakota to market the bonds of the
state bank in the Eastern market, in an effort to se
cure operaing funds for the bank in question. He es
tablished offices at Chicago, Cleveland and New York.
Mr. Webb, then, left for the East to accomplish his
work.
The trip to the East cost the people some sixty thous
and dollars, I am reliably informed. However, as a re
sult of Mr. Webb's journey to the wise men of the
East, he succeeded in selling himself to the late War
ren B. Stone, on whose trail he camped daily. He es
tablished firm connections with the late brotherhood
chief, and thus became an employe of the Brotherhood
Bank at Cleveland. It is no exaggeration to say, that
Mr. Webb was the principal cog in the financial ma
chine of the railroad brotherhoods, as we shall amply
prove in this monograph. Of course, none are so blind
as those who will not see nor none so deaf as those
who will not hear, as the Bible says.
MR. H .A. PADDOCK
Paddock is a lawyer. He was general-counsel for the
Brotherhood financial enterprises at Cleveland. Thru
Jack Hastings, Paddock became some pumpkin in the
politics and economics of North Dakota. His record,
in connection with the Nonpartisan League enterprises,
is, to say the very least, very shady.
One of the most sensational steals that the "wreck
ing crew" engaged in, was that of the Consumers
Stores Company. It cost the farmers many millions.
About August, 1918, Paddock assumed charge of the
entire note and cash assets of the Consumers Stores
Company, and also the business relations of these stores
with the Scandinavian-American Bank of Fargo, North
Dakota. Hastings was the president of the Consumers
Stores Company, and the acting associa of H. A. Pad
dock in the Scandinavian-American Bank of Fargo,
North Dakota. Hastings was the president of the
Consumers Stores Company, and the acting associate
of H. A. Paddock in the Scandinavian-American Bank.
Under his management and with his knowledge, he
jermitted Hastings to misapply funds and embezzle
them. He also winked at false entries in the books
of the company,
criminally dissipated and the stores thrown into bank
The main portion of the assets were
ruptcy.
Paddock covered up and protected both the transac
tions in the Consumers Stores Company and the Scan
dinavian-American Bank, both of which institutions
were wrecked. He did this as manager of the stores
company, and as legal advisor of both institutions, and
in the teeth of a protest of the former manager, who
resigned because of the black deals put over the farm
ers. All these facts are a matter of court record, in
the state of North Dakota, as well as in the report of
the Legislature on the "wrecking crew."
In 1920, he was indicted, together with Jack Hast
ings, on a charge of wrecking the Scandinavian-Amer
ican Bank, he was the bank's attorney. The Statute of
Limitations, however, saved them. He was also in
dicted for malfeasance of office, as a public official,
which indictment was dismissed on error, and later out
lawed by the Statute of Limitations. This was in con
nection with his work on the Industrial Commission,
as its secretary.
Paddock was attorney for, and active agent of, the
following corporations, all of which vanished into thin
air, costing the stockholders millions of dollars:
U. S. Sissal Trust
Consumers United Store Company
Scandinavian-American Bank of Fargo, N. D.
As a member of the exclusive, inner-circle of the
wrecking crew," Paddock had his finger in all the
pie that was cut for delectation.
In the early part of 1922, Mr. Paddock and the slip
pery H. E. Merrick, organized a collection agency in
the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The purpose of
this fraud was to collect the postdated checks that the
Minnesoa farmers had issued to the defunct Nonparti
san League. Their office was established at 914 Phoe
nix Building, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In order for the reader to clearly understand, the
\
(<
CHRYSLER-DODGE
FUTURE POLICIES
Acquisition of Dodge Brothers, Inc.,
by the Chrysler Corporation now a
waiting approval of the stockholders
1 1
!
Reboring and Regrinding
We have installed a Reboring and Regrinding
chine. Bring in your motors and have them made
like new. All work guaranteed, at reasonable prices.
Don't forget we can recharge your Ford Magneto
while you are in town shopping, with the latest Colpi
magneto charger.
ma
in
*♦
Plentywood Auto Company
will not affect the identity or products i
of either company according to the
statements just released by officials
of the two corporations. The products
of the two manufacturers will con
tinue without interruptmn.
niÂ* J^ herS T 1 '! contmue to be
Dodge Brothers and Chrysler will be
Chrysler says the statement, and the
, . , I
nature of this fraud, we must know that the postdated
checks which he farmers made out to the Nonpartisan
:
11
Mr. Paddock with his keen legal mind, together with
the elusive Mr. Merrick, former secretary-treasurer of I
the Pacific Brotherhood Investment Company, saw in
these unhonored postdated checks a golden opportunity
to rake in the cash of the farmers, by employing pro
League, were in payment for two newspapers that they
were to rceive from the organization,
were weeklies; one national, and one state paper.
Both of them
However, owing to the demise of the League, no such
papers were published for a long time,
natural death with the ramshackle League. Therefore,
the farmers quite rightly refused to pay those checks,
since they got nothing in return. Many thousands of
dollars of such checks remained unpaid.
They died a
per legal methods to force payment.
They hired a crew of professional bull-dozing and
"hard-boiled" collectors to visit the farmers and intimi
dat ethem into paying on those checks, ^r face legal
action. Many farmers were thus fleeced by these two
exponents of "labor banking," to whom the term Class
Collaboration cannot apply simply because it would de
scribe nothing in their case. This operation was a
high handed fraud, smacking of plain unadorned rob
Fresh from his triumph as a "hard-boiled' collector;
of getting something for nothing, we find Mr. H. A.
!
bery.
Paddock, departing for Cleveland, Ohio, there to func
tion as general-counsel of the Brotherhood Financial
Institution. How does that come to pass?
Well, Mr. Geo. T. Webb, whose rise in the world of
finance, was due to the warm friendship of both Hast
ings and Paddock, et a., found him.eff in a position
not only to repay for past services rendered to him by
the "wrecking crew", but also to place a man whose .
qualities he knew only too well, where he could do tne J
.
the original staff of the Townley-Hastmgs crowd, as
we shall soon have occasion to note, beyond any
shadow of a doubt. That's how Paddock got there.
MR. HENRY E. GASS
Cass was president of the Pacific Brotherhood In- j
vestment Company of Seattle, Washington. Also was j
president or vice president of the Spokane, Tacoma,
Seattle and Portland Brotherhood Banks. He is also
a product of the League machine, being one of its later
productions.
greatest good to the smallest number, that is to say, to
He was employed for about ten years in the North
western National Bank of Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1
the capacity of a clerk in the transit department. He
was for a short time cashier of the Capital Security
Bank of Bismarck, North Dakota. However, due to
rather embarrassing entanglements into which he got
himself at Bismarck, not related to the banking business
at all, he was constrained to abandon the post.
He became organizer of the Nonpartisan League
, ^ . , , .
about 1920, going into the state of aKnsas with the
Townley organization in the winter of 1920-1921. He
was a very close friend of H. A. Merrick, who did all
r* __ « 4 ., t
he could to advance Mr. Case. But the League was
entering definitely into its ec.ipse, so that Cass had to
move to other fields for easy money.
Later he became a promoter of "Mary Murphy's Seb
This did not o-o over Fnllnw.
• _ tV , Jc s . , , n . g '
^ ^ a w ^ ee ^ i ' a ^ Cleveland, Ohio, and
then went to Spokane, Washington, and became cash-1
ier of the Brotherhood Bank there. Soon afterward he
became the president of the Pacific Brotherhood In
vestment Company, followed by his presidency of prac
Soaping Wash Board".
tically all of the Brotherhood banks
Coast.
n
on the Paciiic
1
When one asks what was the ladder that Cass climb
ed to ascena his former height of financial eminence, •
he is puzzled for an answer, unless he knows the ways
cf the game played by the Webbs and Paddocks.
From the standpoint of a successful man, a practical ■
banker as they run under Capitalism, Mr. Cass had
On the contrary, all of his
_ . Therefore, his qualifica
tions from this point of view are non-existant.
.. HaS ,. h ® ^ een loade(1 down with ail of the responsibil
1 > which he carries because of his superior knowledge
of the world of labor? Not at all. It is doubtful
whether Mr. Cass knew that the real workers were or
ganized into sixteen different craft unions, before he
got placed in the bank at Spokane. He is not a member
of a labor union.
;
I
positively no record,
tures were dismal failures.
ven
He never was for that matter,
him labor organizations are all Greek. Moreover, he
is not at all interested in them as labor organizations.
As fields for the getting of
is a horse of another color.
To
easy money, that, of course,
What, then, was his shining qualifications that in
duced somebody at Cleveland to place Cass at the head
of the Brotherhood institutions on the Pacific Coast?
Simply that Webb and Paddock, the master minds be
hind the organization of the Pacific Brotherhood In
vestment Company, knew that Mr. Cass could be a
trusted soldier who would carry out the orders implicit
ly, and without murmur, as transmitted to him by the
two master minds at Cleveland, Ohio. In other word?,
they knew their man as the graduate of the Townley
Hastings school of fast workers. Hence, the selection
of Henry E. Cass for the strategic post of president of
the Pacific Brotherhood Investment Company of Se
attle, Washington, and officer of the string of Brother
hood Banks on the Pacific coast.
(Continued next week)
sales organizations will be unrelated
excepts as they shall mutually share
Jin the advantages of the consolidation,
| Their cars will continue to be pro
duced and marketed independently,
T he statement continues^
"The widespread public interest in
recent events affecting the Chrysler
J corporation and Dodge Brothers, Inc.,
deserves an authentic and official
I statement, and an assurance regard
j the future of these two
1 tions.
j Each will benefit from the consu
! mat ion of a plan which unites such
j tremendous resources in materials,
! manufacturing facilities, financial
power and «manufacturing genius.
I Both the public and the dealers
i may look forward to the greater ben
j efits which the consolidation of such
tremendous resources will produce,
and the men identified with these bus
| messes may be assured of a stable
an ddefimte futuer, inspired by the
progressiveness which has been
sponsible for the uniting of
i great companies."
corpora
re
two
I COW IMITATES AUTOMOBILE
Middletown, N. Y., June 12 (Auto
i caster) A Holstein cow here discov
ered a pail of five gallons of gaso
• Ime and hurriedly drank it. The cow
sufferde no bad effects.
I
i«ij
B
Istahlberger
SANDWICHES
:
JOHN ARTHUR STAHLBERG
6
E.
. . ... 1
Do you know Vera, *ho »dvis« oM I
iids and other curios in the ff Lr ! ^ I
ly Confidential" column? Well, the
nthpr dav whpn t u «wav looking !
Ov^er wnen she was J® ,
after a matter of strict continence,
she asked me to iun through t e ay s j
mail. Here are some sample 01
found, together with the answers
which I felt would best follow out
Vera's poucy;
Dear Veia.
I am a very beautiful and sweet
young thing of the feminine gender,
with tender blue eyes, an exquisite
nose, pretty pink 'ears, teeth Jike
pearls, a complexion like the Great
white Way, lourteen-kaiat hair, dim
pled cheeks and knees, Gloria Swan
son eyebiows, cupidVbow Ciara-Bow
"D/ ÆToTîcTïut"^»'^ "
voice llke the father and mother oi
a li silver bells, a lot of artistic teeling
and dramatic talent, and all the boys
aie wild about me. Do you think I
ought to go to Hollywood ?
C. LO'iTA RUBBISH.
Lottie Dear: I think you ought to
go to Jericho, and so is y° ur Uncle
Eliphaiet!
Dear Veia:
1 am a young divinity student with
decided views on all subjects, from
tne crossing of the Red fc>ea to this
i terrible Darwinism which is corrupt -
i n g the morals ot the >outh of our
misled nation. I am making it my per
sonal business to save the world Irom
the spiiitual dangers that threaten it,
i and 1 am to that end cultivating a dis
position like the morning after the
•
night before. (1 got that simile from
a y°. ua ^ ^^ther in the Lord at the
; ^ wL°sot''at""
£CU ndness of his morals, 1 presume
that there is nothing indelicate about
the saying.)
1 do not approve of these new
fangled preachers like Dean Inge and
Doctor Dielfenbach who are hardly
ever properly gloomy any more, and
seem to nit to be shirking in the
execution of their duty, as laid, down
in the Thirteenth Epistle of Pill the
iJ^^^Pil^four^eleven^ 1 ^^ 618 *
Yours for the 6 old-time fire and
brimstone,
IVAN OFFALHEAD.
You sweet Thing:
I have nothing to say for or against
the execution of Dean Inge or Doctor
Dieffenbach, but shall look forward
to yours.
Vera, Old Thing:
The last time I announced that I
was in love, I made a sad mistake, and
got a whole pack of human hound
dogs yapping after me. That made me
a little shy.
man begins to feel that if he doesn't
J get to a certain girl's house before the
other fellow gets there, the whole
, world ma y as wel1 to—well, I don't
know; Nicaragua, perhaps — that
means he b in * lov ^ it* Or
does it? •
| JOHN ARTHUR.
. **
! Johnn . ie . you old breeze receptacle,
everything depends on how long the
feeling may last. The only way to
find out for certain is to take your
' cou rage i n both hands and jump off
the deep end - The water ' s fine.
"
But, dammit, when a
To-day's Bi^est Lie:
There was
.
once a man who was told
■ that he,
could not miss a certain road—and
actually didn't!
Further Notice to National Party j
Conventions: My Swedish brother-in
law does not choose to iun for Presi
den t in 1928.
Who says that Mother Nature has
no sense of humor ?
thoroughly stylish
Just look at a
young man!
Historical Note: During the wars j
between Spain and the Netherlands, |
many Dutch people died of Spanish 1
influence-a.
Last Notice to National Party Con
ventions: My aunt's pet poodle does;
not choose to run for President,
WHAT PRICE AUTO?
London, Jure 12 (Autocaster)—A
man bought a motor car for $20. He
thought he had a wonderful bargain,
but here is what happened;
He knocked down a lamppost.
He was asked to come to court for
driving without a license.
He sold the car for $3.75.
The court fined him $5.
BAKING
POWDER
Sam Price
forcier
35 Jean
25 ouncesfor 35 '
Guaranteed Pure
and Healthful
Our Government
used millions cf pounds
cents
'cffenQcfy
• Letters intended tor pnoucauon in
th^oo^.houlu
should not be long and should hear the
name and address of the writer. Com
munications written over a nom de
will be published only if accom
p aB ^ W jth the name of the author,
Cashier Koester of Security
Slate Bank of Outlook Says
No Foundation to Charges
The Producers News is in receipt of 1
the following letter from the cashier
of the Security State Bank of Out- j
look, Montana, which we publish here
with:
Outlook, Montana,
June 6 , 1928.
Producers News,
Plenty wood, Montana,
Gentlemen ;
The article in last weeks issue rel
ative to the Wanda Hass lot deal is
mis-leading. I did not induce Miss
Hass to buy any lots as the last week's
article indicated. She had been at the
house three or four different times
this spring wanting to buy those lots
being the south half of block twenty
three but never found me at home un
til Sunday, May 27. This day I ar
rived home in the evening and Miss
Hass had come to see me for the pur
pose of buying these lots so I in
formed her that a cheaper location of
which we had several that we could
sell her for $25 would answer her pur
pose and upon showing her those lo
cations she felt that I wanted to keep
her nom geting her choice as she had
her mind firmly made up on those lots
in the south half of block 23. Seeing
her frame of mind I told her that she
could have her choice in whatever
there was in the townsite and that 1
would get her those lets in the south
half of block 23 for two hundred dol
lars whereupon she said that she could
buy a similar location for one hun
died fifty dollars but preferred to !
have this if she could get it at the
same pi ice phereupon I told her that
I would let her know the next day at
noon. ' 1
I then shaped the title and paid the
taxes and at noon on Monday went to
her and told her that if she wanted
to close the deal that we were ready
to do so and she paid me the one
hundred fifty dollars agreed upon for
said half block. There is over three
hundred fifty square feet of substan
Ual cement sidewalk worth more than
the price paid for the lots and that is
the reason she was set on this piece of
property. Our equity in this property
was over five hundred dollars.
From this you can judge for your
self whether or not there is any foun
dation to the charge made against us.
Respectfully,
FRANK KOESTER,
Cashier.
DATE AND NUT SPREAD
For luncheon or tea use this spread
on slices of buttered white or graham
bread. With these open sandwiches,
serve others of pimiento cheese (this
may be bought in jars).
your bread in fancy shapes, without
crusts.
V* cup dates, shopped; % cup chop
ped nuts, 4 tablespoons sweetened
condensed milk, 2 teaspoons lemon
juice. Beat milk and lemon juice
together with a fork until thick. Add
dates and nuts and mix well.
And cut
OPENING NEW TOWNS
On the Saco -Turner Branch
of the Great Northern
TOWN LOT SALES
Turner, July 12th
Hogeland, July 13th
Good openings for banks, general stores,
hardware, lumber, machinery, garages,
hotels, newspapers and many lines of busi
ness.
Turner and Hogeland
FLAT, one of the largest and best wheat
growing and farming districts of the North
west. The district is partly developed, but
thousands of acres of good farm land re
main to be placed under cultivation.
Tow nsites are developed and sales man
aged by the Dakota & Great Northern
Townsite Company, a subsidiary o ■ :he Great
Northern Railway. Reasonable minimum
prices have been established to encourage .
development and prevent speculation.
100,000 acres under option at $5 to $20
per acre for protection of
Write for FREE BOOK about the country
and detailed information
E. C. LEEDY, Dept_
Great Northern Railway
St. Paul, Minn.
the BIG
serve
settlers.
new
Vote On July 17th For
E. E. "ESSE"
ESSELSTYN
Republican Candidate for
State Treasurer
•ë&vÿ*:£
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$•* 55 #
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,w ; ;
Register U. S. Land Office, Billings,
1906-09, appointed by President
Roosevelt,
Montana State Treasurer 1909-13.
Now engaged In farming, stock
raising, and developing farm
properties.
EXPERIENCED—EFFICIENT
Authorized and paid for by the
Esselstyn * for- State Treasurer Club
The Producers News—$3.00 a year.
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Be a Home Run Hitter
Mothers its up to you! If you want strong, healthy
children—boys and girls that later will become
leaders not only in athletics but in the social and
business world—start them right with plenty of
wholesome foods. REAL VEIL VET ICE CREAM
and GOLDEN WEST BUTTER is the most whole
food that can be given them.
;
f
! 5
j Ç*
,
some
BUTTER AND ICE
CREAM
THE BEST FOODS
WE HAVE
USE MORE OF
THEM
y
y.
IT SATISFIES
-ii
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£
%
A,
¥
3
AT ALL UP-TO
DEALERS
r
!
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1
WHOLESOME
MEATS•
!
FOR
BETTER MEALS!
Good meat is the fonnj «
every meal. Even hl l0n 0{
knows how impossible^ ftT?
Plan a meal 4ho U t *
Forman's Meat Market you i
ceive only the finest cutset
the most economical pri<*i
Our meats are received f res v
daily—and kept in modern t
fngerators - thereby assntî*
you the best at all time* 8
Try us once and be
convinced.
Forman's
«
"
FRED FORMAN, Prop.
Plentywood
! Phone 17
!