OCR Text |
Show Millionaire Manufrcturer Acquires Valley Interests Wm. Wriggley, Jr., the "King of Gum Manufacturers" Buys Control of Gunnison Valley Factory. One of the most important deals and one which Involves the welfare of Gunnison, the Gunnison valley and the entire county, has just been consummated con-summated in the transfer of the control con-trol of the stock of the Gunnison Valley Sugar company to William Wrigley, Jr., the king of gum manufacturers manu-facturers and one of the leading financiers of the United States. While it has been known that Mr. Wrigley was seeking tie purchase of the valley val-ley factory, details of the transfer were not given out until last week. The deal, It is currently rumored, Involved the transfer of cash to the amount of $400,000. While Mr. Wrigley has acquired a control in ;the factory, W. Harvey Ross and R. T. Harris, Salt Lake capitalists, and O. H. Eggs, the noted sugar engineer engi-neer of Santa Anna, Calif., will be Identified in the ownership of the big factory. Speaking of the deal, the Salt Lake Tribune has the following to say from the officials who have just acquired ac-quired the plant: , "Mr. Wrigley, in entering the sugar industry, Is said to be desirous of protecting the interests of his other business by assuring it sugar supplies, land since the output of the Gunnison Bugar company factory is only sufficient suffi-cient to supply approximately half of the requirements of the gum business, it is believed that Mr. Wrigley contemplates con-templates other large investments.. "It was said yesterday for Mr. Wrigley that the stockholders of the company, of which there are more than 1,000, nearly all residents of Utah, will be protected in full, and that the product of the company will be sold at the full market price, no preference in the matter of price being be-ing given to the chewing gum factories. fac-tories. At a recent meeting of the company's directors a vote of full approval of the change of control was granted and confidence was expressed in the management now directing the affairs of the company. "The William Wrigley, Jr., company com-pany of Chicago is the second largest single consumer of sugar in the world.. Besides owning and operating operat-ing large factories in Chicago, Brooklyn, Brook-lyn, Toronto, Canada, and Sydney, Australia, devoted entirely to the manufacture of chewing gum, the Wrigley interests Include plantations in this country, South America and Mexico, where is produced the wlnter-fereens, wlnter-fereens, peppermint and chicle used in flavoring the gum. The company turns out 9,000,000,000 sticks of chewing gum annually. The company com-pany is also the largest advertiser of a single product In the world. The company has assets of $25,000,000, and in 1919 their net sales were more than $27,000,000. Mr. Wrigley owns the island of Catalina in California, and the Chicago baseball club in the National league. "Mr. Ross, president of the Gunnison Gun-nison Valley Sugar company, with 'Mr. Harris, a financial expert, has been the active directing force in the management of the company for the last" year. Mr. Egge is a beet sugar engineer and factory operator. opera-tor. He has served in managerial capacities with the Great Western Sugar Su-gar company of Colorado, the Sprec-kels Sprec-kels Sugar company of California, the Anaheim Sugar company, and, more recently, the Delta Sugar company. "The factory is located at Center-field, Center-field, Sanpete county, on the Marys-vale Marys-vale branch of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad in the Gunnison val-ttey. val-ttey. The management says there are 'more than 20,000 acres of land ad-Ijacent ad-Ijacent to the factory capable of producing pro-ducing sugar beets. The plant at ipresent has a daily capacity of 450 tons of beets, and it is planned to Increase the capacity soon to 650 tons. It Is estimated that the yield this year from the 5,000 acres under contract will be between 55,000 and 60,000 tons of beets, from which it is expected to produce between 120,-'000 120,-'000 and 125,000 hundred-pound bags of sugar. "The factory was completed in the 'fall of 1919 and operated for the first time last year. The company was a pioneer in its offer of the sliding slid-ing scale contract for .the payment of beets to its growers, and these farmers farm-ers will receive a price for their beets this year based on the price of sugar. 'This company was th first in the state to give Its farmers free pulp from the beets they produced. "With the changes to be made at the meeting of the board of directors to be held Tuesday, the officers and directors will be as follows: Presl-lent, Presl-lent, W. Harvey Ross; vice president, Joshua Greenwood; treasurer, R. T. Harris; secretary and assistant treasurer, treas-urer, Lorena Holman; directors, W. Harvey Ross, J. C. Cox, treasurer of the William Wrigley, Jr., company; com-pany; R. T. Harris; Joshua Greenwood, Green-wood, chairman of the state public utilities commission; V. Ei. King, cattleman and sheepgrower of Teas-dale; Teas-dale; I. D. Voorhees, sheepgrower of Manti; T. E. Wood, vice president of the First National bank of Dubois, Idaho; P. C. Scorup, rancher and merchant, Salina; E. D. Sorenson, Manti; Allen T. Sanford, attorney. The headquarters offices of the company com-pany are located In Salt Lake." |