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Show Millionaire Manufacturer , Rescues, Sugar Company I , With the recent reorganization of the Gunnison Sugar Company the Salt Lake Telegram of a late date made a resume of the company's transactions since the company 'was first organized and for the benefit of those in this district the article is herewith reproduced: Down in the Gunnison valley of Utah men heroically labored to wrest from the earth the products of their toil. Vicissitudes in many forms appeared, and many of the farmers joined in promoting the. Gunnison Valley Sugar company, evidently believing be-lieving an ideal situation would be created by a combination of interests. The Gunnison valley company was promoted in 1917, at which time about 600 stockholders were enlisted in the support of the enterprise. The factory fac-tory was built in 1918 at Center-field, Center-field, Sanpete county, and was first operated in 1919. The major portion por-tion of the factory was assembled from an old plant in Waverly, Wash., and removed to the present factory site. Much of the machinery in this plant was found to be worthless or ! obsolete in modern sugar-making practise, so that it was commonly said that "the factory was a pile of junk and would never operate." While the plant when erected was rated with a capacity of 350 tons of I beets per day, the result of its first! year's operation was a daily cutting capacity of only 228 tons. Big Expense Entailed To make over the plant and rebuild it, as has been done under the present pres-ent management, was an expensive undertaking, and it could almost be said that it would have been nearly as well to have started over and have built an entirely new factory. In addition to making the large outlays necessary in rebuilding the plant and increasing its capacity to 800 tons per , day more than 300 per cent large operative losses have necessarily been sustained by reason of the inefficiency of the plant at the beginning, thereby increasing the manufacturing costs and decreasing the profits. It is well known that in 1921 the whole sugar industry was in sore financial fin-ancial straits, and that such losses were suffered as to threaten the very evistence of the industry itself. Then,' like a golden rainbow appearing ap-pearing after a storm, William Wrig-ley Wrig-ley Jr., the big chewing gum manufacturer, manu-facturer, appeared on the horizon. The company took on new life. The growers and stockholders of the company com-pany took on renewed hope. Wrigley was unsparing in his support. sup-port. He lent his hundreds of thousands thou-sands to rebuild the sugar factory and saved it from failure because of the great losses in 921. Through his help the company was enabled to pay its growers for their beets, to ; cultivate more lands and to grow ' more beets, all with the result that they are now enthusiastic in their support, of the sugar factory. No Strings On Output Wrigley came to the help of the company and the Gunnison farmers in their trying day. He asked no favors. He would take the company's output of sugar or not, allowing it to go out in the open market and sell its product to the best advantage. The Gunnison valley company, even with its enlarged capacity and a maximum max-imum sugar production, cannot take care of the needs of the Wrigley ! company. That company is one of the largest consumers of sugar in the world and uses annually about twice as much sugar as the Gunnison valley company can produce. Wrigley went into the company at first to insure himself a supply of sugar, but he was always willing to pay the market price for the sugar and never took advantage of his posi-i posi-i tion. He even bought the Gunnison Valley's sugar and permitted that company to resell it at higher prices and gain the increased profit. Hence, when the Gunnison Valley Sugar company was in sore financial straits, he advanced it $500,000, and later, when more money was needed, his company indorsed the notes of the sugar company for another $500,-000. $500,-000. Trusts Backers He could have foreclosed had he wished. Rather than adopt that strictly business attitude, he ventured ventur-ed into idealistic paths and treated the stockholders of the company and the officers on a man to man basis. He stood by the ship throughout the financial storm. He aided the company to pay its beet growers, not : only promptly, but before the pay- j ments were due. j And now the ship of business of the sugar company has reached the harbor of safety, thanks to the Wil-I Wil-I liam Wrigley ' Jr. company and the j men he has entrusted to run it- for him. ! A few days ago a new company, called Gunnison Sugar company, was ! organized, with a capital of $1,075,-000. $1,075,-000. Of this amount Wrigley sub-: sub-: scribed for $500,000 of stock, representing rep-resenting the $500,000 'he loaned to the company. The other $575,000 is allotted, share for share, to the old stockholders of the Gunnison Valley Sugar company. So that the stockholders of the company com-pany are placed side by side with i Wrigley, dollar for dollar, for the I money they put into the company. The trying days are over. Wrigley ventured on a doubtful sea when the tides were running against the sugar company. Today he is honored with the captaincy of the' vessel of accomplishment, ac-complishment, which, thanks to him ! and his trusted agents ,has pulled j through the storm and reached the j haven of success. ! Acreage Increased. As a result, under the reorganization reorganiza-tion plans just announced, further i improvements will be made at the i factory, and it is anticipated that 60,-000 60,-000 tons of beets will be sliced in 1924, compared with only 11,389 tons in 1919. This wil provide for an output out-put of 150,000 one hundred pound bags of sugar. (Continued on page 8) Millionaire Manu-facturer Manu-facturer (Continued from page 1) Mr. Wrigley's original interest in the company was formed as a result of a conference in Chicago in April, 1920, when W. Harvey Ross and R. T. Harris, who are now managing the company for him, placed their cards upon the table and frankly displayed' dis-played' the situation. "I'll help," said Mr. Wrigley. Then when the storm came, he poured his thousands into the company and saw his money con-' vert a project, which was at the,brink of ruin, into a prosperous concern, j Not only has he transferred his loan of $500,000, for which he charged the company only 5 per cent interest; (and then did .not collect it), into preferred stock of the Gunnison Sugar Su-gar company, but now, as a climax to. it all comes this: Early in 1920 the sugar company because of financial necessities, was j obliged to pay its growers, instead of cash, a bonus of preferred stock of $1 per ton far beets grown in 1919. Now, Mr. Wrigley comes forward and personally offers these growers $10 per share for their preferred stock received in payment of the bonus. Owns Baseball Club The Wrigley company, according to its last finacial statement, has assets of $35,000,000 and is the biggest big-gest manufacturer of chewing gum in the world. Mr. Wrigley is the owner of the Catalina island, California, Cali-fornia, and besides his other large railroad and banking interests, including in-cluding his interests in the Biltmore chain of hotels, he is the owner of the Chicago National league baseball base-ball team and the Los Angeles league baseball team. The officers and directors of the new Gunnison Sugar company are as follows: Directors William Wrigley Wrig-ley Jr., Chicago; J. C. Cox, treasurer William Wrigley Jr. company; W. Harvey Ross, R. T. Harris and I. D. Voorhees. Officers W. Harvey Ross, president; I. D. Voorhees, vice-president; R. T. Harris, treasurer; M. M. Glenn, secretary and assistant treasurer; treas-urer; Joshua Greenwood, attorney. Through the large interest taken by Mr. Wrigley, which will mean the salvation of the stockholders. The Gunnison Sugar company is fully capitalized and is provided with ample capital for all its operations. Once Sold Soap Many years ago, when he was struggling for the great success which has come to him, Mr. Wrigley came to Utah as a soap salesman and traveled up and down the state selling sell-ing soap to the local retailers. He was struck then with their rugged honesty and aggressive business methods. It took him many years, after many successive failures, to build up his present business to its successful heights. Now comes a time when he can express his admiration for and confidence in the people of Utah by placing one of its industries on its feet. Wrigley's help to the Gunnison Sugar company forms one of the most romantic chapters in the history his-tory of the West's development. Only On-ly through his generosity and broad minded spirit was the Gunnison Valley Val-ley Sugar company enabled to "carry on" and so the company and the growers of the Gunnison valley con-' con-' sider him the savior of the sugar beet industry in that section. The officers and stockholders of the company are proud to admit that they are associated with a man of the type of William Wrigley Jr. They acclaim that he did more than the right thing. They urge that he went much further than that and did the real big thing. By a unanimous vote of the stockholders stock-holders of the company, at a meeting meet-ing held to effect the reorganization of the company, at which stockholders stockhold-ers owning 98 per cent of the common com-mon stock of the company and over 98 per cent of the preferred stock of the company were in attendance in person or by proxy, the following resolution was adopted: "Resolved, That we extend to the management and to Mr. William Wrigley Jr. our grateful thanks for the uniform consideration and fairness fair-ness which have characterized, at all times, their dealings for and with our company, and particularly for Mr. Wrigley's broad minded generosity most recently evidenced by his agreeing agree-ing to present reorganization, and for the management's having deservedly inspired Mr. Wrigley's continuing faith and confidence, which has made this reorganization ' possible." |