— Yes sir I’ve been, I believe we’ll have no difficulty proving that this particular Indian reservation is not really a reservation as per treaty, appar…
— What the devil they all doing camping out there then.
— Yes sir apparently they were removed to this present site around the turn of the century from their original reservation further to the east where substantial deposits of limestone and gypsum had attracted the attention of the cement industry. Our sources say that any claims they might have had through any treaty involving that earlier reservation can be proved without validity regarding these lands they now occupy and that any attempt they might make to obstruct the…
— Point is Stamper don’t just want easements through there Beaton says he could come in hind tit on the whole deal unless he owns drilling rights and all the rest of it lock stock and barrel and with us banking it can’t take any damn chance.
— Of course sir once the treaty matter is determined and the lands recovered by the government their outright purchase can be arranged immediately through the Bureau of…
— Get onto it then don’t dawdle like you have with this damn Alberta and Western Stamper told you to look into, on their last legs twenty years ago should have had the whole thing signed sealed and delivered for him by now, Zona where the devil you going, don’t want that meeting to start till Blaufinger shows up.
— Do I need your permission to go take a…
— Sit still Beaton she can get there herself get back to business here.
— Yes sir I’ve looked into this for Mister Stamper and it appears that just recently this Alberta and Western Power Company was victimized in a scheme of pyramided debenture issues and falsely optimistic earnings forecasts in preparation for merger with this so called Ace Development Company which had of course been set up by the same operators. They had already doubled its ten cent issuing price in a simple buy-back scheme and evidently planned the merger with Alberta…
— By God Beaton how many damn millions already tied up in that pipeline deal Stamper sitting on those tar shale deposits up there and you’re talking penny stock frauds? Stick them in jail and get on with things.
— Yes sir I understand the SEC has brought mail fraud charges against one of the principals, a Mister Wall, and the man who posed as underwriter is being sought. The problem seems to be in dealing with the interests that bought heavily into both sides of the scheme, the debentures and the development company stock, with the obvious intention of seizing what assets there are when the scheme collapsed, these scattered power company sites and rights of way and the extensive mineral exploration claims that are causing Mister Stamper to…
— Well damn it who are they, what the devil’s all this…
— A report I was putting together from our various sources I thought you might want to review whenever…
— Damn it Beaton haven’t got time to go through this mess, this the people we’re talking about?
— One of them yes sir, this appeared in an upstate newspaper during their takeover of an ailing textile firm called Eagle…
— Couple of blacks, are they?
— No I think not sir that, I believe that’s simply the poor quality of the photocopy, the one on the left there, a Mister…
— Yes Bast damn it I can read Beaton, what the devil’d you get all this trash together for, nickel and dime takeover of a broken down mill only damn thing it’s good for’s a tax umbrella.
— Yes sir they appear to have made immediate use of its pension fund to acquire a midwestern brewery with very favorable earnings and an attractive undistributed dividends situation, more recently they snapped up a producer of matchbooks whose financial position appears considerably less secure and any long-range plan in their expansion program is somewhat difficult to…
— Only damn plan sounds like grab whatever they can get their damn hands on, what else they picked up.
— These are the only completed acquisitions according to our sources sir although a new nursing home issue just rose considerably on rumors of a merger, and we understand they’re showing considerable interest in a company called Ray-X which manufactures a variety of battery driven and transistorized…
— Management a bunch of damn fools came into the bank last year got themselves tied up hand and foot with government fixed price contracts rising costs didn’t know where the devil their operating expenses were coming from should have stayed in toys, started in toys should have stayed in toys. Any damn fool acquires that outfit deserves it, anything else?
— Nothing tangible sir, they do appear to have conducted talks with a privately held chain of funeral homes and I understand are on the lookout for a large cash reservoir like Hartford Fire Insurance or one of the large savings and loan associations, in my most recent information they also appear to have just begun to hedge in commodity futures and…
— Keep that up they’ll go to jail where they belong, show me any damn corporate charter allows you to…
— No sir I meant the principals individually sir, the…
— Who this, this what’s his name Bast? Looks like he wouldn’t know an eight percent debenture (rom a pork belly damned amateurs don’t know the rules come in and ruin the whole damn game for everybody.
— Yes sir apparently they…
— Only damn reason they lined up this takeover of these damn mining claims and power company sites to hold up Stamper for anything they can question’s where the devil they’re getting their information, pipeline’s the best kept damn secret since the bomb want all this cleared up damn fast Beaton.
— Yes sir on the other hand it occurred to me they might be acting from some less aggressive motive, according to our sources some timber cutting seems to have begun in the region of these mining claims, with the acquisition of this matchbook producer they may simply have been seeking a dependable source of wood pulp or even cellulose, with the idea of converting their Eagle Mills facilities to the production of synthetic…
— Wish I thought they were that damn stupid market’s so glutted with imports hardly give the stuff away, damn it ever occur to you to get hold of Frank Wiles see what he knows about them?
— Yes I have sir, in fact he appears to have already handled a few limited transactions for them and apparently Mister Crawley is in sporadic contact with this Mister Bast, who would appear to serve the function of executive officer for operations…
— Well by God Beaton everybody in town knows them but you? ever occur to you to pick up the damn telephone get hold of them yourself find what the devil they’re up to?
— Yes sir I did approach one of their attorneys on the Alberta and Western matter, a man named Piscator who was hardly cooperative and sounded somewhat ah, unsavory, he said he would speak to his boss but apparently left immediately for Jamaica and…
— All you damn lawyers ever do is speak to each other, any damn reason you can’t speak to his boss? go straight to this Bast or whoever he’s…