MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE- MEDFORD, OREGON
MONDAY. MAY U, 1962
A 3
agency Tanjtig said today.
The news agency said two of
the babies were boys and two
girls. Mrs. Artukovic, 42, has
four other children, two of,
whom are twins, Tanjug said.
Descent of Billie Sol Estes Comes
Faster Than First Million Dollars
Editor's note: This it the
Ut in a series ot three dis
patches on Billie Sol Estes
end the collapse of his agri
cultural empire in West
Texas.
By HARRY FERGUSON
Pecos, Tex.-a?U-In the days
wnen he was riding high as
the executive head of a busi
ness empire worth $150 mil
lion Billie Sol Estes liked to
tell interviewers, "I'm Just a
little boy with an office by the
side of the road."
A sign on the front door of
that office today reads: "The
Billie Sol Estes Enterprises
are under the jurisdiction of
the United States District
court and Harry Moore is the
receiver. Nothing shall be re-
--rt" 1 1 iim i r " m mm
NEWBRY NAMED
GOOD SENATOR
On May 5, 1962, the Ore
gen Voter said; "Lynn New
bry. Republican encumbent, de
lervci the nomination over Don
lid L. Stathoi who in our opin
ion ii trying te unieat Newbry
for no objective purpose. New.
bry wat a good Senator indeed."
- Pd. Pol. Ad by Neighbors for
Newbry Committee
Chet Hubbard, Chm., Medford,
moved from these premises
without court authority."
Estes is 37 years old. Seven
years ago he was a routine
millionaire in the sense that
he was worth $1 million, and
it must be true that the first
million is the hardest. Once he
got over the first hurdle, he
began to pile up. money with
incredible speed and controll
ed or had an interest in 40
companies, from a funeral
home to a grain storage or
ganization. But his descent was even
faster. In the last four months
his business enterprises have
been put into receivership
and he is under indictment by
the federal government on 57
charges of fraud. .There will
be a meeting of Estes' credi
tors in El Paso on May 23.
You can get a fast idea of
the sprawling nature of Estes'
organization and the extent of
the trouble he is in from the
fact the federal district court
has notified 564 creditors that
they can appear and try to
salvage some assets. '
Some Are Solvent
There is an erroneous im
pression that every enterprise
in which Estes engaged now is
on the rocks. Investigations
still are under way, but so far
some of his companies appear
to be in good shape. Estes es
timates his assets at $54 mil
lion but that is subject to a
court review.
What got him into trouble
is a metal cylinder about
seven feet long and painted
white. It is called an anhy
drous ammonia fertilizer
tank. When you feed its con
tents into an irrigation ditch,
it gives a terrific boost to
growing cotton. The price of
a tank is about $1,000.
Using his credit, Estes be
gan buying large orders of an
hydrous ammonia from Com
mercial Solvents Corp. Then
he began slashing prices to
west Texas farmers and un
derselling competitors in an
attempt to drive them out of
business. Before the roof fell
in, Estes had succeeded in be
coming one of the world's
largest distributors of anhy
drous ammonia. He used some
of the money derived from the
farmers to get into the grain
storage business expecting to
r,i-)ir'W',"'"-".-vli.'.'; st -
i 'If- ' S r
BILLIE SOL ESTES
get heavy government fees for
storing crops.
Into the picture now comes
Alan Propp and Oscar Griffin,
general manager and editor of
the Pecos Independent, a
newspaper published on Mon.
day and Thursday with a cir
culation of 3,450. There was a
lot of talk going on around
Pecos when the farmers came
to town about "10 per cent,"
and all of it seemed to be con
nected with Estes. Griffin be
gan investigating.
This is the story he finally
uncovered:
Estes, in partnership with
a tank manufacturing con
cern, Superior Manufacturing
Co., would approach farmers
and tell them his credit was
over-extended, but that he
needed some fertilizer tanks.
The farmer was asked to buy
some tanks from the Superior
Manufacturing Co., on credit,
sign a mortgage for them and
then lease the tanks to Estes.
The farmer was promised a
cash bonus of 10 per cent of
the purchase price and Estes
agreed to make the lease pay
ments precisely the same
amount of money as the mort
gage would cost.
' It sounded like a good deal.
and the farmers in this area
had great confidence in Estes.
They began signing the mort
gages, and some of them, it is
said, without reading the doc
uments. Estes took- the farmers'
mortgages and sold them at a 1
discount to finance compa
nies. "With the 10 per cent cash
payments he was making to
the farmers and the discount
to the finance companies, he
must have been paying close
to 30 per cent for his money.V
said a Pecos business execu
tive. What the Pecos Independ
ent's investigation disclosed
was that there wcro 16,000
tank mortgages on file in
Reeves county alone. The
number in west Texas was in
excess of 33,000, and that,
said a business man, "was
enough to fertilizer every
thing from here to Califor
nia." The inevitable conclusion
was that Estes had been col
lecting mortgages on tanks
which didn't exist and there
was testimony in one court
action that he admitted that
such was the case-"Those
tanks just aren't there."
The finance committee call
ed a meeting in Dallas to de
cide what to do, and some of
them filed suit against Estes.
The Federal Bureau of Inves.
tigation moved, and the Texas
attorney general's office got
to work. Documents in con
nection with the fertilizer
tank transactions had been
put in the mails, which placed
the whole thing into inter
state commerce and in the
jurisdiction of the federal gov
ernment. A federal grand jury
brought in an indictment
against Estes and a federal
district court put his enter
prises into receivership.
At first Pecos seemed to be
almost solidly behind Estes.
Lately sentiment seems to be
swinging against him. In the
Brandon barber shop here,
where an informal public
opinion poll seems to be going
on all the time, many persons
are taking an I-told-you-so at
titude and saying, "Don't see
how Billie Sol can get out of
this one."
Local Student To
Study in Japan
Portland-Steve Eichelberg
er. Medford. a senior at Lewis
and Clark college, Portland,
vTill be among the 125 stu
dents from that college going
to Japan and other countries
in September on a foreign
study junket, according to col
lege officials.
The land, people and cul
ture of Japan will be the core
of Eichelberger's program of
independent stud; to increase
international understanding.
The studenus will live in na
tive homes. They will study
the language, history, govern
ment, religions, art, music and
drama and talk with indus
trial and educational leaders.
Eichelberger is the son of
Mr. and Mrs. Sharon S. Eichel
berger, 3367 Forrest ave.,
Medford.
New Veneer Plant
Set at White City
The Lawyer Veneer corn
pan will be the 28th firm to
locate in the White City in
dustrial area, according to
John Laden, White City Realty-
The Lawyer Veneer com
pany with an anticipated pro
duction capacity of 6 million
square feet of three-eighths
veneer monthly plans to be
gin operations at the new
White City location in Sep
tember. Shipments are ex
pected to total 65 to 60 car
loads per month.
The plant will be installed
at an estimated cost of $600,
000 and will use the latest and
most modern equipment, ac
cording to Laden.
The 44 employees will man
the operation in two shifts,
he said. Plant supervisor will
be Freeman Tollefson. The
operation will be located ad
jacent to the Olson-Lawyer
gangmill at White City.
Ben Day and Honry Padgham Jr. luggeit:
Run Your Own Affairs
HOME RULE-YES!
Pd. Pol. Ad. County Citizens Comm. for Home Rule
R. E. Collins, Chmn., 235 So. Oakdale, Medford
Greater Choice Nofed
By Army Recruiter
A greater number of choice
assignments are now available
in the Army for high school
graduates and non-graduates
interested in the service,
MSgt. Warren M. Long, lo
cal Army recruiter, has announced.
Among the courses avail
able for high school graduates
are electronic devises repair,
airplane repair, diesel engine
repair, drafting, stenography.
photography and medical and
dental procedure training.
Non-high school graduates
may select job vocational
training.
Additional information may
be obtained at the Army re
cruiting station in the post
office building. Medford, or
by telephoning SPring 2-5022.
GIVES BIRTH TO QUADS
Belgrade - il'Pll - Housewife
Fatima Artukovic gave birth
to healthy quadruplets Satur
day in a hospital in Doboj,
the official Yugoslav news
(REPUBLICAN)
FRED L.
WALKER
COUNTY
COMMISSIONER
25 Yegrs Proven
Business Success
(X)
Pd. Pol. Adv. Walker
for County Comm. John
Ross, Chm., 230 W.
Main. Medford.
havek-.u aw. a.lemii ill
"WE MUST BUILD OREGON'S ECONOMY"
Sua
YOUR REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS
An outstanding Republican State Representative
for two terms. Carl Fisher will work and
cooperate with people to get things done for
Southern Oregon, the Coast and the
Mid-Willamette Valley. Members of both
parties respect his complete honestv
and sound judgment.
CARL FISHER SAYS: "The nrimarv
job of your Congressman in Washington
is to represent the people. Your
Congressman must help develop
more Oregon payrolls, encourage
expansion of existing industries and agriculture.
-k Outstanding State Representative
ic Sound Judgment
k Will Concentrate on Improving
Oregon's Economy
r
Eu 1
fd, Adv. Ftther for Cangrm Commit tM, lit East lioadway, tuaene, Oregon Ralph F. Cobb. Chairman -
IS
GEO
lLb.ew.as
9ifflDQ2ll3B
)ll
" ii j ii i Mi,. ,, Hi I i mm i i
WE ARE NOT OPEN MONDAY EVENINGS!