Trustee

Article Tools

The stocky, white-haired, ruddy-faced gentleman who in 1926 began selling stock in Automotive Royalties Corp. had a good list of prospects. Most of them were old folks and clergymen who had subscribed to a series of books on dietetics written by one Eugene Christian. They liked ruddy-faced Clark W. Parker: he told them frankly that he had been born 69 years ago in a Michigan log cabin. His voice was impressive, his bearing dignified. He was a trustee of Manhattan's interdenominational Church of the Strangers. His corporation sounded good — motors and things. And all he would think of accept ing (at first) was $100 of their money.

Clark W. Parker and his son Wyman stood before Federal Judge John Munro Woolsey in Manhattan last week, were fined $11,000 each and sentenced to five years in Atlanta Penitentiary for conspiracy and using the mails to defraud. Worthless was not only $1,250,000 worth of stock in Automotive Royalties Corp. but also that of two previous companies Mr. Parker had formed. Many a mulcted clergyman sadly agreed when Judge Woolsey called him "an enemy to society." Swindler Parker shrugged.

QUOTES OF THE DAY

Open quoteThis is not about politics, it's about people who are poor, who are in need and want to be helped by government.Close quote

  • JACOB ZUMA,
  • head of South Africa's governing African National Congress, expressing shock about white poverty in the country