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The "Kansas Loan and Trust Company" Lately Known As the "Trust Company of America' Gets Receivers. LIABILITIES $400,000. The Assets, However, Said to Amount to $1,200,000. President of the Company Made a Receiver. The Trust company of America, formerly the Kansas Loan and Trust company, one of the oldest and largest Kansas loan companies and the last one'to survive the financial vicissitudes of the past several years, has failed. On application of John R. Mulvane, John Martin and W. H. Rossington, trustees of the debentures issued by the company from 1888 to 1898, Judge Williams of the United States court last night issued an order appointing T. B. Sweet and Geo. H. Whitcomb of this city as receivers. The order authorizes them to take charge of the affairs of the company at once. The order was issued on an agreed statement, and the receivership is for the purpose of protecting the assets of the company. The company acknowledges its inability to meet its obligations. The assets of the Trust Company of America amount in round numbers to $1,200,000. They are represented largely by real estate. The company has a paid in capital of $705,300 and the liabilities amount to something over $400,000. Mr. T. B. Sweet, president of the company and one of the receivers, stated today that the receivership would last at least two years and possibly longer, and that at the end of that time the company would go out of existence. He said that all indebtedness would be entirely satisfied, but admitted that the stockholders would probably be at a loss. The dates of issuance of other debenreceivership proceedings have acted as trustees of the debentures issued by the company since 1888. The first debentures were issued for sale in Great Britain in July, 1888. Of these there is still unpaid $3,637. The dates of issues of other debentures, with the amounts still remaining unpaid, are as follows: April, 1889, $100,000 unpaid. January, 1891, $80,500 unpaid. July, 1895, $96,000 unpaid. June, 1898, $67,750 unpaid. The debentures amount in total to $347,887, and other indebtedness increases this to something over $400,000. The Kansas Loan and Trust company was organized in 1873. It did business under that name until February, 1893, when the Trust Company of America, organized under the laws of Missouri, absorbed it. The company passed successfully through the panic of 1893, and the boast was made that it was at least one Kansas loan company that could command the confidence of eastern capitalists. In the petition filed by the trustees it is stated that the business of the company has always been conducted with integrity and in a careful manner, and that it is no fault of management that it is unable to meet its obligations. The petition continuing, says: "But in view of the disturbances and unsettled conditions now and for some time past prevailing in the United States the company has become and will be unable to meet its maturing obligations as they fall due and is therefore insolvent. The complainants believe that the value of the property held as security exceeds in aggregate amount the amount of indebtedness, and if such property and securities are not sacrificed by forced and improvident sales there will be realized a sum sufficient to satisfy all indebtedness. On the other hand, the petition states, if suit is brought to force the payment 1 of outstanding indebtedness it will prove disastrous to the company. On this ground the receivership was asked, in order that any forced action could be prevented and the property held by the company be disposed of to the best possible advantage. All the debentures are secured by real estate and real estate mortgages. They comprise a trust fund which will be satisfied before any other indebtedness of the company is paid. "It hurts our pride to go into the hands of receivers," said Mr. Sweet, "but it was much the better plan for our creditors. Practically all of the land held by the company can be sold to advantage if there is nothing forced about its sale, and under the receiver1 ship it will not have to be sacrificed. In my opinion there will be scarcely any shrinkage in the assets, and all indebtedness will be fully satisfied. The stockholders, of course, will have to be satisfied with what is left, and there may possibly be a loss to them. The salary of Mr. Sweet as receiver of the company is limited to $3,000 and that of Mr. Whitcomb to $2,400.
