When he was 13, Benjamin Balish had saved $5,300 from peddling spoiled pineapples to slum dwellers on Manhattan's lower East Side. Then he turned to onions, at one time was making about $175,000 a year as active partner in Dingfelder & Balish, Manhattan onion and potato jobbing firm. Claiming he was U. S. "Onion King," Ben Balish last year bought out his partner, quiet, wealthy Carl I. Dingfelder (TIME, Oct. 18). Last fortnight, the 42-year-old Onion King declared himself broke, asked permission to reorganize Benjamin Balish Co., Inc. under Section 776 of the Federal Bankruptcy Act.
Explanations of the King's downfall were...