The Sunday Oregonian., September 13, 1908, Magazine Section, Page 3, Image 49

3
THE SUNDAY OHEGOXIAy. FOHTLAXP. SEPTEMBER 13, 1908
D
o
MORGAN HAS
COMPANY IN
JAMES A. ST1LLWAN. FRAHIf A.-
VAMDERLIP. GEO. W. PERKINS,
AUGUST BELMONT, JOHN J.
MBTCMELLrjHEMRV LEE,:GG!M:
SON AND ' OTrls-Rb .
P sssssa-
IT ,
BT JOHN 8. HARWOOD.
I O J. PIKRPO-VT J10KlfA.-
1s not
WhOM
ll tb otilr American banker
tlM only
' nam 1 well known ti the Hnancial
tret" of the footstooL There are
oOvera. Amons theae othera la the rather
notable jroup of Yankee famed banker
who are either born li Germany or trace
their deaoent from German parentage.
Perhaps the moat fejnous of thla group
In America, at any rate la the aecond
Auruet Belmont, whoae father. German
by birth, founded the banking houae of
.August Belmont Company aome time
ater he had bean nut to this country a
the personal representative of the Rotha
childa. In thla group, too. cornea Jacob
H. Schlff. born at FranJcfort -on-Main of
poor parents, and now looked upon In
Japan as one of the great barkers of
anodern tlmeafor largely through his In
strumentality Japan was able to place
one of Its big loans made necessary by
the war with Russia. Thougto born In
. . I QnAwv r ( Klial-
Ulla country, jbhwi I
was education In the famliya banking ,
i- .. in.ti. I
neuse. wnicn oiw wi 1
tutlone of Hs kind In Mr. Schlff s native
city. And Isaac N. Sellgman. like Mr.
Speyer. a native New Yorker, traces his
forebears back to German soli.
Of course. George W. Perkins Is en
titled to be enrolled among our world
famous money - changers; distinction
which he has gained as Mr. Morgan a
rlghthand man and as a sometime vice
president of a certain world-famous life
Insurance company that was under the
probe of one Charles H. Hughee two
ytara or so ago. Though be Is practi
cally In retirement, as far as attending
daily to business Is concerned, still V. O.
Mills should be included among the bank
ers whose financial deeda are familiar in
Europe: and the same may be said of
Lvt P. Morton, who first came before
the American public eye as the running
mate of Harrison, when the latter de
feated Cleveland for the Presidency.
Aa president and vice-president, respec
tively, of the recognixed Standard Oil
banking headquarters, James Stlllman
and Frank A. Vanderlip constantly figure
In the International calculations of Eu
rope's financiers. Of the two, Vanderlip,
perhaps. Is better known personally, by
reason of the study that he has made at
first hand of banking and other business
conditions obtaining In the old country;
though Stlllman's large-sized ambition to
make the National City Bank a sort of
Bank of England institution Is talked
about wherever big bankers congregate.
All of these bankers have their head
quarters In New York; they constitute. In
great measure, "Wall street Itself. But
they are not Yankeeland's only famous
bankers. Boston can boast and does of
a banker whose name is written large In
every European banking center none
other than Henry Lee Hlgginson, long
famous for being able to mix financing
and music successfully. He, loo, has the
distinction of being the only one of our
world-famous bankers who saw service In
the Civil War, though Mr. Morgan and
others were old errougn to go to war
when the call came, and he Is one of the
first" citisena not only of the Hub. but
of all New England aa well.
In Chicago there Is John J. Mitcuell,
who. by doggedly sticking to what hia
friends were wont to represent to him as
a forlorn banking hope, succeeded in
building up what Is now the largest bank
ing business, bar none, conducted in the
Middle West. The same city Is the scene
of the activities of the Forgan brothers,
until recently president and vice-president
of the same National bank who know
from actual experience the banking meth
ods followed In three countries Great
Britain. Canada and the United States.
Though they are not so widely known
ajroad as any of the other bankers with
whom they are here classed, still the
amount of International- prominence that
Is tneir portion would make the average
American or European hanker feel that
he was something of a figure of bis day
and generation.
Those Who Climbed From Bottom.
While about half of these bankers are
living refutations of the oft-repeated
charge that sons of rich or otherwise In
fluential and prominent men never
amount to much In the work-a-day world,
the rest Illustrate how It la possible In
America to climb far up the ladder of
banking with no aid except one's own
ability and Initiative. Vanderlip. for ex-
PLENTV OF
UACOS n.SCHIFF
FEANK. "V54.NDERLIP
IN EUROPE ONE or
AMERICAS X3CST
known . Q-j--K.nres.
ample, before he made his banking repu
tation as Assistant Secretary of the Treas
ury, waa a machinist, a stenographer, a
newspaper reporter and financial editor,
and then private secretary to Lyman J.
Gage when he was placed at the head of
the Federal Treasury. The old-world par
ents of Jacob H. Schiff were so poor that
they could not afford to give the boy a
thorough schooling, and In hls early teena
be became an apprentice In a dry goods
bouse. Three years later he embarked on
his banking career, when he became a
poorly paid clerk In a very small banking
bouse In his home city.
The elder Forgan brother. James B.,
was only too glad to embrace the opportu
nity, when It comes to him. of entering
the Royal Bank of Scotland In an exceed
ingly .minor position. His brother. David
R., when Jie was turned IS. began learn
ing banking as It Is conducted In Scotland
as a messenger boy, and lie, like bia
brother." climbed up the ladder step by
atep. so that It can be said of him that
... ,.,
be has filled practically every poe.tlon
-ithin the Kift of the modern bank, from
wlthin the gift of the modern ban
the lowest to the highest. The same is
true of John J. Mitchell, who began- as
a messenger in the bank that he now
heads, and seven years later became Its
savior and president.
George W. Perkins, according to hie own
belief, publicly expressed at the time of
his examination In connection with the
Hughes life Insurance Investigation,
should be classed among the bankers who
have come to the top without any extra
neous assistance. You will doubtless re
call the father-to-son "letter on success
that he so proudly displayed while on the
witness stand. It Is true that he began
bis work-a-day career as a S3 a week of
fice boy; It Is also true that hla father
gave him his Initial Job of folding circu
lars, and that during the years that the
son was rising rapidly in the Insurance
company the father was Its Western
agent and an Important factor In Its suc
cess In that section. But In whatever
class Perkins puts himself, or the public
performs that service for him, it is unde
niable that be Is chock full of Innate abil
ity. If It were otherwise he would not
now be second man in the banking busi
ness presided over by J. Plerpont Morgan.
Perkins, from the standpoint of years.
Is the "baby" among our most distin
guished bankers; he was only In Jan
uary, being about a year younger than
James Speyer, both of whom look ex
ceedingly boyish naturally, and especially
when they are seen In conference with
the Wall Street gray beards of finance.
Boston's Music-Loving Banker.
Leaving out of consideration Levi P.
Morton. M. and D. O. Mills, 83, both more
or less on the retired list, the dean of our
world-famous banking coterie Is Henry
Lee Higglnson. He leads Mr. Morgan,
who is 71. by two years, and Is as active
In business as most men a decade or so
younger.
In personal appearance Major Higgln
son Is far more the soldier ' than the
banker. His features are those we Amer
icans have learned to associate with the
Civil War defenders of the country; bis
unmistakable soldierly bearing he ob
tained In the days when he was gallantly
defending his country and at that time,
too, he doubtless contracted the habits
of brusque manner and rugged speech
that have marked his career as a banker
and a philanthropist. In scarcely any
respect does he 'physically measure up
to the standard likeness of the successful
banker; yet the history of banking In
New England for a greater part of the
period since the Civil War largely centers
about Henry Lee Higglnson.
It was as a volunteer soldier In tae
Civil War that Major Higglnson first
came Into the eye of New England. En
tering the service In July of "SL when he
was 26. he fought sid oy side with his
Harvard classmates In numerous battles.
Then, In June of '63, some time after his
fighting ability had caused him to be
msde a major, he received in the battle of
Aldle (Va.) the three sabre cuts and the
two pistol wounds that eventually led to
his retirement for "disability from
wounds received In action." But before
he was retired he had been brevetted lieutenant-colonel
for gallant and meritori
ous service. One of Major Higglnson'!
dominant characteristics is his intense
patriotism: another Is his Intense lo-e for
his alma mater; the two were revealed
combined when he gave Harvard lis
OmCE 'XX -THE .MORSAN
8 'i
i. "
14
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i
U5
'.U
"jl . i- :'
felD
present athletic field and requested that it
be called Soldiers' Field In honor of the
Harvard alumni who gave their lives in
defense of their country. Another of his
notable gifts to Harvard is the famous
Harvard Union, the first students' meet
ing place of Its kind In the country.
As a lover of music. Major Hlgginson
has not only "cultivated his own musical
tastes to a high plane, but his city's aa
well. Indeed, for the past three decades
he has stood in the role of patron of
music to Boston, Its educator In all that
Is best In the musical sense. Today be
cause of his efforts to spread generally
the love of good music In Boston in par
ticular and New England In general. Bos
ton Is generally recognixed as the truly
musical center of the country. Major
Higglnson backed with his personal guar
antee the first long series of symphony
concerts given In Boston at popular
prices. He cheerfully made good the def
icit that resulted. Then, Instead of drop
ping out of the game, as Is the habit of
an "angel" with singed wings, he again
backed another .series of concerts with
his personal guarantee, being firm In the
belief that Boston eventually could be ed
ucated to appreciate and support good
muslo. Quite some years since he had the
Intense satisfaction of seeing this belief
fulfilled.
Major . Higglnson's pronounced love of
music goes back to his early manhood,
when he left his position in 'a Boston
counting house to pursue the study of
music In Vienna. Thus, right from the
beginning of hla grown-up career, he
has mixed the most scientific form of
money-making and music successfully,
a record with two antipodal arts that
no other famous banker of the present
day can equal.
Unlike some of our other well-known
philanthropists. Major Higglnson dislikes
to have the public know what his right
hand and his left also does for the up
'llft of his fellowman. His modesty in
this regard was strikingly illustrated
when he gave the city of Boston Its new
music hall, costing 1400.000. Far from
shouting his munificence from the house
tops. Colonel Higglnson protested to the
point of Indignation that the palace be
not labeled "Hlgginson Hall." As a result
It bears today the name of Symphony
Hall. The Major has no taste for the
fashionable sort of philanthropy that has
for one of its "strings" that the donoi-s
name be plastered prominently In large
1 ! ' Jfc- i
To
HITHERTO
n
JJGUST BELMONT
ViWl- -A 1AMOUS
MEMBER. OF THE "GiEKMAN4
letters on the gift. Truly a refreshing
philanthropist, this eminent banker of
Boston, Mass.
A Big Man In Japan.
Jacob H. Schiff, another of our world
famous bankers, who gives freely to
charity of his millions made In world
banking, and who. after Mr. Morgan, Is
doubtless our best-known banker, is on
speaking terms with the monarchs of the
two great Island empires. . He shares with
Mr. Morgan the honor of having con:
versed with King Edward, and he alone
of all our financiers has had audlenca
with the Mikado. His reception In Japan,
following his financing of an important
loan for that nation two or three years
aso. was flattering In the extreme. The
Mikado decorated him with the Order of
the Sanctified Treasurer of the second
class, the highest class that a foreigner
may receive. He and the members of his
family traveling with him were received
everywhere with marked attention, and
there was not a man big In the govern
ment or the business circles of the nation
that Mr. Schiff did not meet.
"Jake" Schiff, as he Is known among
his intimates, despite the white hairs
that 60 odd years of life have brougnt to
his head, was 18 when he up stakes In
the old country and struck out for this,
landing in New York In the last year of
the Civil War. He had been fbr three
years a bank clerk in Germany; he found
here employment In a'banklng house. Be
fore be was of age he was In the banking
business for nlmself, with a partner, and
seven years after setting foot on Ameri
can soil for the first time found that he
had made sufficient money to permit him
to t)Joy a breathing spell.
For three years he sojourned in Eu
rope. Then came his marriage to Miss
Theresa Loeb, daughter of a member of
the ' firm of Kuhn. Loeb & Co., and.
shortly after, his entrance of the firm,
which had started out selling Inexpensive
clothes to the working folk of Cincinnati
and gradually branched out into the
banking business. The firm wanted
Schlff's services so badly that he was
taken Into partnership with the distinct
understanding that he would eventually
become its president. This he did about
a quarter of a century ago. during which
period Mr. Schiff has built up his Inter
national reputation as a banker and
financial adviser of captains of Industry
UNPUBLISHED "SNAP' " OF"
3. P! JylORGAKT.' 14KE.rc
WHEN HE WASlSLlNG
' TOR ZUROPS
and their enterprises and nations and
their enterprises.
As a philanthropist of note, Mr.
Schiff dates from the late '80s. when
he started the movement which result
ed in Harvard's Semitic Museum, or
"Bible Museum," as it Is more often
called. Much of his philanthropy has
been directed toward alleviating the
conditions of poor Jews of this coun
try and of London. It Is eaid that no
worthy cause looking toward the bet
terment of the Jew is ,ever presented
to him without Its being made stronger
for Its work by receipt from him of
a good-sized check. 'Not Infrequently
he personally conducts Investigations
before glylng money; he has paid sev
eral vislta to the Jewish slams In Lon
don, where he scattered bountiful
largess. Like Major Higglnson, he is
extremely averse to publicity concern
ing his charitable undertakings; he will
not talk about them, but In numerous
cases the recipients of his help have
not been so shy of epeech.
James Speyer. at 43 the aentor of the
Speyer banking houses In this country,
England, and on the Continent, Is another
good friend of the Jewish poor. But he
does not limit his benefactions to mem
bers of his own people. His is a potent
influence In a great many of the leading
charities of the metropolis. He, too. It
will be recalled, provided the JGO.000 that
established the Theodore Roosevelt pro
fessorship In American history and Insti
tutions at the University of Berlin. Mr.
Speyer Is a warm admirer of fhe Presi
dent's, and this fact, together with his
d-esire to promote knowledge of this
country In the land of his forebears, led
Mr. Speyer to found the chair. Inciden
tally, this act in behalf of International
education made the donor persona grata
with the Kaiser.
Though the youngest of our world
famous bankers at the head of a string
of great banking houses scattered In two
continents. Mr. Speyer Is credited by his
associates and rivals with being one of
the keenest financiers now engaged In the
trying game of making money with
morey. He was 22 when he was sent to
Frankfort-on-Main to receive his bank
ing training In the family house there.
That happened in 1883; he has. therefore,
been in the business In which he has
made his name Just a quarter of a cen
turye.Dd for an appreciable period of this
time he was gaining his training by being
sent from one to another of his European
houses. Not until he had been schooled
In all of the foreign branches was he per
mitted to return to this country.
Considered from the personal standpoint.
Mr Speyer Is to be classed with those
men who do not come up physically to
their position In life. "Were you to meet
him walking in "Wall Street, and were un
acquainted with him. you would probably
take Mr. Speyer for some well-groomed
clerk In one of the banking houses or
brokers' offices near at hand. Schiff. with
his close-cropped gray beard, you would
look at twice and ask who he was.
Morgan, you would follow with your
gaze as long as he was In sight Hlg
ginson s soldierly bearing and rugged
features would compel your admiration;
but Speyer. with his rather smooth, unim
pressive face and conventional mustache,
ycu would probably never think of again
after you had glanced casually at him as
he passed you by.
Mitchell, Bank President at 2 8.
A man who never seems to be in a
hurry, who apparently never worries,
who always wears a genial smile and has
a courteous word for every one is
John J. Mitchell, of Chicago, who be
came a bank president at 26, and who
now receives the largest salary of any
bank president, bar one. In the United
States.
Mitchell was elected president of -the
bank he etlll heads back in 1880, when
the Institution, with Its capital stock
depleted to 100,000 from five times
that amount, was seriously thinking of
J
4
.r
if
winding up Its affairs and going out
of business. Mitchell, who had started
with the bank seven years before as a
messenger and been promoted steadily
from department to department, al
lowed that the bank still had some
life, left In It, told the directors as
much, and added in his boyish ardor
that he felt sure he could pull the bank
through Its troubles. The gentlemen of
the Tioard mulled a while over what the
vounKster had told them, recalled his
unusual efficiency In the various posl-"
tlons he had filled, decided to give him
a chance to restore the bank'e prosper
ity, and as an earnest of their Inten
tions and feeling toward him, elected
him president and told him to go ahead.
Mitchell went ahead with a vim. One
of his first acts was to decree that the
bank would accept no name-paper, that
all loans must be backed by callateral
security which could be easily realized
upon. The immediate effect of this and
other orders of a somewhat revolution
ary nature In the bank's methods of
doing business appreciably reduced the
volume of business below all former
low levels; but while others became
more discouraged than before. Mitchell
doggedly looked to the future to Justi
fy him and bring Its reward of pros
perity. Four years after becoming
president he had the -capital stock back
to Its original figure; In another four
years he had doubled It, and 1 years
after his election as president It was
Just 12,000,000. Since the middle '80s
Mitchell's name has been one to con
jure with In financial circles In the
Middle West.
One of the most interesting pieces of
work which Mitchell ever did for his
bank was the measuring of several
million buehels of grain stored In an
elevator that had been placed In bank
ruptcy. Mitchell's bank was named as
receiver on condition that It would
have every bushel of grain in the ele
vator remeasured. Mitchell was ap
pointed to put this herculean task
through, and for the better part of two
years he spent every working day,
stretching from 7 In the morning to 7
at night, personally overseeing the re
measurlng He went to his work clad
In overalls and carrying a dinner-pail,
and he returned home in like garb
when the day's dusty work waa over.
His faithfulness at this none too pleas
ant work, which was finished a short
time before his bank ran up against
the snag of hard times, was one of the
things that led the directors to give the
young man a chance to retrieve the
fortunes of the lnatltutlons.
Before he took' to banking by the
messenger route, Mitchell was first In
clined to civil engineering, and during
one school vacation he helped to sur
vey for the Chicago A Alton, of which
his father was a promoter. The party
that he was with one day came to the
notorious Suy bottoms of Pike County,
and found them so deeply covered with
water that the supply wagon could not
take the party across to dry land. Mit
chell and his companions stripped, put
their clothe In the wagon, sent It to
make the crossing four miles distant
where there was a bridge, and began
to wade through the bog. The rest of
the day they fought almost for their
lives with the myriads of mosquitoes
that swarmed down on them; for the
wagon, finding the bridge washed away,
was compelled" to make a long detour
and did not come to the relief of the
badly stung surveyors until dusk. But
despite this and other hardships that
befell him as a rodman and levelman,
Mitchell wanted to stop school and
become a railroad man In earnest. His
father, however, would not listen to
the boy's wish, sent him back to school
to finish and thus saved to the Middle
West Its best-known banker
Brothers With Parallel Careers.
The Forgan brothers, of Chicago, like
Mitchell, have "got there" through
their own Initiative, and, like most of
the country's most famous bankers,
have never engaged in any business
other than banking. Both began In
1
frllQH HAT) A.T" WALL
'S. jTOCK XCHAN(iD
'4
minor positions In banks In Scotland
at 15, David, the younger, became a
messenger. By that time, James, 10
years David's senior, had risen a notch
or two and been assigned by his new
connections to Montreal. A few years
later, after having passed through all
the various positions leading up to it.
he found himself Inspector of agencle
for the Bank of Nova Scotia. About
this time David Immigrated to Canada
and became manager of a branch bank.
The two brothers transferred their ac
tivities to Minneapolis about the same
time, also; the elder was called to Chi
cago In 1892 by Lyman J. Gage to be
vice-president of his bank, and the j
younger was called to Chicago six yean ,
later to head another Institution. When
Gage became Secretary of the Treasury I
James succeeded him to the presidency, I
and some time later, when James' bank1
and David's were united, David became
vice-president of the bank of which his
brother was president. He now heads ,
an Important bank of his own organlza- I
ilon.
Both men, as one would suppose,;
since they are Scots, are enthuslastlo
golfers, and they divide their time
about eveniy between the links and
their banklrg offices. David was on the
links when news came to him of a big
failure In Chicago. He laid down his
clubs, pulled out a stub of a pencil and
a card and figured diligently for a few
minutes.
"yes." he said, when lie had finished,
"these poor people will eventually get
75 per cent of their money. Tell the
newspaper editors for me to state this
fact and make the Investors feel cheer
ful." He shoved the figure-covered bit
of paper in his pocket, picked up his
clubs and turned to his companion.
"Now." said he, with the fire of the
golf fiend once more alight In hla
eyes, "Bhall we play another round?"
David, who Is 46, waa the first ama
teur champion golfer of the West
ern Golf Association. He has a won
derful memory for championship plays
and can describe them accurately
months after they were made. The
records of the Western Association are
at his tongue's end, and when a fine
day comes along It's dollars to
doughnuts that it will find his private
office vacant and its owner on the
links. (Copyright, 1908, by the Asso
ciated Literary Press.)
Dragon Fly and Sparrow Fight
New York World.
A triangular piece of turf In City
Hall Park, Just behind the milk stand,
was the scene of a battle royal which
was better than any chicken fight and
which Illustrated the "survival of the
fittest" In the strictest sense.
The combatant were an English
sparrow and a "devil's darning-needle"
' (dragon fly), an Insect which In length
of body and span of wing equaled the
sparrow, but was lacking In weight and
bulk. The combat lasted about 10 min
utes. The sparrow, with Its claws firmly
set in the body of the Insect, which
writhed and squirmed like a snake,
attacked every part of Its victim with
Its bill, endeavoring to disable It, but
was compelled to recoil now and then
from the vigorous return of Its victim.
FInlyy the dragon fly was killed, and
the bird rose In the air with the body
In Its beak sailing to the nest with a
good, square meal for the Uttle ones.
Parable of the Roman Father.
Youth's Companion.
A distinguished scholar recently was
the guest of one of the high schools of
Buffalo, N. Y., and was greatly amused
by the answer given by one of the pu
pils In the class In Roman history to a
somewhat exacting question put by the
teacher.
A lad was asked to state, concisely. In
one sentence, the distinctive difference
between the society of ancient Rome and
that of the present day In America. After
a moment's reflection, the young fellow
replied:
"The distinctive difference between the
society of ancient Rome and that of our
day Is that the father waa the hsad of
the Roman family."
The whole class shared the visitors
enjoyment of the palpable, although prob
ably unconscious hit