WORLD’S MONEY KING

Hokitika Guardian, 24 September 1929, Page 2

WORLD’S MONEY KING

DOMINATES AMERICAN INDUSTRY.

A multi-millionaire who dominates American industry and banking, JPierpont Morgan, may be said to be the money king of the world (says a writer in the Sunday Chronicle).

The chiefs of big business and the governing classes in the United - States are almost wholly Anglo-Saxon. No more typical member of this class could bo found that J. Pierpont Morgan.

By far the most powerful figure in business, in the second largest capital in the world, Pieniont Morgan is a typical American of his generation.

It. vas in the seventeenth century that his ancestor emigrated to Now England, a common ancestor with the English family of the same name, but who spell their name in the okl way of Pierrepont, the head of which is Lord Manyers.

A COUNTRY SQUIRE. At his beautiful estate at Aldenham, in Hertfordshire, Pierpont Morgan leads the simple life of a country squire. Every Sunday the family attend the viliago church, and during the week Pierpont Morgan is to he seen with bis agent inspecting his Jersey cows, or the wheat crop along the banks of the beautiful River Colne, which runs through his land. He has a town house at 12 Grosvenor square, but. he is seldom theie, ns, unlike his father, he prefers the quiet of the country to that of socfetv.

During the hectic days of the war, Piemoint Morgan manifested his vote for England in no uncertain way. He was arpointed by the British Government to act as their agent in arranging loans and the purchasing of munitions in the United States. Night and day he worked on this task and lie refused to make a penny .profit for himself or his firm, considering it to be his duty to help the Mother Country. '

MURDEROUS ATTACK. On one occasion he nearly paid for his .<pro-IV.!itish sympathies with his life. In the summer of 1915, a German named Holt, who considered that by killing Pierpont .Morgan he would aid his country, managed to gain access to the financier’s house in Now York. The German fired two gullets, both from a revolver, both of which entered the body of Pierpont Morgan. Mrs Morgan, who was standing beside her hush and, threw herself between the. two men, but lie pushed her aside, and wounded as he wan, threw himself at the German. In the meantime the butler, who had heard tlie, shots, rushed in, and hit the man on the head with a piece of coal.

The assailant was subsequently found dead in his cell in mysterious circumstances in Nassau Street Gaol. Once it fell to my lot to interview Pierpoint Morgan. If I had expected to meet the type of American millionaire which the story books have made popular, I should have been disappointed. He is a tall, good-looking man, over six feet in height, with a pleasant smile and a charming manner. He talks English with scarcely any trace of an American accent. In only one respect does he conform to the accepted type of an American millionaire. He perpetually smokes cigars of an exceptionally - expensive brand. In conversation with him, 1 found that he was far more interested in) horses- and dogs than he was in big business, or international finance.

I discovered, amongst other things, that ho does not play golf. Probably the only financier on the whole of Wall street who does not.

His opinion of England is quite definite. England’s industry must and will regain its former prosperity. The sooner the better, as far as the United States is concerned.

He believes, and rightly so, that the hardships which the countrv 'has had to endure since the war have disciplined the rising generation. “Members of the English aristocracy,’’ he said, ‘‘are going into business in a way they never did before. In this they are following the example of America, which is a good , thing both for them and for business,”

PANAMA CANAL DEAL. Picrpont Morgan speaks from experience. He started life with every disadvantage. To his father, tiie millionaire head of the firm, recognised as a leading financier in two continents, there appeared nothing left for his son to do.

After leaving Harvard be worked for a time in the London office, gaining valuable experience in the methods of the British Stock Exchange. On his return to the United States be became associated as a partner with his father. Hut he was dwarf 2d by the side of that mighty man.

Still, lie got his chance, he acted as the agent for the United States Government in the negotiations with France over the, purchase of the Panama Canal, which had been commenced by do Lessens, the French engineer, land originator of the Suez Canal.

KEY TO' SUCCESS

Picrpont Morgan was distinguished in these negotiations by his business acumen and foresight. He succeeded in closing the deal for the ridiculous sum of £8,000,000.

Since that day his fame has never waned. He has come to be regarded as an international financier of the best and, at the same time, most astute type.

Frequently lie has been called upon by the American Government to advise them regarding international finance. The power he wields • in America is enormous. Nevertheless, he is always mindful of his heritage, and he uses his influence for what he considers to be the good of Englishspeaking peoples. Like most other men, Piorpont Morgan, owes much of his success in life to'hard work. On the death oi his father he found the family fortunes in a precarious state. Pierponl Morgan, sen., had during his lifetime acquired innumerable ant treasures. | n the latter years of his life, with failing powers, lie was greatly imposed upon. Many of his purchases were made at prices far exceeding their value.

Piorpont Morgan found on his father’s death that even the vast fortune which the family owned could scarcely stand the strain of his father’s eccentric purchases.