A MONARCH OF FINANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 112, 2 May 1908, Page 4

A MONARCH OF FINANCE.

Mr. I'ierpont Morgan, one an article iu the Work, practically a retired millionaire when the panic broke out last year. He iia I parsed liis seventieth birthday, had come back from a long tour in Kurope in search of art treasures, and was gracefully and easily drifting towards the haven of old age. Then tlic financial world called him, and in the days of the panic he was its undisputed king. His office in Wall Street Was the centra ot American finance, and from it went gold and bills to steady bank- and trust companies. One terrible afternoon, when no money could be borrowed on the Exchange" "for love or money;" he poured out £.3,(11)0,UUU at an hour's notice. It was not his own money that , saved these instittions, but the money i of the world, which Mr. Morgan alone could command. This, we arc told, has always l>een the secret of hi- power—the ability to command the money of others. He is by no means the richest American, though his million-* run into double figure*; n dozen men nre richer, but in such time* they come to him, ax Mr. J. I). Rockefeller did in October,, and give him the use oi their wealth. "How lie has gained thi* almo>t uncanny power over the minds of other men is a problem for psychologists. Kvery successful promoter lmM hav,» it to M»me extent, and his success is in | dirert proportion to his possession of this faculty. But with Mr. Morgan it ' circles the world." "This is a hospital. 1 I -aid Mr. Perkins, his junior partner, to a crowd of reporters *ome years ago; "bring on your wrecks." This financial I master surgeon does not bother about details. He is content to |<>< one man deal with the details of the shipping business another with those of a railwav problem; he himself works on broad lines. Tie confessed to a cross-examin-ing lawyer once that he had no idea what his firm had paid for C'l.OOO.iNin of a certain stock, or what they had made out of it. "I don't attend to details. J said 'Buy it.' Steele knows a'Mnit the detail-: he'll tell you that." The writer of the article is by no meanblind to Mr. Morgan's shortcoming. He was. for instance, not above taking advantage of the panic to benefit hi> own concerns at the expense of other*. ' Hut lie has twice "stepped into the ranks" to save his country from'a panic ■ that might have had terrible results. " and th'* will be remembered of him when his dubious deals in high finance are forgotten.