10
The Commoner.
VOLUME 12, NUMBER 51
BEFORE TIIE MONEY TRUST IN
VESTIGATING COMMITTEE
(Continued from Pago 7.)
"Is it not true that In this coun
try, unlike other countries, it is difll
cult to get the stockholders to take
an active interest in their com
panies?" "That is very true. That is the
reason why a voting trust is so desir
able," said Mr. Morgan.
"That is the reason of this pater
nalism on tho part of tho .financial
gentlemen who reorganize the com
pany?" asked the lawyer.
"That is tho reason why, in reor
ganizing a company, wo employ that
method so that it can be pro
tected," said Mr. Morgan.
Tho activities of J. P. Morgan &
Co. as fiscal agents for railroads and
other interested corporations formed
the 'basis for another phase of the
examination. Mr. Morgan nlaced in
the record tho agreements by which
the firm handles the securities of the
New York Central and the New York,
Now Haven & Hartford railroads.
The general policy of private banks
handling big Issues of securities also
was taken up.
"Theso issues of securities of In
terstate railway companies are in
vast sums, are they not, running into
tho hundreds of millions of dollars
a year many hundreds of millions
of" dollars?" asked Mr. Untermeyer.
"Yes, sir," answered Mr. Morgan.
"For tho different companies you
issue many, many hundred millions
of dollars a year, do you not?"
"Yes, sir."
"Do you not think it would be en
tirely feasible that securities of such
corporations should be openly mar
keted and should be sold by com
petition, just as securities of the
United States government and state
governments and city admlnistra-
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tions and municipal bonds of dif
ferent kinds are sold?"
"I do not," said Mr. Morgan.
"Do you not think there should be
some competition for them between
the banking houses or between the
original purchasers and the com
pany?" "No, I should think not."
"Do you not think the company
should be in a position to have other
banking houses compete for these
securities and perhaps get a higher
price than you might think they were
worth?" Mr. Untermeyer asked.
"I have no doubt that could be
done occasionally, but it would not
be often," said Mr. Morgan.
"Do you not think it ought to be
done that they ought to be open to
that field?"
"I do not; not for the interests
of the company. There is another
point about it," volunteered Mr.
Morgan, "and that is this: You
must remember that securities are
issued and sold and do not always
prove good. I do not say that that
often happens, but it sometimes
does."
"The banking house assumes no
legal responsibility for the value of
the bonds, does it?" asked Mr.
Untermeyer.
"No, sir, but it assumes something
else that is more important, and that
is the moral responsibility, which has
to be defended as long as you live."
"Will you name any instance of a
railroad bond issue by your firm that
proved bad, where the property was
reorganized and your company per
sonally put up money to make the
bond good, that it did not get bade?"
J. VvU.ll UVJU ICViUU ClUjr UU IT , UU.U
there are cases of that kind."
Throughout the long period of the
examination Mr. Morgan's daughter,
Mrs. H. B. Saterlee, and his son, J. P.
Morgan, jr., sat immediately behind
the witness chair watching their
father closely. At one time he turned
to his daughter and aBked for a
throat remedy, as continuous talking
was wearing on his throat. His
daughter supplied him from her
handbag.
Mr. Untermeyer said that if the
financier was tired he would sus
pend to nllow him to rest, but Mr.
Morgan was anxious to continue.
Within an hour after the hearing
adjourned the Morgan party with its
retinue of lawyers, was on a special
train bound for New York.'
BIG
CONGRESS WILIi ACT ON
RAILROAD EXPOSURE
(Continued from Page 5.)
preciate the value of the stock in
the Blumpy market in Wall street
ana tnere are those shrewd enough
to understand the general workings
of this band of financiers in certain
properties who will shrug their
shoulders and say that the gentle
men named have enormous holdings
concealed in the names of dummies.
The writer is prepared to Btate
unequivocally now, after an exhaus
tive search through the long list of
several thousand stockholders, that
not one of the men in whose names
these blocks of stock are usually
placed secretaries, clerks and simi
lar subordinates in banking houses
of Wall street is a stockholder of
tho New Haven.
-Furthermore, there is not any man
in whose name there stands a sub
stantial block of stock whose identity
is not fully set forth. And lastly,
there is not a single man, save Lewis
Cass Ledyard, in whoso name stands
what could be termed a large block
of stock, $1,000,000 or more. Led
yard is the only dummy on the list.
COL. ROOSEVELT'S REVOLVER
Shortly aftor his inauguration as
president, Colonel Roosevelt son fn.
a number of Washington newspaper
correspondents to discuss with them
the rules governing, the hours and
method of collecting news at tho
White House. During the conversa
tion reference was made to the as
sassin of President McKinley, and
Colonel Roosevelt explained: 4T11
bet he wouldn't have shot me twice'"
The correspondents inferred from
this and other remarks made by the
colonel that he would have returned
the assailant's fire with the quick
ness of a gun-fighter of the plains.
Washington newspaper men and
many of Colonel " Roosevelt's close
personal friends are sure that dur
ing his seven and a half years as
president he wa. never in the streets
without a revolver in his pocket. All
this is told by a Washington corres
pondent of the New York Times, who
goes on to relate a number of inci
dents which show that the nominee
of the progressive party never de
ponded wholly upon a hired body
guard for protection against assas
sins: On the blustery winter day that
Elihu Root quit the cabinet of
President Roosevelt to return to the
practice of law in New York, Colonel
Roosevelt walked over from the
White House to the Root residence
to say good-by to his secretary of
state, upon whom he had depended
constantly for advice and assistance
and in whose ability and common
sense he had Buch faith. Mr. Root's
house was in Jackson Place, the
street forming the western boundary
of Lafayette square, the park oppo
site the White House. The residence
which Mr. Root occupied was as
sociated with Washington's most
noted tragedy, with the exception of
the assassination of Abraham Lin
coln, for it was here that General
Daniel Sickles was living with his
wife when Sickles killed Philip Bar
ton Key. General Sickles was said
to have seen Mrs. Sickles signal to
Key from a window of their home,
Key being then in the Washington
clubhouse across Lafayette square, a
building that also has its tragic as
sociations. It was there that Wil
liam H. Seward was confined in a
sick-bed when Payne, the associate
of John Wilkes Booth, tried to stab
him to death on the night that Lin
coln was shot down by Booth, and
it was in this house that James G.
Blaine died twenty-eight years later.
In spite of the cold wind Colonel
Roosevelt wore no overcoat. As he
sprinted across from the White
House to the Root residence, a hun
dred yardB aWay, the tails of his
frock coat -fluttered in the breeze,
exposing to the view of the cavalry
men assembled to escort Mr. Root to
the railway station the butt of a
good-sized revolver. But if the then
president knew that the weapon was
showing he- gave no sign that he was
bothered about it In those days
Colonel Roosevelt was getting port
ly, and the strain on the waist line
of his frock coats had a tendency to
make the tails spread apart.
"Still another incident of the
same sort marked a visit of Colonel
Roosevelt, when president, to the
Epiphany Episcopal church, in G
street, between Thirteenth and Four
teenth streets, in this city. He went
there to deliver an address before
the congress of mothers which was
being held In tho church. Divesting
himself of his overcoat in the ante
room, the president went forward to
the chancel. While he was address
ing the audience one of the young
women Berving as ushers put on tho
president's overcoat and placed her
hands into the deep pockets. A
scream, from her startled her com
panions.. The desiro of the young
woman at that moment was to get
out of the overcoat. When she had
done this and her nerves had been
quieted she explained that in one
of the pockets of tha president's
overcoat was a revolver. An inspec
tion of the pocket provqd her asser
tion. The revolver was loaded.
Literary Digest
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