Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-05-23
The Failure orsir Morton PetO.


Dated Cleveland, April q, 80. Q. S. Assessor.
The Failure of Sir Norton PetO.
Apart from the general anxiety which
the -uneem of so serious a fnan-
cial crisis in England will cause among
our business men, they will feel the live
lest sympathy, not unmingled with ap-
~prehension, st the news of the failure of
the great firm of Peto and Belts, of which
the distinguished Sir Morton Peto, NJ p
was the senior member. If Cleveland
business man had been asked TO name, of
hsnd, the Englishmsn whom be consid-
cred as par excellence the most successful
solid and solvent fnancier in the United
Kingdom there are nine chances out of
ten that be would have answered; "Sir
Morton Petoi" The great wealth Of that
gentleman, his wonderful financial ability
and enterprise, the m~agnifcence and
grandeur of his railway schemes, his prom
inence as a legislator as well as a business
man, and above all his connection with the
Atlantic and Great Western Railway, in
the prosperity of which our city has much
at stake. and his visit TO this city in Octo-
Der last have made Clevelanders well ae-
ouainted with him and have given them
great confidence in his prosperity. That
such a man as he should have failed shows
the terrible nature of the crisis which has
burst SO suddenly upon England.
The history of Sir Morton Peto affords
a curious parallel to that of George Hud-
son, the English Railway King" of thirty
wears ago. Like that great hnancier, he
made himself the railway dictator Of
Europe-a sort of modern COLOSSUS Of
Roadsp-and, like him, he has suddenly
failed. But, unlike Hudson, Sir Morton
Peto did not make his money out of wild
Misrepresentation, but from solidly-based
and we'll considered enterprises fact
which renders his failure the more as
tonishing. He was probably the greatest
railway contractor in the world. It was
stated at the time of his visit to this
try that be controlled the labor of over
one hundred thousand men, on railroads
in almost every part ofthe habitable globe,
from New Zealand to Peru. In Austria
alone he employed over eight thousand
men while his entire army of employees
exceeded in number the fighting army of
Great Britain. He was intimately inter
ested in the new underground railroad of
London. His connection with the Allan
tic and Great Western Railroads.&c. the
London Board of Directors of which he
was the chairman, is well known. 1t was
his ability and patriotism which saved the
English army in the Russian war of 1854
5. When that army was suffering great
privations through the incompetency of
contractors, Sir Morton Peto came for
ward and voluntarily assumed the labor
of furnishing It with the necessary sup
plies. For this generosity he was knight
cd by the Queen and recompensed by Par
lament. BE was a member of the pres
ent House of Commons from the city of
Bristol.
Many Of u readers will, without any
suggestion from us, be struck by the re-
markable points Of resemblance in the
failures of Sir Morton Peto and Charles
Vernon Culver. Both were men of ex-
~traordinary financial and business ability; |
both were possessed Of immense fortunes,
amsssed mainly by their own personal
efforts both were men of strong religious
convictions, pure lives, and great benevo-
lence; both had been chosen to represent
their fellow ~citizensin the popular branch
of their national legislatures both had
planned and carried out excursions
through the oil regions of Pennsylvania,
involving a large expenditure of money
the failure of both has been unexpected
and sudden. The shock inflicted on the
oil interest by the second failure will pro-
baby not equal that given by the first but
it viii be severe
as to the oause of Sir Morton's failure
we can give no further information than
that contained in our Geographic dis
patches. OF its effect upon the Atlantic
and Great Western Railway and upon
Cleveland interests we are not informed