The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-07-04
Some 4rea. Banks and Bankers.

NEW York, July 81 was talking, the other
evening, with well-informed person about
some of the great New York banks and theiz
history. One of the finest structures in the
business quarter of New York is that which ID
owned jointly by the Mechanics Bank and the
Manhattan company. 1t is great architectural
gem in gray granite, on the north side of Wall
street, not far from Broad street 1t is curl
ous fact that this company was incorporated in
1899 through ruse devised By Aaron Burr.
Some years previous, with the aid of Alexandes
Hamilton, a charter had been granted TO the
first bank ever established in this country. the
Bank of New York, and the venture proving
enormously profitable. Aaron Burr and his
friends determined to enter the same tempting
field AS their political opponents were
in power at. at Albany Albany to to- securs s
obliged to conceal their real object and apply fog
a charter to furnish the city with water, with
the provision that any surplus capital of the
company might be employed as it should deter
mine. This opened the necessary loop hole, and
the company is still in existence 1t has an old
well in Reade street, and any mischief-loving
person can compel this proud corporation under
pain of forfeiture of its charter to furnish him
with water. The Bank of New York and the
Manhattan are the oldest banking institutions in
this country. They stand as memorials, in some
sense, of the struggles IN finance and in politics
of the high souled Alexander Hamilton and the
restless, crafty, and bloodstained Aaron Burr.
The two wealthiest banks in New York ara
the American Exchange and the Bank of Conn
MERGE. both of which have capital of almosf
five millions The president of the Americas
Exchange Bank is George s. Coe He is a de-
scendent of John and Priscilla Alden, who cams
over in the Mayfower. Mr.. Coe has been in tho
banking business for thirty-five years, and fnz
twenty years he has been regarded as one of thu
leading bankers of the United States. He has
been repeatedly elected president of the Ameri-
can Bankers Association, and Secretaries of the
Treasury and congressional committees haye
often consulted him concerning deep question:
Of finance. He has also published much on fnan'
cial questions. He is member of the New
England Society, the Historical Society, tha
Union League. and anumber Of other associations
In figure he is tall and spare, in manners very
pleasant; he is always accessible, and is held IN
the highest esteem. He is now about sixty-iva
years of age, and his fortune amounts to mill
ion He is man of deep religious convictions
In the modern fnancier there is the religious
earnestness of John and Pricilla Alden, whom
Lonfellow has immortalized.
Another proof Of the fact that the consolidated
Stock and Petrole UNI Exchange is pressing the
Stock Exchange in the race for business is seen
in the movement to secure a new building fo1
the younger body. The Stock Exchange is id
many respects humbug. It's commissions ara
too large; it is oid-fogyish and not entitled to
the support of the public 1t is swelled up with
ridiculous pride, and thrusts its head into ita
gold piles like an ostrich, and refuses to see its
danger. OSCAR WlLLoUGHBY RIGGS.