Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1901-07-13
BUY LOW, SELL HIGH.
]. Y. Thompson of Uniontown
Dabbles in coal.
He Holds nearly half Of the undevel-
0ped Pittsburg Seam-Tireless In.
dustry makes him Millisnaire-Pe.
culiar Habits which have Made him
What he is Financially.

dustry makes him Millisnaire-Pe.
culiar Habits which have Made him
What he is Financially.
UNIoNTowN, July 12.-Josiah Van
kirk Thompson, president Of the First
National bank Of UniontoWn, is wide
| ly recognized as one Of the most sue
cessful bankers and business men in
| Pennsylvania. He is a son Of bank
er, and besides knowing how to make
money he knows how to spend it, as
was recently shown by his magnificent
gift of 500, 900 to Washington and
Jefferson college, from which he was
| graduated and Of which he is trustee.
Mr.. Thompson was country boy,
born on farm on Jennings run, in
| Menallen township, Fayette county,
the son of Jasper Markley Thompson,
and still retains his interest in agri
cultural life. He graduated from
Washington and Jefferson college in
1871, and was made trustee Of his
college in 1889. Immediately after
graduation he entered the First
| National bank, of which his father
was president, and advanced from one
position to another until be became
president in 1889 at the death Of his
father.
His sdccess as a banker is shown by
a comparison of the condition Of the
bank when he became cashier and its
last statement, recently published.
With surplus fund then of $40, l81;
| ~. nd a IL
counts, $176, 1868, it rapidly forged
ahead until it now has a surplus Of
$500, 900: deposits 1926, 800; loans
and discounts, 81, 230,0 1t was
Mr. Thompson's policy that made this
showing possible. He adopted his
policy against the opinion of some Of
the directors and won them over to
his side, Notwithstanding he was
only IS years old when he was elevated
to the presidency. The Bank now
stands third among the banks of Penn
sylyania and sixth in the United
| States.
Mr.. Thompson is probably the hard
est working banker in the country.
] He sets the example to the other
employees by being at work before 7
o'clock every morning, and frequently
it is the next morning before he leaves
the. bank only going home for breakfast
and returning to work. During this
hot weather he works in his shirt
sleeves, with soft shirt, and his
industry is contagious. He is strictly
temperate, and will have no employein
his bank who uses liquor or tobacco at
any time. His position is that their use
affects the powers OF mind and they do
prodigious work, but they receive the
/ highest salaries paid by any bank in
Pennsylvania outside the cities. This
pays the bank, for examiners say the
percentage OF expenses is smaller and
the percentage Of earnings larger In
the First National than in any. other
bank from the Atlantic ocean to the
Pacific. Neither are any of the en-
ployes under bond. He declares:
II would not have an employe in this
bank who had to give bond.n Tie
places reliance on their reliability and
freedom from vice and bad habits.
While Mr.. Thompson has been re-
markably successful as a banker and
his greatest pride is in his bank he has
probably won greater wealth from the
enormous coal deals he has engineered.
Years before he became president Of
the bank he began buying coal from
the farmers. 1t was through his in
fiuence that the American Steel and
Wire company, the National Steel
company and other great corporations
took up the immense acreage OF cOking
coal and built their monster coke
/ plants in the Masontown coke field,
and he has handled and sold more coal
than any other man in the country.
/ While he has sold great quantity
Of coal he steadily increases his hold
ings. He has continuously purchased
coal in the coke regions and river dis
! tricts of Fayette county until he with
his associates, hold nearly all the IN
developed coking coal, and has bought
hundreds of thousands of acres Of coal
in Washington and Greene counties
at from $40 to $50 an acre.
| He is also large holder of coal in
West Virginia and is steadily absorb
ing the Pittsburg vein of coal every
where until he and his associates own
or control 0ne-half Of the undeveloped
portion Of the great Pittsburg coal de-
posts He received top notch prices
when he sold the National Steel COM
pany 5000 acres at 81, 100 an acre.
His enormous holdings of cheap coal
and his ability to sell it at high figures
/ promise, alone, to make him one Of
the multi-m illionaires Of the country.
A year ago when there was scramble
for coal IN Greene county, it was not
an unsual thing for Mr.. Thompson to
work until nearly morning in the bank,
and then drive across the country 20
miles, reaching the farms he desired
and buying them before Others who
were after them had left UniontOWn.
i He frequently was seen returning
from purchasing coal lands by the
i early risers here, then went to work
in his bank, his wonderful physical
strength seemingly being inexhausti-
Bile.
Mr.. Thompson's rare business judy
ment was recognized by his appoint
men.r as one OF the seven viewers 10
appraise and condemn the franchises
andproperty Of the Monongahela Nav
4 igati0n OOh pany when the river Sas
made free He has never sought po-
litical henors aud has refused to per-
nit his name to be announced for Con-