The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-01-23
Great Play on the Financial Chess-
Hoard.

]. Pierpont Morgan is a man who
yields an influence in the world as
powerful as that of any head of a royal
house, but he is afraid of some men.
and one of them is John w. Gates.
This fact has been brought out in he
evidence just adduced in the hearing
o. the charges brought by the state Of
Kentucky that by acquiring the Louis
vile and Nashville railroad, the At
Iantic Coast Line had violated the IN
ter-state commerce act. Morgan and
Gates are both men who do big things.
but Morgan acts with an eye open to
the business interests of the country,
While Gates is an utterly self-Csntr.ai
reckless speculator on a colossal scale.
Morgan can never get away from the
influences which cling about him from
him coming up to fame anC fortune
through the banking house; Gates win
never be better than what he was in
the beginning Of his career-a gambler.
1t is no wonder then that Morgans
was fearful when he saw Gates obtatn(
control of the Louisville ana Nashville
railroad. because, being a competing
and at points a parallel line. the great
Southern Railway system, controlleu
by Mr.. Morgan's banking firm, was
threatened. August Belmont. of New
York, had been in possession OF the ma
| jcrity of the stock Of the Louisville
| and Nashville. So shrewdly did Gates
| manipulate his plans that Belmont did
not even suspect that n one had de-
signs on his road until the Western
stock gambler was in actual possession.
The latter went in pursuit of his big
game with the moccasined tread of an
Indian on the trail. Belmont. Morgan,
Wall street. and the financial world
we're dumbfound0d when they knew
that Gates syndicate had bought up
the majority of the stock. 1t was one
of the greatest pieces of strategy IN
| the history of American finance. The
lovely ELLEN N" was out Of the hands
Of her old masters. They were as
much disturbed as those gentlemen OF
clden time and Oriental residence who
were greatly worried because the
mighty man of Tarsus had cast out
the spirit of d~ivination from the dam
Sc. which brought her masters much
gain"
To add to their worry and Chagrin,
there began to float about many rum
orr that the Seabnard Air Linz evs+nm
was arranging to take over he Louis
1ille and Nashville and dove-tail it into
! their OWN great SYSTEM. II - 1h
President John Shelton Williams de-
MED these rumors. but they, together
with other factors in the situation,
nc doubt played a part in determining
Mr.. Morgan to get the vast r9ilroad
system of the south upo a stead'er
basis than they could ever be with
Gates at the throttle of the Louisville
end Nashville. He accomplished this
by paying the new owner, for a con-
trolling interest. a vastly larger sun ~
money than had been paid for the
stock when Belmont was so uncere-
m%oniously ousted, like a mar rolled out
of his good warm bed while asleep
The Southern Railway could not buy
the stock of the Louisville and Nash
Vile outright. because of the laws In
the Southern states f~orbidding the con-
sclidation of parallel lines Of railroad,
but the brilliant New York ~financier
accomplished his purpose by having
the Atlantic Coast Line, which was
not under this ban. to take over MT
Gates shares.
Mr.. Morgan has been fighting shy OF
Gates ever since that gentleman tried
to become a director in the United
States Steel Corporation. Morgan has
inst proven that, while Gates NAV be
shrewder in the strategy of moderr
finance, he-J. Pierpont Morgan-is
stronger in mass plays. Like Grant
he is a hammerer. and wins because
he has the most resources.-Che1oltf
Observer.