The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-12-05

try, though widely diffused, is con- trolled by a comparatively small num- Der of men acting as officers and direc- tors of corporations, the question of the direction of these companies becomes, in the highest degree, important. Can corportion reform be accomplished through reforms in boards of directors? What safe and reasonable rule can be established to govern the acceptance of the position of director?
 Attention has frequently been direc- ted to this subject in it's various phases. A bank never fails that there is not more or less said about directors who do not direct" A corporation never defaults on it's obligations without the directors being accused of abuse of their position or neglect of their duties. Ere quent lists have been published of men who serve as directors in one or two score of corporations, and the point is made that these men cannot serve faithfully all these different interests. It seems to us, however, as if one or two essential facts have been over looked in this discussion. It does not necessarily follow that a man who serves in many boards of directors is not acting strictly within the field of his special knowledge. Take, for in stance, W. K. Vanderbilt. He is di- 1, rector of fifty-four corporations. Bat l f1fty-tWo of these are railroads, most If them parts of one system. and it will
 be generally admitted that NJ, Vaader-
 bilt knows something a3 put railr ads. The other two corporations have to [ j with horses, and MT. Vanderbilt is a
 good judge of horse. President New man of the New York Central is di- rector in f1fty-eight companies, but as they are all railroads, or allied concerns. there can be no criticism in that direc- tion.
 Chauncey M. Depew, however, besides being member of that national board of drectors--the United States Senate | is a director of sixty-nine business com panies, embracing railroad, banking. house interests
 John D. Rockefeller sets a unique ex- ample in the matter of directorships. Though his personal interests are prob ably larger and more varied than those of any other individual in this country, he is a director of only six companies. His brother, William, is a director in twenty-nine.
 MT. Morgan is undoubtedly the most important trustee of wealth in the Uni- ted States, in that he represents billions of dollars of investments. His director ships number thirty-three, and Include railroad, insurance, banking, electric. steel, telegraph, cable, palace car and amusement companies.
 George J. Gould is forty-nine times a director, being such for telegraph, rail- road. banking, insurance, fuel and steamship companies. E. H.. Hartman is a director in forty-seven companies, embracing railroad, fuel, insurance, banking, steamship and telegraph in terests. James Stillman, president of the National City Bank, is director of f1fty-three corporations, including banking, railroad, copper, gas, real es- tate and construction. insurance and telegraph. Anthony N. Brady is a di- rector of forty-eight companies, whose business includes street railroads, steam railroads, tobacco, gas, palace car, tell egraph, banking electric, foundry and air brake. H. Mex. Twombly, as direc- tor, represents forty-four Companies, chiefly railroad, but also including banking, insurance, coal and opera. A. B. Orr is' a director of thirty companies in six distinct branches of business; H. H. Rogers of twenty-five companies in ten different branches; John T. Terry of twenty-three in six different branches; Russell Sage of twenty-four in six branches; Thomas F. Ryan of twenty five in five branches and James H. Hyde of forty-four in eight branches.
 D. o. Mills is director of thirty-one companies, engaged in eleven different departments of enterprise; Charles Steele of thirty-f1ve in eleven different branches, and George W. Young of thir- ty-two companies in ten branches. One of the most remarkable directors in this country is K K. McLaren, who serves for fifty-two corporations en- gagged in manufacturing, lumber, min ing, foundries, stove, steamship, eleva- ting, construction, banking, gas, rail- road, coal, mercantile agency, land, hardware, cash register, zinc, chemical, clock, fire-proofing, fruit, copper, dredg- ing, water works, automobile, ice and other lines of business.
 Now the question suggested by this exhibit is, can one man serve faithfully so many interests? To this question, many replies are possible. But on the correct answer depends the whole ques- ton of the responsibility of directorship. One thing seems clear that there is go- ing to be some change in the direction of increased moral, and perhaps in- creased legal, responsibility. Unless the entire burden of management is to be thrown upon the president of cor poration, and the directors remain mere figureheads, the latter must, as necessary qualification for service, pos- sess knowledge of the business and must be willing to devote such time to it as to enable them to represent the ir- terests of the stockholders faithfully and we'll. Anything less than this makes directorships a shar1--worse than that mere opportunities for spec, ulation from the inside, or for further ing of personal interests through con tracts for construction and supplies Wall Street Journal