The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-06-21
MUCH CURIOSITY ABOUT MIR. MORGAN He is Coming Home Earlier
 Than Was Expected GOSSIP OF WALL STREET There Seems to Have Been Something Sudden About the Great Finanoier's
 Departure From London.
 Ship Deal a Failure.
GOSSIP OF WALL STREET
BY w. G. NICHOLAS.

| vouchsafed authoritatvely, but his go-
 ings and comings, nevertheless, are mat
 ters of active mental speculation in the | stock market community There is a
 vague impression that Mir. Morgan re-
 turns this time sooner than he originally
 intended and there is a great deal of cu-
 riosty to know what is bringing him home. There seemed to be something sudden about his departure from Lon l don and conjecture has been stirring in Wall street ever since his home coming
 was announced The inference that his
 return was hastened by the unsatisfac-
 tory condition of certain financial af-
 fairs here may, or may not be- justified by the facts, but there will certainly be
 no lack of work for MT. Morgan when he
 arrives. Something will have to be done
 with the International Mercantile Marine
 company, which, as everybody knows has been a financial failure. l. P Nor 1 gan X Co., have heavy interest in the United States Ship Building company.
 the reorganization of which was previ-
 ously described in this correspondence
 for which there has now been made an application for a receiver. J. P Morgan
 X Go. were not directly responsible for
 the United States Ship Building company but they got big slice of the result and
 are concerned. more or less in it's future. l One cannot but wonder at Mir. Morgans | apparent indifference to the failure of the | International Mercantile Marine company l from a financial point of view If any
 other man were responsible for it. togeth-
 CT with several other underwriting ven- | lures that have not been profitable, his ! prestige would be ruined. but people some- how regard Mir Morgan as a man who
 takes his failures as calmly as he takes his successes. His successes have been very great and it was not to be expected
 that his failures would be insignificant. There is always a great deal of trepida- | tion in Morgan's quarters, so-called. when that gentleman returns to his desk after a. prolonged absence. 1t is a curious fact
 that all of MT Morgan's associates in business are afraid of him. His domina-
 tion over them is complete The arb- l trarY extension of the United States
 Steel underwriting syndicate, for exam i pie, without any explanations whatever.
 created a great deal of dissatisfaction
 but nobody had the courage to demand
 reasons froms NJ. M9gan Among the
 mem bers of thiss syndicate were included
 some of the most Influential members of
 the financial community, but big people l are afraid of him tooa Mr. Morgan's
 manners are calculated to intimidate at
 the outset anyone who might come to l him on q disa greeabie errand His | brusqueness. at times. is almost brutal | and he is no respector of persons. It is l not at all unusual for him to keep five
 or six big fnanciers cooling their heels
 in his outer office while he is engaged.
 not necessarily on more important busi-
 ness, but on business to which he is pleased to devote himself to the exclu- sion of all else. He once held a delega-
 tion of financial magnates waiting and
 fuming in his outer office for an hour
 and they were wondering indignantly
 who could be preoccupying his time when
 suddenly he emerged from his office es- corting an elderly little woman whose ap- pearance was almost shabby. He showed
 her to the outer door of his banking house ard returned. saying bluntly to the delegation: Now, gentlemen. I'll see you" Nobody ever knew who the woman
 was or what business she had with Nor gan.
 Something unusual seems always to oo- cur in the stock market while Mir Nor gan is away. The Northern Pacific panic
 in May, 1901, occurred while he was in
 Europe. and the way he took people to account for their blunders in that affair
 when he got back was told in whispers
 for months after. During his absence this year the stock market has suffered an un-
 usual decline the causes of which are not
 vet understood. Mir. Morgan probably.
 has been in close touch with his partners
 here but that is not like being on the
 scene and there are a great many things.
 no doubt that he will want explained
 next week when he returns to his desk
 behind the big plate glass windows cor
 ner of Broad and Wall streets. He went
 in, bod lattf1 f1a mi taA n
 circuit court of appeals decision
 declaring the Northern Securities company to be Illegal having just been handed down to the dis comfiture of himself and all of his as- sociates in that business. A cherished project that had not been publicly broached was by that same decision em- harrassed. Mir Morgan had hoped in the event of the Northern Securities deal going through to effect a similar merger of his. extensive railroad interests in the south A southern securities company was in his mnid when he took the Louis- vile and Nashville off the hands of the Gates crowd and handed it over to the Atlantic Coast Line. He may have en- tirely recovered from that disappointment but other things have happened very re- gently to rufle his temper, one of these being the Lord Rothschild interview pub lished few days ago. Lord Rothschild is to England what MT Morgan Is to this country namely, lie is the foremost finan- cier In the interview referred to Lord Rothschild took several very prominent American hnanciers, among them MT
 Morgan by name, roughly to task for the extravagance of their recent specula-
 tions His criticisms delighted the Wall street community but was received with
 indignation in the Morgan circles here. The relations between the Rothschild
 party and the Rockefeller party here are very friendly and there are some who | perceived in Lord Rothschild's inter- view a cropping out of the i'll feeling | that has existed between the Standard l oil crowd and the Morgan contingent in l Wall street. The apparent indifference Of | the Morgan party to the stock market
 had long been a source of complaint | among traders and stock market inter- | ests generally. Very recently. that is to
 say since the appearance of the Roths- | child interview, Morgan brokers have | been active on the buying side for the first time in several months and have | been taking stocks. not only on scale or | ders but by bidding for them.
 | The financial scandal growing out Of the | difficulties and reorganization of the | Tinted States Ship Building company has | further impaired public confidence Tn stocks The spectacle of so large com | bine having its capitalization scaled down | nearly 90 per cent primarily because the | securities could not be distributed and | all within less than year after It's intro | duction to the public with the very glow | ing description of prospective earnings IS | calculated to create ufsgiVingS in the