The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-25
NED BRACE TALKS ABOUT ROOSEVELT'S
 NEGRO ASSOCIATES AND OTHER MATTERS

Padua,' paying for the same s5OO, 900. He recently paid s2500O for Persian rug, $3O,OO0 for a bronze statuette of Hercules and $10O0,c0O for the Fragonard-Du Barry panels. A writer in one of the magazines. in speaking of Mr. Morgan and his art collections, says:
 MT. Morgan seems to regard himself and the public as partners in his art ex- cursions. He pays a fortune for a book picture or a collection of gems, ceramics, tapestries or bronzes, and he may put his purchase into one of his own galleries in New York or London, or he may offer if to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. or the Cooper Union in New York city. or to some foreign museum, as the humor strikes him. He keeps treasures valued at $2,500000 abroad as an object lesson to his countrymen on the iniquity of fhe tariff duties on works of art. When those duties shall be repealed it is ex- pected that these things will come to America, where they will eventually find their way into public collections
 MT. Morgan's function in the art world seems to be to keep things moving. He is necessarily buying art objects and as necessarily giving them away. The one thing he never does with them is to sell them. few weeks ago he offered several thousand Burns manuscripts to the Athenaeum library at Liverpool. He gave tWo-hundred- -thousand-d dollar coI- iection Of ancient textiles to Cooper In- stitute He gave two of the rarest san phires in the world to the American Mn E scum of Natural History He gave the .an-American collection of gems to the nusee Histoire Naturelle Paris. He bought the famous Pfungst collection of pronzes for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. One day he telephoned to the oura- tor or that institution, General di Cesnola. ana asked If he could not find time to call at his office. General al Cesnola ax. plained that he was extremely busy. and asked whether the next day would not do as we'll Certainly" responded the voica at the telephone; amy time this summer VIII oo only want to give you an as1 sortment or Greek jewels for the mu- scum. That collection was known to the curator as one of the rarest in tbe world, worth trife of two hundred thousand dollars. He decided that be could ma time to go after it that day
 Priceless as is MT. Morgan's time. he ia generally willing to suspend business ao- tivity to look at new book, a picture or jewel Anybody with a rarity of this description to offer will find a hospitable reception where promoters of schemes for making millions are dismissed with curt monosyllables."
 The prosperity of Birmingham is eyi- denced by the fact that a new trust com -pany has been organized here to handle the underwritings of corporations and to do general trust company business. A second one is in progress of organization. and l heard yesterday that possibly the two sets of organizers would get together and form one great company with half million dollars of capital
 In this connection I hear that the stock of some of the Birmingham banks has been much sought after recently. and that several hundred shares of one in- stitution changed hands yesterday at A good price, Something like fifty thousand dollars in money was received by one man for block of stock
 Likewise there has been much trading recently in local land company stocks. as well as in the stocks of local iron-mal.- ing companies. Indeed everything in Bir- mingham seems to be in demand these days at good prices. Real estate is creen- ing up in prices every day and the yolume of trading is greater than at any lime within the past year. Certainly there ia another year of great prosperity ahead for all of us in the Birmingham district