The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-01-22
AND FALL
OF the TRUST KING
Collapse OF j. P. Morgan is the
Most Notable Event Of
the Year 1903.
FORTUNE IS UN.MPA,REo
He Didn't Use His Own Cash in His
Big Deals, and Made Money Out
of the Cash He Handled
Belonging to Others.

New York special: No event of the
year 1903 equals in genuine Importance
the downfall of John Pierpont Morgan
from the most powerful position ever
attained by a private citizen OF this or
any other country-a position he occu-
pied one wear ago when he was at the
zenith of his career az q builder OF
trusts, worldwide in their operation.
me downfall of Charles M. Schwab,
OF much lesser import, is still so great
that in itself it marks an epoch IN the
history of American in~dustrialism.
And the part which JOIN d. Rookie
teller has played in the ragged of
Morgan and Schwab, when all of its
details become fully Known, promises
TO mark the browning achievement of a
career that has never been blocked in
any or Its wide-reaching Qualifications
by the genius OF power of any man or
set of men.
Rockefeller Did 1t.
Enough is known of what Mr.. Rookie
Teller has done to make 1t plain that
the collapse of Mr.. Morgan's colossal
power and prestige was necessary to a
realization of Mr.. Rockefeller's ambi-
ton. Whether the downfall of MI.
Morgan was planned and brought about
by careful manipulations, such as Mr..
Rockefeller employed thirty years e
to destroy rival oil refners in Cleve-
land, or whether a train of circum-
stances unfortunate to Mr.. Morgan
but inevitable under the laws Of
finance, after all-were simply seized
upon as a means to gain an important
end, is not quite clear yet. There are
many who believe that the train of "un-
fortunate circumstances" were origin
ated within the high walls OF No. 26
Broadway for the specific and definite
purpose OF laying bare the spot in the
Morgan makeup and then attacking 1t
to prove Its vu~lnerability.
The Fount of Wisdom.
A year ago Mr.. Morgan was regarded
not only in this country, but in Great
Britain, France, Germany, Austria,
Russia, and in every corner Of the
world where men of gath
cred, as the real fount OF business wis
dom. He was a genius, the like of
which the world had never before pro-
duced or seen. He had the magic fac
ulty OF extracting millions in profits
from things hat had capped the at
tention OF the wise f1nanciers of all the
previous generations and centuries.
All that he had to say to the great cap
italists and investors Of the world was:
This thing Is good; you can come
into IT, and without question or in
v~estigation, so complete was their reli-
ollCS QpOl AK W1SOOI1 O1 lne American
king of finance, that they outbid one
another for a chance to pour their mil
lions into The enterprise.
A Year Ago-and Now.
A year ago h newspapers of this
country and Europe referred to Mr..
Morgan in his wise:
II is a greater power in Europe
han many of its kings"
He has completely eclipsed the
Rothschilds."
His name is a talisman with which
10 c%onjure not millions, but billions"
H wieids more power over more
people han the ear of Russia"
H is sought by emperors and
Kings"
The greatest financier in all his
tory"
He has more influence than the
president OF the United States"
The most important one mar in the
world today"
He controls more capital than any
other man in the universe"
In a single business day he could
fill a subscription for $500, 900, 900 for
any enterprise he would indorse and
would not be asked even to explain it,"
Less than a year ago w. T. Stead
wrote:
ITO us in England Pierpont Morgan
AA SAAS = Va &c dIlo
nance what cannot yet be attempted
in the political sphere. He is knitting
nations together; he is weaving into q
web the many colored strands of d.
verse national lives; in the roaring loom
OF life he uses Atlantic liners as shut
ties and railways as threads. He is one
of the master spirits Of the twentieth
century,
A King Among Kings.
TS,.1 tlz ls-- "a 1.-J-- -
emperor of Germany in turn conyersed
with Mr.. Morgan in private for half
an hour and both showed toward him a
personal consideration usually vouch-
safed only to great sovereigns. Mr..
Morgan was at that time the worlds
greatest sovereign Of money.
Contrast these opinions OF a yeav ago
of Mr.. Morgan with those expressed to-
day and some comprehension Of his
mighty fall from an unheard of imam
cial eminence can be had. Not long ago
q cablegram from London stated that
Morgan's name was anathema among
the English financiers and investors,
who twelve months ago had regarded
him as the greatest genius of the age.
A man of high standing in Wall
street, when asked as to Mr.. Morgan's
present status downtown, said:
81"
That. of course. was an extravagant
way of putting 1t, but it exhibits the
general temper of the downtown dis
trict.
Why such a mighty revolution in the
public standing of a man?
Thousands Lost Their All.
Sifted down. the naked reason is that
within the past year countless men and
women have lost their fortunes in Nor
gar enterprises. Not only private in
vestors. the outside public, but great
institutions. trust companies. banks.
insurance companies, their presidents,
and other officers have seen
great sums of their money shrink and
away into shadows.
These losses would doubtless have
been taken with more equanimity but
for the exposures in the investigation
of the United States Shipbuilding
scandal. which have created
something more than a suspicion
throughout the financial district that
MIR. Morgan's firm may have employed
the same methods in the United States
Steel corporation and the International
Marine (the Atlantic
trust) hat were uncovered
by the Shipyards investigation. And
in this condition 1t should be said tina.
hold h belief that the Ship
yards investigation is only part of a
huge subterranean engine devised and
constructed in tho {pror oQa.. IT..