Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-23
Directors of Corporations.

Directors Of Corporations.
Another interesting book Is the Dir ectory
Of Directors, which contains the names OF
the boards of about 1900 banks. railways
and other large corporations in this city.
1t is by no means so large as the club
directory, but is much more interesting. and
Is particularly significant in two respects
first, because of the large number of west
ern men who are engaged In the rianage-
ment of the great financial, commercial and
Industrial enterprises of New York; ana
second. the limited number of men who
control the great institutions. The other
night 1 spent two or three hours studying
this curious book and discovered that about
sixty men practically control the corpora
tons of New York. They are the connect
ing links between one corporation and an
other. You will find the names Of one or
more of these sixty men In the list OF
directors of nearly all the important cor,
poration and the list could be narrowed
auxiliaries of the big companies-the little
wheels that go round within the big ones.
Senator Depew, besides being member
of the United States Congress ana peions
ing to thirty-four CLUBS, Is q oleu,oi ~
seventy-four distinct corporations. althougn
some of them are closely allied. II ne
should attend the meetings of these poaros
NOT more than once In three months MS
income from fees alone would pc ap co.
5000 Most of the corporations give Slo-
gold piece to each director for every meet,
ing he attends. Some companies give $<o
and 1t is the fashion always to give dlrec-
tors fees in gold.
A story is told of Mr. Pierpont Morgan.
who, at one of the meetings of the board
OF directors of the New York Central rail-
road moved to increase the directors 1ees
from $40 to $40, because he had read IN
morning paper a report by Carroll ID. wright
of the United States labor bureau that the
cost of living had been greatly increased.
The motion was voted down on the obJec
ton of Mr.. Vanderbilt who said that II
Mr. Morgan could not afford to remain
director at the Usual rate they would try
to find somebody to take his place
Mr. Morgan is not a director of many
companies. His name appears only Twelve
times, but he is represented on the boards
of many other corporations by his partners
and even by clerks in his offices. MI George
w. Perkins, one of those partners, Is a di-
rector in twenty-five corporations; ana Mr.
Bacon another partner in thirty-one. You
will find a Morgan man in the board Of al
most every important corporation.
Rise of George w. Perkins.
Mr. Perkins is becoming one of the big
men Of this country. He is called the smart
est man in New York He was born In
Evanston. ILL., in 1862 and got his education
in the public schools of that place. When he
was fifteen years old he got job as errand
boy in the Chicago office of the New York
Life Insurance Company and was promoted
from time to time to messenger. bookkeeper.
cashier, inspector of agencies superlnten-
dent of division, third vice president ana
second vice president, reaching the latter
responsibility in 1892, when he removed to
New York to take charge of the agency
force throughout the country. In 1901 ne
called upon Mr.. Morgan to ask for sub
scription to a fund to preserve the Pans
AIDES of the Hudson river and was introduce
ed to him by Mr.. Bacon, for the two had
never met. After Mr.. Morgan had written
his name for a generous sum In the SUB
scription book he returned 1t to Mr.. Per-
kins and, pointing to the chair on the other
side of his desk, he said:
I'll give you 100000 year, Perkins, II
you'll move over here and occupy that
seat"
Are you joking?" inquired Mr.. Perkins.
Certainly not" said Mr. Morgan. Il feel
the need of an energetic young man IN TINS
office and have had my eye on you for some
time.
After further conversation Mr.. Perkins
agreed to take the offer under considera-
ton but finally declined 1t at the request
of the directors of the New York Life In
to the amount offered by Mr.. Morgan. A
few weeks later Mr.. Morgan renewed the
proposition and offered him partnership
in the banking house of j. P. Morgan & Co,
which pays him from s2ooooo to 100000
year.
Mr.. James Stillman. president Of the Ma
tional City Bank, ranks next to Mr.. Depew
as a director, being member of the boards
of fifty-five companies. E. H. Hartman Is
a director in forty-nine companies, George
J. Gould in fifty-two. but the Importance
of man In financial and commercial at
fairs cannot always be measured by the
number of companies in which he is d.
rector. John D. Rockefellers name appears
only eight times, while young Mr.. Hyde OF
the Equitable Insurance Company appears
fCrty-nine times.