The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-04
RYAN'S PLACE AS FINANQER
 TRUE CHARACTER OF THE MAN

an ornament or establishment to dis ltfnguish tho s.denv from the privat study of tasteful man Of noderat, means.
 Except on rare occasions, MT. Ryar goes straight to the Fifth avenu,
 house from his office st 5 o'clock 1T the afternoon. after having worked
 down town since 9:s0 or 10 In thu
 morning Sometimes he rides to anC
 fro In cab. sometimes in his auto,
 mobile. When. upon returning iron
 Nassau street, he Is ensconced in tn, den tired by the days labors ir high finance he Is not to be beguiled from his flreside until the next morn ing After a moderate elmer he gen. eraliy reads or receives his friends in. formally. or chats with Mrs. Ryan It Is an event in the household if he
 goes abroad after dark.
 How do you kee-, your health and work 80 hard:" someone asked him not long ago.
 oepts do H t sy ea saDs essrp %ysf aa Ee se tS piled. When the ciocx strikes, I am not only in bed: am actually on the way to sleep"
 As serious avocation and one re- quiring considerable diverting of att
 tention from business. sIr. Ryan has
 his charities. He is a lavish giver to
 the Roman Catholic cnurcn. it's benev-
 olent undertakings.1 and it's educational
 institutions. To the diocese of Rich-
 that will cost when completed. half a million dollars. Through MN Ryan he has enriched Georgetown University
 by something more than S350.000. As
 joint patron with n;s wife. he has
 been ready at all times to open his
 purse to any cause that was both good
 and Roman Catholic
 That the ffnancier does not often act as a good angel~ outside of "the
 church" Is attributed to the wife's in- fluence: he himself, though devout churchman, Is not looked upon as quite go ardent a reiigionist as she has proved herself. But for her. 1t has been said. he would have been more impartial in his charities.
 It was through Mir Ryan's efforts. so rumor has it, that the Pope recently granted permission for the conctruc- ton of a Ryan tomb under the Ryan cathedral at Richmond. The giver of the great edifice. together with his wifes Is to And last resting place be. heath consecrated church. and that is an honor bestowed upon laymen on- ly when they rendered extraordinary services to the Roman Catholic organ tzation; for the custom is that priests and prelates alone shall be thus en- tombed.
 From Mounfnin Boy Upward.
 Thomas F. Ryan first saw light in the mountains of Virginia, fifty-four years ago. His parents were of Scotch Irish extraction. and they had no means with which to give him an ed- ucation beyond what the occasional school sessions of the hill country af- fortied. What he. learned. he had to pick up himself. They say he read a great deal and applied himself to his arithmetic with unceasing zeal At any rate. he must have made the best of his opportunities. for he was a like ly lad. quick at figures and with "com- mon sense" beyond his years. when at the age of seventeen, he iourneyed eastward to seek his fortune in a city.
 Arriving in Baltimore in 1868. in search of job the boy from the back woods managed to land" as a dry goods clerk in Jorn D. Barrys store That was five years before he married Miss Ida M Barry. But In the five years he did many things for so young a man. Before he rad dived in Balti- more for more than half that length of time. he decided that 1t was too small a city for his proper ceveiopment. and to New York he came forthwith. He had been here only a few weeks before he became a broker on the curb, and in 1874, or one year after his marriage, he was able to buy il seat in the stock exchange
 From the beginning the young trad CT was known in the street" as man remarkably familiar with two subjects --the resources of the then mysterious West in which he nad managed to make few trips while a boy living among the Virginia mountains, and the securities markets. with whose intricacies he had acquired a familiar ity quickly and thoroughly by reason of both hard application and natural aptitude Of the West he was contin- uaIly prophesying great things, Long before the railroad systems, the coal regions and the "industrials' of the undeveioped region mad their boom he was telling his associates what was go- ing to take pJuace beyond the Alleghe- nies,
 While building up his traction skeI- etons, Ryan has had time for innu- other activities in his favorite role of reorganizer andmanipulator. He has become connected with banks. generally seizing them in the moment of Reorganization and reaping a har- vest of profits after they nave become revived under his clutch.
 Invades the Insurance world.
 It was late in 19O4 that he turned his eyes upon the insurance The Life Company was about to go to pieces. Ever ready to reor- ganize anything that could be reor- ganized profitably. the man from Mas sau street laid his skilled hand upon the wreck. As had been the case with the other objects of his magic touch. the Washington Life was born aney. The late legislative insurance investi- gation. held less than . year after the reviving process began. showed the to be on affirm footing, ready to compete with the strongest and to make money as surely SIS the liveliest of its competitors.
 The Washington Life episode in Mir Ryan's career was so well covered that no word of 1t got abroad until after he seized the Equitable fast summer That seize was effected by the pur chase of 5O2 shares of stock, or the controlling interest. from James H Hyde. whose usefulness to the concern had ceased because of the scandals arising out Of the controversy between his faction aud that of the president. James w. Alexander. At the psychol- ogical moment MT. Ryan stepped in, and. after he had bought the stock. hastened to Teassure the public by placing 1t in the hands of three trus tees whose integrity could not be questioned-Grover Cleveland. Morgan J. o'Brien and George Westinghouse. |
 Whether the buyer intended to do great public service has been debated by doubling scoffers. but he has told the investment committee that he only | wished to make a name" for himself and to rescue the poiicyholders. and has. agreed publicly to sell back thel