The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-08-25
Guaranty Trust, United States
Mortgage 8at1d Trust ! rs I: E5tqllllitable
and Mercantile Named.

strolled by the Mutual III fe and the Equi--S
ia bio Trust Company and the Mercantile
Trust Company, controlled BY the Bquita-
bic. on competeit authority It was
learned yesterday that Mr.. Paul 81 D.
Crnvuth, 3t Mr.. Ryar's personal counsel
acting under Mr.. Ryan's Instructions
drew s,p alint outline 10 proposal setting
forth the main features 81 Of e, plan Tor
the consolidation OF the companies named
under the fostering wing Of the Morton
Trust Company an inst tuition dominated
By Mr.. Ryan q and OF which he Is the
vice president, a
ia AZ ( the n owner 81 Of the & ma ority stock
interest inathe Edult table Life, Mr.. Ryan
could readily have swung into such a.
deal the Equitable Life s holdings in the
Mercantile Trust Con,5'an amounting to-
i 5 per cen t. ii Of that concern s entire
capital stock. Ii This holding had a market
value on January LIST, Of last year, OF
about sl2 10000. He could have brought
$in5also the Equitable \ Life s stock hold
Ing In the lqui table u Trust Company,
amounting to about SO per cent. OF that
trust companies capitalization. with 4 al
rnarke value OF bout S. 600, 900 {sisis
Vast Deal Y ollapses. M
TO acquire control Il Of the trust COM
panes hubsidiaryG to the Mutual Life was
not SO easy. and the scheme failed s8t The
Mutual Life had n. 7s6 shares of the stock
of the United States Mort gageF and Trust
Company, h ED lat ID mar ket value of $4.-S
2294 400, and S,e48 shares OF the Guaranty
Trust Company's stock. worth 81, 75s. 4O0.f
ZEN Under the terms OF the * rm st rong irl-s
surance laws the life insurance companies
must divest themselves of all heir stock
inat these sub diary stitutions and OF ALI
other stocks with la a period of five years.9
1ngthnt sneoessi ty Mr.. Ryan saw an oppor-E
tunity for 10 ci1ara etc ist! 8 roke Of high
finance.
T hese compa lies ! have been Immensely
profitable. 5 riding Y to the \ Equttablag
Life's report to the Armstrong committee
Its Mercantile Trust stock paid an annual
dividend VI OF 81 thirty per cent. It's book
value was $443344 nd Its market price 1900
The "a table Trust paid IN a -nnu a ten
per cent a dividend Y The Guaran tyss Trust
Company and the United States M ort-'
gage and Trust COMPANY each was paying
a5Stwentys per cent. annual d dend In
price Of less than STAT. its Guaranty Trust
Company stock had a ma rket iva lue Mof5
$3.50, while III It's United " States Mortgage
and Trust ofdlngs, acquired "a $l65.1 10,
had d market price OF 800. 8' 553
S Nj r.ss Ryan had Il not been without In
fluence a III the affairs OF the Mutual
Life. The Mu tnal held 2. 900 shares In
resenting a value OF 81. 400 900, IN the NJ u
stual Life. s Board OF Trustees were men
distinctly friendly to I the Ryan interests,
and several, Including George e. Haven,
who also sat In the directorates Of such
dtstinctiyely Ryan institut ions as y the
washington Life Insu rance Company or
the Morton Trust When Tho mas F.sRyans
and Levi P. Mort on acquired control OF 9,
the y Washing ton Ii fe, Mr.. r yan, < with
tic consent and good will Ii OF the old
ArcCurdy administration OF the II Nut
placed in the presidency of the flashing
ion Life John Tatlock, o trusted officer
of the Iutunl. S II! ii5 En- Il
Scheme Soon Crushed
When it came to a formal p roposnl to
4 swallow the Mutual's two big trust cons
p,nflnies. no viewer, and consolidate them
with Ills own 4 Into o. gigantic institution,
with the Morton Trust as N Its nucleus,
the Mutual I,lfe baked "a I Mr.. Ryan's
plan, and the matter went X no further
{ titan MI. Cravath's submission Of @ skele-
ton proposal OF arms n. Sssl :.
a{ Mr.. Ryan also hoped to control the. DIS az
5:prtosal Of the Mutual Life's large holdings
Nh the stock Of the National Bank Of
Commerce, which must also be loaded
under the terms OF the reform insurance
s;luws.s unless those laws be mo fled within
&thn next five years. The Ed table Life
has bo.es1 shares Of that security. worth
s10 1876, 500 on January ], " eO5. That is
nfn,It twenty per cent Of the bank cap-
italF stock .i, The Mutual ife holds SO, 0SS
shares, worth 1920, COO 2 year q So j
sS Charles i "A. Peabody, president, and
Emory, cCllntock, vice president OF y me
Mutual life, refused vest erday to dis
c,, ais N'i IL any way Mr. Ryana relations
with the Mutual, either actual or pro-
snectiye. but an X old and wei lin formed
member'of the Mutual 8 hoard Is author
sitv5 FOR the statement that before y MT,
RYAN vent abroad he endeayored to obs
tain nm option fnr the purchase OF the 4
Nr,,tuals National Bank OF Commerce
stock, & or, at least assurances that It
Ing his absence. Whether Mr., Ryan
contemplated acquiring these shares In
connection with the eproposed consollda-&
ton of the big trust companies or
through the medium Off, separate SYM 4
dictate could not be learned, ,58f ii, $S8s H NJ
That Mr.. Ryan has by no. means aban-
loned these schemes, and that he Is plan
ming to strengthen his influence In the
Mutual Life, so ms to make them pos
sIble, Is a belief persistently held In the
financial district Usually Well informed
3flnanclers have expressed outspokenly tho
suspicion that either MI, Ryarlsor James
n. Hyde, who sold out to Mr. Ryan. the
Equitable control. or p1ln or Them, are
tile real powers behind Samuel Inter
myers effort to wrest from their present
mnnagements by means Of the Interna-
tional PolIoyholders' Committee the con-
troll OF the Mutual and the New York
life. IA sss34
For New Reform Plan,
There is now being circulated among a
few men, all Of whom ara large policy
holders In one or both Of these insurance
companies, petition tho purpose of which
Is to enlist tham as a committee In an in
dependent polioyholders' movement, affil-
lated neither with the present " insurance
administrations nor with either nf the two
important committees already organized
to GUST these administratlo Ions,
This document covers about ten type
iwritten pages and It bears already a
formidable array Of ma mes m Influential
men who are large investors In life In
srrance. Its keynote is fair we'll OK
frressed IN the quota ON, plague d. both