Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1907-02-25
MORSE CONTROLS
ATLANTIC COAST
STEAMSHIP MAGNATE FROM A
HUMBLE BEGINNING RISES TO
GREAT POWER.
snecial to the Herald.

Special to the Herald.
New York, Feb. 29.-From the rural
community of Bath Me-, a quarter OF
a century ago TO captain of indus
try" controlling practically every
coast steamship line from New Bruins
wick to the Gulf epitomizes the amaz-
ing career of Charles Wyman Morse,
whose recent ventures have again
caused New York financiers TO sit up
and take notice. The methods and
successes of Morse-ice king, owner
of chain of banks, and steamship
magnate-can be compared only TO the
amazing celebrity. secrecy and force
with which E. H. Hartman has con-
Quoted his unparalleled campaign in
the railroad world.
Mr.. Morse has been baked for the
time being in his efforts to buy from
the New Haven railroad their line of
Sound steamers. But it is believed
that he will ultimately attain his OBJ
ject, for he usually gets what he goes
after. He now owns all the lines of
steamships plying the Hudson river.
In 1901 he picked up the Boston &
Portland Steamship company, then the
Boston e. Kennebec Steamship COM
pany, then the Boston & Bangor
Steamship company, and then the In
ternational Steamship company, which
put him in control of all the lines run
ming out of Boston to the Maine coast.
His next acquisition was the splendid
Metropolitan Steamship company, OPP
Grating between Boston and New
York. Next he gobbled up the Clyde
Line, operating from Boston and New
York to the south. This made his
steamship holdings greater than those
of any other man in the country.
Should his negotiations with the
New Haven company terminate sue
cessfully, Mr.. Morse will probably
bring all of his various corporations
under the control of one parent COM
pany, which may possibly be the Hud-
son River Steamboat company. That
would probably mean a capitalization |
somewhat in excess of $1OO,OOO,OOO.
With all his big deals and all his |
successes Morse still remains some
thing of an enigma to New York finan-
ciers. They have never been able to
exactly size him up. They are even |
yet in doubt as to whether he is TO be
a real and permanent force in the fin
ancial world of the metropolis, or
whether, simply through combination
of shrewdness and luck, he has broken
into the multimillionaire class with
his dollars as jimmy but lacking the
personal force and character necessary
to place a man on that financial plane
now occupied by less than a dozen
New Workers..
While he has been measurably well
known here for some years, and well
thought of, Mr. Morse flashed into the
game rather spectacularly back in
1899 when he took over most of the ice
companies and got himself and his
business talked about not little The
revelations at that time were Of the
sort to induce head-shakes among the
older and more conservative finan.
ciers.
While Morse wasn't born with a
gold spoon in his mouth" there were
On bic foynilt Rnano;ol inda,on1.,ao |
thrift, business ability and business
reputation. So he had everything nee
essary to give him good start in the
world. He first saw the light in Bath,
Maine, in 1856. For time he was en-
gagged with his father, who was en-.
gagged in the towboat business on the
Kennebec. But this was too slow fol
Charlie" and he came to New York
In the early sos to seek a wider field
for his energies
During the early years of his resi-.
dence in this city he speculated in ice
by the cargo, In hard pine cargoes. in
pieces" of schooners and steamers
and tugs, and meanwhile took his faith.
er and other relatives along Easy
Street with him. They came TO own
big fleet of ocean carriers and ocean
tugs, and their ice interests were
vastly expanded.
When he married, shortly after com
ing TO New York, he was already
rich man, and not eight years out of
college. either His wife was a Miss
Hussey of Brooklyn. They made their