The Washington herald., 1907-04-07

by proxy. He stopped trying to make
any more money twenty-Ihree years ago,
in 1854, and since then has devoted prae-
| ticaily all his time to spending it in the
ways that suit him best.
It would not be fair. probably. to speak
Of Mr.. Jesup's course as a planned out
campaign for recognition, but his actiW-
ties have brought it to him in great par
GELS. He now is only three years less
than eighty. He was born at Newport
Conn. in 1880. found his way to New
York when only a lad. and went 10 work
in the Office Of Rogers. Ketchum & Gros-
venor. of the Paterson Locomotive Works
The only knowledge he got Of what a
college or university is like, during the
years that he might have been a col
lege student, was got from the outside
and from hearsay, although his father
was a college man. Norris X is row
entitled TO write A. NJ and LID. after
his name, however, the degree of master
of arts having been conferred upon him
by three OF the oldest universities in the
Countrywide, Williams, and Columbia
and the degree of doctor of laws by
Princeton.
Thus he may properly be termed doc
tor but he doesn't like the title and it
is seldom used in connection with his
name Besides these academic honors he
has received unusual recognition from
abroad IN the form of the Order of St
Stanislaus Of the first class. conferred by
the Teigning Gar OF Russia a little less
than two years ago. and he is held in
the highest esteem the whole world over
because of the way he has spent his
money 10 push along scientific investiga-
TOMS The Jesup name Is certainly up
among the scientists, and almost as much
so as in artistic. philanthrOpic, and re-
ligious circles.
The movements financed BY MIR. Jesup
which have won for him such exceptional
recognition have covered an extraordinary
range. He began giving to the Presby-
terrain Church, OF which he has been
member since bOyhood, years before he
retired. He was one of the founders Of
the Young Mems Christian Association
He built the Boys Lodging House for
the Children's Aid Society, in New York
nearly twenty years ago. Merely to list
the other institutions he has founded or
helped would be to write a catalogue,
and to tell how much money he has spent
upon them would involve a table OF fig
ures the aggregate of which would he
decidedly impressive His pet is the
American Museum OF Natural History
and he has won widest recognition from
the exploration parties which he has sent
out as president of that institution and
paid for out of his own pocket.
There have been six or seven of these
expeditions and they have penetrated
some Of the most remote parts of the
earth. One of them went 10 Northern ST.
IBERIA, where the travelling scientists learn
ed a good deal in support of the theory
that North America was originally peO-
pied through great tide Of immigration
from Asia.
The scientists also visited the island Of
SalShalin or SaghaIien which Russia
held through seizure for many years but
now holds jointly with Japan. There the
Jesup explorers rediscOvered the rumor-
ed hairy. aboriginal. Ainu race. Another
Jesup expedition visited Alaska, where
painters and photographers and writer's
made graphic and written records of the
things found by the scientists. other ex-
petitions visited other strange lands.
everywhere studying men and women
their ways Of life. their traditions, their
folklore, their songs and their ways of
living, as well as the physical features
Of the country, to which the observations
Of nearly all the earlier explorers and
some Of the modern ones have been con-
fined.
The halls and rooms Of the Museum Of
Natural History contain many trophies
brought back by these expeditions, some
OF which have been away years at a time
Their collections have been so large that
important selections have been presented
to many other museums. It was presen-
tation Of much interest and value to the
Academy OF Sciences at St. Petersburg
which brought the recognition Of the Gar
in the form Of the Order OF st. Stanislaus
Jesup furnished Peary with the good shin
Roosevelt. on which the latter made his
recent famous journey TO the "farthest
north. As proxy explorer, Jesup has
added more 70 our knowledge Of out-of-
the-way places than any other living
man.
Jesup amassed part Of the wealth which
has made his remarkably wide recogni-
tiOn possible in the banking business. but
a part of it was got together in the build
ing and financing of railroads at a time
when railroad building in this country
was very profitable He got out of his
railroad directorates, however, soon af-
ter quitting the occupation Of banker.
The South Carolina Central was the last
road with which he retained official con-
nectIon.
Morris X. Jesup seems TO be quite ready
to suffer the greatest publicity Of his ex-
ploring expeditions. but he is unusually
averse to seeing anything about his own
personality in print. He is a handsome
man for one of his age. and fun of dig
nifty, with heavy mustache and mxuriant.
Old-fashiOned side whiskers. He is a man
of great suavity and IS decidedly I'm ear
nest with regard 10 anything and every
thing which he undertakes. He is nearly
as fond of the New York Chamber OF
Commerce. with which he has been con
nected since 1863, and of which he has
been president for years, as he is of the
Museum of Natural History He dresses /
with extreme care and despite the almost
invariably decorative design of his neck
wear, in excellent taste
Fight for Social Recognition.
The two greatest railroad leaders now
in this country, J. j. Hill and Z. H. Har-
riman. have sought, apparently, to win
the recognition for which both have been
undeniably eager, chiefly along the lines
Of their business activities.
Yet there is a story which you have
seen In the news columns, no doubt. with !
in the last few weeks, that Harriman's
ambition for the social recognition of his
family, at least has become as keen as
his desire for recognition as a king in
the transportation world This story has
1t that he desired Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish. !
daring, not TO say eccentric, society lead |
er. TO introduce his daughters into New
York's most exclusive social set: that
Mrs. Fish declined decisively, not to say
rudely, and that it was because of her !
declination that Hartman relentlessly |
forced her husband out of the Illinois
l,cnfr..ll so-orfan-,rr-