New-York tribune., 1908-11-01
CLIMBING UP THE
BANKING LADDER
FROM MESSENGER TO
PRESIDENT.
TO
Heads of Ne1o York Financial In
stitutions Who Began as ErTand
Bogs at So a Week.

-ror, o4sce hoy to bank president! From SAL
ary OF IS q week TO $4,000 year! From the Ia
norious bottom to the luxurious top with ell Its
accessories of honor. fame steam yachts and New
mort cottages II the late Samuel Smiles were to
discourse his usual style on such possibilities,
accentuating the poor but honest element Of the
narrative. there would be considerable fncredulty
except among his most youthful readers A ro-
mantle gloss often makes fact seem like fiction.
There are indeed q considerable number of New
York bank presidents who have risen from the
bottom. They not especially proud OF It and
90 not generally feel il their duty to relate their
experiences so that others can go and do likewise.
No bank president is hero TO himself, If the ex-
pressions made TO the writer rightly inter
preted. He is too full OF business 10 ruminate on
any ones past, even his own. Seen from below,
he appears TO be at the top, but he views loftier
heights than his and becomes comparatively
humble
What am 7 compared with Mr. Rockefeller"
said the head OF q Wall Street bank, to whom the
autobiographical example Of the oil man was pre-
sen.ed. he is probably the richest man in the
world have only Z modest position 1t would
look foolish If I said anything about getting up
in the world ! only my way There is
nothing interesting about me. am not a genius.
like Mr. Hartman"
Of course there are plenty of Junior clerks on
long hours and short pay who would be willing
TO take the risk Of disenchantment at the top
The virtues Of discretion and reticence naturally
belong a self-made bank president, who has
practising them for twenty-five or thirty years
In q sunless bronze cage The materials for g
rnagnifcently complete biography, even TO such
details as the subjects taste in cigars and his
15fe's fondress for the theatre, probably filed
away in the banks records Of its employees. bus
such data are not for publication. The bank presi-
dent does not seek publicity, like an author; he
svnlpathizes with the classic maxim that the most
vrtuous woman is the one least talked ABOUT he
is courteous and approachable and that. too. is a
habit of lorg standing 1t is also his habit 70 work
much more than those who envy his position may
imagine He may come later than he cid IN mes
fenger days but he often protracts his stay IN the
Office until 3 or 8 o'clock which seems TO contra
dict the popular notion Of bank presidential ease
NJ bohemian or artistically minded person would
71rolablv care to trade jobs with him for keeps.
IT becomes tiresome TO see nothing but money
around
Among the New York bank presidents and vice.
r7residerts who started the bottom are Wlllanl
H Porter. president Of the Chemical Bank and
-resident Of the Clearing House Association; sam
7lel Woolverton, president Of the Gallatin BANK
A { FrisseI president of the Fifth Avenue BANK
William H. Perkins, president Of the Bank OF
America; Gates W. McGaTrah president OF tne
Mechanics Bank: Edward Townsend. president oI
the Importers and Traders Bank; Lewis T. Fle'-
son, president Of the Irving National Exchanse
Bank: Alexander Gilbert, president Of the Market
and Fulton Bank: James G. Cannon, Vice-presloens
of the Fourth National. and H NJ Kllburn' wee
president Of the City Bank A dozen others coulo
be easily added the list