The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-09-27

and devote myself entirely to the mill.
This the president OF the bank. a con-
sentative man who had grown wealthy
for that part of the country. advised
me not TO do. He said il l would stay
on had good chance of succeeding
TO his job and Of growing rich. too.
The position would have been a spec
tally good one for me. as I knew co.
900 out of the $1,000 inhabitants Of
the county-knew them well enough
to call them by name and they in turn
knew ME well enough TO warrant them
hailing me as Danny.
But l told him had hopes OF max
ing more money than the bank would
ever be able to make for me If l gave
my undivided attention to the tin mill.
And SO / left the bank. and from that
day for years | thought of nothing but
tin plate. We prospered, and by 1897
we had thirty-one mills instead of the
original four. We then moved our Of
fees to Chicago and l went there with
my family to live.
ing our good example, had sprung up
all over the country. Competitioe was
keen. The question OF consolidation
came up. Gentlemen's agreements
had proved worthless. and in 1898 all
the tin mills in the country. go in
number, Were merged into one organ.
iZation, which was named after the
original company in Elwood, the AM
erican Tin Plate company. Then, in
| order to guarantee our steel supply,
we organized. in connection with w.
A. & j. II, Moore, the National Steel
company Still later the American
Steel and Hoop company and the AM
erican Sheet Steel company were or
ganized by the same people. When
the United States Steel corporation
was organized. some time afterward,
all these four properties went into the
consolidation and are today a part of
what is commonly known as the
Steel Corporation"
Wealth Unknown.
Here Mr.. Reid stopped TO light stiil
another cigar, and I took occasion to
ask him bluntly, in Ii Hung Chang
fashion, how much he is worth today.
He parted the question. for, like most
Americans who have grown wealthy.
Mr.. Reid Is a modest man when it
comes to openly acknowledge the ex-
tent of his riches, and he leaves to
others their approximation. / learned
J later that Mr.. Reid never in any cir
! cumstances discusses his wealth. AS
a matter of fact nobody knows the ex-
act dimensions of the fortune today
OF this man who began thirty-nine
years ago as a messenger boy at
$3.50 a month. Indeed. Mr.. Reid Ia
quoted as frequently saying to his In
Inmates that for a while 1t made him
absolutely dizzy the way the wealth
poured In upon him for a period of q
| year or two, q statement which can
be readily believed when we consider
the system of modern finance under
which he and his associates have con-
ceived and carried through to success.
full issue project after project-the
Tin Plate Trust twice reorganized and
merged with the Steel Corporation,
the Rock Island and Railroad system
reorganized and made to grow from a
few thousand to more than seventeen
thousand miles in a few years; either
one of which projects would have net
ted vast fortune to a financier of the
inner circle, and combining them. as
Daniel G. Reid has done, 1t can readi-
ly be conceived that the profits accru-
ing would necessarily total a vast
sum.