New-York tribune., 1909-09-25
WORLDWIDE FINANCE.
Story OF the Great Development of the House
OF Spsyer & Co.

one Of the oldest. most active and most promi-
nent banking houses in the United States is the
hrm of Speycr & Co, who occupy their own
building at Nos. "a ana &c Pine street. in New
York City.
Although tho name of Spire Spira or Spcer
appears in the chronicles Of Frankfort on Main
as carly as the middle of the fourteenth century.
the first member OF the Spcyer family Of whom
accurate records have been kept and Of whom
James SPcyer and Sir Edgar Speyer Bart. are
direct descendants. was Michael Speyer. who
died in 1856
The founder Of the Speycr banking house IN
the United States Philip Speycr came to New
York in 1887 an importer Of European ucr-
chandise. at the same time doing foreign cx-
change business. He joined in 1916 by his
brother, Gustayus Speycr, and the firm OF Philip
Speyer & Co. vas then formed At the begin
ming Of the Civil War this firm was largely in
strumcntal IN opening market FOR United States
government bonds in Europe fact OF great i'm
Portance to the country at large. thereby for
eign funds were supplied with which to carry on
the war and to raise credit abroad.
In 1873 Philip Speyer & co. were succeeded by
Spcyer & Co, and the latter firm has placed
with its European clientele hundreds Of millions
OF Central Pacific Southern Pacific. Pernsyl-
vania. Baltimore & Ohio and Rock Island system
bonds and has nIso created a market In Holland
for many other American railroad securities.
thereby materially aiding ia the development II
our transportation systems
In recent years the nrin has undertaken ru-
Incrous financial transactions of magnitude for
instance the rcfunding Of the bonded debts Of
the Lake Shorc and the Rock Island railroad
companies. and the rcadjustment Of the affairs
Of the Central Pacific Railroad Company (carry-
ing with il the fun payment of the debt OF the
company to the United States government as
well as the reorganization OF the Baltimore *
Ohio Railroad Company and the rcadJustmcnt
of the financial affairs Of the Mexican National
Railroad Company and the Mexican Central Rail
way Company. At present Speycr & Co are
more particularly the bankers Of the Rock Island
and the st Louis & San Francisco railroad COM
pancs and have recently introduced the per
cent general lien bonds Of the latter company
on the Paris boursc. thereby creating a market
in France for the bonds OF tho Rock Island
system
In 1905 Spoyer & 60 and their European
houses placed the Cuban government loan Of
s35 600 900. AMI also a siOooo.O 900 Mexican gov
crnmcnt loan. They are the financial advisers
Of thes" two governments In 1906. In counec-
tion with the National city Bank. they con-
tracted with the Bolivian government for the
construction ot system OF railways in that
republic. They are also largely interested in
the construction of the railways on I.uzon Phil
ippine Islands, under agreement with the Sccre-
tary Of War. Quite recently they placed here
and abroad issue of $2j 900 900 Of irrigation
bonds which were issued with the guarantee Of
the Mexican government and they are also in
terestcd in the BInCO McXicano de Comcrcio &
InduStTia and in the SociGt6 FinanCGrc Franco
AmtriCainc, OF Paris
The European houses affiliated with Spcyer &
co are LaZaTd Spcyer- Ellissen. frankfort on
the Main; Speycr Brothers. London; Teixeira
de- Mattns Brothers. Amsterdam. and the
Dcutsche Bank, of Berlin.