The Detroit times., 1910-01-24
MORGAN's AID IS
PECULIAR GENIUS
George Fisher Baker, Who Is Said
To Be Worth $2Oo,OOO,OOO,
4 ~ Abhors Publicity. u
hy W q. SHEPHERD.

NEW YORK. Jan. 24.-Who is this
George Fisher Baker. who sits at the
right hand OF Morgan. king OF Ameri'
cag
He's the grimmest, most silent mon
~ king OF them all. No encyclopedia
tells his life story; Who's Who
barely touches on him. The photo
grapher who gave out the only pic
ture Baker is known TO have ever had
taken got into pecks OF trouble,
Leave me alone" has been the
motto OF this solitary man.
AS a boy he clerked in Troy n.
~, store. Baker got a job in the
state banking department OF New
York. VIM. IA. Seward was then high
in New York politics and Bakers
father was legal adviser 10 him.
When Seward went 10 Washington
20 be I.incoln's secretary OF state, the
elder Baker accompanied him. Just
about then 'Old" John Thompson put
forth the national bank idea, and when
the national bank law was passed
Thompson established the First Ma
tional bank: IL truly was the first ma
tional bank In America. and young
Baker was proud TO get job there as
a clerk. When the war bonds were is
sued Bakers job was TO sell them:
probably his fathers connection with
the administration had something 10
do with this honor and responsibility
being placed on young Bakers
shoulders.
With Henry Fahnestock, one OF his
friends In the bank, Baker went out
into the Wall-st. district and disposed
OF the bonds.
One day, the Wall-st. legend goes,
they sold bonds TO Jay Cooke & Co..
and within a short time the Jay Cooke
company failed and could not pay.
This error on the part OF the two
young men threatened their ruin, but
Baker turned defeat into victory.
with Fahnestock he went to John
Thompson.
Give us six months option on the
bank and wen buy II, il you'll stay
TN as president until the purchase,
they suggested.
Thompson wished 10 retire. and
though astounded by the offer OF the
young men. IL served to renew his
confidence in them. Perhaps, too, he
knew that Bakers father was higt
in the counsels of the administration
and might give aid to his son.
For six months Fahnestock anC
Baker scurried about, and at the enc
OF the time, having settled for the ia,
Cooke error themselves. bought th'
controlling interest in the bank.
And that is how George Ffshel
Baker got into Wall-st. How much
aid he got from the invisible wire.
that always seem to reach from Wash
ington to Wall-st in all administra
tons, will never be known.
But Baker was always grim anC
silent These won for him. He is Z
living "No." That's the only word
they say. that he knows He never
nags yes" to anything; that would
III waste OF time. for all his ''yeses'
he acts.
There is no glad hand about him
He has son. named after himself,
who is a vice-president of the First
National bank. Baker himself re-
signed the presidency OF that institu-
ton Jan. IL OF this year.
The remainder of the family is the
wife and a married daughter. A
home at Tuxedo and a small house
I'm Madison-ave.. half a block from
Morgan's home. are Bakers visible
possessions. But he Is director in a
string OF companies whose titles
would Ill a newspaper column.
Wall-st. says he is worth at least
$500. 100000 His only close acquaint-
ance, besides Morgan. is Henry Fab
nestock. His pastimes-well. no one
ever sees him at the dozens OF clubs
ne belongs TO. And even j. Pierpont
Morgan himself goes 10 thrice as
many banquets. Grimness. aloofness
and cold determination are Bakers
characteristics.
Baker is today bigger In Wall-st.
nnance than any Vanderbilt. Gould or
Astcr. He is Morgan's. right hand.
You don't hear much about him be-
cause he prefers the closed door and
the mo"
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