Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1910-12-16
Hov Banker Lost Big Trust

ent system of the Vanderbilt railroads
He was very shy, and modest almost
to fault He was absolutely loyal
to his friends; was very solicitous OF
the opinion of every one with whom
he was brought in contact, and would
never permit himself to indulge in an
outburst of temper. Yet notwithf
standing these qualities, he was q
man of great f1rmness when once he
was convinced that he was right in
any matter, though his apparently
gentle method OF insisting upon recog1
milton of his prerogatives often led
even persons who knew him fairly
well to misjudge his character in
this respect. The little story l am
point.
When Mr.. Vanderbilt succeeded
his father as directing authority of
the New York Central system, int4
mate relations had been maintained
for years between the Vanderbilt FAM
lily and one of the oldest trust inst-
tutions of New York. This intimacy
dated back to the days of the Comma
dore himself, and Cornelius Wander
bilt, as the head of the family, ems
couraged and maintained 1t. Tmag'
inc his surprise, therefore, when the
late Edward King, president of the
institution, said to Mr.. Vanderbilt
one day that he was anxious that a
gentleman of high financial standing
with whom 1t was generally known
that Mr.. Vanderbilt was not on friend
ly terms, should be elected to fill
vacancy In the board of directors OF
the trust company. No other name
could have been more distasteful to
Mr.. Vanderbilt; still, in his character
lstically gentle manner, he ventured
to protest against the selection OF the
man.
at is my view he said. that in
the directorate of an important bank
ing institution such as ours Is there
should be as far as possible complete
cordiality and harmony among the
various members. Certainly, there
should not be elected to the director
ate any one with whom another dis
rector cannot hold personal commu-
nication This man and myself do
not maintain personal relations and 1t
would be exceedingly embarrassing to
me, and am sure 1t would be to him.
If we were compelled to meet In di'
rectors' meeting
Now, you would suppose, wouldn't
you" continued Mr.. Clarke, that a
plea of that kind would have been suf-
ficient to cause Mr.. King to change
his mind about wanting the man on
the board of directors? But 1t wasn't;
Mr.. King was 'sot' on having his own
way. The man was elected director
and because Mr.. Vanderbilt made no
further complaint of any sort, Mr.
King speedily became convinced that
Mr.. Vanderbilt had become reconciled
to his friends election. to Mr.. Kings
inward satisfaction.
But how gravely mistaken Mr..
King was in his estimate Of Mr.. Van
derbilts character was made plain
10 US who knew Cornelius Vanderbilt
and his ways we'll when, following the
reading of his viii after his death
in 1899. it was discovered that by a
codlcil he had transferred a most I'm
portant trust. which he had at first
established with Mr.. Kings company,
to the strongest rival Of that institu.
ton. There was no comment, no ex.
PLANTATION - nor did we who knew
Of Mr. Kings disregard Of Mr.
Vander5ilts gentle protest need any
? to tell Us why Mr.. King company
had lost the direction Of one Of the
most valuable trusts ever created"
Copyright. 1910 by E j. Edwards. All
Rights ReserveG.J