The Washington herald., 1911-01-20

out a new form of policy-a Christmas
policy, which. was to be suitable for gifts
during the holiday season. 1t was sug-
gested that the first policy be issued to
the president of the company. My
brother thought it splendid plan and
favor of each of his daughters. He then
went to DIR. Wells. the medical director
of the Equitable. to be examined. and
DR.. Wells rejected him because of un-
mistakable evidences of kidney trouble.
happened to be here at the time and
my brother spoke to me about it with
great surprise. He said: There's moth
ing wrong with me. 1 think they must
be fooling me: 1 can't understand it
Condition Is Serious.
Il was alarmed, and about December
3 / persuaded my brother to come to
Chicago with me and be examined by DR..
Frank Billings, one of the foremost physi-
clans in the West. DR.. Billings told him
that his condition was serious and that
his blood pressure was altogether too
high. DIR. Billings also told him he had
My brothers symptoms were exactly
like those of my father just before he
died on April ]. 1902. and the manner
of his death has been almost the same.
Realizing: that, l became very much wor-
ried. and when l came back with my
brother, l had long session with DR.
Wells. DIR. Wells said that Paul must
be very careful of himself. that he had
been taking Unbalanced ratons. In other
words. he was an exceedingly temperate
man, and ate very little and drank moth
ing at all. He was in the habit of eating
4 little grapefruit or something like that
for breakfast. and later in the day would
eat moro fruit AS result. a pronounced
acidty of his blood followed his cXten-
Sive fruit diet.
Paul had been absolutely healthy I'D
to month ago. He was never i'll Il day
in his life. At last [ convinced him that
since SO many eminent medical men had
pronounced him a sick man he must take
care of himself and go somewhere for
treatment at once. He had engaged
steamship passage for February 80 and
he was going abroad with his wife. He
hadn't decided yet where he would take
treatment. We were forced to acknowl-
edge then for the first time that Paul
as an invalid
No Changes Planned.
New trustees, George r. Perkins and
Lewis CasS Ledyard, have just been ap-
pointed to hold the majority stock of the
Equitable Life Assurance Society and
the deed of trust had just been ex
tended but these matters of business
were entirely formal as far as Paul Nor
ton. president of the society,", was con-
cerned. They followed naturally on the
transfer of stock control from Thomas
F. Ryan to J. 2. Morgan IG-t year Il
Nor did the ri.>-1se in stock control
affect Mr.. Morton's position in the com
pany in any way. 1t was the purpose
Of Mr. Morton IN cnnfinla tho nreSi-
dency of the company.
AS president Of the company de-
clared a banker who has had much to do
With Equitable affairs. Mr.. Morton had
made good. He had the confidence of the
was hOnorcd and esteemed
~ the stockholders and trustees. and
vas regarded by the public as a man who
lad done as much as any other to re-
Ia bilitate the life insurance business af-
er the disclosures of Scandalous prac- .
ices brought out by the Hughes investi- |
CATION. His place in finance and insur- |
lnce will be hard to fill His death is a
rational bereavement"
The man who occupied this high place |
n the esteem of the business world and
the public did not see the inside of life
insurance office until July. 1865. Before |
n railroading and had no training what !
lrce.
Was Born in Detroit.
He was born in Detroit in 1851, a son |
II J. Sterling Morton. who was Secretary |
If Agriculture under President Cleveland. /
His only education was in the common |
schools. and that only lasted until he was |
fifteen years old. He then went to work !
IS clerk in a railroad freight Office and |
Kept plodding away for years with only |
IN occasional promotion until in 1880 he |
became general freight agent OF the Chi |
ago. Burlington and Quincy. Two years |
ater he left the Burlington to become |
7ice president of the Colorado Fuel and |
ron Company. In. 1896 he left that COM
,any to take the office OF vice president |
II the AtchisCn, Topeka and Santa Fe |
in charge of traffic.
1t was while he was working on the
Atchison that he became a close friend Of
Col Roosevelt Their acquaintance dated |
president of the National Civil Service
Commission. 1t is reported that on the
lay of their first meeting Mr. Morton
'aid to member of his family:
Say, I like that man Roosevelt, whom
met this morning. He said: I know
,our father, and he is a dead square
nan. 1 am glad to meet his son.
Friend Of Roosevelt.
After Mr.. Roosevelt was elected Vice
President, he made frequent trips to the
Southwest, particularly at reunions Of
he Rough Riders, and Mr.. Morton ordi-
larily met him and entertained him on
lis private car. AS result of the friend
hip thus cemented, Mr.. Roosevelt, when
Ie became President, offered to Mr.. Nor
on appointment to the first Cabinet po-
ition that became vacant. The place |
vas Secretary of Commerce and Labor.
dr Morton did not feel able to throw up
place on the Atchison paying him
Sc, 600 a year and declined, but in a short
ime refused again to enter the Cabinet
s Secretary Of the Navy.
His term as Secretary of the Navy
egan July /. 1904, and ended exactly a
ear later. He and the President were
one idea as to the naval policy. Each
elieved in a big navy. and each be-
eyed in the construction Of new ships
S rapidly as possible Mr.. Morton had
o experience in shipbuilding, but he did
now how to keep railroad contractors
,oving, and his application of the ener-
etic methods of Western railroad men
D the work of construction and i'm
rovement of the naval equipment re-
ulted in great expedition in the build
1g and equipment Of the ships than
ad ever been witnessed before. Mr..
Iorton's regard for Col. Roosevelt did
OF end with the end of his time In the
ficial family. Even in the panic year
( 1907, Mr.. Morton insisted that the
residents work would prove ultimately
eneficial.
4