The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-08
Morpan's Tendal Power

Tn the February instalment of Ihe Life Story of j. Pierpont Morgan HOW running in the Metropolitan Magazlhe' 1 Carl Hovey comments suggestNeiy on the origin of Morgan's enormous perso'iai power in finance. He says:
 "At 50, a good proportion of the men Of history have found their work, won fame. and been laid away. At 5o J. p. Morgan was unknown except In ms own circle; the newspapers rarely men tioned his name, and then only In a bare sentence, as if it were the name Of railroad or a bank. J. r. Morg1h served his clients, the investors, and so added to his fortune year by year ALSO he took share in the bankers syndicates that sold bonds for the government or the railroads. It Is unnecessary to say that there was a lot of money in this.
 But, in the meanwhile a great many things were going utterly wrong; things which yitally affected Morgan himself, and all his people-the investing pubic, here and in England. The great railroad systems were running down hill, finan- cially: they were ceasing to pay olVl- dends, and in a large number Of cases they were rapidly sliding into the position where the bondholders would cease to re- ceive interest on their holdings, and would be lucky if they did not lose part of their principal as well.
 "Nor was there any sound reason for such a condition of things To Morgan the cause was as plain as day; it was fool management In the year 1885 he suddenly felt 1t driven in by successive shocks that he must do something about the railroads. With Morgan 1t Is always do nothing or do everything; sit by, or take charge. We here arrive at the exact point in his life when the Morgan that we know now was setting out on his jour- ney toward the special pinacle he has attained; when he took his first step away from the beaten path of routine business and undertook, in his private capacity public work. The point when. in the language of some, he set out to gobble up the wealth of the country, or, as others see 1t, when he started in 10 run our business for Us in the way he thought 1t ought to be run; or, as still third party sees 1t, when he decided to become public benefactor and to render kind of financial service for the rest of his days.
 "Following the actual happening in J. P. Morgans life from this time on will lead us to but one conviction, namely, that the first and the third views of the money king noted above are romantica1ly false. and that the second-which holds mat MOTRdH pIlllldly .HteiCSi III iloiAS' the moral avis upon which his career turns as a whole, is a natural passion for sound, wel-founded business, without logical flaws or sapping weaknesses-fs true"
 After describing how Morgan reorgan- ized the Reading railroad in 1887, only to have his work to do over again six years later, MT. Hovey says:
 When he had finished the work, Nor gan kept the control of the road in his own hands. He took no chances of per hitting an enterprise which required careful treatment to fall into the hands of any wildcat management, and the se- curity holders were at one with him on that. Unable or unwilling to look after their own interests. they were only too glad to have Morgan do it for them. And after this experience Morgan invariably retained control of the railroads he re- organized. either through a voting trust or controlling ownership of stock. Thus the feudal position which he now occupies, the one-man power in American finance which he Is, had its beginning