The Washington times., 1912-12-19
J.P. MORGAN SAYS
THERE'S No TRUST
TO CONTROL MONEY
Financier, Witness Before
Pujo Committee, Tells Of
Big Bank Deals.
tcontinusd from First PaseJ

tContinued from First PaEe.)
duced and read the. agreement between
]. p. Morgan & Co. and the New Haven
railway. by which the Morgan House
was made fiscal agent for the railway.
1t was at reed that Issues Of the roads
securities should be sold through the
cent should be paid: and in case the
market wns not readily responsive At
times when they were offered. the
banking house agreed to advance loans
cent Se 'ns" Of their a face Hs, value. @ "'
% M. Morgan admitted that was the at.
rangement, and then Mr.. Untermyer
wanted to know II Mr.. Morgan diant
thus to give to q single fiscal agent g
monopoly Of selling It's securities and
handling its financial arrangements.
AR. Morgan didn't think SO: rather, ne ns
a strong concern keeniy interested In
the afrairs Of the company, ready to a..
sisst in making good. and to direct In
reorga nixation II that should be necss-
Then Mr.. Unternyer tried to get MT.
Morgan TO admit that II there were
competition in handling eecuritles IN
such cases, as between various banking
90. ana would not be led to admitting
anything Of the sort. ..-
Sidesteps Admissions.
When It came to voting trusts. Mr.,
untermyer was insistent OF showing
that these concentrate control 20 close
" as to be dangerously. Mr.. Morgan
sidestepped any admissions. however. .
Mr.. Untermyer assumed the case OF
q voting trust with power to elect the
directors Of a corporation every. year:
"Do you think" he demanded. that
have power to remove at the end OF
any year. can be expected to be entirely
Independent Of your banking house.
Just as 4 It's position was Independent
Of your, ,,,,.s Mr. wor,.n
vigorously. "Its my experience that
people who have power to name dlrec-
tors are likely to have less influence
with them. than people who have no
such power OF naming them"
Morgan was indulging a bit OF humor.
but when he pressed for elucidation
Mr. Morgan insisted that he meant just
that, and meant It literally.
Sale of Railroad Stock
wouldn't 1t be better for all railroad
securities to be openly issued and sold
In competition, as is the case with State
municipal and Government securities?"
asked Mr.. Untermyer.
mo" replied the fnancler. There
Is sure to be competition In the end.
sponsibillty for both the company and
the people that invest In It."
Mr.. rntermyer tried to get the bank
er to name a single Instance In which
the fiscal house had .acteally lost any
sibility. Mr. Morgan didn't recall one.
but was sure that thee had been such.
When he was urged to tell just how
much he had to do with the Organiza-
gan was modest. Mr.. ttermyer wanted
him to admit that he selected all the
directors. and Mr.. Morgan. after some
sparring. admitted that while he
didn't remember writing g list OF them
had suggested. he guessed none was
put on the list without his approval. y
A laugh went around the room. and
Mr.. Morgan participated.
Didn't you determine who would &c
on or stay OF the board?" persisted
Mr.. t'ntermyer.
~ may have done the latter" ad.
mitted Mr., Morgan. and there was ~
other laugh. -
Who Fixes Prices
Then MIR. Untermyer wanted to know
who fixed the prices mt which the va
rious subsidiaries were taken into III,
steel corporation. Mr.. Morgan wOuldn'
admit that he Hxed them. but said h
fnall; approved them
"Who selects the deposltaries Of tn
Steel corporation"
''The finance committee
Who ,n sa decided d., on ,. p, Morgan q ca
.!O." replied Mr.. Morgan. with an
other infectious laugh. II guess tina
was done sort OF ex-Uffcio."
"You just saw that It was going =
be good bushes and took II In, dh
you?"
mo. We didn't know whether Il wa
going to be good business, them
"But II has been?'
ted Mr.. Morgan. and moment aftcl
when something was asked about stet
At times selling very low the tinancic
observed that nobody ever sold any q
II on his advice: he always had con
tidence In It."
Has Many Lawyers.
Mr.. Morgan was accompanied by
strong battery OF lawyers, and some O
the members of his firm: also by hi
daughter. Mrs. Satterlee. They sat 1
group a short distance from the en-
Of the committee table. Mr. Morga
argued a good deal with the couns,
for the committee. insisting that tn
New York banks were Just as indt
pendent OF each other as II they ha
no directors In common.
The directors. he said, didn't hav
time to direct much. Just fiPureheadi
are they?" demanded Mr.. Unterrnye
You might call them that" admitte
the financier.
Mr. Morgan was insistent that Il
presence OF man Of several boards,
banks supposed to be actively cOinpe
ing. didn't make It possible for him