Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-12-20

he suggested.
No, you would not answered Mr..
Morgan. e. e.
!, IF man controlled the credit OF
q country, he would have control of
ali its affairs said Mr.. FUntermyers
4 HE might have that" retorted the
! finaaeier, t'but he would not rhave the
money. If he had the credit and / had
kthe money his customer would be
baGly off," sci 'e is''
Mr. Morgan again declared that mon
ey could not. be controlled. He added
i that many men had great credit ssho
had no money. o. casa
Ills not that because it is they have
money back of them" asked Inter
! myer.
mo, sir it is because people believe
/ in the man. I have known a man to
come into my office and 1 have given
him a check for million dollars when
| IkneW he had not a cent in the World ;"
. Mr. Morgan was led at some length
into !. statement of his views on COM
! bination and consolidation of financial
affairs.
| Mr. Morgan repeated he was an adj
Nocate of combination. although ne
did not object to competition.
without you have control" he said,
| you cannot do anything.
SIS that the reason you want to con-
troll everything ?2 asked Mr.. Unter-
f. II want to control nothing" retorted
| the finaneier.
There is no way one man can get
a monopoly of money!" asked Mr.. I'm
termyer. aFszsV
"0r control of it," replied Mr.. Nor
| gan. ~
HE can make a try at it," &
NO. sir, he can not He may have all
| the money in Christendom, but he cam
| not do it, saes.
IF you owned all the banks of New
| York with all their resources, would
| you not come pretty near having a
control of credit p" asked Mr.. Unter-
myer. -
l. No, sir, not at al"
Suppose you owned all the banks
! and trust companies, or controlled
| them, and somebody wanted 10 start
mp in the steel business against the
i United States Steel Corporation and
wanted a vast amount of capital and
| it was a good business, New York
would be the natural market for mon
| ey, would it not2. Yes
/ Il want to know whether. if you
| controlled all these banks, and COM
| petitor came along, or a potential COM
/ petitor, who wanted to compete,
! whether he would get the money from
| those banks you control?" Mr. Inter
myer continued.
| YES, he would" replied the finan-
! cier.
| Some other man who might control
might not take the view you iiave?'
suggested the lawyer.
"IIc would not have the control" re-
| piled Mr.. Morgan. pas
THAT is your idea, is it, your idea
| is that when a man has got vast
/ power, such as YOU have--you admit
You have. do you not?'' -Ht
II do not know it, SIR
you admit you have, do you not?'
| 4 do not think have said Mr..
I Morgan.
you do not feel it at all?" asked
) Mr. Untermyer.
No, do not feel it at ALL" replied
! the banker.
We'll, assuming that you had It.
your idea is that when a man abuses
| it, he loses it?"
Yes, sir. and he never gets it back
again, either n@s
Have you any instance in your
mind of any such man who has had
any such power and control in Of
flee to experiment with it ?"
mo, but know from experience"
said Mr.. Morgan.
Experience of your own?"
mo, sir. l am talking about the ex-
perience of having things. What I
mean to say is this: The question of
control, in this country at least, is
personal; that is, in money"
Have you not seen many instances
| in the history of this country of finan-
cial men getting vast control and
abusing 1t through a long period OF
years before they. lost it?" asked Mr..
Untermyer.
Not one particular line, and nobody
| That has what you call a money trust.
or anything of that kind" said Mt.
. Morgan. ~
You admit, do you not, that men
may get control of railroads or BUSH
ness enterprises and rhenopoIize them
and SO abuse their privelege?g Yes
And you say that SO far as the con-
troll of credit is concerned, they cam
| not do anything?
Or money, no they cannot control
it," said Mr.. Morgan. sa
Then the thing goes back to the
question of the control of banks and
F, trust companies in New York. said
Mr.. Untermyer. DO you think that a
competitive condition in the banks and.
trust companies of New York is more
or less preferable than a concentrates
control over those banks?"
Il would rather have competition"
said Mr.. Morgan.
| After ascertaining that a number of
voting trusts in various railroad and
industrial corporations were held by
members of the firm Of ]. F. Morgan &,
So. Mr.. Untermyer asked:
Assuming You were the voting
trustee for all of the great systems
of railroads in the United States, it
would concentrate control in you,
! would it not?'
ut would be a consolidation in my
| hand, but board of directors are the
ones and you do not put the same board
in every company said Mr.. Morgan.