Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-04-05
GREAT MORGAN
HOUSE DUE To
D|S|NTEGRATE
Firm Believed by Financiers to
> Have Reached Zenith of
Its Power.
BY 3. c. FORBES.

Firms, enterprises, individuals, do
not stand still. They go either back
ward or forward. When they reach
their zenith, they can move only one
way.
Has the great house of Morgan
reached it's zenith? Does the passing
of it's Napoleonie founder mean that
it's star must wane7
In thinking circles the belief is that
the Morgan organization had become
too big, too powerful, too any-sided,
that it had outgrown the ability of
any one man to control and direct it,
snd that it was doomed to some de-
gree of dlsintesration.
! America does not favor monarohs,
| financial or Industrial. Il does not
relish anything saVorins of autoc-
raey. It likes big things and big
men, but disIikes n1onopoies. And
the American public, rightly or
| wrongly, had come to believe that
there had been built up a Money
Power" that did not harmonic with
true democracy. The house Of Nor
gan was regarded as the head and
front of this centralized force.
Hence the demand that the whole
workings of the financial nerve
center of the nation be Investigated.
Does the change in the policy of
Morgan & Co-the decision to &C
quire no more banks, trust COM
panies or other institutions Of
banking oharacter-mean that ex-
pansion has been overdone and that
contraction will follow? Did not
George =. Baker admit that CEN
tralzation had gone quite far
enough?
These considerations are Of more
than purely local or strictly banking
interest. They affect the whole peo-
pie. They lie at the very base Of our
institutions. II the Money Power"
is to be demoeratized, or disin-
tegrated. our whole industrial, finan-
eial and social fabric will be af-
fected. Z"
Is there to be such disintegration?
I put the question to one of our fore
most banking giants, one closely
allied with the powers that be. He
replied:
The banking realignments of
recent years were not inspired by
the personality of Mr.. Morgan.
He personally had very little to
do with them. He was not in
any sense the handspring Of
them. They were the logical
Outcome Of conditions, Of eco
nomic development. They were
based on sound business consid-
erations.
Mr.. Morgan was not the active
spirit in any of them. Jack Nor
gan and Henry Dawson were the
prime movers on the Morgan
side. Mr. Morgan never sought
TO guide the running Of any in
stitution in which he was inter
ested His conduct in this con-
neetion has been grossly nisun-
derstood and therefore uniustly
criticised.
But will not the elimination of
Mr.. Morgan mark the beginning of a
process of decentralization? The
whole movement was carried out
under his aegis, he was the axle on
which the whole thing reVolVed'
was he not?" ! said.
No, not Mr.. Morgan, but bust
ness expediency brought about
the conditions you speak of. Jack
Morgan and Henry Dawson, not
Mr.. Morgan, handled it from the
MORGAN end. They remain.
However, as to whether there
will be decentralization, you must
iudae for yourself. On that point
I can not speak.
Will the community of interest plan
work smoothly now that the whole
status has been changed by the re-
moval of the central figure and force
in il? Or are we about to witness
rLa r -..-szz,,q Thee r,uae-