Evening journal., 1914-04-11
New News Of Yesterday
Why Hetty Green's Father
Sold His Bank
By Holland.

Il never read the interesting re-
ports which tell Of the decision, the
unbending will and the sense Of per-
feet discipline which are characteris-
tic Of Mrs. Hetty Green without be-
ing reminded OF an incident which
came within my personal observation
and which satisfied me that Mrs.
Green inherited from her father this
important qualification which caused
her to succeed in the amassing and
keeping Of her large fortune" This
statement was made TO me by Asa
Potter, formerly banker of Boston,
who now lives I'm New York city.
Il remember Edward Mott Robin
son, Mrs. Green's father, distinctly"
Mr.. Potter continued He was a
large man of perfectly proportioned
physique The expression Of his face
was sufficient TO reveal to any one
his strength of will. Tt also told a
story of business capacity. Yet il was
a kindly face. It had nothing that
was suggestive of avarice or the love
Of money for it's own sake He re-
garded the gaining of money by hon
orable means as a sure test OF busi-
ness success.
Some six or seven years before
the beginning of the Civil War, Mr..
Robinson became the owner of almost
all OF the stock Of the Grocers' Bank
of Boston. He lived at New Bedford,
but he came TO Boston almost every
day to give his attention to his large
business interests. Although he was
the owner of at least three-fourths Of
the capital stock of the Grocers
Bank, his face was not familiar to
the employees of the institution. He
rarely went to the bank, although
1 have no doubt he had daily COM
munication with its president
"In those days II was the custom
of the banks in Boston to close at .
O'Clock. Some of them, ! understand.
do that to this day One afternoon,
Mr.. Robinson called at the bank at
half past two. He had some i'm
| pOrtant business which had sud-
denly made It necessary for him to
| consult with the president of the
bank. He stood for few moments
in the outer Office, nobody having re-
/ cognized him and no one having
asked him If any service could be per-
formed for him.
His attention was attracted to the
younger clerks. whom he could see
through the glass partition. They
were frolicking, throwing chair cush-
ions around and we're making a great
noise.
"They paid no attention to him be-
cause they did not know him. AT
last he called through the little win
dow at the teller's desk and asked
If the president OF the cashier were
I'm. The clerks disposed to make
fun Of him, and one of them was
what nowadays we should call fresh.
/ Mr.. Robinson looked at these clerks
for a few minutes and then turned on
his heel and went away. He called
at the office Of a wealthy business
man Immediately This man was
both a personal and a business friend.
He said 10 this man that he wanted
to sell to him his entire holdings OF
the Grocers' Bank in a block and he
wanted TO do II Immediately. He eX-
planned that the reason was personal
and that the bank itself was perfectly
sound. as he had every reason to
believe. A price was agreed upon, the
contract made and the understanding
was that on the following day MT
Robinson and his friend should 90
to the bank to make a transfer of the
stock. They did go to the bank soon
after the opening and went into the
Office of the president.
'Mr. Robinson said L have sold my
holdings In this banks stock to my
friend. have done so because there
is an utter lack of discipline in this
bank. I hope you will make a change
OF the entire staff from the president
down, for no banking institution can
live unless the executive officers
maintain perfect discipline over the
employees at all times. whether during
business hours or the rest Of the day
That is all I have to say You car
imagine the establishment Of the
president of that bank and the dis
may of the clerks when they found
that they had been discourteous &c
the man who owned the bank"
copyright. 1914. by e. J. Edwards
All rights reserved).