The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-01-02
Big Financiers Side=Step Action O1 Congress Tn Investigating Inter-
 locking Directories
Different Members Of Concern Resign Office As Officials Of Nations s Im- portant Railroad Concerns==Move ABig Surprise To Financial Cir-
 cles Throughout Country

New York, Jan. 2-J. P. Morgan 6 Go today announced that they had severed their connection with some country with which they have long been connected. This step, the firm announced, was taken voluntarily in response t6 --an apparent change Tn public sentiment on account Of some Of the problems and criticisms having 10 do with soca1led interlocking di- rectorates-'
 Among the companies from which they retired are the New York Cen traI and the New Haven railroads
 J. P Morgan made this statement: .grhe necessity of attending many board meetings has been so serious a burden. 11pon our time that we have long wished to withdraw from the dsrectorates of many corporations Most of these rectorshipS we have accepted with reluctance and only be- cause we felt constrained to keep in touch with properties which we have reorranized or securities we had rec commended to the public both here and abroad
 Reasons For Withdrawal
 ~An apparent change in. public sem timent in regard to directorships seems now to warrant us in seeking to resign from some of these counec- tions- Indeed it may be, in view of fhp change in sentiment upon t1ls sub- jecf that we shall be in a better po- sftion to ssrve such properties and their security holders if we are not directors we have already resign ed from the companies mentioned and we expect from time to time to with draw from other boards upon which we fesl there is no special obligation 10 remain-
 The companies to which MT Morgan referred, from whose board members Of the firm have already submitted their resignations as directors are: T. F. Morgan-New York Central & Hudson River Railroad Company West Shore Railroad Company; Lake Shore G. Michigan Southern Railway; Michigan Central Railroad Company; New York. Chicago and St. Louis Railroad; Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chi cago 6 St Louis Railroad; New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad; Central New England Railway; New York, Westchester 6 Boston Railway; Harlem River & Portchester Railroad; ; Milbrook Company; New Haven Navi- gaticn Company; New England Steam ship Company Rhode Island Conn pany; Rutland Railway Company; Hartford 6 Connecticut Western; New York, Ontario & Western Railway; Western Union Telegraph Company.
 Other Members Retire.
 Other members of the firm have re tired from these companies:
 Charles Stee1e-Jersey Central Rail- road; United States Steel Corpora ton
 H F. Davison-American Telephone & Telegraph Company: Astor Trust Company; Guaranty Trust Company of New York; Chemical Nationa. Bank
 W. H. Porter-Bankers' Trust Com pany; Guaranty Trust Company, of "
 Thomas w LanOnt-Westing ghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company; Utah Copper Company; Astor Trust Cornpany: Bankers Trust Company.
 By withdrawing from these corpora fions. UP Morgan 6 Company hal cut the strings thaS have held to- gsther many of the country's mos important corporations in 2, commu- n5ty of interests which has been as =a1Ied within and without of Con Erees The House of Morgan feels thai 1t has kept within the law in all of its complex operations and that no lega necessity or threatened complications with the authorities at Washington has made it necessary to adopt g sweeping change in policy announced today
 Have Observed Law
 One of the members of the frn said that Morgan & Company ha6 been as scrupuIous1y careful to ob- serve the spirit as well as the letter o1 the law and the decision of the firm was primarily a matter Of expediency Conditions had so shaped themselves in the past, he says, that the frn had been compelled reluctantly to ac- cept the burden Of management of tht various corporations and that it ha6 long been seeking an opportunity te & lessen this burden
 The chief consideration, it was said X which has prevented the firm from taking some such action before this time was the possible complications which might follow such action In vestors throughout the world havt purchased securities marketed bys tn House of Morgan and it was felt tha the firm had assumed a responsibilitl in this connection which could not ba lightly laid aside.
 The recent trend of political events such as the money rust'' investiga ton by the Puji committee, and re ports from Washington that the ad n1inistration is considering Legislation against interlocking dzrectorates. ha! created a situation which made i possible to enter upon this change il policy.
 Wall Street Effected
 For several days Wall street hae heard rumors that Morgan & Com