The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-02-07
SOME WAR WORK BY
 NATIONS BIG MEN
By HOLLAND

New York, February -(Speciai.}-No one but those who have a right to know have had any knowledge of the agsre- gate amount in dollars of the purchases made by MT Stettinius when acting for J. P. Morgan & Co., whose firm had Been appointed the commercial agent for Great Britain in the United States soon after the beginning of the war
 It was known that the manner in which MT. Morgan as the organizer or the two syndicates-each of which raised in the early weeks of the war SlOOOoo,Voo in gold and then sent it to Ottawa, Canada, where it served its purpose as well as though it had been in the Baak of England, directed the attention or the leading government officers of Great Britain to this house. Of course the house of J. P. Morgan & co. was well known and highly esteemed. both m London and the continent of Europe, but it had never had the opportunity 10 face and conquer a great emergency upon the instant until the war began, and the foreign exchange condition was so congested that although the United States had billions of resources, yet TOT a time we were unable to make these resources available so that the foreiSn n exchange situation could be relieved This dangerous situation was mastered under the leadership of MT. Morgan
 Some months after this achievement which is sure to pass into tradition as one of the greatest achievements in in ternational finance-was accomplished, one of the partners of J. F. Morgan eS Co.,, Henry F. Davison, and little later Mr. J. P. Morgan himself, visited Lon don, presumably on the invitation Of the British government. Of course the con- ferences which were held in London and also Paris were confidential. One of the results of them, however was the decision by France and England to ap- proach the American bankers with in- tent to secure loan which at first was placed at q, 100000, but subsequently was reduced to s5oo,o0o,0oo. Another of the results was the beginning of aliied conferences in Paris, movement which was due directly to a suggestion made by MT. Davison. Presumably third e. suit of the visit to London of MT. Nor gan and MT. Davison was the selection by the British government of the house of J. F. Morgan & Co to act as the com- mercial agent of Great Britain in the United States, although the suggestion that this be done came from the Brush government and not from J. F. Morgan & Go.
 GREAT SALESMANSHIP
 MT. Stettinius was loaned at first by the Diamond Match company to J. F. Morgan &. Co so that his services could be secured in perfecting an organization of which he was to be the head and which was sure to become the greatest single purchasing agency that the world has ever known. A great art and science are involved if any one is to be mum bered among the masters of salesman ship, but is even greater art and science to become master of buying. This mastery MT. Stettinihs demon strated shortly after he represented Great Britain while acting for J. F. Mor- gan & Co. in purchasing substantially all of the commodities in the United States of which Great Britain then st pod in need. He was able to do this be- cause he had full power, and because this power rested in his highly compe- tent hands. He could not have done this had he been mere advisor. It was necessary for his decision not only to be promptly and decisively made, but also to carry the weight of absolute author ity. Many have been the estimates Of the amount of money which in the az gregate represented MT. Stettinius' our- chases for Great Britain in the United States The estimate commonly made was that the aggregate would approxi- mately be $3OO0, 0,000,000. J. P. Morgan & Co., made acknowledgement of the mas terly manner in which this service was performed by bringing MT. Stettinius into partnership relations with the firm.
 A RECORD UNIMPEACHABLE
 So perfectly systemized was the organ ization. perfected by Mir Stettinius and so scrupulous was his sense of honorable