Evening star., 1941-07-25
Merger 10 Provide
Merrill With Big
Sales Opportunity
Advocate of Modern
Methods Will Head
Brokerage Firm
BY the Associated Press.

Merrill, one of Wall Streets out
standing personalities, today was on
his way to a new high venture in
the brokerage business-that of ap-
plying modern merchandising
methods to the largest commission
house in the world.
On August 1S he will become the
senior partner in new firm
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner IL
Beane. 1t will be the outgrowth of
a merger on that day of the present
firms of Merrill Lynch, E. A Pierce
& Cassatt and of Fenner & Beane.
They are now the two largest men,
Der firms of the New York Stock
Exchange.
The consolidated firm will have
nearly 100 Offices spread across the
country; will have 48 general part
ners and l9 special partners; the
combined capitalization will be in
excess of Sc. 900 900: membership will
be held in % security and commodity
exchanges.
FdNOTS view NlttDOuS.
Wall Street observers were unani-
nous that Charley" Merrill-stocky,
gray-haired, ever-smiling chain store
flnancier-would have the biggest
opportunity any one ever had to
realize his ambition to apply aggres-
sive merchandising methods to the
business of buying and selling secur-
tiles and commodities
With him into the enlarged con-
cern will go his present senior part
ner. E. A. Pierce and Fenner &
Beane's principal senior partner,
Charles E. Fenner and Phillip w.
Russell.
Merrill has introduced many inno-
vations to the stock brokerage busl-
ness. More than a year ago he en-
barked on an ambitious Nation
wide advertising campaign to ac-
quaint the public with the facilities
of his firm. Early this week he
announced in the first full year the
firm had acquired 1852 new GUS
toners as a result of this campaign
Aided Reform Moves.
PierCe-he is snow white and
shortish and gets to the point of a
subject quickly-has played an i'm
portant part in the various reorgan-
izations of the stock exchange, in
Guiding that of ousting the So
called "old guard" element in the
management during the days of
Richard Whitney.
Philip Russell of Fenner & Beane
is a former lawyer turned broker.
He also had a part in the reform
movement with Pierce.
Fenner & Beane was organized in
1917 as New Orleans cotton house
by Charles E. Fenner and the late
A. c. Beane In recent years it has
expanded enormously by absorbing
other firms and is known as one of
the largest commodity houses in
the Street in addition to its stock
business. The Merrill Lynch firm
goes back 121 years to the old con-
Germ of Gwathmey & Co. of Rich
mond, Va.
Interested in Chains.
Merrill's ideas on applying mod
ern merchandising methods to Sc
curities distribution may we'll stem
from his long experience in chain
store financing. Through his former
firm of Merrill Lynch & Co. he was
chiefly interested in chain store
securities, notably Safeway, First
National, McCrory, Lerner, Kresge
and Western Auto Supply.
The new merged firm will have
more than 10 per cent of the total
of out-of- town Offices of stock ex-
change member firms; huge slice,
for one out of the total of nearly
600 member firms. OF course. many
of the member firms are highly spe-
cialized and not competing for gen.
eral commission business. Also
some of the larger houses have but
few offices, concentrate on big &C
counts. Merrill believes the general
public with money to invest, right
across the country, should have the
services of his firm put before them.
Back in 1880 Merrill decided he
had had enough of the commission
brokerage and made his firm of
Merrill Lynch & Co. strictly an
underwriting and investment house,
turning its brokerage business
over to the former E. A. Pierce
& Co. In February of 1910, how
ever, Merrill and Pierce merged
their firms and also took in Cassatt
& Co. of Philadelphia. The further
step of consolidation with Fenner
& Beane not only vastly increases
the facilities for commission busi-
ness, both in securities and COM
modities, but provides something
of vertical organization for un-
derwriting and distributing new
securities.
Has Direct Contact.
The big underwriting houses, such
as Morgan Stanley e. Co., are in
a sense merely wholesalers of Sc
curities, distributing to the public
through q wide circle of smaller
local investment houses and dealers
across the country. With its many
Offices the enlarged Merrill firm will
be able to distribute directly to the
public.
The growth of the firm through
mergers has become something of a
Well Street phenomenon and was
parodied in the last Financial Fol-
lies" of the New York Financial
Writers Association with song. to
the tune of "Pop-eye, the Sailor:
Merrill Lynch, E. A. Pierce and
guess who?
Like cute little Topsy, just grew -