USA > New York > The men of New York: a collection of biographies and portraits of citizens of the Empire state prominent in business, professional, social, and political life during the last decade of the nineteenth century, Vol. II > Part 3
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D. O. MILLS
For the next six years Mr. Mills applied himself unflaggingly to the task of mastering general busi- ness principles and the science of accounting. He succeeded so well in this endeavor, and his ability was so much appreciated, that the position of cashier in the Merchants' Bank of Erie County, Buffalo, was offered to him in 1847. He acquired a third interest in the bank, and would doubtless have become long ago one of the foremost bankers of Buffalo, had not the hand of destiny urged him on to a career far more brilliant elsewhere. The gold discoveries in California fired the ambition of the young banker - not the less because two brothers were already on their way to the new El Dorado. Setting out for the Golden Gate in December, 1848, he ultimately
arrived in Sacramento, and established there a gen- eral store and eastern-exchange business. In those days a little capital, fertilized with energy and shrewdness, frequently became a fortune; and Mr. Mills so skillfully availed himself of the opportunities presented that in less than a year his profits amounted to $40,000. . Nearly all of this he turned back at once into mer- chandise, which he sold again at the liberal margin of profit then current on the Coast. Having thus acquired the needful capital, he founded at Sacra- mento the Gold Bank of D. O. Mills & Co., which still flourishes under his con- trol as the oldest banking institution in California. For nearly fifty years now the bank has never closed its doors, nor failed to meet every obligation, alike in prosperity and in times of financial stress.
After a trip abroad for health and rest in 1857, Mr. Mills resumed the manage- ment of his bank in Sacramento, and also turned his attention to the marvelous mining developments of the great Com- stock lode. Having secured the control of the railroad leading thither, and of important timber lands and ranch prop- erty in adjacent territory, he further strengthened his grasp of the situation by obtaining a large interest in the leading quicksilver mines of California. These ventures might have led to ruin in the hands of a man less long-headed, energetic, and resourceful than Mr. Mills. As it was, one operation helped another, all pursuing a single end, and the net result was outstandingly successful.
Having helped to organize, in 1864, the Bank of California in San Francisco, Mr. Mills became the first president of the institu- tion, and built up for it a magnificent business and a splendid name in all financial circles. In 1873 he sold his stock in the bank, and retired from the presideney, leaving the concern with a capital of $5,000,000, an ample surplus, and untarnished credit. Two years later the bank had "liabilities of about $13,000,000 above its capital and surplus, with only $100,000 cash in its vaults, and with many doubtful assets." The bank went down in a sensational crash, the new president committing suicide ; and Mr. Mills, lately returned from Eu- rope, was felt to be the only man able to cope with the situation. Recalled to the presidency, he sub- seribed 81,000,000 toward the rehabilitation of the
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bank, opened its doors six weeks after the disastrous wreck, built up anew the position and credit of the institution, and retired in three years without pay for his services.
Mr. Mills is now regarded as a New Yorker, since he has lived there most of the time in recent years. The magnificent office building that bears his name on Broad street - the first of the human hives to challenge the clouds - further identifies him with the metropolis. He has a building in San Francisco, however, of the same size and character ; and he is otherwise connected in substantial ways with the Pacific coast. He still maintains near San Francisco his beautiful country seat of " Millbrae," with its dairy of five hundred cows. Before leaving Cali- fornia he gave most gratifying evidence of his interest in the commonwealth, endowing a chair of philos- ophy in the University of California at an outlay of 875,000, and presenting to the state Larkin G. Meade's remarkable group of statuary, "Columbus before Queen Isabella."
Since coming to New York Mr. Mills has concerned himself chiefly with vari- ous forms of organized philanthropy. The " fresh air fund," which sends every summer thousands of poor children from the crowded tenements into the coun- try, has received generous contributions from him. The Mills Training School for male nurses, attached to Bellevue Hospital, was presented by him to the city of New York in 1888. He is now engaged in a comprehensive scheme of scientific charity designed to rescue men from wretched lodging houses, and give them at nominal cost the essential bene- fits of modern hotels. " Mills House No. 1" will accommodate fifteen hun- dred men, and " Mills House No. 2" seven hundred. The buildings will be made of the best material, with all mod- ern improvements in the way of plumb- ing, heating, electrical appliances, and general sanitation. The charge proposed for a bedroom is twenty cents a night, with corresponding restaurant prices. Mr. Mills has contributed generously to many other charities, and to many insti- tutions upholding science and art. One must go a long way to find a more inspiring example of public-spirited citizenship.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-Darius, Ogden Mills was born at North Salem, N. Y., September
5, 1825 ; received an academic education ; was em- ployed as a clerk in New York city, 1844-47 ; was cashier of the Merchants' Bank of Erie County, Buffalo, 1847-48 ; engaged in general trading, bank- ing, and mining in California, with some interruptions, 1849-79 ; married Jane T. Cunningham of Irving- ton, N. Y., September 5, 1854; has lived in New York city since 1879, engaged largely in various kinds of philanthropic labor.
3. Pierpont Morgan, the first name in American finance and second only to Rothschild in the world, was born in Hartford, Conn., less than sixty years ago. Descended from a line of New England ancestors, he received great benefit, in- tangible but real, from their frugality, industry, and generally correct habits of life. To his father par-
J. PIERPONT MORGAN
ticularly, the famous banker Junius S. Morgan, a man of the strongest and most admirable character, some of the transmissible virtues of the son may safely be ascribed.
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Educated at the Boston High School, and after- ward at the University of Göttingen, Germany, Pierpont Morgan cut short his stay abroad at the age of twenty to enter upon a long business career. He began in a humble clerkship in the banking house of Duncan, Sherman & Co., New York city, drudging at a desk in their establishment for about two years. His father at this time was a partner of George Peabody, the great banker and philan- thropist ; and in 1860 J. P. Morgan became the United States agent and attorney for the London house of George Peabody & Co. Starting with a small establishment on Exchange Place, Mr. Mor- gan transacted business alone until 1864, when he became junior partner in the firm of Dabney, Mor- gan & Co. He continued to enlarge his sphere of influence until 1871, when he had become a recog- nized power in the financial world.
His prestige indeed, even at this early date, was such that Drexel & Co. of Philadelphia, one of the oldest and richest of American banking houses, deemed it advantageous to form with him in July, 1871, the famous firm of Drexel, Morgan & Co. Erecting the next year the white marble building at the corner of Broad and Wall streets, on a lot that cost what was then regarded as an extraordinary figure -- $1,000,000 -the firm became far and away the foremost banking house in the new world, with a corporate capital running into tens of mil- lions. In recent years some changes have been made in the old group of Morgan firms ; and the New York house is now styled J. P. Morgan & Co., the London house J. S. Morgan & Co., the Phila- delphia house Drevel & Co., and the Paris house Morgan, Harjes & Co. The various houses are leading drawers of international exchange, and transact a general banking business of enormous volume. Their pre-eminence, however, has been most marked of late in a sphere of finance that has become unhappily wide - the rehabilitation of bank- rupt railroad properties.
In this most difficult field of finance J. Pierpont Morgan is easily first ; and the remarkably success- ful reorganizations planned and financed by him, show what can be done by genius and character combined, in the restoration of discredited securi- ties. His first notable achievement of this kind was made in 1885, when he took up the hopelessly tangled affairs of the West Shore railroad, straight- ened them out with consummate skill, and sold the property to the New York Central company on terms mutually advantageous under the circum- stances to both vendor and vendee. In this, as in many other undertakings. Mr. Morgan made no
charge for his time and effort ; but the directors of the New York Central company showed their appre- ciation of his work by presenting him with a ser- vice of solid gold plate worth $50,000. In 1885 he rescued the Baltimore & Ohio company from insolvency, and three years later he reorganized the Reading system, with substantial satisfaction to all the parties interested. In the same year he recon- structed the Chesapeake & Ohio, consolidating it with the Big Four system to the manifest advantage of both properties. In 1895 he carried out suc- cessfully a masterly piece of high finance in the reorganization and symmetrical unification of the various securities underlying the Richmond Ter- minal system. Other recent examples of Mr. Mor- gan's capacity in the way of international schemes of reorganization may be found in the rehabilita- tion of the Northern Pacific and the Erie railroad systems.
Thousands of people not concerned with invest- ment securities have heard of Mr. Morgan chiefly in connection with his dealings in United States bonds. His part in assisting the government to resume specie payments during the Hayes administration, when he formed a syndicate of capitalists who floated $200,000,000 worth of United States bonds, should not be forgotten. He practically formed a partnership alliance with the United States treasury, and placed behind the government all the enormous influence and power of his banking connections on both sides of the ocean. He did the same thing in February, 1895, taking greater chances then, in the famous purchase of gold-reserve bonds, with the extraordinary pendent contract regarding the pre- vention of gold exportations. In some quarters Mr. Morgan's part in this transaction has been ascribed to selfish motives ; but the verdict of history will confirm the present knowledge of the best informed, that his course throughout the trying times of 1893-96 was patriotic in the highest degree.
Mr. Morgan is, of course, a prominent figure in the social world. He belongs to many of the lead- ing metropolitan clubs, and holds important offices in some of them ; but he is not what is called a clubman, having quiet tastes not readily satisfied by the average club. He is little given to display, but maintains establishments consistent with his reason- able needs and station in life. His gifts to charity and to various kinds of organized philanthropy are liberal and judicious. In the limits of this sketch it has been possible merely to skeletonize his charac- ter and career : an adequate presentation of the subject would reveal in John Pierpont Morgan not only one of the ablest business men and financiers of
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the age, but also one of the most large-hearted and public-spirited citizens of the Republic.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-John Pier- pont Morgan was born at Hartford, Conn., April 17, 1837 ; was educated in this country and in Germany ; was clerk in a New York banking house, 1857-60; has been engaged since 1860, in New York city and other financial centers, in gen- eral banking, including the purchase and sale of government bonds, municipal and other corporate securities, the drawing of international exchange, and the reorgan- ization of bankrupt properties.
Levi D. Morton, banker and statesman, was born in Vermont about seventy years ago. After attending com- mon schools up to the age of fifteen, he became a clerk in a country variety store at Enfield, Mass. Two years later he went into the same business at Concord, N. H., and soon afterward took charge of a branch store at Hanover. This was the seat of Dartmouth College, and many professors and students have watched with pleasure the wonderful career of the young man who used to supply their material wants so agreeably. He re- mained at Hanover until he was twenty- five years old, when he went to Boston to become a clerk in the dry-goods house of James M. Beebe & Co. He developed a marked aptitude for busi- ness, and at the end of two years was admitted to the firm. Junius S. Morgan, the distinguished banker of later days, was then a member of the same firm : and Cornelius N. Bliss, likewise known to fame, was also connected with the house at this time. A branch of the firm was estab- lished in New York city in 1852, and Mr. Morton was detailed as resident manager. By the year 1854 the future vice president had acquired a thor- ough mastery of business principles in general, and of the particular customs of the dry-goods trade, and he resolved to make the most of himself by estab- lishing a business of his own. Becoming senior partner, accordingly, in the firm of Morton & Grin- nell, he carried on a successful dry-goods commis- sion business until 1861. In the trying times at- tending the outburst of civil war the firm of Morton & Grinnell went under, compounding with their creditors for fifty cents on the dollar. The failure was largely due to the repudiation of southern
paper. Mr. Morton afterward discharged the obli- gations in full, with interest.
Feeling his reverses keenly, and eager to redeem himself, Mr. Morton established in 1863 the bank- ing house of L. P. Morton & Co. His long experi- ence in commercial affairs, acquaintance with busi-
LEVT P. MORTON
ness men, and stainless personal character, brought quick success in the new venture. His business had assumed such proportions by 1869 that he deemed it prudent and otherwise desirable to have partner- ship assistance ; and George T. Bliss, already eminent in the commercial world, formed with him the famous house of Morton, Bliss & Co. The same year Sir John Rose, Canadian minister of finance, joined Mr. Morton in founding the London banking house of Morton, Rose & Co. These two firms, splendidly equipped with capital, experience, re- sponsibility, and character, rapidly gained a fore- most place among the banking houses of the world. The services performed by them in facilitating the `resumption of specie payments and the funding of
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the national debt were incalculable. They took a prominent part in the syndicates that negotiated United States bonds, in the payment of the Geneva award of $15,500,000, and the Halifax fishery award of $5,500,000 ; and the London house acted as fiscal agents of the United States government from 1873 until 1884. Both concerns are recognized the world over as pillars of financial strength, help- ing to support the business fabric of both hemi- spheres.
Brought up in a New England country town, where all good men took a lively interest in public affairs, Mr. Morton long ago entered actively into political life. Defeated for congress in 1876, he was elected two years later. He was widely known, of course, as an expert adviser on financial questions, and his work in congress was largely devoted to such subjects. It is worthy of note in view of recent political history that Mr. Morton saw unerr- ingly at this early period the perils of silver coin age, and made various speeches in which the prin- ciples of sound finance as set forth by the Republican party in the campaign of 1896 were clearly defined. He declined the nomination for vice president in 1880, and was re-elected to congress in the same year.
Offered by President Garfield the navy portfolio or the post of minister to France, he chose the latter, and resigned his seat in congress. He was already well and favorably known in France, both from his business operations, and from his appoint- ment in 1878 as honorary commissioner to the Paris Exposition. He maintained at the French capital an establishment consistent with the dignity and importance of the government he represented, and the appreciative Parisians changed the name of the park fronting his mansion to the Place des Etats Unis. Through his intercession the restriction upon the importation of American pork was removed, though afterward revived : and American corpora- tions obtained a legal status in France. He rep- resented the United States at the submarine-cable convention, and publicly received for the people of this country the Bartholdi statue of Liberty enlight- ening the world.
Having returned to America in July, 1885, Mr. Morton resumed his prominent position among the leaders of the Republican party. In 1887 he was a strong candidate for the office of United States senator, as he had been, indeed, two years earlier. In 1888 he was elected vice president of the United States, and filled that office during Harrison's term. He presided over the senate with dignity and im- partiality, and came to be exceedingly liked by
the members of the upper house without regard to party. On his retirement from the vice presideney the senators gave him a banquet at the Arlington hotel as a formal recognition of their regard. His social position at Washington was brilliant, as it had been during his congressional service ten years before. In November, 1894, he was elected govern- or of New York, and served in that most respon- sible position for the next two years. His adminis- tration of the affairs of the Empire State was marked by careful scrutiny of legislative measures. judicious use of the appointing power, and con- scientious devotion to the manifold duties of his office.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-Levi Parson: Morton was born at Shoreham, Vt., May 16, 1824 : was a member of the dry-goods house of James M. Beebe & Co., 1851-54, and of the firm of Morton & Grinnell, New York city, 1854-61 ; established the banking house of L. P. Morton & Co., now Morton. Bliss & Co., in 1863, and the London house of Morton, Rose & Co. in 1869; married Lucy Kin :- ball of Flatlands, I .. I., October 15, 1856, and Anna Livingston Street of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., February 12, 1878 ; was member of congress, 1879-81, minis- ter to France, 1881-85, vice president of the United States, 1889-93, and governor of New York state. 1895-96.
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horace porter, for many years one of the best known and most respected men in the public eye, has enriched the prestige of a family name already full of honors. His father was governor of Pennsylvania ; his grandfather rendered many valu- able services to the patriots' cause throughout the Revolution : and other members of the family have contributed to the splendor of the common name. Thus preciously endowed at birth with latent virtues. Horace Porter entered upon his brilliant career with every omen favorable. His early education was received at the Harrisburg Academy, and at Law- reneeville, N. J., near Princeton College, for which he prepared. The soldier's blood in his veins, how- ever, filled him with desire for a martial training. and in order to secure an appointment at the United States Military Academy he entered the scientific department of Harvard College in 1854. The next year he succeeded in getting his appointment, and became a cadet at West Point July 1, 1855. Hi- class took a course of five years - only one other class has done this - and he did not graduate until July, 1860, having the third rank then in a men :- bership of forty-one. He chose the ordnance arm of the service, his mind having a remarkable
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mechanical bent. As a boy he had delighted to study the machinery in his father's iron works, and when- only twelve years old he invented a water gauge for boilers that was successfully applied. Later in life he invented various ingenious mechanical devices, including the ticket-canceling boxes used by the elevated railways in New York city.
After remaining at West Point a little while as instructor in artillery, and serv- ing in other stations a few months, Lieu- tenant Porter completed his theoretical studies in the very niek of time for ter- ribly practical application. Ordered to duty in the South at the beginning of the Civil War, he served throughout the conflict with a valor and a wealth of achievement that defy adequate presen- tation within narrow limits. After par- ticipating in the expedition under Sher- man and Dupont against Port Royal, as first lieutenant of ordnance, he became chief of artillery, and had charge of the batteries at the capture of Fort Pulaski April 10, 1862. His conduct on this occasion was such that he was brevetted captain, and was also presented with one of the swords captured from the enemy. Two months later he took part in the assault on Secessionville, S. C., and was wounded in the hand by a piece of shell. Made chief of ordnance of the Army of the Potomac in July, 1862, he remained on McClellan's staff until after the battle of Antietam in September of that year, when he was transferred to the Army of the Ohio. In January, 1863, he was transferred to the Army of the Cumber- land, and for the next eight months was engaged in general staff duty in the field. He took part in the advance on Chattanooga, and in the battle of Chick- amauga, where he particularly distinguished himself. In this campaign he first met General Grant, who was so much pleased with the young captain that he made him his aid-de-camp, with the rank of lieuten- ant colonel and later that of colonel. Serving with General Grant in the field until the end of the war, he participated in all the battles of the Wilderness campaign, in the siege of Richmond and Peters- burg, and in the closing scenes at Appomattox. During the war he was six times promoted " for gallant, faithful, and meritorious service." On March 13, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier general in the United States army.
After the close of the war he remained at army headquarters in Washington with General Grant, except when the latter sent him on tours of army- post inspection in the South and on the Pacific coast. His relations with General Grant were of
HORICE PORTER
the most confidential and delightful nature. He served as his private secretary, in charge of his executive business, during the President's first ad- ministration ; and always thereafter he continued to be his intimate and trusted friend. Having resigned from the army in 1873, General Porter entered into active business life. He has concerned himself largely with transportation interests, having been a prime mover in the construction of the West Shore railroad, and the first president of the company. He has been a director in many railroads and other corporations. He is regarded as an able adviser whenever financial operations are undertaken by the great capitalists of the country. He is at present chairman of the board of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Co.
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General Porter holds a most enviable position in the social world. He is president of the Grant Monument Association, having raised the money for the great general's mausoleum. He is also president of the Union League Club, and has mem- bership in various other similarly prominent organi- zations. An accomplished linguist and a great lover of literature, he is himself a graceful and vigorous writer, contributing frequently to the periodicals of the day. He is a brilliant raconteur and a felicitous public speaker. Union College conferred on him the degree of LL. D).
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Horace Por- ter was born at Huntingdon, Penn., April 15, 1837 ; was educated at the Harrisburg ( Penn. ) Academy, at the Lawrence Scientific School ( Harvard), and at West Point, whence he graduated in 1860 ; served in the Union army throughout the Civil War ; married Sophie K. McHarg of Albany December 15, 1863 ; was private secretary to President Grant, 1869-73; has been engaged as director and executive officer in various corporations since 1873.
Theodore Roosevelt, author, sportsman, reformer, and politician in the best sense, is a scion of a family that has been active on Manhattan island for nearly two hundred and fifty years. Roosevelt street, indeed, was so called because it ran through the original family farm. The name is Dutch ; but Mr. Roosevelt's temperament and character are more consistent with his own analysis of the present stock into one part Hollandish, and three parts Scotch, Irish, and French Huguenot. An excellent educational groundwork at Cutler's private school in New York city paved the way for broader intel- lectual equipment at Harvard ; and all was fittingly crowned by an extended tour in Europe. Return- ing thence in 1881, he plunged into the active work of the world, and has ever since been a conspicuous figure in the storm center of public affairs.
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