72 



THE iNDiA RUBBER WORLD 



[December i, 1906. 



MR. RYAN BECOMES INTERESTED IN RUBBER. 



IX the recent negotiations which resulted in the gianting 

 of important concessions in the Congo Free State to an 

 American sj'ndicate, the latter was represented by Mr. 

 Thomas F. Ryan, one of tlie most notable figures in 

 New York financial circles, though his name lias not ap- 

 peared hitherto in connection with rubber. 



Thomas Faulkner Ryan is one of the men who came to 

 New York from the South, after the close of the civil war, 

 in search of fame and fortune, and succeeded. He was only 

 six years in rising from a small clerkship to membership in 

 the New York Stock Exchange, and one of his biographers 

 asserts that never in his ;,2 years in Wall street has his 

 diarj' recorded failure. Mr. Ryan was born on October 17, 

 1851, in Nelson county, \'irginia, his paternal ancestors 

 having come from the north of Ireland in colonial days- 

 On the other side he was of Scotch-Irish descent. Losing 

 his mother at the age of five, young 

 Ryan went to live with his maternal 

 grandmother on the old family estate. 

 At 15 he assumed control of the estate, 

 and though he managed it as well as 

 the disastrous consequences of the war 

 permitted, he realized after two years 

 that the effort was hopeless. 



In 1S68, therefore, he left home, almost 

 penniless, but too proud to seek aid from 

 family friends, and set forth to make his 

 own way. Reaching Baltimore, he foun<l 

 scores of Southern lads in like condition , 

 seeking emplo^-ment of whatever kind. 

 Day after day he walked the streets, ap- 

 plying in vain for work, until his last 

 dollar was reached. Finally he called at 

 the large commission store of John S. 

 Harry, and was told to report for work 

 the next day. But he calmly announced 

 his intention of beginning at once, which 

 he did. His salary was very small for 

 two years, at the end of which time Mr. Barr\-, attracted by 

 the young man's fidelity and persistence, offered him a place 

 in a banking house which he was about to establish in New 

 York. 



During the two j-ears following Mr. Rj'an learned the first 

 principles of finance. Having now attained his majority, he 

 secured a partnership with a member of the New York Stock 

 Exchange, and within another two years was able to buy a 

 seat for himself. His capacity won quick recognition and 

 he soon numbered among his business and personal friends 

 many large Wall .street operators, including Samuel J. Tilden, 

 whose fortune was made largely through the reorganization 

 of railwaj'S. During the next 10 years Mr. Ryan's firm car- 

 ried through many large transactions. 



In 1885 though retaining his Stock Exchange membership 

 he retired from business, intending to rest. But before a 

 vear he had joined hands with William C. Whitney in con- 

 solidating New York street railroads into the now large Met- 

 ropolitan system. Mr. Ryan next acquired control of the 

 Milwaukee street railwavs, out of which he made a large 



THOMAS F. RYAN. 



amount of money, and he was associated with others in 

 building up the Consolidated Traction Co. of New Jersey. 

 After the downfall of the Richmond Terminal Co., control- 

 ling a number of southern railways, he took an active part 

 in reorganizing them in the Southern Railway system. He 

 likewise reorganized the Central Railroad and Banking Co. 

 of Georgia. 



Sj)ace is lacking here for a complete list of Mr. Ryan's 

 activities, but the last " Directory of Directors " showed 

 him to be a director in 29 important corporation.s — financial, 

 transportation, and industrial — including the American To- 

 bacco Co., which he organized; the Bethelem .Steel Corpo- 

 ration, and the Consolidated Gas Co. of New York. Mr. 

 Ryan is the first vice president and active directing head of 

 the Morton Trust Co., and most active among those who 

 control the National Bank of Commerce, the third strongest 

 in New York. Last year he paid $2,500- 

 000 for control of the Equitable Life 

 Assurance Society. 



During the past month Mr. Ryan 

 has announced his retirement from the 

 boards of most of these corporations, 

 except the leading financial institutions. 

 He is probably the most active force in 

 the trust company field in the United 

 States. He has never been a manufac- 

 turer or a railway manager, but might 

 best be described as a maker of market 

 values for securities, being a master of 

 sptculation, of short term investment, 

 and reorganization of corporate busi- 

 nesses. His fortune has been estimated 

 as high as $60,000,000, while others re- 

 gard $25,000,000 as nearer the mark. 



It has been said of Mr. Ryan that his 

 whole active life has been spent in Wall 

 street, and there are no facts or opin- 

 ions outside Wall street to judge him 

 b}-. He certainly does not take the public into his confi- 

 dence, and the culmination of many of his plans has afforded 

 the financial world a surprise. Mr. Ryan, however, does 

 take an interest in other than financial affairs. He has been 

 active since 1876, retaining a voting residence in his native 

 state, where he has been mentioned in connection with United 

 States senatorship. The ancestral home which he was unable 

 to manage as a boy, he was able to purchase later, together 

 with 10,000 surrounding acres. Mr. Ryan is a member of 

 several leading clubs in New York, and is an active sup- 

 porter of many charities. Mr. Ryan married the daughter 

 of his first emplo3'er, and has several sons, who are expected 

 to succeed him in various business activities. 



Mr. Ryan recently became a director in the Continental 

 Rubber Co., this being his first official connection with the 

 rubber interest. But as the practical head of the Morton 

 Trust Co., he had financed important transactions for the 

 United States Rubber Co., and he is a director of the Indus- 

 trial Trust Co., whose president is Colonel Samuel P. Colt, 

 of the United States Rubber Co. 



