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JOHN PIERPONT MORGAN. 



NAPOLEON OF FINANCE. 



By SEREXO S. PRATT.* 



John Pierpont Morgan was one of the 

 commanding personalities of his times. 

 He exercised, in the later years of his 

 life, a power greater than that of any 

 other unofficial person in the world, and 

 greater than that of most kings and 

 ministers. But there was nothing com- 

 plex or occult in his character ; nothing 

 subtle or cunning or craft}- in his 

 methods, and the record of his brilliant 

 career is so clear 

 that even those far 

 distant from the 

 mighty forces which 

 produced him, 

 should comprehend 

 its meaning. 



THE VITAL AIR OF 

 COMMERCE. 



He dealt, indeed, 1 

 in the most mysteri- 

 ous product in the 

 worli markets ; 



and perhaps the 

 mystery which at- 

 taches to that which 

 he bought and sold 

 accounts for some of 

 the mystery which 

 seems to attach to | 

 his life. Daniel 

 Webster's descrip- 

 tion of credit as 

 " the vital air .of 

 commerce," remains 

 now, as it was three-quarters of a 

 century ago, the best description 

 that can be given. For credit 

 envelops the world of business as 

 atmosphere does the globe. We can- 

 not exist without it, but while we 

 mav feel it, we cannot see it. It is ever 

 mvsterious and sometimes even weird 



JOHN PIERPOXT MORGAN. 



* Specially written 

 Review of Reviews. 



for fche American 



and uncanny m its operations. Xo one 

 has ever completely explored or charted 

 it. While it is beneficent in its custom- 

 ary action, yet, like the air, it can at 

 times exhibit all the fury and destruc- 

 tive power of the tornado. It was credit 

 which Mr. Morgan organised, concen- 

 trated, and applied for the benefit of 

 American development with the same 

 genius which the' Wizard of the Oranges 



has brought elec- 

 tricity under control 

 of man for his well- 

 being. 



A GLORIFIED 

 COUNTRY BANKER. 



But difficult as it 

 is to comprehend 

 credit in all itscom- 

 plexitv and univer- 

 sality and effe 

 Mr. Morgan's own 

 as a mer- 

 in credits, 

 was an open book 

 that any one may 

 read with perfe :t 

 understanding. The 

 ntry banker to 

 whom the farmer 

 and village trader 

 go, it may be for a 

 loan, or more often 

 for advice, and to 

 whom, in every 

 movement of local improvement, the 

 whole town looks for financial leader- 

 ship, is a type of what Mr. Morgan 

 was in the great world of international 

 commerce and enterprise. It is be- 

 cause Mr. Morgan's operations were so 

 colossal, that his personality seems so 

 remote and strange. But in reality he 

 was simply the country banker ex- 

 panded to the last degree of power and 

 responsibility. A member of banking 



career, 

 chant 



