HISTORY DF BUCKS COUNTY. 



457 



l!crs of the jNIorris family have been 

 alien of standing in the state and com- 

 munity. 



Mr. Morris received his early educa- 

 tion in the classical school of Dr. J. W. 

 Faires in Philadelphia, and then entered 

 the University of Pennsylvania, from 

 which he graduated in 1875 at the early 

 age of nineteen years. He then became 

 a student in the law department of the 

 same institution, graduating in 1878, 

 when he was at once admitted to the 

 bar of Philadelphia. He practiced his 

 profession in association with his kins- 

 man, P. Pemberton Morris, LL. D., 

 and " during the later years of the life 

 of that eminent lawyer succeeded to 

 his practice. Mr. Morris was early in 

 his career called to important positions 

 requiring industry and tact. He was for 

 some years general attorney for the 

 Lehigh Valley Railroad. He served as 

 receiver with Hon. Frederick Fraley, of 

 the Schuylkill Navigation Company, and 

 arranged for the settlement of its afifaii^s 

 in the reorganization of the Reading 

 Railroad Companj' in 1888. He was 

 solicitor for the Girard Trust Company 

 of Philadelphia until 1887, when he was 

 elected to the presidency of that corpora- 

 tion. In 1893 the Pennsylvania Steel 

 Company, with its immense properties, 

 gigantic manufacturing contracts and 

 army of eight thousand operatives, became 

 embarassed, and the Girard Trust Company 

 was appointed its receiver, with Major L. 

 S. Bent. Mr. Morris was called to the chair- 

 manship of the reorganization committef 

 and was primarily instrumental in restor- 

 ing the Pennsylvania Steel Company to ef- 

 ficiency and solvency. For the first year 

 of the period of rehabilitation he was presi- 

 dent, and when the reorganization had been 

 made permanent he remained upon the di- 

 rectorate and is now chairman of the execu- 

 tive committee. He is also chairman of the 

 executive committee of the Cambria Steel 

 Company, also emplo\nng about eight thous- 

 and men, and is therefore the chief advis- 

 ory officer of the two largest independent 

 steel companies outside the United States 

 Steel Company in this country. Since liis 

 election to the presidency of the Girard 

 Trust Company in 1887 the corporation 

 has prospered beyond comparison with its 

 former self. The company erected its fine 

 office building at Broad and Chestnut 

 streets in 1889, and results have abund- 

 antly vindicated the wisdom of his choice 

 of its site, which was not at the time gen- 

 erally considered available for purposes of 

 such an institution. When he became con- 

 nected with the company its deposits 

 amounted to one million dollars, and dur- 

 ing his administration these have been in- 

 creased to over thirty million dollars, at 

 this date (1905), while the value of its 

 trust estates has expanded to seventy mill- 

 ion dollars, not including many million 

 dollars of corporation mortgages under 



which it is trustee. Its capital has in- 

 creased from five hundred thousand dol- 

 lars to ten million dollars. Mr. Morris, in 

 addition to his connection with the Girard 

 Trust Company, is a director in the follow- 

 ing named corporations : Pennsylvania 

 Railroad Company, and its allied lines ; 

 Pennsylvania Company; Philadelphia Sav- 

 ing Fund Society; Philadelphia National 

 Bank ; Franklin National Bank ; Fourth 

 Street National Bank ; Commercial Trust 

 Company; Pennsylvania Fire Insurance 

 Company; Pennsylvania Steel Company; 

 Cambria Steel fompany, and Mutual Life 

 Insurance Company of New York. In his 

 personal capacity he is trustee for many 

 important estates, among others those of 

 William Bingham and Anthony J. Drexel, 

 deceased. 



Mr. Morris at one time was a prominent 

 figure in city politics. For two years (in 

 1880 and 1881) he represented the eighth 

 ward of the citj- of Philadelphia in the com- 

 mon council, to which he was elected as 

 the candidate of the "committee of one 

 hundred." In 1883 he was elected to the 

 Gas Trust, then the most powerful poli- 

 tical organization in the city, defeating Mr. 

 David H. Lane, one of the "bosses" of 

 Philadelphia. His conduct in the last named 

 body during his four years of service was 

 characterized by entire independence, but 

 through his personal tact he was enabled 

 to accomplish several practical and salutary 

 changes in the methods of that body, at the 

 same time retaining the good will of those 

 who were opposed to him politically. The 

 voucher system of payment of bills and 

 contracts was devised and introduced by 

 him into this department of the city busi- 

 ness and is yet in use. Mr. Morris was a 

 director of the Union League for three 

 years, retiring from that position under the 

 rule which limited length of service to that 

 period. He is also a member of the Phila- 

 dalphia Club, the Rittenhouse Club, the 

 University Club, the Merion Cricket Club, 

 and others. He was a manager for some 

 years of the Pennsylvania Hospital. Wheth- 

 er in business or social circles, Mr. Mor- 

 ris is held in high regard for his ability 

 and equable disposition and absolute fidel- 

 ity to his friends. He possesses exceptional 

 capacity for work, as well as versatility, 

 making thorough disposition of whatever 

 is in hand at the time, and then at once 

 concentrating all his powers upon what 

 may be next requiring attention. Contact 

 with large concerns and immersion in the 

 rush of modern business have worked no 

 impairment of his heart qualities, and no 

 man is blessed with a greater number of 

 warm personal friends than he. He is a 

 reticent, quiet man and rarely talks of his 

 business. He prefers to do things rath- 

 er tlian to talk about them. Mr. ]Morris 

 married in 1879, Miss Ellen Douglass Bur- 

 roughs, daughter of Nelson Burroughs, of 

 Philadelphia. Of this marriage were born 

 three daughters and a son : Airs. G. Clymer 



