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organization and development of the
United States Steel Corporation be long
remembered as a masterly achievement,
and, in the opinion of many, as laying the
substantial foundation for the great industrial
prosperity of the country which
followed in the years immediately after
this accomplishment.
Mr. Morgan was connected with nearly
all notable financial undertakings of his
time, and his influence was always of the"
soundest character and conductive to the
public welfare as well as to the investing
interests. A list of the important reorgan-
izations of railroad companies, the nego-
tiations of loans, and the underwriting of
industrial enterprises which have been
handled by him would be long and impos-
ing. Also in public affairs were his serv-
ices to the country of inestimable value.
Especially in 1894 and 1895, and at other
times of threatened monetary stringency,
he contributed substantially and effec-
tively to protecting the credit of the
United States treasury.
Although, when the banking disturb-
ance which developed in New York City
in the autumn of 1907 threatened to overwhelm
the entire country with supreme
disaster, Mr. Morgan had been largely re-
tired from active participation in affairs,
he came forward again to save the situa-
tion. In the grave emergency which then
arose he took the lead in measures insti-
tuted to prevent the widespread destruc-
tion of public credit and overthrow of industrial
and financial institutions that was
imminent. His leadership in those trying
days was unreservedly accepted by men
who were foremost in the financial world
in New York City, and as well through-
out the United States. Among his asso-
ciates he was relied upon for initiative
and for powerful influence, and even the
national administration depended upon
his advice and his assistance. After the
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
battle had been won and confidence re-
stored, it was everywhere recognized that
his financial genius and his masterly control
of men and affairs had been the main
instruments in saving the country, if not
the world, from the worst disaster that
had impended for a generation. The great
masters of finance in London, Paris, and
other monetary centers of Europe did not
withhold their warmest praise and indorsement
of his accomplishment, while
his associates in the American fields of
finance and industry have been profuse in
acknowledgment of the preeminent serv-
ice that he rendered to the country.
Mr. Morgan was also a large investor
in the great business enterprises of the
country, and a director in more than two-
score financial, railroad and industrial cor-
porations. Typically foremost among the
enterprises in which he held important
interests and exercised pronounced influence
in the direction of their affairs were
the following: The United States Steel
Corporation, the Cleveland, Cincinnati,
Chicago & St. Louis Railroad Company,
the First National Bank of the City of
New York, the General Electric Company,
the Lake Erie & Western Railroad
Company, the Lake Shore & Michigan
Southern Railway Company, the Michigan
Central Railroad Company, the National
Bank of Commerce of New York,
the New York & Harlem River Railroad
Company, the New York Central & Hudson
River Railroad Company, the New
York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad
Company, the West Shore Railroad Company,
and the Western Union Telegraph
Company.
A man of broad culture and refined
tastes, Mr. Morgan did not confine him-
self to business affairs. He was particu-
larly interested in art, being one of its
most generous patrons, and one of the
accomplished connoisseurs of the world.