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The Partnership, The firm of Morgan is 20 men. Five were picked by the Elder Morgan. Others now in their prime include such men as Russell C. Leffingwell, from the law, who succeeds in large part to the place vacated by the late Dwight Morrow, and George Whitney who handles much of the firm's stock exchange business. Recent acquisitions are Harold Stanley, public utility expert, obtained from Manhattan's Guaranty Co. when Morgan & Co. plunged into utility financing, and S. Parker Gilbert, first famed as a brilliant young Treasury aid to Secretary Mellon. At the age of 30 he went with his bride to Europe to manage reparations. Returning, an expert on public and international finance, he lounged on the beaches of Hawaii for a few months before sinking himself in the depression problems of a Morgan partnership.
Besides Junius Spencer Morgan Jr.∙ eldest son of J. P. made a partner some years ago, three heirs were admitted in 1929—Henry S.,∙ second son of J. P., T. S. Lamont,∙ second son of Thomas W., and Henry P. Davison, son of the late Henry P.
By reason of the partners having tried to pick men on the principles laid down by the Elder Morgan (who preferred character to all other attributes), there are no showy figures in the firm, no dominant personalities such as the Elder Morgan was himself. Able though several partners are they have been noted more for their integrity and influence than their brilliance.
They work for no salaries. When they join the firm (or when a partner retires) the assets of the partnership are sold at their market value to the new group. New partners may or not bring in new capital—if they are self-made men such as S. Parker Gilbert they frequently have none to begin with—but they sign the articles of partnership which makes them individually liable for all the debts of the firm and they are assigned a fixed share in all future profits and losses. Last week John W. Davis, eminent counsel of the firm, admitted that not even he had seen the articles which say what share each partner has in the business.† As profits come in they are credited to the partners' accounts. They draw what they need, leave the rest to increase their stake in the firm. Losses are similarly shared. Six of the partners are in debt to the firm, several of the younger ones for their share of the losses sustained since they entered the firm. These debts will be repaid when profits are credited to them (if not before). Till then they work for nothing, although the firm will certainly lend them enough to live on.