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The 15 partners stationed in Manhattan (five manage Drexel & Co. in Philadelphia) work together behind a long row of rolltop mahogany desks on the first floor of No. 23 Wall St., shut off by a glass partition from the banking floor and an area where clerks toil incessantly with calculating machines. By elevator they can go to the floor above where a long corridor decorated with large photographs of partners gives access to private offices where they can go to dictate to secretaries. (The Elder Morgan would tolerate no female stenographers but that day is long past.) Every morning the partners, including any visiting from Philadelphia, hold a meeting to discuss and plan their work. None of them is assigned permanently to any special department of work —each takes on whatever job offers, preferably one with which he is already familiar. Ordinarily the partners live fairly placid lives.
Not placid were their lives last week however. In Washington the partners with their staff, lawyers, trunks full of records, occupied three floors of the Carlton Hotel. Their private detectives patrolled the corridors. The hotel elevators were forbidden to stop at the Morgan floors except for passengers with credentials.
From this seclusion they went morning and afternoon as chief performers in a public spectacle. In the Senate Banking & Currency Committee room they faced the Committee before a battery of cameras (Kleig lights were installed in the elaborate chandeliers) under the surveillance of a battalion of newshawks, and completely surrounded by as many spectators as could jam into the room. In tribute to the drawing power of the late great Morgan, his namesake was kept on the stand as much as possible though he could give few details. To get an accurate account of transactions Partner Whitney had to bear the brunt of questioning. When the house had been sold out for three successive days, the show moved into the Senate Caucus Room, largest available. Said Senator Glass: "All that is lacking is peanuts and pink lemonade."
Very courteous were the Senators to their guests. Very affable Mr. Morgan, wholly unlike his dictatorial father who gave blunt answers to the Pujo Committee 20 years ago. Very earnest—every inch the prosecutor—was Mr. Pecora. Very courtly Morgan's learned counsel. Mr. Davis. Only flare-ups of anger were between testy Senator Glass and Mr. Pecora over the course which the inquiry was taking. Mr. Glass, long a severe critic of our bankers, grew impatient with the mass of curiosity-questions not pertinent to the banking questions. Senator most critical of Morgan was Mr. Couzens.
Chief subjects of critical inquiry and the gist of Morgan & Co.'s answers:
Directorships: Q. Of how many corporations are partners directors'? A. 167. Q. Have they used their banking power to force their way in and control industry? A. J. P. Morgan dislikes having his partners serve as directors; they do so only by earnest request of companies who want financial advisers. Q. Do partner-directors force companies to finance with Morgan? A. No. Sometimes such companies finance elsewhere but often finance with Morgan. Q. Do not the interest of the partners as bankers conflict with their duties as directors? A. No. Partners as directors have their chief interest in the success of companies which they serve.