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Old "J. P." begat "Jack"—the present "J. Pierpont Morgan" (as he signs himself with nice filial deference). When introduced as "Mr. Morgan" at a recent smoker of his Harvard class of '89, he promptly cried: "Oh Hell, call me Jack!" Of course only his closest intimates and partners ever do. In common converse with the public a partner of the House of Morgan avoids mentioning his colleagues by any name or nickname. "One of our partners in Philadelphia" is supposed to be a designation so august that it would be fiscal sacrilege to ask "Which one?"
To ask "Which was greater, Morgan I or Morgan II?" is as futile as to inquire "Which were better, the years 1880 to 1910, or the years 1910 to 1929?" In the early primeval times of Big Business the Elder Morgan was simply the biggest, most voracious brontosaurus. In the present years of Titanic Business it is the Morgan hand in a velvet glove which directs a fiscal juggernaut capable of thun dering over mere business brontosauri. Il Magnifico in all his purple pride never had to do with a loan of more than 200 million dollars; but austere, reserved, patrician "Mr. Morgan" quietly arranged the Anglo-French loan of a half-billion dollars in 1915. It is said that the Allies wanted to borrow a round billion at that time; but Mr. Morgan led the British fiscal representative, Lord Reading, into his sanctum, and thoughtfully observed: "Reading, I wouldn't ask a billion if I were you. I think you'd best limit the issue to half a billion."
The spending of that prodigious sum in the U. S. for War supplies was the biggest single event in the annals of U. S. Labor.
Banker Morgan. Since the House of Morgan has deep, traditional roots in England, young "Jack" served his ap prenticeship in the city of biggest banks — London. There are no less than five British banks ("The Big Five") bigger than any in the U. S.— Midland Bank, Ltd., Lloyds Bank, Ltd., Barclay's Bank, Ltd., Westminster Bank, Ltd., National Provincial Bank, Ltd.
Not until "Jack" had worked 15 years in London was he allowed to graduate into the Manhattan House of Morgan as "J. Pierpont" in 1905. Nothing proves more conclusively that the fiscal centre of the world has shifted since then from London to New York than the fact that "J. Pierpont's" two sons have served their apprenticeship in Wall Street. The elder, Junius Spencer (called "Junior"), is now one of the most potent Morgan partners; but the younger, Henry Sturges ("Harry"), who started as a messenger boy at 23 Wall, has only just been taken into partnership.
During the panic (1907), 40-year-old "J. Pierpont" acted as chief-of-staff to his doughty sire. After the death of "J. P." in 1913, "J. Pierpont" signalized his ascension by a bold decision: namely that he and his partners would withdraw from active direction of the corporations in whose finances the House of Morgan was chiefly interested; would confide their management to such capable "outsiders" as the Owen D. Young of today; and would assume on a grand scale what has become the House of Morgan's paternal role toward such high bouncing babes as General Motors.