MR HERPONT MORGAN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7319, 4 February 1902, Page 1

MR HERPONT MORGAN.

HOW HE -LOOKS AND -WORKS

' " M'Clure's " for . October has a sketch by Mr R. S. Baker of Air J. Pierpont Morgan. Besides much that is already common property may be mentioned this portraiture of the main, and of his ways

of meeting other men. Mr Baker says • — "Mr Morgan impresses one as a large man, thick of chest, with a big head, set close down on, burly shoulder., features large, an; extraordinarily prominent nose, keen gray eyes, deep set under heavy brows, a high, fine forehead, a square, bulldog chin. His hair is iron-grey and thin, and his moustache is close cropped. For a man of his age and size he seems unusually active, moving about with almost nervous alertness. He is a man of few words, always sharply and shortly sppken. When a man comes to him Mr Morgan looks at him keenly, waiting for him to Bpeak first, and his decision follows quickly- -.".-■ . BIG TRANSACTIONS IN* FEWEST WORDS. " A young brokei*, who had never met Mr Morgan before, went to him not long ago 'to borrow nearly a million dollars for a client. He told Mr Morgan what he wanted in half-a-dozen words, and handed bim the list of securities to be deposited as collateral. Mr Morgan looked ■ sharply a-t his visitor, ' looked at me as if he saw clear through me,' as. the broker expressed it, then glanced swiftly ddwn the list. Til take the loan,' he said, and passed the borrower on to one of his partners. That was all. The whole transaction, involving a loan larger than tlie yearly business of many a small bank, had not token a minute and a half, and 1 Mr Morgan's- side of the conversation had comvumed not more than- a* dozen words.

A MAN"' 0. ULTIMATUMS. "Mr Morgan knows to the last degree the psychology 1 of meeting and dealing with men. The man who sits in, his office, a citadel of silence and reserve force, and makes his visitor uncover his batteries is impregnable. That is Mr Morgan's way— the way he dealt with a oertain owner -of coal lands in Pennsylvania, who knew that Mr Morgan must have his property, and so had come down preparel to exact a good price, to 'thresh it dut wuth Morgan.' Mr Morgan kept him waiting a long time, and -_hcn° he came cut, bulky, cold, impressive, looked the coalman in the eye, and only broke the silence to say, 'I'll giveiyou dollars for your property." And there the bargain was closed. His way is to deal brusquely rn ultimatums; he says, Til do this' or Til do that,' and that settles it. All who know say that Mr Morgan does not ask advice, not. even cf his partners, and that when he makes up his mind nothing short of a cataclysm will divert him."