What is Mr Mogan's Wealth.

Taranaki Herald, Volume L, Issue 12167, 16 January 1903, Page 3

What is Mr Mogan's Wealth.

'„^ i • ; t . It is difficult io convey anadequaie , « idea of a very rich • man's wealth. <■ There are no terms in which to express „it but figures, and figures which express great wealth are incomprehensible, except to the very wealthy. To say that Mr J. Pierpont Morgan _ is a millionaire or, a multi-millionaire or a billionaire is only &- vague way of saying that he is an enormously rich man,, and it is impossible to express his riches in terms of houses and servants, horses and carriages, steam -; yachts and precious stones. The alien mine-owner's affluence may be indicate ed by a iur-lined coat, a large dia-. mong ring, and a huge cigar. But how to bring within the limit, of the imagination Mr Morgan's limitless . richess ? , ,' < In all the round world there is only about £400,000,000 sterling of minted gold. The capital of the "tnwts andcompanies which Mr ' Morgan controls aggregates, according to the . latest Ameridan estimate, nearly £1, 500,000, 000 — one^thousand five hundred million pounds sterling. What proportion of that is value is another question, andwhat proportion of it belong* to J, P. Morgan itf still another question. But for purposes of conr^parison, i there is the fact. All the hoarded gold of the world amount? to considerably less than the face value of the paper -value* "of the Morgan interests. ( ; . ' In relation to stupendous wealth such as this, his palatial steam yacht Corsair is .. a • mere watch-^hairt trinket. His purchase for £30,000 of thestolen "- Gainsborough" "Duchess" is. only as if an ordinary mortal h^ad picked up a s shilling, book in* Charing Cross Road. ' There is no possibility of realismg 1 , in more senses , than on«, wealth that nearly quadruples all the gold of all j the world. ' ■ It- is all -the more impossible in the case of Mr Morgan, because he is not ostentatious of his wealth. He sometimes'jwears a, pearl pin. in Mf cravat, but thV. pearl was a present from someone he holds .very dear, and cravat tie, whether worn by a-Tich; man or a poor, needs something •■ to fasten' it. _ He' wears a gooid watchchain of rather a large arize, but he is a large man with a capacious waistcoat. His collars are number 19, and ids : hat is said to be 7f ftize. All " his things need to be large, and his watch* chain is not obtrnsiye: On the lit- • tie linger on each hand 'he wears a . signet ring, and that is the extent of his of jewellery. " BHs House -in New York ",on Madison- Avenue arid Thirty-eighth-fltreet— a splendidly-built house filled with'exquisitely beautiful things, but not ' to be compared 'for grandeur and magnificence with some of the great houses, in London. ■His country house, Cragston, up the Hudaon River, near West Point, is roomy, and many-acred, but similarly unpretentious. If ere are his pedigree stock horses,' cattle, and dogs. He has had as many as 60 dogs, in the kennels there. , ." ■ There is another house in the Adiroindacks; but this he rarely sees. , In ' London he keeps- two houses, both_.of them for a man of his opportunities of selection singularly modest establishments. His town housg is at 13, Prince's Gatei-quite an ordinary London -house in a row of ordinary London houses, to which only an auctioneer could apply magniloquent-ad-jectives. But it was "his father's ■- house, and whatever . was his father's ■is. sacred to him, even -his father's somewhat uninspired art purchases. They remain among ' the priceless things' that have been co'leeted in later days, ; *but they l*eloas£d to Juniug Spencer Morgan, and may not be removed. Here are, besides the £30,000 "Duchess/ the unique Louis . ' __VI. console table, the i.rice .cfwhich was £70,000, the three rone'cdlcured"Coventry" vases that cfcsfe £lo,odo, the tiny blue Sevres xxxy with cup and saucer' valued at £2000. There are three Cosway miniatures-^- tiny, but so exquisitely beautiful , examples of the' master that they are pweed at a £1000 each. ' > In. art, as in finance, Kr Pif-rpont Morgan disdains .trifles. A thousand dollar "deal" or a tbcusand dollar picture does not attract him. But to the man with a huge financial scheme to submit or thf man ; with a priceless unique work t«f art to sell he lends a ready but di*;riminating" ear. He gave .Mr bedolmeyer £100,000 for the Raphael Madonna of St.' Anthony of Padua. Ho gave 2,000,000. francs for. the iour^ famous tapestries after . Boucher, he ' bought the TooVey. library, he Quaritch - 5000 guineas for the "Codex Psaltcrum,"; one ,of the larest cf printed • books ; he purchased in one lot M. Gavet's collection of 158 Rembrandt etchingSj/anct similarly' M. Mannneim's collecticm of antiques in marble, bionza and terra cotta. The Piangtt collection of antique bronzes he bought for £15,000.. - < Many of his purchases he has given away almost as * soon as made. His benefactions, both public and private, have fceen princely. He gave £200,000 to Harvard University. %o build new medical : schools in memory of his father. He presented his church. St' George's Protestant Epis-. copal Church, with 'a ' new parish house and rectory at a cost of £60, 800, as well as an endowment pi * £40,000 for mission work. He was interested by a gentleman in a projeefc for the establishment of a/ trade . school in Now York, and gave' £100,000 as an endowment. Two hundred thousand pounds waff his contribution to the building fund of a New York howpital for poor women, besides £70,000 for endowment and two plots of very valuable land. His contribution to the St. John's Cathedral fund is believed to have been £100;000. rlhenr lhen there have been gifts to the

New YorkY.M.C.A., £30,000; to th Holyoake (Mass.) Library, £20,00 C to St Paul's "Cai^ledrftl. in London' th costly electrical plant, and electrica planting to" the Loomis Sanatoriuu valued at £8000; to the Queen Vie toria^ Fund; i£100O; and i like stun .-, to the Galveston Relic Fund.; . \. . ■ . ' These and 'hundreds of other splen idid benefactions, besides ,n.umerbu priceless gifts, to, museums . and ,othe educational Institutions.. ; , He has another house on the fring of London, a\' roomy old Georgia] house at Roehaxniptoit — a pleasan enough retreat -within an easy haU hour, of his Prince's Gate, establish ment, but not any more pretentiou than the suburban home of , any Lon don merchant '„ might be. Perhaps i is that in =conißarison , with^his vas, wealthy there are .few things purchas able. in the f 'world 1 sufficiently costl; to be desired, and in default of then he makes shift with the* houses ani things he "h&s.- ' ■. < ,lf \ - Perhaps of all his acquisitions th( ' one • which conveys most forcibly th idea of his immense purchasing ,powe is the service of Sir Clinton Dawkins one of His Majesty's Privy Council Sir Clinton Dawkins was one of th most esteemed and trusted ' servant) of the British ■ Government. To " hin had been entrusted the handling o the finances of Egiypt t and to him thj Govepnmeait looked fbr the reorganise, tion of the finances o f Jtidia. A\frien< of Lord Milriers, a protege (of Lore Roseberv's, admired., for his grea financial genius' by leaders 'of botl parties, * there , was .open to. ; him • th< most^ brilliant career which the ad ministration of i?he Empire can afford It needs strong inducements to de tach such a man from an.aseurec career ■in the service of an empire But such a man was needeii in th( service of the financial empire of J P. Morgan. And J; P. Mdrgan ac qTiireclhimto take control of tb< London en^d of the business. ' The adiiuisition ; of the services o the Right Hon. J. W. Pirriewas b\ comparison ,< a minor triumph, although Mr Pirrift is also* a. Priyj Councillor. ' But he is a commercia' man. and' more susceptible to-cam-mercie.l considerations than a. his;hl> placed^ public official. • Still. Mr Pirric makes Mr Morgan's collection o\ members of the Privy Council into ■ _ pair, and no other foreign financier, however rich, has even one. " ■