| Show W to reward anh baty it at florida N 1 Y ile he finished his h icho schooling oling nt at SIX sl 4 teen and to albany in il 18 lie became a bierk cler M in tile lie state bank ban ing department at a salary of a year saving caving 1 the first firs t year we y a find hilr winning VIA tile the sc cham chac jongil lp of the UPP U per hudson he E LIN was secretary of tile the Y M 0 A and took purt part in I 1 lecture work and ai church work early in 1803 18 brinon P chase chas then lien secretary of tile treasury eon coi calved belve rin an idea 0 it selling gelling b bond ands through tile tho banka bank they acting as i agents agent 8 and in ad a forming hanks willell which could coul pledge bonds ther them selves f for or tile the clr cl r ti cu dilution lation of cir en rency up lip to go 00 per pa cent of their value F 4 k X MIMI evil ce A 11 minn valli J 4 4 F BAKER RA W KER NEW yorka CA CITIZEN by JOHN DICKINSON DICKINSO 4 SHERMAN IMES ch change irice and we change with their that was first sila said by ii a ithmal aloman many centuries ago and it la is so BO true that w we moderns look loo kupon upon it as aa a platitude tudo Howe flo wever it i g you have any doubts just look at wall street why a banker who has been on wall street for more thair sitty bitty years has just been acclaimed as belonging to the elect once upon a time away back in IM a democratic national convention was wae held in new york the country count ry delegates it was said nt at the time went vent in fear and trembling thon had heard fearsome tales about wall street and the bankers and brokers who fleeced lambs therein those country delegates delegate 3 apparently tan ran into something that gave them a freyli fresh scare for it was not until last year that they and their heir successors and assigns mustered up lip courage to hold another convention in new york and of course you recall the lie shudders of horror chaj that swept through whole delegations delegation at the he 1024 1924 convention tit at the very thought of wall street and its bankers to say nothing of the mention thereof right out in meeting and now only the other day tit at a big dinner of the bond club of new york bankers and financial magnates to the lie number of gathered in honor of a banker who has done business for many a year right in wall street more elbert H gary introduced this banker guest of honor who chos s elbert if enry gary why head of the united states steel corporation no less abw v hats still more to the point E lbert H oary gary in introducing this wall street banker guest of honor spoke of him as new yorks leading citizen and among the lie men were secretary of the he united states treasury andrew J mellon and 3 pierpont pont morgan and they joined in the applause as heartily na as any one indeed each made a speech that guest agnest of honor was george F baker president of the first national of new yo york rk city in I 1 1023 wall street was decorated from end to end july 25 in honor of the completion of his sixty years in the district march 27 next inex lie bo will reach his birthday antyah street la is planning to do more celebrating ekle brating mr baker may or m max 1 agypt not be new yorks leading citizen 4 but in ho certainly cornea comes pretty lear near being y N v yorks most interesting citizen take a look at chos who yea tes theres a little something about him there and it begins this way george maher fisher baker born march 27 18 chairman of the boardl board national bank new york torte IWO 1909 ex preal president dent 4 A few more lines line live give 0 bint of ble activities slats lne P 72 1909 but it says nothing about the lie life and career of george geci ge fisher raker baker previous to 1009 lie was vaa sixty nine years of age morning at george F BA baler ker apper out of the he crowd and anc mounts tile tie steps of the bank building tit at 2 wall street you can set your watch by hla his coming lie ile walk like an old man tie ile wears deacons whiskers and lies hes soberly dressed it looks as it if lie had got into the wron wrong 9 place and belonged in trinity church across the lie way lie ile will not be in ten ter lowed viewed anti and all thew these years ears until the other dav tho the details of ills his early life have been unknown to even ills intimate friends the new york newspapermen dug awny at hie file record until they found out that he had given away more or less in public hene bene factions and they got shrewd financial men to express the opinion that there are only two or three alch richer r americans and then like a bolt out of a clear sky shy clinkles Clin rles B mitchell Ml president of the national city bank lie rival of the fart national told nil all about the early life of george F baker it was as tit at a inner dinner of the batih manhattan attan section ec tion of tile lie new york state hunkers bankers association lit at which mr air baker was gleit of honor and here Is what mr mitchell Ml sidd about the mystery man of wall street in part the file first american ancestor of mr air baker arrived in boston in 1635 a lad of twenty bue lie he settled in dorchester mass and for six generations genera tlona the family lived there john baker grandfather of george F moved to dedham ten miles away ills son george moved to troy george F baker was waa born march 27 1840 in fr troy when ile he was eight years year old tile the family moved to brooklyn his father worked under horace greeley and finally moved to williamsburg where he become clerk of the village later inter being elected to the state legislature george F baker went to school scho q in williamsburg incidentally he ba had d an uncle john whom ile he used to see sitting up on the porch while others othere were at work he inquired how it was as and was told that uncle john lived on interest money and have to 10 work thereupon lie declared that wine some day he be was waa going to live IIVO on interest money too he made an early start beneath the vines he be found cranberries other pickers had bad overlooked these he be sold old tw 7 amm lie he went that was the start of tile lie national bunking banking sy system stern mr air bakers friend mr air thompson who was then one ol of the financial lenders leaders in new york opened a national bank with a capital of and made mr air baker teller mr thompson offered mr air baker bak er oil all the stock lie ha wanted und said he would carry it for him but mr air baker having heard that one should never borrow money refused to use more than hla his accumulated savings and his first arst investment wag ns thir thirty ty shares of stock in the first national bank of new york with offices in tile the basement nt at wt 2 wall street mr air baker became costlier cashier and active head of tile the institution although then thell only twenty five years old lie was frequently called to washington by the secretary of the treasury for advice ile he there met lincoln seward and members of tile the cabinet in 1873 he met his first great panic with the lie failure of the house of joy jay cooke co in 1877 lie he become became president of tile the first national bank in 1882 lie he began ills his railroad career always buying into properties when they were down at the alicel and building them hem up to a point where their securities became of grent value in 1000 1900 lie he became of the new york clearing house in 1007 1907 he together with mr air morgan and mr was the great bulwark against tile the storm of that panic tidd and undertook to do much blikh aich the federal reserve system has since undertaken in latter years mr air baker has been a great giver a great generous minded citizen not only of new york but of the country lie he has been president of the metropolitan opera house association ile he has made laiq gifts to lo tahe he metropolitan mi museum loeum we all remember ills his of gifts to the lie red during the he time of stress and storm he liaa bas giver given the student dormitory and chemical laboratory to cornell baker field thirty acres for athletic purposes to columbia 9 5 for the Grad graduate date school of business administration of harvard which bears the name of george V F baker foundation |
