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UNIQUE WORK OF FINANCIER Geo. H. Earle Gains Fame by Restoring Defunct Concerns to Prosperity. The bank breaker is no novelty ceiver held in his hand authority, to act for every dollar that has been on is in the newspapers all the time. deposit in the bank. In asking the But the bank saver, the broken bank proxies he promised a reorganization ender, is something new in finance. on the basis of half the money in cash, fact quite unique, for the the presthe balance in bonds of the reorgantime there is only one, George H. ized company. arle, Jr., of Philadelphia, who scored Then he put the screws on the rich erhaps the greatest triumph of his uccessful life when the Real Estate directors, who did not direct, and forced them to advance two and a rust Company of Philadelphia elected half million dollars in cash. Earle president, and opened its Further, he examined the assets of a solvent institution, only two after a failure SO bad that it Segal, and by clever deals realized far more cash from them than had been absolute. No financier ever scored a more nohoped for by the most enthusiastic of his partisans. personal triumph. The Real state Trust went down in the midst This done he showed the bank exgeneral execration. It had failed aminer of Pennsylvania that the instihrough the criminality of its presitution was solvent and asked permisthe crininal complicity of its sion to resume. This was granted, the reasurer and the gross negligence of court released him as receiver, and directors. with Mr. Earle at the helm, the unaniThe first hasty examination of its as. mous choice of 15,000 stockholders, the showed only utter ruin. bank ópened two months from the The president of the institution, untime of the failure. Its success has the influence of the extraordinary been immediate, and it promises to beinstrian, Adolph Segal, dreamer and come one of Philadelphia's most stable romoter, had advanced money on the banks. worthless wildcat securities. This remarkable exploit in itself was undreds of thousands were put out enough to make the reputation of any sugar refineries that never had a man, but the fame of Mr. Earle does to operate, a million in a hotel not depend on it alone. He has done it is claimed, had never paid a the same thing a dozen times. In fact ollar on the original investment, and his most notable work in finance has which even the taxes for six years been the rehabilitation of concerns unpaid. that had failed or were tottering on To balance against a seven-millionthe brink. ollar failure, the assets did not look So successful has he been in this be worth two millions. direction that against his inclination Many poor people had their all tied he has been forced to give up his law in the real estate trust, and popular practice in order to devote himself to turned against the directors, men what may be properly termed conwealth and standing in the commustructive business. whose names had been the bait It was an accident that first told attracted millions of deposits to him wherein his greatest talent lay. bank. His family owned some stock in the Indignant depositors, represented by Pennsylvania Warehousing company, a counsel, immediately arranged concern that had never paid a cent in to force the directors to make dividends, and whose stock was selling tonement, financially, for the neglect at $5 a share. a solemn trust. The contemplated Mr. Earle thought the stock- had tigation would have tied up the possibilities, and began to investigate. for years, put an end to whatHe convinced the directors that the credit the institution might have, stock could be made to pay, and they probably end in complete failure. gave him authority to go ahead. He At this junction Receiver Earle, who quickly cut out the dead wood, gave been appointed by the court, said places to energetic young men, and inthe depositors: stalled modern methods. He got the "Stop all these suits. Leave everycompany to buy certain wharves, to me and I will save your which later he had the satisfaction of renting out to railroads at splendid The same appeal from probably any rates. The company began to pay, man would have met only with and its stock is now worth anywhere and laughter. but it came from a from $75 to $100 a share. that Philadelphia new. George The Guarantee Trust and Safe DeEarle, Jr., had made the same posit company, a concern that had peech before and had made good. been put in bad shape because of the The angry depositors, although a tendency of one of its officers to take were slow in cooling off, finally too much part in promoting, had notopped their suits, and told Mr. Earle ticed Mr. Earle's rehabilitation of the go ahead, they would give him a Warehousing company, and persuaded foot to pursue any plan of reorhim to accept an election as vice presanization he might'see fit, and they ident. The application of his methods back him up. soon put this company on its feet Thus empowered this is what the again. xponent of the new science of bank By this time he had found out that aving did. he was carrying too much responsibilHe first asked all the depositors to him their proxies, so that he ity for one man, and he must cut loose something. Reluctantly he gave up his have power to represent and act them officially. This was quickly place in the White & Earle law firm. Next he was elected president of and every mail brought in hunthe Finance Company of Pennsylvania, of proxies, until finally the re-