Was there ever a more be-bankered railroad than the New Haven? Was there ever a more banker-led community of investors than New England? Six years before the fall of that great system, the hidden dangers were pointed out to these banker-experts. Proof was furnished of the rotting timbers. The disaster-breeding policies were laid bare. The bankers took no action. Repeatedly, thereafter, the bankers’ attention was called to the steady deterioration of the structure. The New Haven books disclose 11,481 stockholders who are residents of Massachusetts; 5,682 stockholders in Connecticut; 735 in Rhode Island; and 3,510 in New York. Of the New Haven stockholders 10,474 were women. Of the New Haven stockholders 10,222 were of such modest means that their holdings were from one to ten shares only. The investors were sorely in need of protection. The city directories disclose 146 banking houses in Boston, 26 in Providence, 33 in New Haven and Hartford, and 357 in New York City. But who, connected with those New England and New York banking houses, during the long years which preceded the recent investigation of the Interstate Commerce Commission, raised either voice or pen in protest against the continuous mismanagement of that great trust property or warned the public of the impending disaster? Some of the bankers sold their own stock holdings. Some bankers whispered to a few favored customers advice to dispose of New Haven stock. But not one banker joined those who sought to open the eyes of New England to the impending disaster and to avert it by timely measures. New England’s leading banking houses were ready to “coöperate” with the New Haven management in taking generous commissions for marketing the endless supply of new securities; but they did nothing to protect the investors. Were these bankers blind? Or were they afraid to oppose the will of J. P. Morgan & Co.? Perhaps it is the banker who, most of all, needs the New Freedom. CHAPTER VII BIG MEN AND LITTLE BUSINESS J. P. Morgan & Co. declare, in their letter to the Pujo Committee, that “practically all the railroad and industrial development of this country has taken place initially through the medium of the great banking houses.” That statement is entirely unfounded in fact. On the contrary nearly every such contribution to our comfort and prosperity was “initiated” _without_ their aid. The “great banking houses” came into relation with these enterprises, either after success had been attained, or upon “reorganization” after the possibility of success had been demonstrated, but the funds of the hardy pioneers, who had risked their all, were exhausted.