But the Trust Co. of America was saved. It has been claimed that the price of its salvation was the surrender by its president of some 5,500 shares of Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad stock which he owned. It seems plain, however, that the suggestion that the Steel Corporation should take over the control of the Tennessee company came first from the people who had the majority stock of the company and after the beginning of November, before which time the bankers, headed by Morgan, had loaned the trust company $12,500,000 without any mention of or question regarding the stock. It also appears that the transfer of Thorne’s stock to the Corporation had no connection whatsoever with the trust company’s difficulties and its extrication therefrom, but was part of a separate and distinct transaction. Particular attention has been given here to the affairs of the Trust Co. of America, because of the allegations connecting the help rendered the company with the Tennessee purchase. But it really constituted only a small part of the situation with which Morgan and his fellow-bankers were faced. There were many others that needed help, banking institutions, investment houses, brokers, and so on. The whole financial community had turned to Morgan as its Joshua to lead it out of the desert. Upon his shoulders fell the burden of saving the country from financial ruin. The Morgan library became as the headquarters of an army. Here were congregated at all hours of the day and night bankers, brokers, business men of all kinds, both those who needed help and those who could assist the banker in the work he had thrust upon him and the arduous duties which he had assumed. Men rushed in and out of that library, pleaded for help, begged for information and, awaiting their turn, slept in its luxurious chairs. The task that Morgan and his associates had undertaken was one of exceedingly great difficulty. Despite all that had been done to dam the torrent of financial disruption and the fact that each weak spot was strengthened as soon as discovered, the banker knew that his herculean efforts might be brought to nothing by one big failure which would let loose the panic fears it was sought to allay. Hence it may be imagined with what consternation the financier received the news, brought to him by Lewis Cass Ledyard, a prominent lawyer and a close friend of his, that Moore & Schley, one of the leading brokerage firms in the “Street,” was in serious difficulties and needed several millions of dollars to save it from disaster.