Alexander Smith, and George H. Brodhead. At the election in the spring of the present year three tickets were in the field, and one of the most exciting contests followed in the history of the Exchange. The successful candidate was A. S. Hatch, of the banking firm of Fisk & Hatch, which made a national reputation in transactions in Government bonds during the war.
In passing thus briefly and rapidly over the years since Wall Street was the dividing line between the bears of the forest and the bulls of intruding civilization, neither its picturesque beginnings, its bewildering charms as the seat of fashion and of the national Government, nor its modern riches and financial renown, must lead us to forget that it is closely associated with historic events in every part of the Western hemisphere. In touching upon its salient features, its solid and substantial men deserve special consideration. Not one of its great moneyed institutions ever reached its present proud position in any hap-hazard manner. Integrity, ability, culture, and persistent industry have all been in perpetual requisition. The banks, for instance, and the banking, trust, and insurance companies, have been and are conducted by men of the highest character and consequence, men deeply concerned in the extension and support of churches and charities, and whose public spirit is written in imperishable lines all over Christendom. George I. Seney, who has given millions for charitable and educational purposes, president of the Metropolitan Bank since 1857, is a notable example of this class. Robert Lenox Kennedy, president of the Bank of Commerce, connected with numberless literary and charitable, as well as financial institutions of the city; George S. Coe, president of the American Exchange National Bank, who originated the expedient of clearing-house certificates in 1859, through which the banks as a body could stand or fall together in times of alarming pressures; William Dowd, president of the Bank of North America, concerned in an official capacity with several other moneyed institutions, and a prominent and active member of the Board of Education of the city; Frederick D. Tappan, president of the Gallatin Bank, and also of the Clearing-House Association; Arthur B. Graves, president of the St. Nicholas Bank; Peter M. Bryson, president of the Phoenix Bank; William H. Macy, president of the Seaman's Bank for Savings; and Percy R. Pyne, president of the City Bank, are among the many who seem inspired by modern progress and development. James Brown, of Brown Brothers, whose reputation as foreign bankers is world-wide, endowed the Union Theological Seminary with $300,000. Hardly less numerous than the banks in Wall Street are the insurance companies, of which the Atlantic Mutual is the largest marine insurance company in
