Brotherly Merger

Herbert is the more conspicuous of San Francisco's two famed Fleishhacker brothers and is generally thought to take the lead when they confer on mighty matters. People know him better because he is always doing things that command attention, because he is the one apt to be found at teas or dances when his brother Mortimer is at home reading.

Herbert is heavily built, a noisy dynamo even at play. Mortimer is lean, quiet, takes his fun and work quietly. On the golf course Herbert shatters opponents' nerves by the way he chatters, exults, boasts, bets. His directors are fearful of accepting cigars from him lest they explode in mid-meeting. His cigaret cases have been known to contain alarming jack-in-the-boxes.

In banking each brother has shown natural talents. Herbert is president of Anglo & London Paris National Bank, with $166,000,000 in resources and $113,000,000 in deposits. Mortimer is president of Anglo-California Trust Co., diagonally across the street, with $81,000,000 in resources and $76,000,000 in deposits. Each is a vice president of his brother's bank. Both banks have prospered; their solidity has never been questioned. Hence when last week San Francisco heard that the two banks will soon be merged there were no whispers of "taking over" or "just in time." It was accepted as a move towards economy and perhaps preparation for state-wide branch banking under the provisions of the Glass Banking Bill. Friends recalled that for a dozen years the Fleishhackers have contemplated in leisurely fashion the day when they would bank not as neighborly brothers but in one institution.

As the two directorates prepared for a long joint meeting, San Franciscans guessed that the merged bank would probably be called Anglo California National Bank, that it would be housed in Anglo & London's big building at Market & Sansome Streets rather than in Anglo-California's building. It was taken for granted that lean, polite Brother Mortimer would be chairman, loud Brother Herbert president. For Brother Herbert has shown ability not only in the mechanics of banking and investment but also in the delicate matter of contact with customers. He has often so genially laughed off his "inability" to lend money that the would-be borrower has gone off chuckling, convinced. Willing to see anybody, with a laugh and a backslap for almost all, he has never wavered when approached by such stern banking problems as foreclosing on a friend.

Anglo & London Paris National dates back to 1909 when it was formed as a merger of two powerful banks. One of these was Anglo-California Bank, Ltd., founded in 1873 by J. & W. Seligman & Co., a year after Ogden Livingston Mills's grandfather had converted his private bank in Sacramento to proudly-named "National Gold Bank of D. O. Mills & Co." The other was London, Paris & American Bank, Ltd., formed in 1884 by Lazard Freres to take over their private banking business in San Francisco. The year when these two banks merged the new Anglo-California Trust Co., Mortimer Fleishhacker's bank, was formed. It is believed that Herbert Fleishhacker bought out the London interests in his bank and has complete control although Lazard Freres retains an interest.

Herbert Fleishhacker's entrance to banking was in 1907, aged 33. In 1905 he had married May Belle Greenbaum whose father, Sigmund Greenbaum, was president of London, Paris & American Bank. Deposits were then about $4,000,000. Many San Franciscans, especially bankers, suspected the ease with which Herbert Fleishhacker was rising in his father-in-law's bank but they soon realized that

Banker Greenbaum had been shrewder than they.

Previous to banking, the Fleishhacker experiences had been in wood, paper and power. At 15 Herbert left school to enter his father's paper box firm as a bookkeeper. Two years later his father died and he and his brother, who was then 23, had to take over the business. Herbert went out on the road selling. He became interested in the mills which supplied the paper for his boxes, found that one was for sale. He and Mortimer raised money from friends and a quick turnover left them with a $300,000 profit. This was invested in power and other mills.

The Fleishhacker interests are now so varied that to present them would be to depict a cross-section of northern California's wealth. In addition to his San Francisco banking, Brother Herbert's affiliate, Anglo National Corp. has important bank holdings in other parts of the State. Shipping has always fascinated him and he has been close to Capt. Robert Dollar* (formerly one of his directors) as well as being considered an important factor in Pacific Steamship Co. (Admiral Line) and, lately, in United States Lines. Agriculture has felt his touch; he did a lot to develop the Sacramento Valley's rice industry. He was a leading figure in Columbia Steel before it was sold to United States Steel. He has close connections with the oil industry, especially Standard Oil of California. Paper, mining, hotels, cement and retail stores round out his sphere. Both brothers have gained the reputation of being terrific plungers. In all of Brother Herbert's gambling, whether it be golf, backgammon, bridge or poker-dice, there is a great deal of shouting that at first would indicate wild excitement, but his opponents soon learn that it only camouflages a cold, keen brain that becomes keener as the stakes and risk increase. The Brothers Fleishhacker could well describe their success in the words of the late Charles Francis Adams II, "Running at times great risks, I emerged not ruined."

While many another California bank and banker is known throughout the country, Herbert Fleishhacker sparkles against a fairly dull background. His personality is rivaled in its effulgence only by that of triumphant Amadeo Peter Giannini of Bank of America. In San Francisco there is, for example, William Henry Crocker, a conservative gentleman who smokes $1 cigars and is met at the station by a groom and horse so he may have his evening ride without loss of time. There are the old (1852) Wells Fargo Bank and Union Trust Co., the Bank of California N. A., the American Trust Co., control of which was bought by Goldman Sachs Trading Corp. in 1929. In Los Angeles a tower of banking prestige is Securities First National Bank with $542,000,000 in resources and headed by Henry Mauris Robinson, good friend of Herbert Hoover.

While some Californians have resented Herbert Fleishhacker's close friendship with Governor James ("Sunny Jim") Rolph Jr., longtime Mayor of San Francisco, the connection enabled Mr. Fleishhacker to be appointed to the Board of Park Commissioners in 1920. He gave Golden Gate Park its famed open-air Fleishhacker Pool and donated a large zoo to the city. Favorite of his beasts there is a lion called "Herb," not for him but his powerfully-built son Herbert Jr., onetime Stanford football hero, formerly an employe of J. P. Morgan & Co. and now with Guaranty Trust. San Franciscans know that Mr. Fleishhacker was responsible for the pulling-up of "Keep Off the Grass" signs. He thought the city's gardeners should know how to grow grass tough enough to be walked upon, instructed the Park Police to do everything in their power to let all people have fun.

Mr. Fleishhacker's conception of fun is incongruous for a banker in so high a post. It is not limited to loaded cigars. Commonplace are such incidents as the time when Banker Fleishhacker encouraged two of his vice presidents to engage in a wrestling match, let all business stop, cheered first one and then the other until he was as exhausted as they.

Fleishhacker foolery reaches its summit in endless pranks with Kenneth Raleigh Kingsbury, head of Standard Oil of California. Once when Mr. Kingsbury was bound East, Banker Fleishhacker had great bunches of onions delivered to him at every station. Oilman Kingsbury retaliated by sending a truck filled with water buffaloes, elks, and lesser animals C. O. D. to the bank, its arrival being announced by a lusty, liveried bugler. Mr. Fleishhacker was once grieved to learn that his good friend had been bitten on the lip by a pet dog. Promptly he entered the Kingsbury sanctum on all fours, barking and growling. Another time he set a trap in Mr. Kingsbury's office so that when the oilman opened the door 100 pigeons flew into his face. Hilarious was the scene when Mr. Kingsbury entered the bank one day asking, "What about some golf. Herb?"

"Too much work," muttered Banker Fleishhacker.

"That for your work," said Mr. Kingsbury, sweeping all of Mr. Fleishhacker's papers to the floor. Whereupon the burly banker arose with a yell, grabbed a cane and, hatless, chased the President of Standard Oil out of the bank and down the street.

Loud, colorful Banker Fleishhacker has been far from alone in resisting Depression on the Pacific Coast. Bankers generally agree that the California banking situation has remained about the best in the land, a remarkable feat considering the State's large investments in agriculture. In Northern California there has been only one bank failure since Jan. 1 and that was in a small town after the principal industry had moved away. In Southern California there have been 15 failures in 1932. Bankers in Northern California agree that in the past three months the banking scare has cleared up. Deposits have been increasing. Although some of the banks are heavily committed in land they feel no worse off than some eastern banks holding bonds of doubtful value, industrial loans noi now collectible. Because rains were bountiful during the winter California's farmers were hopeful of good crops last week although the prices were discouraging.

The slowness of business is felt in California as much as in other parts. Bank debits in Los Angeles for March ran 309c below last year and in San Francisco 39% lower against a nationwide average decline of 38%.* Leading West Coast stocks have dropped about in proportion to those in the East.

* Critically ill for a fortnight, Capt. Robert Dollar, 88, was last week reported by his physicians to have "weathered another storm." * Compiled from 141 City reports by the Federal Reserve.

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