Excerpt from Biographies of Successful Philadelphia Merchants During the years 1860 and '61 the Commercial List of Philadelphia, published a series of sketches, giving a lively account of the personal and private history of the Bank Presidents of that city, and also, in the same connection, some notice of the antecedents and career of the cashiers of the same institutions. The record was generally a fair one, though a few of the officials came off with drooping colors and a reputation far from enviable. As, however, no effort was made by the writers to suppress truth, and as there was much intrinsic merit in the sketches, they attracted a wide circle of readers, and were the subject of much attention among those interested in banks and banking, and in many classes of the business community who have heavy financial relations. These sketches, of so much interest to the banking community, would have been published in book form, for permanent preservation, profit and interest, both historically and locally, had it not been for the earnest protest, with but one exception, of the entire body of whom the sketches were the chronicle. Their value would have been considerable, as we know from experience. Think how interesting it would be to have a full, reliable local account of the operations of the great financier, Robert Morris, written all fresh and glowing with life, at the very time when Morris was carrying the financial burthen of the United States as he walked through the streets of the Quaker City. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.