George W. Perkins
Encyclopedia
New York Life Insurance Company
The New York Life Insurance Company is one of the largest mutual life-insurance companies in the United States, and one of the largest life insurers in the world, with about $287 billion in total assets under management, and more than $15 billion in surplus and AVR...
and a partner in J.P. Morgan & Co.
J.P. Morgan & Co.
J.P. Morgan & Co. was a commercial and investment banking institution based in the United States founded by J. Pierpont Morgan and commonly known as the House of Morgan or simply Morgan. Today, J.P...
He served as president of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission
Palisades Interstate Park Commission
Palisades Interstate Park and its creator, the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, was formed in 1900 by governors Theodore Roosevelt of New York and Foster M. Voorhees of New Jersey in response to the destruction of the Palisades by quarry operators in the late 19th century...
from its creation in 1900 until his death in 1920.
Biography
He was born on January 31, 1862 in Chicago, Illinois.With only a high-school education, he began work as an office boy in the Chicago office of the New York Life Insurance Company
New York Life Insurance Company
The New York Life Insurance Company is one of the largest mutual life-insurance companies in the United States, and one of the largest life insurers in the world, with about $287 billion in total assets under management, and more than $15 billion in surplus and AVR...
. By 1898 he had risen to the position of vice president.
Perkins played an important role in the development of New York Life.
A strong believer in the Efficiency Movement
Efficiency Movement
The Efficiency Movement was a major movement in the United States, Britain and other industrial nations in the early 20th century that sought to identify and eliminate waste in all areas of the economy and society, and to develop and implement best practices. The concept covered mechanical,...
, he sought out instances of waste and believed that any practice could be improved by careful analysis. For example, he noticed that the old routine of farming out territory to middlemen, who in turn appointed men who did the actual soliciting for policies, was inefficient. The local agents were underpaid and often made misrepresentations in order to get initial premiums. Perkins, starting in 1892, made the local agents and solicitors permanent employees, and by introducing in 1896, his system of benefits based on length of service and value of policies written. He opened up new insurance markets in Russia and Europe.
Morgan & Co.
He joined J. P. MorganJ. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...
's bank in 1905 and negotiated many complex deals, especially the formation of the International Harvester Corporation, International Mercantile Marine Company, and Northern Securities Company. He also helped reorganize Morgan's United States Steel Corporation.
Political career
In 1910 Perkins began to pursue Progressive EraProgressive Era
The Progressive Era in the United States was a period of social activism and political reform that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s. One main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to eliminate corruption by exposing and undercutting political...
reform causes. Perkins was an articulate exponent of the evils of competition and the advantages of cooperation in business— he believed in the Good Trust. His biographer, John A. Garraty summarizes Perkins' business philosophy as follows:
- The fundamental principle of life is co-operation rather than competition... Competition is cruel, wasteful, destructive, outmoded; co-operation, inherent in any theory of a well-ordered Universe, is humane, efficient, inevitable and modern.
In 1912 he helped organize Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
's new Progressive party
Progressive Party (United States, 1912)
The Progressive Party of 1912 was an American political party. It was formed after a split in the Republican Party between President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt....
, becoming its executive secretary. At the convention an anti-trust plank was suddenly dropped, shocking reformers like Gifford Pinchot
Gifford Pinchot
Gifford Pinchot was the first Chief of the United States Forest Service and the 28th Governor of Pennsylvania...
who saw Roosevelt as a true trust-buster. They blamed Perkins (who was still on the board of U.S. Steel and remained on it until his death.)
The result was a deep split in the new party that was never resolved. Perkins was in effective control of the party in 1913, but it fared poorly in local elections. Perkins went public with his denunciations of anti-trust programs, arguing "The country knows that the Progressive Party believes that large business units are necessary in this day of interstate and inter-
national communication and trade." (Garraty 302) Increasing at odds with Progressives hostile to big business, and humbled by the party's very poor showing in the 1914, elections, Perkins watched his Progressive party support the Republican candidate in 1916 then it disintegrated.
During World War I he was chairman of a joint state and municipal food supply commission. As chairman of a finance committee of the Young Men's Christian Association, he raised $200,000,000 for welfare work among American soldiers abroad.
Palisades Interstate Park Commission
In 1900, New York governor Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
appointed Perkins president of the newly formed Palisades Interstate Park Commission. It had been formed with the aim of stopping the destruction of the Palisades
Palisades
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.Palisade or Palisades also may refer to:-Geology:United States...
, a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
in northeast New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and southern New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Although the Palisades and the Hudson Highlands were admired for their beauty and were featured in paintings of the Hudson River School
Hudson River school
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by romanticism...
, they were also viewed as a rich source of traprock (basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
) by quarrymen seeking to provide building material for the growth of nearby Manhattan Island. By the early 1900s development along the lower Hudson River had begun to destroy much of the area's natural beauty. The Commission was authorized to acquire land between Fort Lee
Fort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 35,345. Located atop the Hudson Palisades, the borough is the western terminus of the George Washington Bridge...
and Piermont, New York
Piermont, New York
Piermont is a village in Rockland County, New York, United States. Piermont is in the town of Orangetown, located north of the hamlet of Palisades; east of Sparkill and south of Grand View-on-Hudson, on the west bank of the Hudson River. The population was 2,607 at the 2000 census.The village's...
; its jurisdiction was extended to Stony Point
Stony Point, New York
Stony Point is a triangle-shaped town in Rockland County, United States. Rockland County is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. The town is located north of the town of Haverstraw, east and south of Orange County, New York, and west of the Hudson River and Westchester County. The population...
in 1906.
The Commission was expected to raise the funds needed for the acquisition of land from private sources. Needing at least $125,000, Perkins turned first to J. P. Morgan
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...
. Morgan offered to put up the entire sum on the condition that Perkins would become a Morgan partner. Perkins agreed, with the immediate result that quarrying along the Palisades was stopped on December 24, 1900.
Then, in 1908 the State of New York announced plans to relocate Sing Sing Prison to Bear Mountain. Work was begun and in January 1909, the state purchased the 740 acre (3.0 km²) Bear Mountain tract. Conservationists, inspired by the earlier work of the Park Commission lobbied successfully for the creation of the Highlands of the Hudson Forest Preserve. However, the prison project was continued.
Perkins, working with Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
president Edward Henry Harriman, and, after his death, with his widow, Mary Averell Harriman, arranged a gift to the state of ten thousand acres (40 km²) and one million dollars from the Harrimans toward the creation of a state park and another $1.5 million from a dozen wealthy contributors including John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
and Morgan. New York state appropriated a matching $2.5 million. Bear Mountain
Bear Mountain State Park
Bear Mountain State Park is located on the west side of the Hudson River in Orange and Rockland counties of New York. The park offers biking, hiking, boating, picnicking, swimming, cross-country skiing, cross-country running, sledding and ice skating...
-Harriman State Park became a reality in 1910 when the prison was demolished. Perkins hired Major William A. Welch
William A. Welch
Major William Addams Welch was an American engineer and environmentalist who would have a major impact on the state and national park systems of the United States...
as Chief Engineer, whose work for the park would achieve national influence as state and national park systems grew. The Perkins Memorial Tower at Bear Mountain State Park commemorates his work for the park; the view from the tower takes in four states and the Hudson River valley, including New York City.
He died on June 18, 1920.
Wave Hill House
In 1903, George W. Perkins purchased Wave Hill HouseWave Hill (New York)
Wave Hill is a 28 acre estate, consisting of public gardens and a cultural center, in the Hudson Hill section of the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. It is situated on the slopes overlooking the Hudson River and the New Jersey Palisades. Listed on the National Register of...
in Riverdale, Bronx
Riverdale, Bronx
Riverdale is an affluent residential neighborhood in the northwest portion of the Bronx in New York City. Riverdale contains the northernmost point in New York City.-History:...
on the East side of the Hudson. He had been accumulating properties since 1895 to create a great estate along the river, including Oliver Harriman's adjacent villa on the site of what is now Glyndor House. Perkins planned the grounds to enhance the property's beautiful river views and added greenhouses, a swimming pool, terraces and the recreational facility; rare trees and shrubs were planted on the lawns, and gardens were created to blend with the natural beauty of the Hudson highlands. The property is now Wave Hill
Wave Hill
Wave Hill is an estate and garden in New York.Wave Hill may also refer to:*Kalkaringi, Northern Territory, formerly known as Wave Hill, a township in the Northern Territory of Australia...
, a public botanical garden and cultural center.
Further reading
- John A. Garraty, Right Hand Man: The Life of George W. Perkins, (1960)
- Myles, William J., Harriman Trails, A Guide and History, The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, New York, N.Y., 1999.