Sensational J.P. Morgan resignations from more than 20 American corporations

Representatives of the bankers J.P. Morgan - including the head of the firm, J. Pierpont Morgan - have resigned their directorships of leading American corporations, including those of powerful rail, steel, telephone and electricity companies.

The move took American financial circles by complete surprise, but the company had recently come under huge criticism for the inter-locking directorships that had placed it in such a position of power in so many industries.

The offices of J.P. Morgan and Co in New York City (Photo: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA)

As well as drawing investigations from the United States Attorney General, the company has been condemned for its involvement in rail companies where there have been a series of fatal accidents.

In particular, there have been allegations in the press that lives were being sacrificed to satisfy the ‘greed of the Morgans’.