Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 July 1895 — Directors’ Fat Fees. [ARTICLE]

Directors’ Fat Fees.

The fees that directors of business corporations receive for attendance at each meeting range from $5 to sls. It is a fact not generally known that there are some men in this town who enjoy very handsome incomes from this source. Of course, there are men of wealth and high business standing, whose reputation for financial skill and probity makes them eagerly nought for as directors. Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. I|i6ckefeller or J. I’ierpont Morgan, for instance, would be welcomed in the directory of any business corporation. Samuel D. Babcock, ex-President of the Chamber of Commerce, has the reputation of being a director in more concerns in New York than any other man, with perhaps the possible exception of Russell Sage. The president of one of the largest banks in this city said the other day that, although he was a director in compartively few corporations, his fees last year amounted to $2,000, “I know one man,” said he, “whose Income from directors' fees ranges from SB,OOO to SIO,OOO a year. Nearly all of the great financial concerns pay their directors sl6 each for every meeting they attend. The money is usually paid in gold, and is handed to the director as soon as he enters the board room.”