ustodians of this far-flung financial power are the money kings of
Belgium. Chief among them is Jean Jadot, Governor of the Societe
Generale--the institution still designates its head by this ancient
title--and President of the Forminiere. In him and his colleagues you
find those elements of self-made success so dear to the heart of the
human interest historian. It would be difficult to find anywhere a more
picturesque group of men than those who, through their association with
King Leopold and the Societe, have developed the Congo and so many other
enterprises.

Jadot occupies today the same position in Belgium that the late J. P.
Morgan held in his prime in America. He is the foremost capitalist.
Across the broad, flat-topped desk of his office in that marble palace
in the Rue Royale the tides of Belgian finance ebb and flow. Just as
Morgan's name made an underwriting in New York so does Jadot's put the
stamp of authority on it in Brussels. Morgan inherited a great name and
a fortune. Jadot made his name and his millions.

When you analyze the lives of American multi-millionaires you find a
curious repetition of history. Men like John D. Rockefeller, Henry H.
Rogers, Thomas F. Ryan, and Russell Sage began as grocery clerks in
small towns. Something in the atmosphere created by spice and sugar must
have developed the money-making germ. With the plutocrats of Belgium it
was different. Practically all of them, and especially those who ruled
the financial institutions, began as explorers or engineers. This shows
the intimate connection that exists between Belgium and her overseas
interests.

Jadot is a good illustration. At twenty he graduated as engineer from
Louvain University. At thirty-five he had directed the construction of
the tramways of Cairo and of the Lower Egyptian Railways. He was now
caught up in Leopold's great dream of Belgian expansion. The moment that
the king obtained the concession for constructing the 1,200 mile railway
from Pekin to Hankow he sent Jadot to China to take charge. Within eight
years he completed this task in the face of almost insuperable
difficulties, including a Boxer uprising, which cost the lives of some
of his colleagues and tested his every resource.

In 1905 he entered the Societe Generale. At once he became fired with
Leopold's enthusiasm for the Congo and the necessity for making it an
outlet for Belgium. Jadot was instrumental in organizing the Union
Miniere and was also t