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He said: “Now, Henry, don’t speak so fast. Before you definitely commit yourself, I understand trust companies are not making loans on an exclusively industrial collateral.” I told him that I knew how my board felt about Standard Oil which was then selling at about $180 a share, and to convince him that I was authorized I told him that if his friend had any doubts, I would make him a time loan of six months. Mr. Strauss brought in Mr. John T. Underwood, the president of the Underwood Typewriter Company.

Strauss told me at the time that this transaction might lead to other business. A few years afterward, Strauss came to see me and told me that Underwood required additional money to proceed with his enterprise. He then told me how Underwood had come to this country from England to represent his father’s business—the John Underwood Company, manufacturers of inks; how he had started business at No. 30 Vesey Street; and how, shortly after typewriters had been introduced, had manufactured supplies for them, carbon paper, ribbons, etc., and built up a large and profitable business. His transactions were very largely with the then existing typewriter companies, the Remington and Smith Premier. Shortly after the Union Typewriter Company had been started, these people notified Underwood that they would themselves go into the typewriter supply business. This induced Underwood to go into the typewriter business and to manufacture the first visible typewriter.