US banks pull back funding for coal firms

New York

TENS of thousands of miners were on strike and coal prices were skyrocketing in October 1902. Afraid of unrest, president Theodore Roosevelt sought the help of John Pierpont Morgan.

The powerful banker, who held great sway over the coal industry, brokered a deal with the miners that ended the strike.

"My dear sir," the president wrote to Morgan. "Let me thank you for the service you have rendered the whole people."

Americ…