tem for a few months following the resignation of D. C. Hays. During his tenure as president, the bank expanded from its single original office at 40 Wall Street, opened in September 1799, to a chain of forty-eight offices in as many different sections of New York City with resources of $300,000,000. It also absorbed, in succession, the Bank of Long Island, the Bank of the Metropolis, and the Merchants' National Bank of New York on March 1, 1920, effective March 27, 1920. Merchants' then president, Raymond E. Jones, became vice president and second in command of the combined institutions. Coincidentally, Merchants' National had been chartered in 1804 through the efforts of Alexander Hamilton as a rival to the Manhattan Company, launched by Aaron Burr. In 1923, it moved its headquarters briefly to the Prudence Building and then in May 1929, construction began on what was briefly the tallest building in the world, at 40 Wall Street (known as the Bank of Manhattan Trust Building) on the site of the Gallatin Bank Building, from April 1930 until May 1930 when it was surpassed by the Chrysler Building. In 1927, after thirty-four years as president, and an increase from one branch to a network with forty-eight branches and an increase in deposits to $300,000,000, Baker turned the presidency and a considerable stock ownership over to his son, J. Stewart Baker, who had just turned thirty-four. The elder Baker served as chairman of the board until 1932 when he became honorary chairman and was again succeeded by his son. In 1928, the Company increased its capital from $12,500,000 to $15,000,000 in connection with its acquisition of the Flushing National Bank, the Bayside National Bank, the Queens-Bellaire Bank, and the First National Bank of Whitestone. Later that year, it again increased its capital to $16,000,000 when it acquired the Bronx Borough Bank, and the First National Bank of Brooklyn. The acquisitions led to the bank having sixty-one offices throughout New York City. Merger with International Acceptance Bank In December 1928, the 129-year-old Bank of the Manhattan Company announced a joint affiliation with the International Acceptance Bank (and its subsidiary, the International Acceptance Trust Company), which had been organized in 1921 by Paul Warburg. The plan was for each institution to retain their present identities, but have the Bank of the Manhattan Company shareholders own the stock of the International Acceptance Bank, leading its