In 1865, 18-year-old Jacob Schiff, who felt that Frankfurt, Germany, was too small for his ambition, immigrated to the United States. Within two years, Schiff and two other Frankfurt natives formed a brokerage firm in New York City. In 1870, he became a US citizen. Well before the end of the century, as senior partner in the multinational investment bank Kuhn Loeb, Schiff was regarded as “more closely identified with great corporate interests, especially railroads” than any other banker, with the possible exception of J.P. Morgan.During the second half of...