High Finance

Otto Hermann Kahn

Informations

• Publié par: ornie
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 77
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Project Gutenberg EBook of High Finance, by Otto H. Kahn This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: High Finance Author: Otto H. Kahn Release Date: June 27, 2009 [EBook #29256] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 ** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HIGH FINANCE *** *

Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

H I G H  F

O TTO H. K AHN

A DDRESS D ELIVERED   AT A NNUAL D INNER   A MERICAN N EWSPAPER P UBLISHERS A SSOCIATION   A PRIL 27, 1916, W ALDORF -A STORIA , N EW Y ORK

HIGH FINANCE

I N A N C E

I

H E term h "haute T finance,"  " w h h i i g c h h     f i i n n   a F n r c a e n " c   e d   e a ri s v   e e s l   s i e ts w   h o e ri r g e i   n i   n  fr E o u m r   o t p h e e     d F e r s e i n g c nates the most eminently respectable, the most unqualifiedly trustworthy amongst financial houses. Why has that term, in becoming acclimated in this country, gradually come to suggest a rather different meaning? Why does there exist in the United States, alone amongst the great nations, a widespread attitude of suspicion, indeed in many quarters, of virtual hostility, toward the financial community and especially toward the financial activities which focus in New York, the country's financial capital? There are a number of causes and for some of them finance cannot be absolved from responsibility. But the primary underlying and continuing cause is lack of clear appreciation of what finance means and stands for and is needed for. And from this there has sprung a veritable host of misconceptions, prejudices, superstitions and catch-phrases. Never was it of more importance than in the present emergency that the people should have a clear and correct understanding of the meaning and significance of finance, indeed of "high finance," and that they should approach the subject calmly and dispassionately and with untroubled vision, for when the European war is over and the period of reconstruction sets in, one of the most vital questions of the day will be that of finance and financing. The handling and adjustment of that question, although it primarily concerns Europe, cannot fail to affect America favorably or unfavorably, according to the wisdom or lack of wisdom of our own attitude and actions. A great many things are being and have been charged in the popular view against finance, with which finance, properly understood, has nothing to do. The possession of wealth does not make a man a financier—just as little as the possession of a chest of tools makes a man a carpenter. Finance does not mean speculation—although speculation when it does not degenerate into mere gambling has a proper and legitimate place in the scheme of things economic. Finance most emphatically does not mean fleecing the public, nor fattening parasitically off the industry and commerce of the country. Finance cannot ro erl be held res onsible for the ex loits, ood, bad

or indifferent, of the man who, having made money at manufacturing, or mining, or in other commercial pursuits, blows into town, either physically or by telephone or telegraph, and goes on a financial spree, more or less prolonged. Finance means constructive work. It means mobilizing and organizing the wealth of the country so that the scattered monetary resources of the individuals may be united and guided into a mighty current of fruitful co- operation—a hundredfold, nay ten-thousandfold as potent as they would or could be in individual hands. Finance means promoting and facilitating the country's trade at home and abroad, creating new wealth, making new jobs for workmen. It means continuous study of the conditions prevailing throughout the world. It means daring and imagination combined with care and foresight and integrity, and hard, wearing work—much of it not compensated, because of every ten propositions submitted to the scrutiny or evolved by the brain of the financier who is duly careful of his reputation and conscious of his responsibility to the public, it is safe to say that not more than three materialize. For the financial offspring of which he acknowledges parentage, or merely godfathership, he is held responsible by the public for better or for worse, and will continue to be held responsible notwithstanding certain ill-advised provisions of the recently enacted Clayton Anti-Trust Act which are bound to make it more difficult for him to discharge that responsibility. Amongst other functions and duties, it is "up to him" to look ahead, so that such offspring may always be provided with nouriture, i.e. , with funds to conduct their business. If for one reason or another they find themselves short of means in difficult times, it is his task and care to find ways and means to obtain what is needed, sometimes at great financial risk to himself. It is perhaps significant that almost all the railroad companies now in receivers' hands were among those for whose financial policy no one amongst the leading banking houses had a continuous and recognized responsibility, though I must not be understood as meaning to suggest that there were not other contributory causes for such receivership, involving responsibility and blame, amongst others, also on members of the banking fraternity.

II

Without going into shades of encyclopedic meaning, I would define, for the purpose of this discussion, a financier as a man who has some reco nized relation and res onsibilit toward the lar er monetar affairs

ermitted them tob  eoden T .  ouqto stl daans,rdnd abup  o cil inipp no our ith ent presac lteihelagna d ldhobeo  wo chhi—w  ton dluw drocca p artcciinevsrla ceptance e. The ac cer ingoew sa ermoal ustd zed an tuoirtbic noiang tionpora y cor ns bo ecnatsni eno empCa: nymaf  out ot uf a s wetrohdeid an, wndt ha era eirth lofbrnscience. Now th lop redn oc lacitihe tckhotet os msnd tuoitos din such of trib con ivnd iersmliuaid oirep a , xal fo dorce enf of mentalswht ehtsob  y s oud anrbtuenul rus t gnigwot sdra tangible accompilhsemtn ,fos eh  ot gnitaler set on , c nd assnesibu  fmi,yo neltesuqrest at encepati iroh ,ytni etua inta re ty uofernc ht eemnaagdrni ghe statuing of t githehm  dlb yna the  to  In t law. rihw tahfo dniwl rngdiin tofh us nedes neeso  fhtraint and a weak o dnidebecneeud ea e f rr,pees act the  in ent,ealmoccn  ttaetpm yta  tneyoerevr foy ad fo thgil nepo nt thingchieveme si ena a de tnrerp outhant llrawiy —enoenegew sd er her indus and otowlu davtsirse ,  nlydeeeans alnu liardaor yb druo  t fiates gre l thesea ohsuai lancn he taxrtve olystla fo secruoser  le yivat.lW tiohut it, they simpl eht vni itsep gnliubisc bs autol sunat oh fimsdo ns olliollarf do tonnac y oT .evil  deviro phe tor f cnedfo ec ehifnosul  tch . T es alo  esuciritturoo  f distribr retail fo dna ,tseb meh twsno y k llratunaci h ,hwinytmoumal canci fin the c,liit er he aby      fo    eht bup     ho w ang olesale  sdnuf g ieb yb ros anositanind losietmdnid peirgn cos hu tesrcouesne eht fo denibmal canci fintire  dafowlu inytmoum rthof  o fll sarcifftneiniebus gly the n to suppdn sof reeed duf rof sevlt yreve tiacnsracof  oonrebasndizi,eels arge a l er onumbto f rehsuoh ,seusthor fngmio- saclldes nyidacets. But even the r itnoeparoco-ht epon ce ustant in al ta ytinummoc liancnafie thf  o hch uoesprso eus this purge. For ht hesme taic tiw es upsoasors ro g thertoged th, anorpudng ek n sat r  oerciofp ougrt erofere nanif ehrtaking such traf ninaicre snued ndpen  ie thrsfi casnnoitum s ed ts  inssomees st tanc  drfareyehh mot  t ha timin fghhisah ecna ni ton  ing are cut. I don tom ae notc al , icd ane thryveoor o stti feb s fo ht o  robsriehg publing veste in noc eht tiefrof  nts iofe ncdefirot rhuo dn acer ,udgment,gh bad j al ho kcht rguornegh assthf ouorp eht hto ,cilbuden  itywig inal dro naad geiri f tn of aack h st hightiet reuorhl hganinalciou h, se ot.r oN,wl tea f  he ultimate inves  tbyd teenesprre elohw a sa yrtn cou ther ofpoweni gosbr eh ba ott  mbee adefere orsum ht tpa dlaeptime, anlimited a v re y omer htna at nnaioenl gyer  dnaoffeu tr nopmaterial achieveemtn ,fot eremdn pe erneio a , odrio doirepa tsav fnparnd uled allenertoccn nfotaoi m tab yaniruhw ghe tou ctee edrmdnsurtaitnyrs'i onomic pl and ec ht mialc dna yas alyalicctra patnaecnitscu hlls red d ccurve os ha t ihknni gam numhich every rightedno B .nm I tu od   dstloep are cnd —yhtm naehertat h ar patdeede inucco emo w secnerrnoe av h senbet  ation—anto temptiyleed d titem ssebe ts t i whs h icatpmnoitht det e  not hast it thara,datdntss gieh  aot nas t h  iatth ,sekatsim edam