Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-29


Should an army general turn tail
md run whenever he fears a battle
NAV possibly go against him, or
should he fight until the last hope is
gone?
II YOU are in business and your o.
stion becomes shaky, should you lie
down without struggle and let your
creditors shift for themselves?
or course not. Emphatically NO in
al three cases.
Should bankers identified with a
railroad desert 1t when it becomes
weak or stand by it and strain every
nerve to pull it through?
The Interstate Commerce Commits
son has made the amazing sugges-
ZION that they should! Incredible.
Almost: but listen to this from the
commissions report on the ST Louis
and San Francisco Railroad receiver
ship:
''Speyer & Co. should hare been
aUare of the poUerty of the Frisco
md of its difficulties in obtaining
fuHdS"
Should have been AWARE" Great
scott, they WERE aware. So was
every American adult knowing the
rudiments of finance and business. So
was every French banker who put out
Frisco bonds-at handsome profit.
rule that no banker must supply
funds to any but strong, hourishirg
I1ilroads? Apparently THAT code
Of banking ethics would rlease it.
Suppose the Interstate Commerce
commission had had the power it now
seeks of vising all proposed issues of
railroad securities and thereby hold
ing in the hollow of its hands the
solvency and bankruptcy of all the
countrys railroads, would 1t have for
oidden the late Edward H. Hartman
10 save" the Erie after j, P. Morgan
& Co. had decided to let the road be-
come a CROKER? Hartman was
aware Of the poverty Of the Erie
He surely was.
Would the Commission have for
60. to extend succor more than once,
to Edward P. Huntington when Re
was striving to keep the Southern
Pacific on it's feet? Speyer & Co
Knew full we'll that the road was
poverty stricken. But their action
saved the situation.
should Kuhn, Loeb & Co. have been
iurbidden to supply sinews to Hat-
riman to build UP the Union Paclic
because it was for long poor as a
church mouse? Certainly" says the
Commission.
Were every banker IN the United
States and every interested banker IN
Europe to Immediately act upon the
principle favored by the Commission
What melee there would be.
We would have worse deluge OF
railroad. industrial, mining and mer-
camille failures than ever encountered
even at the height of the worst panic
in a generation.
For, take it from me, there are
cutie a few enterprises not exactly
rs strong as Gibraltar.
No more asinine statement was
ever made i'll a governmental report
than the sentence quoted near the
beginning of this article. The COM
mission was not asked by the senate
for expression of opinion on the
Frisco affair, but this did not deter
The commission, always anxious TO
besmirch wall street bankers and
everybody associated with railroads
from offering gratuitously more than
one very emphatic opinion.
The serious question raised by the
commisison's extraordinary ATTITUDE
) this:
Should bankers desert properties
that become peak?
Well should they?
Or should they put their shoulders
10 the wheel and seek by might anc
main to avert disaster, not quitting
until the last chance of saving
property has gone?
am we'll aware that the Frisco
was honeycombed with inside jug
slery. | was the first TO show up the
Ottenness of the Yoakum regime ana
10 call upon the Interstate Commerce
Commission and the Government TO
act. The Hearst newspapers devoted
columns to the subject before other
newspapers woke up TO the facts. l
publicly declared that Speyer d GO,
could not afford not to have FUN
'nvestigation made and the Whoie
ruth laid before the people, as the
circumstances of the last piece OF
financing tended to cast odium upon
ZEN.
The facts have since come out, ana
not one crumb of evidence has been
adduced rejecting upon the honesty
or the honor of Speyer g. Co, Wheth-
"r they should have let the Frisco go
broke before they We're forced TO 40
80 is matter for individual opinion
Bankers having regard for their rep
ntation don't usually let one OF thelr
properties collapse until actuaHy
obliged to. As matter OF fact, hau
he Chicago and Eastern Illinois SAFE
10 the ST. Paul been contaminated as
Intended. the Frisco would not nave
gone under Had monetary conul,
lions throughout the world improved
instead of having grown worse me
orner would probably nave peeh
turned.