The Washington herald., 1915-12-11
HIST0RY DlJnDERS
Swhsa AIsslses.ey- Va. sspss;isr %
VeaIlh.
~ DH. .. .. nDWA0nSJ

~ m. =. =. HDWAnDsJ
"A good deal Of pssfsetly legitimate
fun was caused ~ the publication Of
u humorous poem. satd to have been
Written b. . Harvard graduate. which
eescribed the intellectual and social
arfstocracy which was for many years
chaxacteristtc Of Boston. I recall two
Of the line, although the whole poem
was very widely printed, ! think. at
about the tims Of the. Harvard COM
msncsment Of last year. II recall
correctly the two lines they were
these: The Cabots speak only to the
Lowells. and the Lowcils speak only
In this way Asa A. Potter. who
was at one time president OF one OF
the large banks Of Boston and was,
in that relation. brought into asso-
ciation with some who were Of the
aristocracy Of Boston. began an anec-
dote which was Of his own experience,
Illustrating. As he said. the extent Of
the influence which the Boston aris-
tocracy Of an earlier day exerted.
There was established in Boston
some years before our nrst national
banking system was adopted q bank
named the Mutual Redemption Bank
pose of redeeming In coin the bank
notes Of the New England States. II
was very successful Nobody lost a
dollar by reason of the failure of any
State bank in New England. for these
banks kept constantly on hand with
the Mutual Redemption Bank a suffi-
cient amount Of specie to redeem their
notes which came In from day to day
from all parts of New England.
This bank was sort OF aristocrat
among banks. vacancy occurred in
the presidency and Henry A. whitney
was asked to accept the office. Mr..
whitney was a man of unspotted in
tegrity, of excellent business capacity,
but he was saturated with the atmos-
phere which came to be known as
that of the Boston aristocracy. He
came from Salem. which was the home
Of the Peabodys. with whom he was
of kin and who were Of the very So
cial elect.
II met Mr.. whitney two or three
days after the announcement was
made that he had accepted the presi-
dency of the Mutual Redemption
Bank. / cordially congratulated him
and said in all sincerity that the bank
ers and business men of Boston were
to be congratulated because he had
accepted this post.
Mr.. whitney told me that while
he had never asked a business favor
of any one. nevertheless n favor un-
solicited by him had been granted
without which he would not have
accepted the presidency Of the bank
was curious TO know what that
favor was and he said:
II found that before I could qualify
as president of the bank I would have
to give a bond of 100000. i did not
feel that / would be justified in ac-
cepting the presidency because the
payment of the fee for that bond in
volved q considerable sum of money.
But I was told that the officers OF
the bonding company did not intend
to exact any fee from me. ] was a
little surprised at this, and / asked
the reason why. Then I was told that
Il would be to the advantage and
credit of the bonding company IL II
were known that a man Of my family
associations had taken out a bond and
that the advantage would far more
than offset the loss OF the fee for the
bond. felt honored by this distinc-
ton and recognition. and I then ac-
cepted the presidency Of the bank.
Copyright lH5, b. Z. J. Edvarh All nghu -
seredl