The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1918-12-06
SEES DANGER IN
j. s. INFLUENCE
IN INDUSTRIES
Warburg Warns Business
Men to See That National
1dealism Does Not Become
National Decline.

ATLANTIC, CITY, N, j., Dec. g.
Government responsibility and influ-
ence In industry, the growth OF which
has been accelerated and accumulated
by the war, win tend to elevate bust
nese but will at the same time pre-
sent the danger, unless carefully safe
guarded in both form and scope, of
corrlpting and debauching the govern
ment y elf said Paul NJ. Warburg
~Nvernor of the federal
reserve board. speaking today at the
rv~D-.- ~ 1lon congress being held
here under the initiative of the Cham
Der of Commerce of the United States
1T is this peril" said Mr.. War
burg, that we are facing at the mo-
ment of our proudest triumphs, and 1t
must be our serious concern that q
national effort born in idealism should
not bear the seeds of ultimate national
decline. The reconstruction period
places us face to face with this prob
lem and ii is during this period that
thoughts will have to be developed
leading to a solution entirely fair to
the people. In the case of the rail-
roads, 1t Is not merely question be-
tween security holders and shippers;
1t Is a question which affects on the
one hand the very root of integrity and
safety of our future life, on the other
the very foundation of our economic
development. The next year or two
must bring forth legislation which
ought to be for the railroads what the
federal reserve act has been for the
banks"
Need for Bankers.
Speaking primarily to the bankers
attending the conference. Mr.. Warburg
said. 1T is now the privilege Of our
bankers and financiers to make them
selves generals in the art of peace and
to call out as volunteers the best tai
ent for the constructive pursuits of
commerce and trade in all parts of the
world"
E2-
There is in this call no challenge
10 England" he continued. "She will
| am certain retain her logical and
traditional position of world center
Of commerce and finance. If l read
Alright the signs of the times, England
and the u. S. soon to be Joined by
France, allies of the past, will be part
ners rather than competitors in the
future-partners not of close cor
poratiOn to the exclusion of others
1t will be partnership wide open for
any respectable new associate wish
Ing to enter"
Germany's place as an international
banker, Mr.. Warburg asserted, will
have to be considered. however, "as
vacated for some time to some"
"Real Wages" to Stand.
Many OF the countries of the world,
especially those most affected by the
war. he said. will have difficulty in
maintaining parity Of exchange with
the United States. AS these nations
will have only small quantities of
gods which the United States will
need and as they will have only small
quantities OF gold to spare, to enable
them to buy American goods, 1t will
be necessary for American bankers
and business men to buy the individ-
ual and collective obligations Of their
nationals or their industrial enter
prises or such securities or assets of
other countries as they control. To
assimilate these securities, Mr.. War
burg urged the organization Of invest
ment thrusts which would invest their
funds in foreign securities and against
their assets issue stocks and bonds
for sale in the home market.
Conversion Of the war finance cor
poration'into peace finance corpora
ton wiuld be of immense benefit in
this respect, he. said.
The country NAV expect to see with
the coming of peace, Mr.. Warburg
said, the beginning OF a gradual con-
tractiou of note issues and defation Of
prices and wages. The drop in wages,
he said, will be accomplished by a de-
crease in prices so that the purchas-
ing power of wages or real wages"
may not be changed.