New-York tribune., 1918-09-28
o. H. Kahn Warns
Against Spread
OF Paternalisrn
Banker Sees Danger in
bureaucratic Shackles"
on the Nation

CHICAGO. Sept. 21.-A warning
against the spread Of bureaucratic pa
ternalism was sounded day by Otto
II. Kahn. of the banking house of
Kuhn. Loeb e. Co, speaking before the
annual convention of the American
Bankers Association.
"The picture of bureaucratic pater-
nalism fastening its shackles upon a
nation which went to war to preserve
liberty is not fanciful one" declared
Mr.. Kahn. "Through the accident of
war paternalism at present rules su-
premc. That is inevitable in war time.
The one and supreme task before the
nation is to win the war. No personal
or business consideration must be per-
lnitted to stand in the way of the ncces-
for one moment hesitate to submit to
them.
I'VE are not crticising or complain
ing of the present facts; we are think
ing Of the future. Oficialdom is in
possession. 1t is intrenchcd in power
beyond what it dared to hope for in
its fondest dreams. And power is
sweet. Officialdom and those who feed
at its table will not easily give it up.
Fears Forfeiture
1T would be a grievous affliction if,
under the emotional stress and tur-
MOL produced by war, our people were
to tolerate doctrines to take a footing
on our soil which their sober wisdom
heretofore has scornfully rejected as
will O the wisps and as un-Amcrican.
1t would be bitter irony of fate if.
while democracy triumphed on the
bloody fields Of war over that arch rep
resentative of the paternalstic system
and spirit, Germany, our own govern
mental and social conceptions and prac
tlces were to be infected with the
poison of paternalism and bureau
cracy.'
The menace of bureaucratism and
socialstic paternalism, said Mr.. Kahn.
with thcir insidious effect upon the
fibre and marrow of the race, already
confronts the country. ''In our own
case" he said, "thc soil for the growth
OF the noXious weeds which spring
from the seed Of bureaucracy is par
tlcularly fertile for variety of rca-
sons. One of them consists in the fact
that our capital city is not as are the
other principal capitals of the world,
great commercial city, but is located
from the great and fast-howing cur
rents of commerce and industry and
their attendant activities, and out Of
contact with the doors of things. The
result is that Washington is heavy
with the atmosphere of politics and
pervaded, as no other capital l know.
with the spirit and the very flavor of
things governmental.
I'VE are all more or less creatures
of our surroundings, and instances will
occur to most of you of the changes
which the atmosphere of washington
has wrought upon men whose mental
processes and tendencies of thought
and action we thought we knew thor
oughly we'll. and whom we believed
proof against such atmospheric infu-
ences.
Discusses Rail Outlook
Mr.. Kahn devoted much Of his adj
dress to a discussion of the American
railroad situation and the effects Of
government regulation and control. The
history of the roads in the last ten
years, he said, shows the effect of
paternalistic control He expressed
the opinion that the railroads under
private control were operated efficient
!y and successfully, but that the great
Industry began to fall away because
II was hampered, confined. harassed
by multifarious, minute. narrow and
sometimes fatty contradictory reeula-
tions and restrictions, state and Fed
cral. Initiative on the part of those
in charge became chilled. the free flow
Of investment capital was halted. cr,a-
tive ability was stopped. growth was
stif1ed, credit was crippled at is not
the railroads that have broken down.
declared Mr.. Kahn, "but it is our rail-
road legislation and commiss ions which
have broken down.
In case the railroads are returned to
private management, Mr. Kahn said
that the REIMBURSEMENT of certain
features of our existing legislation. the
addition Of others, q more clearly de-