The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-03-11
BERNARD BARUCH
 AND HIS NEW TASK
By HOLLAND


 New York, March 0.-(special) )-Bern- ard M. Baruch, who has been appointed by the President chairman Of the war industry board. was not especially iden- ufied with industries during his career in New York city He did become in- tefested at one time or another in cer- tain mining propositions. Some of them proved to be successful ventures, others wore appointments. Aside from his incursion into the field of mining in- dustries. MT. Baruch was exclusively oc- lcupied as an operator in the New York Stock exchange, and in the securities market.
 He was early recognized as a man who possesses an almost uncanny capacity for forecasting market prices and he never hesitated to base operations some Of them very large, upon what seemed 10 be i1tuitive judgment upon the course of the securities market. Occasionally lle made it clear that he had unusual 1 capacity for collecting and mobilizing so to speak, detials, and it was in part upon information thus gained that his irtuitive Judgment respecting the future of the stocl, malket was based.
 The great responsibility which the President has rlaced upon him, involving complete authority to drect production in every mil and factory in the United States, is something entirely apart from any experience he gained except perhaps indirectly, while forcing his way to the front where he was in line with some of the most successful operators really spectators, in tlfe securities market. | MT. Baduch was never known to con- duct or even to plan a large, far-reachng icampsign. Each operation in which he ienga@ed was distinct from every other to which lie turned his attention and was. so to speak, for a single day. For that reason ho was sometimes bull on the market and at other times a bear. He rarely erred in his judgment or if he dId, no one knew it but himself. His intutive grasp and forecast of condi- tions that were to be speedily established was revealed at the time of the investi- gatioi which was caused by the report that certain important official informa- ton had prematurely leaked out from Washington. It was prior knowledge ot Approaching publication of an important statement which was alleged to have been obtained by MT Baruch whereby he was enabled to operate instantly and
 
 profit of over s400000. But 1t was demon strated upon investigation that Mir. Earuch had no prior knowledge. He did no more than put two and two together, as the expression is, and by that process reached the conclusion that the market was to be strongly and very favorably affected. He acted upon that judgment and within a few hours found himself richer by nearly half a million. The transaction was a single incident with him.
 A GREAT CAMPAIGN
 As the dictator over United States in- oustries of all kinds and in possession of drastic power, Mir Baruch will be compelled to demonstrate that he has other capacities than those which made him successful operator in the securi- ties market He must to some extent institute nationwide industrial cam : paign and so far as anyone knows he has never done anything like this in his securities market operations.
 There may be appropriate comparison between MT. Barueh as an operator and the late James R. Keene or Jay Gould. Mir keene was without a peer in his time o. at any earlier time as the or ganizer and executor of very great pro- motion campaigns. nationwide, almost worldwide, in their scope. His cam paign for the promotion of the market ing of the common stock of the United States Steel corporation has now become one Of the great traditions in the hs- tory of the financial district.
 MT. Keere planned sthat campaign as a great general works out the strategy and perfects the plans by which import ant, even vital military movements, are to be undertaken.
 So also Jay Gould possessed a capacity which almost matched that of MT. Keene, for the organization and execution of great campaigns, the progress of which involved weeks or months. Gould's cam paign for the promotion of his plans with respect to the Union Pacific rail- way stand second only the campaign conceived, and worked out to a com plete success by James R. Keene where by the stupendous, then unprecedented, issue of the stock of corporation might be absorbed upon satisfactory terms to the co-operator and to the purchasers of the stock. Both MT. Keene and MT. Gould were also identified with industries. There was one industrial undertaking in which MT. Keene partic- ipated which was entirely apart from any of his speculative endeavors, which turned out to be highly successful. MT. Gould, destructive leader as he was at one time deemed to be, nevertheless was also a constructive leader as the unification of certain telegraph systems and the establishment of the Missouri Pacific railway system demonstrates
 AN INDUSTRIAL LEADER
 If MT. Baruch is successful as a dicta- tor over United States industry and it is the general impression that he will bel then he will be named hereafter as one of the great industrial leaders of the United States. His powers fully equal his responsibilities. His mind is of dy- mamie quality and also of that character which is sometimes colloquially spoken of as a "hair-trigger mind" He will have labundant opportunity to call upon abili- ties of this kind for some of the ques- tions which he must decide will abide no delay,
 The choice by President Wilson for this hitherto unexampled post compares from one point of view with the selec' ticn of Mr. Stettinius as the master buyer fer the United States. Both are men of extraordinary business capacity and the government has now turned to men of this quality in order to secure the most competent service. Both are to have extraordinary powers not only of executive action but of discretion. One is to be the greatest personal purchas- ng force 10 be found anywhere in the world having authority to expend bil- lions. The other is to be the greatest personal and explosive force over the industries of the entire country. Both