Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1919-07-25
BANK HEAD GETS FIRED FOR
HIS PLAIN TALKING

AS cndDQ QplOn VI IICC SpCCCl) CllS
Leader hastens to record the latest
case of a free speech victim. This is
the case of a man who lost his job
as the result Of a speech which he
made. He is not a working-class
agitator, and he did not deliver his
remarks from the traditional soap
box. He is Frank A. Vanderlip, for
ten years president of the National
City Bank of New York, the richest
bank in America. The speech for
which he was "fred" was delivered
before the members of the Economic
Club of New York City.
In his dignifed speech before this
dignifed club, Mr.. Vanderlip very
frankly gave his views of world con-
ditions. He described the world torn
by chaos, strife and famine, a world
tottering on the brink Of still worse
disasters. It's a terribly sick world,
he said, a world prostrated economic
ally and delirious socially. 1t was
very pessimistic speech, yet in the
main it was a true speech.
The effect of Mr.. Vanderlip's re-
marks was calculated to shake that
confidence which is so important to
the schemes Of those who control the
worlds financial credit. Mr.. Wander
lip had been making some plain talks
before, setting forth the gravely crit
ical nature of world-conditions follow
ing war; but this speech was the
final and insupportable straw. The
National City Bank asked for Mr..
Vanderlip's resignation. AS the Wall
Street Journal, leading financial or
gan, put it: GLOW could the National
City Company, one Of the great bond
distributing organizations of the
country, except to sell securities if
the world was as sick as Mr. Wander
lip said it was?"
High finance has forcibly rebuked
Mr.. Vanderlip for telling the truth,
for no one can dispute the accuracy
of his diagnosis of a sick world. Pre-
sumably the National City Bank of
! New York does not dispute it; what
this banking institution objects to is
Mr.. Vanderlip's departure from the
customary fnesse of finance in blurt-
ing out the naked and horrid truth.
What Mr.. Vanderlip should have said
is that everything is all right with
the world, and thus the sale of secu-
rites would have been smoothly facil-
itated.
Mr.. Vanderlip once called America
a nation of economic illiterates." If
by that is meant that the majority of
the people do not comprehend, save
in the vaguest sort of way, the work
ings of the system under which they
struggle from day to day, the phrase
is an apt one. Many capitalists are
economic illiterates," whose percep-
tion does not go beyond their own
immediate field of exploitation. Abili-
ty to sell bonds, for instance, does not
imply a profound knowledge Of eco
nomic use and effect.
The men who control the financial
activities Of the National City Bank
are perhaps not so soundly informed
or so shrewdly observant as Mr.. Van
derlip. They may refuse to believe
that the world is really sick or con-
sole themselves, at the worst, with
the thought that it is but mild anC
passing illness. Hence Mr.. Wander
lips unfinching analysis is an affront
to them. Maybe he has shaken then
own confidence a little as well as that
of the public. He has talked the pos.
sibility of revolution quite calmly
He has declared that great changes
are setting in and that the masters
of the world must prepare to meet
their creator, Labor, face to face anC
bear meekly the judgment that comes
from his stern lips. That was quite
enough. And his Economic Clut
speech was more than enough. Now
with Mr.. Vanderlip out of the Ma
tional City Bank, the world is wei
enough and the security-selling gen
tlemen, free from uneasy counsels
may return to their sandpiles anC
there curl themselves in serene con
] tent.