Intermountain Jewish news., 1925-12-10
S. w. S1aus, Philanthropist
and Teacher of Thrift

Thanks TO his cfforts-to his brond.
casting, steadily. year after year
throughout the natlon--thls gospel Of
thrift-nearly million dollars was
spent by him In this natlon.w wide edu-
catlonal moyement-the American So
cleety for thrift was established 1t
Ia the parent society of all local organ
| lznllons for profit sharing" and thrift
societies. And thanks to his untiring
efforts, the American Society for Thrift
Induced the American Educational As
sociation TO include Il course In sysfe
matte thrift instruction In the curri.
culum Of the public schools
Straus also wrote book. Recon
Struction Through Thrift" which has
been highly praised by economists
This volume recounts the history of
The thrift movement, and explains Its
sociological potentialItles. MIR. Strans
was Americas official representative at
the International Thrift Congress, held
in San Francisco In 1918.
In all OF these enterprises. Straus
was. of course, backed by leading econ
omiStS Of the country. but Straus was
always the leader-the initiator and
backbone of the moyement-the man
who transformed thrift from copy
book maxim TO n reality in our social
life.
In his own business-in the banking
firm of which he is president. Mr.
Strnus introduced the same principle
He was the first to introduce the
method of mortgage bonds" and the
provision of sinking funds on bonds.
This is no place to analyze in detail
this finance system, but broadly, it may
he stated, that the old custom of giving
the first mortgage on some big sky
scrapcr to some wealthy individual
was displaced by taking these first
mortgages and dividing them up in
bonds of small denomination. and let
the people, who had saved little, in
vest in them.
BY this means, the person of small
savings was provided with an invest
ment of profit. thoroughly secured.
Various additional provisions have
been secured TO make these bonds 100
per cent safe. One of these provides
for the gradual retirment of the bonds,
so that depreciation in the value of the
building, that might occur, would be
met by lessenlng of the amount Of
bonds needing redemption.
In brief, it might be stated, that the
principle of making the bonds abso-
lutcly secure, has been the bedrock of
the Straus idea. He realized that
nothing would so impair the thrift
movement, as n black eye that might
he received by losses incurred by any
Of the small investors.
S. w. Straus was born in a small
town of Indiana shortly after the Civil
War In 1866. His father was an i'm
migrant from Germany. AT first his
father was engaged in the ordinary
lines of business, in which the German
Jewish immigrants generally fell into.
When he had accumulated his first five
hundred dollars, however, Frederick
Straus hung out his shingle as bank
er OF course, his banking was of a
very modest type. In 1882, Mr.. Straus,
senior, decided to embark into larger
fields. He established himself in Chi
cago and founded the banking firm of
which S. w. Straus is today the presi-
dent, and whose principal offices are
now located in New York.
S. W. Straus became associated with
his father in the management of the
banking firm when he was only is
years old, and he has continued in that
business since.
The younger Straus is responsible for
the greater growth of the business.
His efforts to teach the American pub
lie thrift, naturally reacted also to the
benefits of his own institution, for his
name has become almost a synonym for
thrift in the eyes of the American
people,
Mr.. Straus is also active in many
other phases of the Jewish communal
life of America. At the present time,
for instance, he is functioning very
busily in the S15,OOOOOO campaign for
Jewish colonization in Russia The
Chicago headquarters of the United
Jewish Drive are in the S. w. Straus
Building. occupying three floors, free,
of course. Mr.. Straus was also chair
man of the real estate group in the
New York Federation drive, which sue,
ceedcd in raising more money than any
other group, and was himself one of the
largest contributors in the campaign
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