Intermountain Jewish news., 1925-12-10
BY II. RENDELL

vast natural resources or a throbblng
commercial life II requires more than
big bankers and great captains Of In
dustry to make a nation truly rich and
mighty Many lands may boast OF great
leaders OF finance. and imposing tnan-
olal institutions, and yet these coun-
tries do not take rank among the great
powers OF the earth.
Only that country can be called
world power, In which the broad
classes OF the people, the rank and file
OF lts cItzenry are economically well
secured and fortified.
This problem Of effecting the eco
homie security OF the masses has of
course absorbed the attention of lead
Ing world thinkers from the earliest
times, and the suggested solutions take
the form Of various theories. Whole
philosophers and sociologies have been
erected about the scafIoldng OF this
problem.
But 1t is problem that has engaged
and social reformers, but plain. unprc
tending. common sensed men of the
world have sought solution TO this
problem. One of such men is the Jew.
ish banker and flnancler, Simon Will
liam Strnus. the head OF the well
known banking firm OF s. W. Straus
4 Company.
As is generally known, the Straus
firm specializes in financing huge real
estate operations in New York and
other parts OF the country. As is com
monty known, too. it is the great ride
Of this business house, that no single
one of its patrons has ever lost n cent
through investments with them, despite
the fact that the company has been in
existence for forty-three years and has
an immense clientele.
That is indeed record of which the
officials Of the company may well take
pride in. and for an answer to the
was achieved, we must study the per,
sOnality of the genius of the business,
Americas teacher of thrift, s. w.
Straus.
To trace the beginnings OF this rec
ord. we must go back to q little. mod
est banking house in Chicago, presided
over by the father Of s. W. Straus.
The founder of this bank was Frederick
Straus There was one idea that
Frederick Straus always carried with
him. one idea which motivated his work,
which became n veritable philosophy
of life with him, and that idea Was
Thrift.
Thrift-thrift-an more thrift
that idea Frederick Straus impressed
on his son, s. w, and the son, in turn,
impressed on the American people.
| The new idea Of thrift-of living
| within ones income-of making proyi
sion for the future-that, of course, IS
not anything distinctly new In some
cases, indeed, the idea is carried to
absurd and almost lunatic extremes.
How rcplete history is with the anec-
dotes and stories of misers, who have
boarded their money to a point where
they denied themselves the bare neces-
sites of life. They killed themselves,
literally speaking, just for the joy of
seeing their gold accumulate. Such
penuriousness-such money love is of
course a curse-a curse to the indiyid
ual who accumulates it, and to society
as well.
And yet 1t is no more absurd than
the prOdgal. spendthrift manner in
which some people dispose of their
money. Indeed, it is probably true that
both of these extremes-the miser and
the spendthrift, are twin products of
the same cause-ignorance. Neither
knows how to use his money so as to
bring the best results to himself and
to society.
s. W. Straus early sensed this truth
this gospel OF thrift, which his
father had engraved on the sons mind.
1t became the leit-motif of the younger
Strauss life But Sraus, along with
his recognition of the thrift principle,
saw also another thing.
This other principle that Straus
sensed was this-that thrift never
could affect the salvation within its
, power unless it was universalized. or
at any rate, unless large masses took
up with the idea. Practiced in large
scale, Straus saw the significance of
thrift in the social-economic life Of
country.
When the people as whole became
thrifty, the economic life of the people
are secured, and when there is eco
nomic security, there is stability, peace,
and prosperity.
+ But TO teach thrift, Straus saw, that
it was necessary not only to call the