Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-04
MEN AND MONEY
BY NJ. S. Rukeyser.
Copyright, 1877

| tCopyrlgnt, l92fl
| AS the country enters the new year
/ the trend is even more than in the
| past toward big business units in the
| United States.
| From the standpoint of personal ca
reers, the opportunities to set up III
| business on Ones own may be dlmln-
! shing, but the demand for executives
who can earn far more than most
small business men is at a new peak
This is the era of the hired man
There are coming to be more. big JOBS
than big men. More than l.lo0 cofpo-
rations are important enough to have
their securities listed on the New York
Stock Exchange alone. Thousands OF
others are listed in outof town mar
kets or are traded in over the counter.
The expansion of high sounding cor
porate titles goes endleSSly on. Ac-
cording to legend, one Wall Street
trust company has so many vice presl
dents that they get acquainted only
when they meet by chance on golf
courses Sometimes the titles and
honors are used to reconcile ambitious
men to comparatively low salaries.
But the jobs paying upward of $4,000
Il year are more numerous than be-
fore. The more progressive corpora
tons are in addition giving leading
executives a share in profits or an OPP
portunity to buy stock on favorable
terms.
Status of Corporations.
The new status of American corpo-
rationS is so unprecedented that the
past offers little guidance. Business
is developing a new and better type Of
leadership. but only the press agents
purport to believe that every senior
officer of every corporation is a Napo-
leon of trade and finance. The chief
evil of the undue boosting of corporate
presidents by their own satellites is
that they come to accept these esti-
mates as accurate.
| sometimes think that the most
useful friend that Wall Street has is
William Il. Ripley, professor of eco
nomics at Harvard University. AT
first blush this statement will seem
surprising, as for more than a year
DR.. Ripley, in articles and speeches, |
has forcefully attacked certain abuses
which have crept into recent practices. |
But, in my opinion. Wall Street, like |
other places, needs criticism-and |
needs it continuously.
When the late Theodore Roosevelt |
was President, and undertaking was |
in fashion, Wall Street came in for |
too much criticism Attacks on Wall |
Street went to such an extreme that |
it began to shake public confidence |
and perhaps to give business and |
financial leaders a sense Of inferiority |
Unjust criticism contributed the psy
Geological background to the panic of |
1907.
Swung Opposite Way.
Now the pendulum has swung far |
in the opposite direction. There is |
on the part of the public a keener |
appreciation of the economics of bust |
ness enterprise than at any time in |
the past. Success is no longer a pop |
ular cause of demagogic attack. |
Trust busting" belongs to the past |
The multitudes, recognizing the value |
of large and efficiently managed bust |
ness units, are in increasing numbers |
buying securities of large railroad, |
public utility and industrial corpora |
tons. The new economic sophistica- |
ton is an element of strength in the |
situation. The political risk in in |
ves.ments has been conspicuously re- |
duced.
But American captains of industry |
have not yet reached the plane of |
perfection where they are above criti |
cism. Ignorant attacks, in legislative |
bodies or out, are almost wholly evil |
and unnecessarily disturbing. But |
we'll informed constructive criticism |
of the Ripley type is necessary and |
desirable. The Harvard sage's expose |
of the abuses of non-voting stock, for |
example, quickly checked the move |
ment and brought correctiVes.
Clarifying Publicity.
Corporate and bank executives have |
come to look upon the printed word as |
so much publicity to glorify them.
In my opinion, Independent critical !
Journalism is q powerful weapon |
which should be used more widely to |
check wrong tendencies and to espouse |
the broader public viewpoint. 1t should |
be the chief safeguard of the small in |
weston. Rabbit should not be above |
criticism.
The difficulty is that you can be |
bullish and wrong and get away with |
it, but even if you are bearish and |
right you are perpetually challenged |
TO, defend your position. No writer |
ever got into a libel suit for bestowing |
excessive praise on a mountebank !
seated in place of power far beyond |
his capacities.
Modesty is not yet dead in Wall |
Street. Edwin Blumenthal, a shy |
young blond with boyish blue eyes, |
who is the youngest specialist among |
the members of the New York Stock |
Exchange, has for six years lodged |
news photographers and writer's of |
success stories. Incidentally, Mr.. |
who acquired his seat in !
lowest price quoted since the war, and !
1f oil