Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-11
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| lOontlnueo from FlrSt rage
his imperturbability-a he has often
been tried.
| His appearance of a powerful and
aggressive personality is distinctly mod
flied as soon as he begins to speak. You
expect deep tones. a slow, deliberate
utterance. But what you hear is a thin,
high-pitched voice, coming oddly from
such man, and, on most occasions,
a rapid delivery.
| Has the London Accent
The accent has puzzled Americans
One. sitting alongside me at a dinner
at which Stamp was speaking, found II
difficult to follow him and asked. in a
whisper, II he we're Welsh I enlight-
ened him. 1t was the voice Of a Lon
doner born and bred-the true London
accent. One may observe in parenthe-
sis that oxford, which has a celebrated
accent of its own, does not care so
much for the London accent.
! He is no orator. He makes occasional
addresses, but no one can say that they
are popular. He lacks a magnetic per-
sonality. He has habit Of packing his
sentences full of meat. so that the
average mortal continually wants to
arrest him, to say. Stop a bit, loosen
up that statement. explain how. why
He puts in one surcharged paragraph
what a popular eXpositioner would take
volume to deal with
He is, practically. never wrong. AS
much cannot be said for some econo-
mists But Stamp is one of the few
who follow politics. know politicians
and include the political factor in their
calculations. He never denounces. He
has no prejudices Communism or cap
italism-he will discuss either calmly,
pointing out reasonably the advantages
and disadvantages of each as a system
designed to preserve mans conquests IN
all realms to date and to advance
thence to higher levels.
Scores Monetary Fluctuations.
Ask him about the pound sterling and
he will not reply in patriotic accents.
He detaches the whole proposition from
| it's national base and makes it part OF
world problem and an integral link In
the chain which binds modern civlliZa-
ticn together. THE greatest influence
tending to disintegrate society Is the
lack of fixed standard OF value. the
fluctuations of money values are a real
| peril to society" This is the angle from
which he approaches the problem.
One of his most important ideas Is
| that the need of the hour Is not Tor
new scientific discoveries, but Tor
greater, more widely spread knowledge
of economics. Unless the knowledge OF
economics is extended and popularized
he is convinced that our economic So
ciety will slip out Of control and smash
Economics came to his own attention
because it was presented to him in an
examination he had entered. He dis
covered that he had natural craving
for this subject and so he went on
| with it,
If he had remained in the state
service his general use would have been
considerably restricted, but he had at
tracted the attention of the world OF
big business during the war by re-
markable feat which displayed his pro-
found knowledge and understanding OF
| the workings of industry and the fac
tors which influence business.
Devised Excess Profits Tax.
He devised the excess profits duty
scheme. whereby profits beyond GER
tain figure made by business in war
time were appropriated by the state.
Having devised the scheme, he con-
trolled and operated it. Nor was he
lenient with the big corporations, for
it is one of his aXions as tax expert
that while heavy taxation is a great
drag on production by individuals and
on savings by individuals, 1t is not much
of a drag on production by companies
or collective savings by companies.
It was the directors of Nobel Indus
tries. the big explosives concern, who
priced him out of the state service.
They invited him to become their chief.
He accepted and left Bureaucracy for
private enterprise. This was In 1919,
when he was 40.
It was a new epoch in big business.
Large-scale denominations were under
way. The bankers knew that reorgan1-
cation was necessary, but were at sea
about the ways. means and men. The
Bank of England got itself an economic
adviser from America. Big business ex-
ecutives had to rely more and more on
pale professors Of economics and
weakened ,wessels of research. Even
diplomats found themselves adrift in
the new world and had to rope in ac-
countants and like specialists to advise
them in negotiations. Lloyd George
sent as Ambassador to Berlin the astute
self-made fnanciexs Lord nAhernnn.