THE RIDDLE OF THE JEW’S SUCCESS : VIII – The Stock-Exchange

The Riddle of the Jew’s Success

Chapter VIII

 

F. RODERICH-STOLTHEIM

 

THE RIDDLE

OF

THE JEW’S SUCCESS

Translated from the German by Capel Pownall

HAMMER-VERLAG / LEIPZIG

1927

 

 

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From Metapedia

[http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Fritsch]

 

Theodor Emil Fritsch (October 28, 1852 near Leipzig – September 8, 1933) was a German antijudaist whose views did much to influence popular opposition to Jewish supremacism in Germany during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

 

A believer in the absolute superiority of the Aryan race, Fritsch was upset by the changes brought on by rapid industrialization and urbanization, and called for a return to the traditional peasant values and customs of the distant past, which he believed exemplified the essence of the Volk.

 

In 1883 he founded the Hammer Publishing House.

 

One of Fritsch’s major goals was to unite all Jew-resister political parties under a single banner; he wished for opposition to Jewish supremacism to permeate the agenda of every German social and political organization. This effort proved largely to be a failure, as by 1890 there were over 190 various patriotic parties in Germany. He also had a powerful rival for the leadership of the patriots in Otto Böckel, with whom he had a strong personal rivalry.

 

In 1893, Fritsch published his most famous work, The Handbook of the Jewish Question also known as the Anti-Semitic Catechism which criticed the Jews and called upon Germans to refrain from intermingling with them. Vastly popular, the book was read by millions and was in its 49th edition by 1944 (330,000 copies). The ideas espoused by the work greatly influenced Hitler and his party during their rise to power after World War I. Fritsch also founded a journal – the Hammer (in 1902) and this became the basis of a movement, the Reichshammerbund, in 1912.

 

His better known book, The Riddle of the Jew’s Success was published in English in 1927 under the pseudonym F. Roderich-Stoltheim, and dealt with the negative impact that Jewish values and the centralization of the German economy in Jewish hands had on the German people. This book was recently republished by Noontide Press, and was the subject of a media controversy after it was banned by Amazon.com and other online book sellers.

 

Fritsch held the publication rights to the German edition of Henry Ford’s work The International Jew.

 

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Contents.

[Note: Clicking on a Chapter heading will take you to that post]

Chapter …………………………………………………………..……………………………………. Page

 

I Preface ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5

II Jewish Methods in the Economic Life …………………………………………………. 10

III Particular Business Tactics of the Jew ……………………………………………….. 29

IV The International Connection and Secret League of the Hebrews ………… 39

V The Peculiar Morality of Jewdom ………………………………………………………….. 53

VI An Explanation with Sombart …………………………………………………………….. 68

VII Jewish Successes in Modern Times …………………………………………………… 72

VIII The Stock-Exchange …………………………………………………………………………. 84

IX How Sound Business Methods are Forced Out of the Field by the Jews … 98

X Jewish Trade Specialities ……………………………………………………………………… 111

XI Moral Principles in Trade …………………………………………………………………….. 141

XII The Hebrews as Supporters of Capitalism …………………………………………. 154

XIII Business and Religion ……………………………………………………………………… 183

XIV The Race Problem ………………………………………………………………………….. 200

XV Origin of the Jewish Entity ……………………………………………………………….. 220

XVI The Influence of the Jew Upon Womankind …………………………………….. 242

XVII The Jews and the World-War ………………………………………………………….. 277

Concluding Words ………………………………………………………………………… 283

Errata …………………………………………………………………………………………… 290

 

 

 

VIII.

The Stock-Exchange.

 

 

The Jewish World of Trade and Mobilisation achieves its greatest triumph on the Stock-Exchange. The Stock-Exchange might well be — although Sombart does not put forward this claim on behalf of the Jews — in its present day form an invention of the Hebrews in every respect. Originally it was merely the meeting-place for merchants, where they bought and sold their goods according to sample. All trade on the Exchange related originally to “effective” goods, that is to say, to goods, which actually existed, and of which, samples had to be produced. Even today business of this kind is still transacted on the Exchange, but the extent of the trade there has increased considerably. Not only are goods bought and sold there, which are really warehoused somewhere, but also goods, which time alone can produce — yes, goods even, which do not exist and which never will exist. It is justifiable, under certain circumstances, to secure in advance, delivery of goods for a future date, and therefore purchase-contracts on the Exchange, which refer to a future delivery of the goods, are comprehensible.

The manufacturer, who has pledged himself for months in advance to supply certain of his customers with certain wares at regular intervals, is naturally interested in also securing the necessary raw material in advance. He accordingly buys “on term”, that is to say: he enters into contracts today at fixed prices, which contracts shall only become “effective” at a future date or “term.” Trade of this kind has nothing actually objectionable in itself, although it was simply forbidden on the sound mercantile exchanges of the olden times. But, at any rate, this method of doing business opened the path to unlimited speculation. By this means large quantities of goods can be bought and sold, which are never delivered, and which are never intended to be delivered.

[Page 84]

Buyer and seller make a bet, so to speak, as to whether a commodity at some future date will cost more or less than at the present moment. Settlement is effected on the following lines, that one party has to pay out, on the appointed date, the difference between the arranged price, and the price quoted, for the day in question, on the Stock Exchange list.

Thus this “term-trading” becomes simply a business of differences, and does not rank any higher than gambling and betting. This game of “differences” might appear harmless if it were a private affair, and did not exert its influence upon the genuine fluctuation in the prices of goods. For, when business in “differences” is undertaken to a far greater extent than the real business purchases, the basic price, at which the business in “differences” has been concluded, must, of necessity, influence the price of the actual goods. The fixing of the daily price results from the general average of the prices, at which the purchases have been concluded, and, generally speaking, one is not able to say whether the latter represent genuine sales of goods, or merely a gamble in “differences.”

It can also be the case that someone buys himself free from his contract to deliver the actual goods, by paying the price difference. Accordingly there is no hard and fast line between genuine purchases and mere speculations in prices.

The essence of the so-called “speculation” consists in making sham purchases on the Stock Exchange so as to create an artificial influence on the movement of prices; and, apart from the fact that this gambling in “differences” ruins many a person, it is thoroughly repugnant to the sense of sound political economy. Strictly speaking, every purchase, which does not aim at satisfying the requirement of the moment, but has rather the object of utilising the occasion to lay up cheap goods for a future date, is of a speculative nature. It is more usual, however, to understand by speculation on the Stock Exchange, sham purchases and the trade with imaginary values, as opposed to trade in real values.

[Page 85]

The machinations, connected with unsound business on the Exchange, and which first appear on the Produce Markets, assume a more pronounced character on the Stock and Share Market. Here, along with the national loans, it is particularly the railway-stocks and the shares in industrial undertakings, which form an important object of trade. The computation of the value of the share depends, generally speaking, upon the rate of interest paid during recent years, which is not by any means an infallible guide as to what the returns will be in the future. The art of the guiding factors, on the Stock Exchange consists in creating, above all things, a favourable atmosphere.

Reports are inserted in the newspapers in order to cast a more or less favourable light upon an undertaking, and to anticipate a higher or lower dividend as the case may be. The public is thus seduced into buying or selling the paper securities in question. Certainly a preliminary condition to the successful carrying-out of this manoeuvre is that the public press puts itself at the disposal of the powers in question. This is easily managed. Some of the matadors of the Stock Exchange are themselves owners of newspapers, or are connected with the same as secret partners, others again, through the agency of influential banking-firms, procure favourable notices from the press by making considerable payments to the latter in the shape of orders for costly advertisements. By far the largest portion of the public press, in all countries, is actually under the influence of the magnates of the Stock Exchange, and to this extent Sombart is correct when he states that the Jews took a substantial part in the development of the modern Stock Exchange.

But business on the Stock Exchange only yields a sure result when it is transacted by secret collusion, that is to say by gangs or bands. If individual always opposed individual on the Stock Exchange, the formation and quotation of prices would pursue an even and reliable path, and profit and loss would be more or less dependent upon chance. It might then well happen that what was lost one day might be regained on another.

[Page 86]

Matters take a very different course when a secret organisation of certain brokers exists, and when all the partners in the same, who have a mutual understanding, operate simultaneously according to a pre-arranged plan. In a case of this kind, the price is like a ball, which can be tossed about at the pleasure of this organised clique.

Let anyone represent to himself the following position: the number of shares actually on the market are limited. One knows, for instance, the exact number of shares in any undertaking. If now, several of the larger banking firms and stockbrokers are working in conjunction with one another, they can very easily ascertain what number of the shares of any undertaking are held by the public, and what number are in the hands of the operating banks and brokers. The aim and object of the secret confederates — we will make use of a Jewish expression and call them the “Chawrusse” — consist, as one can easily understand, in buying up paper securities at a low price, and in selling the same at a high price. And this business is effected in the simplest way possible. As soon as any particular paper security is held to a very large extent by the public, all that is necessary to do is to arouse suspicion about the same. The view is spread abroad by means of suitable and cleverly-worded press-notices, that the security in question has no prospects, and that only a poor dividend can be expected. At once a number of the holders endeavour to get rid of the shares in question, and the price steadily falls as the shares are offered for sale. The large stock-brokers help in the process by instructing their agents on other stock-exchanges to offer, whatever they hold of the security in question, at declining prices. They do not run any risk by doing this, for nobody wants to buy the discredited shares. Thus, by reason of these carefully planned and continued influences, the price of the paper security in question falls, day by day; and then, and then only, when a heavy fall in the price has set in, does the “Chawrusse” begin, in all secrecy, to carry out their purchases. They buy up the shares, at the greatly depreciated price, and know how to maintain it at this low level until they hold the greater number of the shares in their own hands.

[Page 87]

Then the page is at last turned over. All at once, the “well-informed” financial press announces that the former suspicions, with regard to the prosperity of the undertaking, were without any foundation, and that it promises, on the contrary, to pay an excellent dividend very shortly. Immediately the price of the shares begins to “recover”, to use a stock-exchange expression, and here also assistance is given by the instigation of a zealous but absolutely artificial enquiry for the shares. But, for the time being, the “Chawrusse” withholds all the “material” i.e., the shares. The tension, due to the growing demand and the scanty supply, contributes to a further rise in the price, and it is only when the “Chawrusse” consider that their profit is large enough that they begin to unload their stored-up shares at the enhanced price. If, after the course of several weeks or months, as the case may be, they have relieved themselves of enough of their treasure, they turn the point of the spear in the opposite direction. They suddenly make a forced sale of the remainder of their shares, and arrange that the financial press shall publish articles to correspond; the price gives way, and the old game begins once more. It is instructive to note that, in these transactions, it is invariably the “Chawrusse”, who gain, and the dear Public who are duped.

Some simple-natured people look up with respectful awe to the ingenious heads, who direct our stock-exchange affairs, and who, in spite of all fluctuations on the Bourse, always contrive, with “miraculous certainty,” to secure the advantage.

The former imagine that an almost superhuman capability is requisite to survey the situation on the money-market aright, and to grapple with the circumstances as they alter. Good, trusting folk! If they only knew how it was done they might well say, to paraphrase an old saying:

“One cannot believe what a little understanding is required to rule over the stock exchanges of the world.”

[Page 88]

The indispensable condition for success, however, is combined action: the Chawrusse. He, who ventures into the combat on the Stock-Exchange as a free-lance, must not be surprised if he emerges from the struggle stripped of all his feathers. Success is assured only to organised bands. It is a well-known fact that, in every game, if two or more of the players have a secret understanding with one another, they always gain the advantage, and “let the others in.” They know how to communicate by secret signs, and play into one another’s hands. On this account also, one of the conspirators can attach himself to the losing side, without the least apprehension, for he knows that he will receive his share of the profits eventually from his fellow-conspirators.

This is the secret of the Stock Exchange. And it is only the elect of the people of Israel, who form the conspirators of the “Chawrusse.” The transactions of the Stock-Exchanges, at the present day, are nothing less than swindling; the artificial quotations are made by the “Chawrusse,” supply and demand are artificially created, and all this takes place with the sole object of fleecing the unsuspecting, productive nations by the continual rise and fall of the Stock Exchange quotations, and of adding incessantly to the wealth of Israel.

And this important secret, of which Sombart unfortunately has betrayed nothing to us,* is the secret combined action of the Hebrews, of which we spoke on page 39 and the following pages, and which extends over many other domains as well. This secret hand-in-hand working has always been the chief strength of the Jews, and which has naturally always given them an advantage over all sound, straightforward traders. We are not at all astonished when we read in Sombart:

“Already in the year 1685 the Christian merchants of Frankfort were complaining that the Jews had gained possession of the entire broker- and bill-discounting business;”

and that in the year 1733 the Hamburg merchants lamented that:

“The Jews were entirely masters of the bill-discounting business, and had out-stripped our people.”

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• Anyone, who requires further information on this subject, can find enlightenment in Kolk’s “Das Geheimnis der Börsenkurse” (The secret of Stock Exchange quotations), Leipzig. Herm. Beyer 1893, and also in the Germanicus Pamphlets. See page 34.

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[Page 89]

Let us then grant to the Hebrews the glory which Sombart claims for them; i.e., of being inventors of trading in “Futures” and of being the fathers of speculation (“Jobbing”) on the Stock Exchange. And this questionable practice is introduced by the Hebrews wherever they settle. During the 13th and 14th centuries, when they were present preponderatingly in Northern Italy*, Sombart informs us that stock-jobbing was, at that time, in full swing in Genoa, and that speculation, in the form of “futures” and “differences”, was carried on to a considerable extent at Venice — so much in fact, that in the year 1421, a prohibition had to be issued against trading in bankers’ bills.

The mania for speculation accompanied the Hebrews to Holland as well, where, in the course of the 17th century, the shares of the East India Company furnished the material for an arrant piece of stock-jobbing. It is there where Sombart seeks the source of the modern Stock Exchange speculation.

Here also was issued a proclamation of the States General in the year 1610, forbidding, “the sale of more shares than one actually possessed.” This prohibition was followed by many others, whereby Sombart remarks: “naturally without having the slightest result.” Our author (Sombart) boasts that the Jews invented dealing in shares. A questionable glory indeed, for, in a report from the French ambassador at the Hague to his government in the year 1698, the former expresses himself in an extremely outspoken manner:

“the Jews have control of the entire business in paper securities on the Stock Exchange, and regulate it as they see fit”; and, according to the same report, “the prices of shares fluctuate so incessantly that they give rise to transactions several times in the course of the day, a kind of business, which rather deserves the name of gambling or betting, all the more, as the Jews, who are at the bottom of all this activity, carry out masterstrokes of artifice, by which the people are again and again ‘let in’ and made fools of.”

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• The business of loaning paper securities (Lombardising?) which takes its name from the Lombards, dates from this period.

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[Page 90]

Sombart informs us, with reference to the activity of the Hebrews in England, during the reign of William III. (1689— 1702), that the chief negotiators of the first loan were Jews; they were ready at hand with their advice when the Orangeman began his reign. The rich Hebrew, Medina, was banker to the English Commander-in-chief, Marlborough (1650—1722), and paid the latter a fixed yearly salary of £6,000 (120,000 Marks), for which he acquired the right to receive all the war intelligence direct from head-quarters.

“The victories of the English army brought as much profit to him as they reflected glory on the soldiers of England.” (Sombart page 106) — “All the tricks of raising and depressing prices, false news from the theatre of war, the pretended arrival of couriers, the secret coteries on the Stock Exchange, the entire hidden machinery of Mammon, were well known to the first fathers of the Bourse, and were utilised by them to the utmost extent.”

We learn concerning Mannasseh Lopez, the body-physician of Queen Elisabeth of England, that he made a large fortune by circulating a false report that the Queen was dead, and by buying up the public funds which consequently fell in value.* Nathan Meyer Rothschild of London had reports sent to him in Brussels, by Jewish spies, concerning the issue of the battle of Belle-Alliance, so that he could travel back with the news to London by express post and special ship. On his arrival he circulated a false rumour concerning the result of the battle, which was the immediate cause of a tremendous drop in the prices of English and German paper securities. He bought up the depreciated securities secretly in enormous quantities, and, when 24 hours later, the London Stock Exchange learnt the true issue of the battle, and, at the same time, that Rothschild had made fools of them, he — Rothschild — was many millions richer.

Sombart allows that John Law (1671 — 1721) the author of the notorious fraud in the shares of trading companies, may have been a Hebrew, and that his real name was probably Levi.

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• He ended on the gallows, a fate which he incurred for betraying the English interests to Philip II of Spain. (Drumont: “La France juive.”)

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[Page 91]

Of kindred spirit to these Jewish “statesmen” was the notorious “Demon of Württemberg”: Süss-Oppenheimer (hanged 1734).

The Hebrews also introduced the traffic in shares into Hamburg, in the 18th century, and carried it on to such an outrageous extent, that the Hamburg Council issued a proclamation, in 1720 prohibiting the practice. Today, it is represented as being the narrow view of reactionary circles to speak of business on the Stock Exchange with anything but the most profound respect; but, as Sombart himself confesses, this view of those, who are called today “Provincials” and “Agrarians”, was, in the 18th century, the settled opinion of the sound merchant. During the debate upon John Bernhardt Act in the English Parliament in 1733, the “infamous practice of stockjobbing” was condemned unanimously by all the speakers.

What have not our Hebrews accustomed us to in the meantime!

Sombart has already said (P. 112) of the time in question:

“Public debts were regarded as the shameful side — ‘Partie honteuse’ — of national life. The best men saw, in the rapidly advancing indebtedness, one of the worst evils, which could be inflicted upon the community.”

The extension of the market in shares from 1800 – 1850 is regarded by Sombart as being of equal significance as the expansion of the House of Rothschild:

“The name of Rothschild means more than the firm; it means all Jewdom as far as the Stock Exchange is concerned; for, only with the help of their compatriots could the Rothschilds reach their position of power, which dominates all others, and obtain the entire mastery of the Stock Exchange.”

This is a complete confirmation of the “playing into one another’s hands”, which characterises the Jews, and which we have always insisted upon; this is our “Chawrusse” and its secret; this is organised Jewdom, which has turned the Stock Exchange into a cupping-glass to bleed the nations (compare chapter IV).

Sombart says further:

“If, in this way, the sphere of the money-lender was considerably extended, the Rothschilds also took good care to adopt further measures for squeezing the last farthing out of the community. This was brought about by skilfully utilising the Stock Exchange for the purpose of emission or issuing into circulation.”

[Page 92]

This step on the part of the Rothschilds soon brought into this kind of activity other, and questionable followers and imitators, in the shape of “Banks of issue or emission.” These deflect German “spare” capital abroad to an incredible extent (but not to our colonies!)* — thereby depriving the home country of the money, which is required for economic purposes, and depressing the value** of our national paper securities, upon which countless citizens depend for the proper and regular payment of their interest. These “banks of issue,” at the same time, secure enormous profits for themselves by their activity, which is absolutely destructive to all national economy, and which is either inadequately taxed, or escapes taxation altogether. Only a severe legal restriction and even, from time to time, an absolute prohibition of the issue of foreign securities, by means of the Stock Exchange, could remedy this nuisance.

Sombart then continues:

“‘Create a favourable atmosphere’, was the watchword, which, from this moment, dominated all traffic on the Stock Exchange. ‘Creating a favourable atmosphere’, was the aim and object of the unceasing fluctuations in the market-prices, caused by the systematic sale and purchase of shares, just as the Rothschilds manoeuvred when they were about to ‘launch an issue’. In order to obtain command of the Stock Exchange and the Money Market, all possible means, which stood at their disposal, were utilised; all paths, which might lead to the attainment of the desired object, were traversed; every conceivable trick of the Stock Exchange, and of anywhere else, was practised; all levers were put into motion; money was sacrificed both in large and small sums. The Rothschilds practised ‘Agiotage’ (Stock-jobbing) in the narrower sense which the French attach to the word. Up till then, the great banking houses had never done this, at any rate, openly. The Rothschilds employed the expedient of artificially influencing the market by creating a favourable atmosphere, which practice had been introduced by the Amsterdam Jews for a new object viz the launching of shares.”

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• The amount of German “working” capital, invested abroad, was estimated in 1912 at 35 Milliards of marks (France 30, England — colonies excepted — 33 Milliards of marks).

** On the occasion of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the accession of the Emperor William II., when there was a great deal of grandiloquent talk concerning the “unexampled development” of the German economic life during the past 25 years, the “T-gliche Rundschau” published, side by side, for the purpose of comparison, several Stock Exchange quotations from 1888 and 1913. According to this, the following prices were current:

 

                                                1888        1913

4% German Imperial Loan        107.00      98.10

3½%                                       102.00      84.90

 

4% Prussian Consols                106.90     98.10

3½%                                       103.50     84.90

 

Here is proof, in cold, hard figures, of crushing weight, with which to confront those who speak of the “unexampled development of the last 25 years”, and of the blessings conferred on the nation by the “Emission-activity,” or the “Activity in issuing”, of certain “great banks”, which “opens the doors of foreign countries”, but which, however, only causes the empire, our states and cities, and finally our citizens, enormous losses.

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[Page 93]

This is a literal quotation from Sombart; and it is the same thing, which the wicked Anti-Semites have been saying for 30 years. This activity of a great banking-house had in view, the placing of golden fetters upon Governments, in order to compel the latter to create more public debts. The Rothschilds have made it their business to burden the different countries with the necessary public debts; with this object in view they understood how to create artificially the occasion for making a public or national debt. According to the latest reports (1913) they have reached Ecuador with their “opening-up activity.” Soon we shall hear the Press tune up, preparatory to bursting into hymns of praise concerning this “land of promise”.

In addition to the fabrication of public bonds and obligations by the gentlemen, who manufacture stocks and shares, the Flotation and Mortgage business soon made an appearance. The industrial undertakings were “financed” and “discounted”, on a miniature scale, in just the same way as the various states were on a large scale. In order to provide new trading values for the Stock Market, it became necessary to buy up the sound businesses of private people, and to convert the same into shareholder companies; that is to say, to float them. Otto Glogau has bequeathed to us a valuable book about the Flotation Swindle in Berlin in the years 1870—1873*.

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• “Der Börsen- und Gründungsschwindel in Berlin” (The Stock Exchange and Flotation-Swindle in Berlin) Leipzig 1877.

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[Page 94]

It shows that, in this case also, the Hebrews were always the active spirits, and that it was only for the better concealment of this fact, as far as the public was concerned, that a number of more or less innocent Germans — aristocrats whenever it was possible to procure them — were pushed to the front as dummies.

What Jews, and the companions of Jews, brought to pass on this occasion, belongs to the most impudent of political comedies.

When, according to their opinion, they had sufficiently plundered the masses at the time of the Flotations, and saw their erections of swindles on the verge of collapsing, they put up their tribal companion, Lasker, the then leader and particular star of the National Liberal Party, in the Reichstag, to play the part of the suppressor of “Flotations”. He then unearthed, with great tumult, several members of the Conservative Party whom, he asserted, were implicated in “Flotations”, but let the chief culprits, who were his tribal brethren and Liberal Party friends, escape scot-free. Thereby he secured the double advantage of diverting the resentment of the public, who had lost enormous sums, from the real culprits to the opposing political parties, and of posing, at the same time, as the guardian of public morality. The Jew-controlled press also helped, for all it was worth, to fan the universal indignation against the unfortunate scapegoats in the Conservative camp.*

Our professional political economists of the High Schools unfortunately do not report any of these ugly facts, any more than they mention the baneful effect, which the game on the Stock Exchange has on the National Wealth, and on the entire economic and public life: they even lift up their voices in praise of the beneficial development of the Stock Exchange, and all connected with it.

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• The Jewish statistician, Ernst Engels, estimated the losses on the Berlin Stock Exchange alone, during the “Flotation Years”, at 700 million Thalers, and Glogau estimated double.

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[Page 95]

Glogau, in his book, which we have already mentioned, calls the learned political economists the chief allies of the “Flotation” gang, because they so disgracefully neglect their duty as instructors and guardians of the people, and he regards it as being beyond doubt that many of these political economists are directly paid for their opinion and instruction by the Stock Exchange.

Sombart then proceeds to speak of the “commercialisation of Industry”: it would be better to use plain English, and to call it “converting Industry into material to job and huckster with”. Industry thus becomes a mere object of speculation for the Stock Exchange; Production is a matter of secondary importance. “In the Speculation Banks”, says Sombart;

“capitalistic development reaches its highest point. With their help, the commercialisation of the economic life is carried to the extreme, and Stock Exchange organisation becomes complete.”

He then says concerning these Speculation Banks:

“They take part, to a very considerable extent, in speculation, either directly or else by way of the ‘Report’ business, which, it is notorious, has become, at the present moment, the mightiest and most important lever of speculation. By means of loaning speculative securities, the banks are thereby placed in a position, by acquiring other securities at a cheap price, to create the impression that money is plentiful and is accompanied also by a desire to buy. Thus, on the one hand, a power of creating an upward movement in prices is easily acquired, and this power can be reversed just as easily to depress prices, by depreciating the store of available securities. The great banks accordingly, hold the handle, which controls the machine called the Stock Exchange, literally in their hand.” (Page 129) And further: “The heads of the banks, who control the Stock Exchange, tend more and more to become entire masters of the economic life.”

Sombart refers to the notorious “Crédit mobilier” in Paris as nothing better than a speculation bank. This “bank” was founded by the Portuguese Jews, Isaac and Emil Pereira; other large share-holders in this undertaking are Torlonia of Rome, Salomon Heine of Hamburg, and Oppenheim of Cologne. Sombart also includes in the species of speculation-banks, the Berlin Diskonto-Gesellschaft, founded by David Justus Ludwig Hansemann, and the Berlin Handels-Gesellschaft, in close connection with which, stand the Darmstadt Bank, and the Berlin banking firms of Mendelsohn, Bleichröder, Warschauer, and the brothers Schickler.

[Page 96]

The above-mentioned also adds:

“The Jewish elements also preponderate amongst the founders of the Deutsche Bank.” (Page 129)

Thus, the international character of the “Speculation-Banks” is proved, and accordingly the part which they play in the trade and intercourse of the world.

[Page 97]

 

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