Leidsch Dagblad
- Manifesto of European and American financiers and industrialists.
- FÖLDESY — WEINGARTEN.
- ADDRESS TO THE SECOND CHAMBER.
This Leiden daily's front page of 20 October 1926 carried the opening of an appeal by European and American financiers and industrialists, presented as a forceful plea for free trade and a separation of politics and economics, which blamed postwar tariff walls, special licences and prohibitions for holding back the return to prosperity. Its music critic praised a recital by Földesy and Weingarten in the Kraus concert series, while puzzling over why Leideners stayed away from music in the Schouwburg and defending the hall's acoustics. The society of friends of the municipal museum De Lakenhal petitioned the Second Chamber against a proposed 10 per cent duty on gifts, warning that donations to the museum would often stop. A short police item reported cloth stolen from a shop display case.
Translation
Manifesto of European and American financiers and industrialists.
…tossed off with astonishing ease. As regards the small pieces, the programme was not entirely correct: it was not a "prélude" but a "vocalise" by Rachmaninoff — the prélude listed on the programme was played as an encore — not a sérénade by C. Dopper but one by D. Popper; not Davidoff's "Springbrunnen" but Popper's "Spinnlied" were the little pieces in which he let his charming tone, but above all his matchless virtuosity, be admired. His accompanist was Hellmut Baerwald: needless to say, the accompaniment was excellent. The audience warmly applauded both performers.
Manifesto of European and American financiers and industrialists.
A FORCEFUL PLEA FOR FREE TRADE.
Separation of politics and economics.
The announced appeal by European and American financiers and industrialists has appeared. The manifesto says: "As businessmen we wish to draw attention to certain grave and disquieting circumstances which, in our judgment, are holding back the return to prosperity."
One can hardly observe without concern to what extent, since the war, tariff walls, special licences and prohibitions have been placed in the way of international trade and this…
FÖLDESY — WEINGARTEN.
…gained access to a display case in the ladies' department of the clothing stores "De Faam" on the Vischmarkt here. A quantity of remnant cloth worth f 475 was missing; the lock turned out to have been forced. The police are investigating the matter.
MUSIC.
FÖLDESY — WEINGARTEN.
Why the Kraus concerts in the Schouwburg are so poorly attended is utterly inexplicable to us. It is certainly not down to the quality of the performances. To the hall, then? Is it true after all, what we have sometimes heard claimed, that the Leidener does not want to hear music in the Schouwburg? It is hard to fight a preconceived idea. Let us therefore content ourselves with simply saying that there is no reasonable ground for his rejection. The Schouwburg lends itself excellently to small-scale concerts, to chamber music performances. Acoustically one could not wish for better: the sound is carried to every seat, upstairs as well as downstairs, in a fine tempering of…
ADDRESS TO THE SECOND CHAMBER.
…phenomenon on the enterprise", in which he demonstrated that influence in the various phases in which a business may find itself, and indicated the means of turning the influence, where possible, to the business's advantage.
ADDRESS TO THE SECOND CHAMBER.
The proposal to amend the Succession Act.
The Association of those interested in the municipal museum De Lakenhal, of this city, has sent the following address to the Second Chamber:
The undersigned, having taken note of the proposal to amend the Succession Act now pending before the Second Chamber, find themselves obliged to make known to your body the grave objections which they consider to exist against the provision included in this proposal to levy a duty of 10 pct. on gifts. Whereas until now the museum De Lakenhal could be enriched by gifts, in future, should the said provision be adopted, this will often no longer be the case. Let us give an example: even for an old painting of the modest value of f 5000, upon donation there would have to be…
Context
Who signed the bankers' free-trade manifesto
The Leiden paper printed the opening of the appeal without naming its signatories. Time magazine, reporting the affair on 1 November 1926, described it as a round robin signed by over 100 of the world's most powerful financiers calling on European nations to remove their tariff hindrances to international trade, under the title "A Plea for the Removal of Restrictions upon European Trade." Its American names included John Pierpont Morgan and Albert H. Wiggin of the Chase National Bank. From Europe came Montagu Norman of the Bank of England and Hjalmar Schacht of the German Reichsbank, together with the presidents of the state banks of a list of countries that included the Netherlands, so Dutch readers had their own central bank among the signers. Time noted that even in protectionist France a regent of the Bank of France, Rene Laederich, and eight other French financiers signed. The text quoted by Time said the break-up of great political units in Europe had dealt a heavy blow to international trade, the same postwar grievance with which the Leiden excerpt opens when it speaks of tariff walls, special licences and prohibitions since the war.
How Washington and the markets reacted
In the United States the appeal landed in the middle of the argument over protection. According to Time, President Coolidge reminded the country that those who lend money are always eager for international free trade, while the Republican party stood ready to defend those who earned money in the U.S. with its tariff shield. American signatories fell back on the manifesto's European title; John J. Mitchell of the Illinois Merchants Trust said the document was not intended to refer to the United States at all. Time judged that the manifesto seemed destined to produce no real effect, yet it reported that the news caused marked temporary fluctuations on the New York Stock Exchange and the Berlin Bourse. The Leiden subheading's call for a separation of politics and economics thus drew a trenchant political rebuttal from the American president.
Where the appeal came from
The manifesto's drafters remained anonymous, and the Leiden report introduces it simply as the "announced appeal." Time reported that Thomas W. Lamont, a Morgan partner who did not sign, said the text had been circulating among international financiers for some time. Hjalmar Schacht, for his part, said the manifesto was closely connected with a recent conference of German and British industrialists in England. The argument Time quoted from the text was economic rather than diplomatic: restricted imports involve restricted exports, and no nation can afford to lose its export trade. That reasoning matches the subheading the Leiden paper chose, a separation of politics and economics.
The League's Geneva economic conference of 1927
The bankers' appeal appeared while the League of Nations was preparing a broader economic meeting. The World Economic Conference sat in Geneva from 4 to 23 May 1927, attended by representatives of 46 League members as well as the United States and the Soviet Union. It was the first international economic conference formally sponsored by the League, and France's Louis Loucheur had first suggested it in 1925, a year before the manifesto. Its 194 national delegates and 157 expert advisers did not formally represent their governments, which made the gathering, like the bankers' appeal, a statement of expert opinion rather than a negotiation between states. The delegates unanimously declared that financial reconstruction was the basis of economic reconstruction. The conference thus originated in Loucheur's 1925 suggestion, before the bankers' manifesto, rather than as a response to it.
Why De Lakenhal's friends feared a tax on gifts
The address came from the society of supporters of De Lakenhal, Leiden's city museum of fine art and history. The museum building had been erected in 1640 as a cloth hall, and the museum itself was founded there in 1874 as a municipal museum. Like other Dutch municipal museums, it became the repository for the city's art collections, and it had grown with an exhibition hall at the end of the nineteenth century and a new wing in 1922. In the address printed by the paper, the society stated that until then the museum had been enriched by gifts. It warned that a 10 per cent duty on gifts would mean a charge even on donating an old painting of a modest f 5000 value, so that such gifts would often no longer come to the museum.
Original
Manifest van Europeesche en Amerikaansche financiers en industrieelen.
gooide met verbluffend gemak. Op het punt der kleine nummertjes was het programma niet geheel correct: niet een " prélude " doch een " vocalise " van Rachmaninoff - de op het programma vermelde prélude is als toegift gespeeld - niet een sérénade van C. Dopper, doch van D. Popper; niet de " Springbrunnen " van Davidoff, doch Popper's " Spinnlied " waren de stukjes waarin hij zijn charmeerenden toon maar bovenal zijn weergalooze virtuositeit deed bewonderen. Zijn accompagnateur was Hellmut Baerwald: onnoodig te zeggen dat dit uitmuntend was. Het publiek heeft de beide concertgevers warm toegejuicht. Manifest van Europeesche en Amerikaansche financiers en industrieelen. EEN KRACHTIG PLEIDOOI VOOR VRIJHANDEL. Scheiding van politiek en economie. De aangekondigde oproep van Europeesche en Amerikaansche financiers en industrieelen is verschenen. Het manifest zegt: " Wij wenschen als zakenmannen de aandacht te vestigen op bepaalde ernstige en verontrustende omstandigheden, welke naar ons oordeel den terugkeer tot voorspoed tegenhouden. " Men zal moeilijk zonder bezorgdheid kunnen gadeslaan, in welken omvang sedert den oorlog tariefmuren, speciale consenten en verboden aan den internationalen handel in den weg zijn gelegd en dezen
FöLDESY — WEINGARTEN.
voegden zich toegang verschaft tot een étalagekast in de damesafdeeling van de kleedingmagazijnen " De Faam " aan de Vischmart alhier. Een hoeveelheid couponstof ter waarde van f 475 werd vermist; het slot bleek geforceerd te zijn. De politie heeft de zaak in onderzoek. MUZIEK. FöLDESY - WEINGARTEN. Waarom de Kraus-concerten in den Schouwburg zoo slecht worden bezocht, is ons ten eenenmale onverklaarbaar. Aan het gehalte der uitvoeringen ligt het zeker niet. Aan de zaal? Is het dan toch waar, wat we wel eens hoorden beweren, dat de Leidenaar geen muziek wil hooren in den Schouwburg? Tegen een vooropgezette idee is het moeilijk vechten. Volstaan we daarom met enkel te zeggen, dat geen redelijke grond voor zijn afwijzing bestaat. De Schouwburg leent zich voortreffelijk voor concerten in klein bestek, voor kamermuziekuitvoeringen. Acustisch kan men het niet mooier wenschen: het geluid wordt naar alle plaatsen, boven zoowel als beneden, gedragen in fijne tempering van
ADRES AAN DE TWEEDE KAMER.
schijnsel op de onderneming ", waarbij hij dien invloed aantoonde in de verschillende phrasen, waarin een bedrijf kan verkeeren en de middelen aangaf om den invloed zoo mogelijk voor het bedrijf ten goede te doen keeren. ADRES AAN DE TWEEDE KAMER. Het voorstel tot wijziging van de Successiewet. De Vereeniging van belangstellenden in het stedelijk museum de Lakenhal, alhier, heeft het volgende adres gezonden aan de Tweede Kamer: Ondergeteekenden, kennis nemende van het bij de Tweede Kamer aanhangig gemaakte voorstel tot wijziging van de Successiewet, zien zich genoodzaakt uw college de groote bezwaren kenbaar te maken, die zij achten te bestaan tegen de in dit voorstel opgenomen bepaling om van schenkingen een recht van 10 pct. te heffen. Kon tot nog toe het museum de Lakenhal door schenkingen verrijkt worden, in de toekomst zal dit bij aanvaarding van genoemde bepaling dikwijls niet meer het geval zijn. Noemen wij een voorbeeld: reeds voor een oud schilderij van de bescheiden waarde van f 5000 zou bij schenking moeten worden
Source: Source: Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken (leiden.courant.nu)