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nydus/Other People's Money, and How the Bankers Use ItPublic

Louis D. Brandeis provides an analysis of the American money trust and the concentration of industrial power. The text examines the business developments and financial practices that emerged following the advancements in steam and electricity.

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Table of Contents

CHAPTER X THE INEFFICIENCY OF THE OLIGARCHS

We must break the Money Trust or the Money Trust will break us.

The Interstate Commerce Commission said in its report on the most disastrous of the recent wrecks on the New Haven Railroad:

“On this directorate were and are men whom the confiding public recognize as magicians in the art of finance, and wizards in the construction, operation, and consolidation of great systems of railroads. The public therefore rested secure that with the knowledge of the railroad art possessed by such men investments and travel should both be safe. Experience has shown that this reliance of the public was not justified as to either finance or safety.”

This failure of banker-management is not surprising. The surprise is that men should have supposed it would succeed. For banker-management contravenes the fundamental laws of human limitations: First, that no man can serve two masters; second, that a man cannot at the same time do many things well.

SEEMING SUCCESSES

There are numerous seeming exceptions to these rules; and a relatively few real ones. Of course, many banker-managed properties have been

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