Part 3

Confidence cannot be compelled; it cannot be bequeathed--or, at most, only to a very limited extent. It is and always is bound to be voluntary and personal.

I know of no other centre where the label counts for less, where the shine and potency of a great name is more quickly rubbed off if the bearer does not prove his worth, than in the great mart of finance.

Mere wealth indeed can be bequeathed, but the power of mere wealth--to paraphrase a famous dictum--has decreased, is decreasing and ought to be, and will be, further diminished.

What, then, can and should finance do on its own part in order to gain and preserve for itself that repute and status with the public to which it is entitled, and which in the interest of the country, as well as itself, it ought to have?

1. Conform to Public Opinion

It must not only do right, but it must also be particularly careful concerning the appearance of its actions.

Finance should "omit no word or deed" to place itself in the right light before the people.

It must carefully study and in good faith conform to public opinion.

2. Publicity

One of the characteristics of finance heretofore has been the cult of silence, some of its rites have been almost those of an occult science.

To meet attacks with dignified silence, to maintain an austere demeanor, to cultivate an etiquette of reticence, has been one of its traditions.

Nothing could have been more calculated to irritate democracy, which dislikes and suspects secrecy and resents aloofness.

And the instinct of democracy is right.

Men occupying conspicuous and leading places in finance as in every other calling touching the people's interests, are legitimate objects for public scrutiny in the exercise of their functions.

If opportunity for such scrutiny is denied, if the people's legitimate desire for information is met with silence, secrecy, impatience and resentment, the public mind very naturally becomes infected with suspicion and lends a willing ear to all sorts of gossip and rumors.

The people properly and justly insist that the same "fierce light that beats upon a throne" should also beat upon the high places of finance and commerce.

It is for those occupying such places to show cause why they should be considered fit persons to be entrusted with them, the test being not merely ability, but just as much, if not more, character, self-restraint, fair-mindedness and due sense of duty towards the public.

Finance, instead of avoiding publicity in all of its aspects, should welcome it and seek it. Publicity won't hurt its dignity. A dignity which can be preserved only by seclusion, which cannot hold its own in the market place, is neither merited nor worth having.

We must more and more get out of the seclusion of our offices, out into the rough and tumble of democracy, out--to get to know the people and get known by them.

Not to know one another means but too frequently to misunderstand one another, and there is no more fruitful source of trouble than to misunderstand one another's kind and ways and motives.

3. Service

Every man who by eminent success in commerce or finance raises himself beyond his peers is in the nature of things more or less of an "irritant" (I use the word in its technical meaning) to the community.

It behooves him, therefore, to make his position as little jarring as possible upon that immense majority whose existence is spent in the lowlands of life so far as material circumstances are concerned.

It behooves him to exercise self-restraint and to make ample allowance for the point of view and the feelings of others, to be patient, helpful, conciliatory.

It behooves him to remember that many other men are working, and have worked all their lives, with probably as much effort and assiduous application, as much self-abnegation as he, but have not succeeded in raising themselves above mediocre stations in life, because to them has not been granted the possession of those peculiar gifts which beget conspicuous success, and to which, because they are very rare and because they are needed for the world's work, is given the incentive of liberal reward.

He should beware of that insidious tendency of wealth to chill and isolate; he should be careful not to let his feelings, aspirations and sympathies become hardened or narrowed; lest he become estranged from his fellow men; and with this in view he should not only be approachable but should seek and welcome contact with the work-a-day world so as to remain part and parcel of it, to maintain and prove his homogeneity with his fellow men.

And he should never forget that the advantages and powers which he enjoys are his on suffrance, so to speak, during good behavior, the basis of their conferment being the consideration that the community wants his talents and his work, and grants him generous compensation--including the privilege of passing it on to his children--in order to stimulate him to the effort of using his capacities, since it is in the public interest that they should be used to their fullest extent.

He should never forget that the social edifice in which he occupies so desirable quarters, has been erected by human hands, the result of infinite effort, of sacrifice and compromise, the aim being the greatest good of society; and that if that aim is clearly shown to be no longer served by the present structure, if the successful man arrogates to himself too large or too choice a part, if, selfishly, he crowds out others, then, what human hands have built up by the patient work of many centuries, human hands can pull down in one hour of passion.