• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

PRESSLED

Your Leading News Source

PRESSLED
Your Leading News Source

  • Home
  • BUSINESS
  • MONEY
  • POLITICS
  • REAL ESTATE
  • US
  • Meet the Reporters
  • About/Contact

Clarence W. Barron, Father of Financial Journalism, Was Full of Contradictions

May 14, 2021 by Staff Reporter


Illustration by Joe McKendry

Text size

Clarence Barron surveyed the scene and liked what he saw.

“The United States is the financial Atlas of the world,” Barron said in a June 1927 interview in this magazine, and America’s banking system “surpasses that of any other country in the world.”

“How about brokers’ loans?” asked the reporter.

“Not worth a minute of discussion,” replied Barron. “Brokers’ loans are of no consequence.”

Barron would be dead in just over a year. And brokers’ loans, taken out to cover margin loans to speculators, would be cited as a culprit in the stock market crash of 1929.

The interview is typical Barron, full of bravado, prescience, and an occasional blind spot. Barron, who founded this magazine in 1921, was among the most powerful people of his time—father of financial journalism, a force in conservative thought, counselor to tycoons and statesmen.

His long public life was full of contradictions. He brought down Charles Ponzi yet admired Cornelius Vanderbilt and other “robber barons.” His political heroes were Calvin Coolidge and Benito Mussolini. And the man who said “commerce is broader than nationalism and must overstep seas” took a distinctly colonial stance toward other cultures.

He was a complicated man in fast-changing times. Born in Boston in 1855, Clarence Walker Barron won awards for school essays and wrote for newspapers as a teen. He was the Boston Evening Transcript’s financial editor when, in 1887, he founded the Boston News Bureau, sending financial news by messenger for a dollar a day.

After a year managing The Wall Street Journal, Barron bought Dow Jones in 1902 for $130,000 (about $4 million today). On his watch, the Journal’s circulation grew from 7,000 to more than 40,000; Barron’s reached 30,000 by 1927.

Barron grew wealthy, with a prime residence on Beacon Street and a summer home in Cohasset, Mass., that sold for $27 million in 2010. He moved in the same social circles as the rich and powerful he covered, and conversations inevitably turned to investing.

“I am buying Mack Truck for a little speculation,” Walter P. Chrysler told Barron in 1927. “We are paying $3, and I think we shall earn $9 this year.”

Barron was free to use such tips and surely did. Whether he assigned “stories promoting companies whose shares he owned,” as Marshall Loeb claimed in Time magazine in 1988, is hard to prove.

Barron started this magazine less than a year after exposing Ponzi’s scheme—paying early investors with new-investor money—and with America mired in a postwar depression. He vowed a “financial publication based on sound sources of information and policy” in the first issue, dated May 9, 1921.

Capitalism was a force for good, Barron believed, a driver of civilization. He advocated small government and the free market, in 1924 calling reduced taxation “the greatest national blessing” and railing against the “death tax” until his own death. American business was “scrapping old machinery, and part of that discarded instrument is the labor union,” he wrote in 1926. “We are giving the worker something incomparably better.”

Iron-fisted moguls like Vanderbilt kept “tens of thousands” at work through “brains and initiative,” Barron wrote in 1923. The worker was lucky to have a job, with Europe and Asia “swarming with men eager to take his place for less money.”

It is startling today to read his writing on foreigners and race. He calculated in 1926 that “four Cubans can do the work of six Haytians.” Black activist Marcus Garvey was an “Ethiopian Ponzi,” he wrote, and “talk of Africa for the Africans is silly almost beyond comprehension.” In a 1917 book, he referred to Mexicans as “children” needing to “learn from the Anglo-Saxon race.”

Barron could also be enlightened for his time, writing a half-century before the first Earth Day of the “terrible bill our children will have to pay” if we destroy the forests, and calling for arms control in 1921.

He admired Coolidge and Mussolini as “dominant personalities.’’ “Silent Cal’’ was the embodiment of laissez-faire economics and showed his mettle in breaking the Boston police strike of 1919. Il Duce also rose to power through a show of strength—his march on Rome—and Barron declared him in 1924 “the salvation of Europe.”

Barron didn’t live long enough to judge either man’s career in its entirety. He died in 1928 of catarrhal jaundice. His last words: “What’s the news?”

Email: editors@barrons.com

Originally Appeared On: https://www.barrons.com/articles/clarence-w-barron-father-of-financial-journalism-was-full-of-contradictions-51620408688

Filed Under: BUSINESS, MONEY

Primary Sidebar

More to See

Lone Star: Texas Tech Kicker Jonathan Garibay on Dallas Cowboys ‘Opportunity’

The Dallas Cowboys have a vacancy - and just one kicker presently on the roster. And he's a familiar face to Texas Tech fans, as it's Jonathan … [Read More...] about Lone Star: Texas Tech Kicker Jonathan Garibay on Dallas Cowboys ‘Opportunity’

Pan Asia Bank appoints Naleen Edirisinghe as COO – Financial News

Pan Asia Bank recently announced the appointment of Naleen Edirisinghe as its Chief Operating Officer (COO) with effect from 26th April 2022 to take … [Read More...] about Pan Asia Bank appoints Naleen Edirisinghe as COO – Financial News

CRE funds invest billions in U.S. real estate

Multiple commercial real estate funds have poured more than $2.5 billion into the U.S. real estate market in recent weeks, Bisnow reports. These CRE … [Read More...] about CRE funds invest billions in U.S. real estate

Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | About/ Contact
Copyright © 2022 · PRESSLED · As Amazon Associates we earn commissions from qualifying purchases · Log in

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT