THE ROTHSCHILDS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1149, 15 September 1883, Page 3

THE ROTHSCHILDS.

The Allgemeine Zeitnng bad a very bitter article lately, not on the great powers in the Bourse, but on one allpervading, all-powerful house, before whom even kings must bow —the firm of Rothschild. When James Rothschild, the founder of the Pans house, died, he left a fortune estimated at 1,700,000,000 f., but to form an estimate of the real capital of the house, that of the brothers and cousins in Paris, London, Frankfort, Vienna, and the branches in Berlin, St. Petersburg, Rome, Madrid, Amsterdam, Brussells, New York, etc., would have to be added. This compact mass of capital, says a German paper, forms a bulwark against which every attack is powerless, and it is steadily and enormously increasing. States may be jealous of another’s might, ana this power grows and throws out its roots in every land. The Bank of France is ruled by the Rothschilds, the Ministers of France are swayed by their counsels, the great railways France and an enormous amount o real estate are owned by the firms, Of course such phenomenal power has excited jealousy and envy, but it does not appear thus that any very wellfounded charge of great injury to society at large can be made against the firm. That there are great evils possible from the possession of such vast wealth and influence is very evident, but still it would appear, despite the tone of the article in question, that the policy of tho- Rothschilds has been very conservative, and that, though their influence is shown in many ways, they follow the traditions of the house to abstain from obtrusive action, In fact, hundreds of unscrupulous speculators are kept in check and sometimes crushed by the Rothschilds, but all this is done quietly by the mysterious power of Croesus. But this question of financial kings has been brought home to ourselves ; it is one almost peculiar to tho present century, and is attracting universal attention, but without ever any acceptable solution being offered. The danger arising from the alarming tendency of wealth to concentrate in the hands of a few, and the tyrannical power which wealth, no matter how judiciously used, must always exercise many ways.— Rhodes’ American Journal of Banking.