Condemned To Repeat

It was Edmund Burke who famously said, "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it". And although the quote is recycled and reworded throughout each succeeding generation, the lesson still manages to escape us.

In April of 1932, the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency, in the aftermath of the Great Crash, held hearings in an attempt to get to the bottom of things. One of the witnesses they called to testify was Richard Whitney, the President of the New York Stock Exchange. Following is a description of his testimony, taken from John Galbraith's After the Crash :

.... The government, not Wall Street, was responsible for the current bad times, Whitney averred, and the government, he believed, could make its greatest contribution to the recovery by balancing the budget and thus restoring confidence. To balance the budget he recommended cutting the pensions and benefits of veterans who had no service-connected disability and also all government salaries. When asked about cutting his own pay he said no .... it was "very little". Pressed for the amount, he said that currently it was only about $60,000. His attention was drawn by the committee members to the fact that this was six times what a senator received, but Whitney remained adamantly in favor of cutting the public pay, including that of senators.

..... on March 8, there was a stunned silence on the floor of the Exchange when President Charles R. Gay announced from the rostrum the suspension of Richard Whitney and Company for insolvency. Members were rather more aghast when they learned that Whitney had been engaged in theft on a large scale for a long time.

..... Then on March 10, 1938, District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey ..... ordered the arraignment of Richard Whitney. The charge was grand larceny.