Mr. Warburg’s death at this time of exceptional business depression, the “Times” says, recalls that in March 1929, when the United States was at the peak of its exuberant “prosperity”, he warned the country in striking terms that it was rushing straight toward catastrophe. Afterwards, analysing the causes of the debacle, he declared that it had been made inevitable by an attempt to maintain high prices by tariffs and other artificial measures in face of a constantly accelerated mass production. No great harm would have resulted from mass production, he asserted, if it had occurred in a world of free trade and well-managed production. He was a consistent advocate of a downward revision of Reparations and War debts and a strong supporter of the Hoover Moratorium.
The “Times” also recalls that when Mr. Warburg’s term as Vice-Governor of the Federal Reserve Board expired in 1918, when the United States was at war with Germany, although he had been an American citizen since 1911 he declined reappointement, which President Wilson pressed upon him, giving as his reason the agitation at that time against holding by persons of “enemy origin” of high positions of trust in the United States.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
