(5 of 6)
away from the disturbed atmosphere of
the Hotel George V and sought the apartment of his brother and heir
Hon. Cecil Baring. The late King-Emperor Edward VII gave his friend and
counsellor John Baring less than no reason to suppose that he would be
refused if he sought the hand of His Majesty's second daughter, the
Princess Victoria. Nonetheless John Baring, Baron Revelstoke—the
Morgan of the empire— remained single. Perhaps the great House of
Baring Bros. & Co., Ltd., had no more need of alliance with royalty
or the like than has the House of Morgan now. It sufficed that John
Baring's sister Susan had been a maid of honor to Queen Victoria. The
establishment of colossal credits which accelerated the
industrialization of Japan, and the rehabilitation of Argentina's
finances, were two big jobs done by Lord Revelstoke before the War.
Throughout the entire conflict he influenced, when he did not direct,
the financial program of the empire, borrowing and purchasing in
figures undreamed of before. Much as Mr. Morgan visits London every
year, so Lord Revelstoke rarely let a twelvemonth pass without crossing
over to New York. The present Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt was once, with
Lord Revelstoke's approval, engaged to Cecil Baring, but
eventually Cecil married Miss Maud (Old Gold) Lorillard. The event of
last week of course makes her a baroness. A quiet supper and the
evening papers —such was the prelude to Death of England's mightiest
Man of Property. He had been warned not to sit on the Second Dawes
Committee by physicians who had for years been tending his weak heart.
At 65 he deliberately chose the course of action—he who was known in
London as "the man who never takes a risk." At about 9 p. m.
a correspondent reached Baron Revelstoke by telephone. His voice
suggested weariness, resignation, resentment: "I can't understand
Dr. Schacht. In fact he astonished me. . . . It was quite a shock. . .
. The outlook is not hopeful. . . ." Soon after 11 p. m. John
Baring knocked out his pipe and began to undress. His valet switched
off the light and left him. He died of heart failure in the early morning
hours. Schacht to Berlin. On the various German stock exchanges
issues tumbled last week at news of the crisis, though the average
decline was probably not over four points. The stabilized gold mark
moved 23.70 cents to 23.67, then returned to 23.70 cents. Because the
new German currency is supposed to be artificially pegged and subject
to virtually no fluctuation, even this slight flurry was considered
extremely ominous. After a conference with Mr. Young, Dr. Schacht rushed
to Berlin. In Paris a most inflammatory remark was let fall by famed
Georges Clemenceau, retired elder statesman. "Schacht's offer and
his designs," growled the "Tiger," "tend toward
nothing less than a new war!"
