Amicable Giants

When, in 1815, Napoleon I was a prisoner on the British warship Bellerophon, thousands of sturdy Britons flocked to Plymouth Harbor in the hope that the Ogre might show himself on deck. When, last week, two Napoleons of U. S. finance reached London on a diplomatic, but controversial errand, they were regarded with less hostility but with almost as much curiosity. "American Millionaires in Kingsway," headlined the London Standard, "Sir Hugo Meets the United States Giants," cried the London Evening News. Much has Britain lately worried concerning the U. S. Money; now Yankee Doodle had certainly come to town.

The "Millionaires," the "Giants," were Jobless Herbert Bayard Swope and Lawyer Thomas Lincoln Chadbourne. As students of finance know, they had come to London to combat the recent decision (TIME, April 1) of British General Electric Co., Ltd., to restrict a forthcoming stock issue to British citizens exclusively. This plan aroused much opposition on both sides of the Atlantic. One British M. P. even denounced Sir Hugo Hirst, British G. E.'s managing director, as "a super-patriot of German origin"--the reference being to the fact that Sir Hugo, though now a Britisher, was born in Munich. So Sir Hugo, discovering himself to be an unpopular minority, postponed the issue, pending conferences with representatives of his U. S. shareholders, who own some 60% (nonvoting) of present British G. E. stock. It was for these conferences that Stockholders' Representatives Chadbourne and Swope came to London, and it was their visit to Sir Hugo's offices in Magnet House, Kingsway, that prompted the Standard's headline. Said the reporters, breathless:

"Passersby in the Kingsway stopped and stared when these two arrived at Magnet House. There was little of the American in Mr. Swope's appearance. He has rimless eyeglasses. . . . Mr. Chadbourne had to bend almost double as he got out of his car. . . ."*

The British press also discussed Mr. Chadbourne's cravat, his preference for cigarets v. cigars, and described the malacca walking stick and bulldog tenacity of Mr. Swope.

Meanwhile the two U. S. Dollars rolled merrily along on motive power furnished by many a U. S. Dime. For Lawyer Chadbourne and Jobless Swope, officially designated as representatives of U. S. shareholders in British G. E., had ceremoniously assessed each shareholder whose authorization they carried the sum of 10-c- per share to pay expenses of the journey.

But though the British public learned many new facts concerning U. S. financiers, neither the British nor the U. S. public could squeeze information out of the official communiques concerning the Hirst-Chadbourne-Swope meetings. The first report said that "no conclusion was arrived at at this morning's amicable meeting." Further meetings were delayed when Mr. Chadbourne was taken with a chill. It is known, however, that Sir Hugo has proposed a compromise arrangement by which U. S. shareholders can exercise their rights in the new issue, provided that they sell their new shares within ten weeks. This arrangement permits U. S. shareholders to benefit by the bonus character of the new stock, but makes no concession to the principle of the U. S. right to hold British G. E. shares.

*The Chadbourne height: 6 ft. 6 in.