Venizelos v. Hambros

Traditionally the principal backer of the Greek Republic has been London's huge Hambros Bank, Ltd. Recently it has been rumored that Hambros has been trying to coerce the grand, foxy old man of Greece, Eleutherios Venizelos, into concluding an agreement which would give it an absolute monopoly of Greek public financing.

As the sun went down one evening last week, Prime Minister Venizelos entered the Chamber of Deputies and began a fiery speech which lasted well into the night. He moved adoption of a bill entrusting to J. & W. Seligman & Co. of Manhattan the financing of a notable series of public works in the Salonika Valley. Pointedly defying Hambros, Venizelos cried:

"We have a moral as well as a material interest in seeing that we are as free to turn to New York as to London when we need money."