"THE FATHER OF FINANCIAL JOURNALISM"

C. W. Barron. The Federal Reserve Act. Boston: Boston News Bureau Company, 1914. Octavo, original dark green cloth. $750.

First edition of the first publication in book form of 28 articles on the 1913 Federal Reserve Act by Clarence W. Barron, president and owner of Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, and founder of Barron's, collected in one volume only months after appearing in his Wall Street Journal.

Federal Reserve Act is the first publication in book form of Barron's 28 articles on the revolutionary banking legislation that became law in 1913. "Considered the father of American financial journalism," Barron was president and owner of Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, and founded the newspaper that bears his name—Barron's (Geisst, Encyclopedia, 48). He boldly begins: "Next to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the U.S. the Federal Reserve Act… may be the most important measure ever placed before the people." Barron "saw the role of financial journalist as defending the public interest… he became one of the first journalists to see his role as a conduit of non-biased financial information as well as a commentator" (Geisst, 48). "A staunch defender and advocate of the Old Wall Street, when J.P. Morgan ruled the roost," Barron explains the new banking law in clear prose. With this work and his leadership, he "assured his name in financial history. Without Barron and the role he played, our flow of financial news… would have been different in ways that can never be known nor comprehended. His information made the market" (Grey, Federal Reserve System, 57-58). "B.C. Forbes once called him 'the foremost financial editor in the world'" (Fisher, 100 Minds, 56). Containing 28 articles serialized in The Wall Street Journal on "every alternate day, beginning Jan. 9, 1914." Barron's "Introductory" dated in print, Nov. 6, 1914. Also with articles by Dr. John F. Crowell of The Wall Street Journal, a printing of the Act, and relevant legislation such as the 1908 Aldrich-Vreeland Act. Grey, Federal Reserve System, 128.

Text very fresh, only faint soiling to lower fore-edge, minor rubbing to cloth. A scarce about-fine copy.