| Show I What My fib Parents Pa eilts Wanted Me to Be OTTO H. H KAH KAHN N. N During my boyhood years my parents parents par par- i impressed upon me that I must hold hold- holdfast fast to the priceless things of life which alone can enrich no matt matter mat- mat t ter r what ones one's fate or fortune in material things may be We lived in Mannheim l Germany where my father was a prosperous banker I To our home homo came artists musicians musicians mu mu- 1 singers sculptors and writers so that quite naturally my interest in and fondness for these arts was encouraged and stimulated nut Cut my mylove mylove mylove love for music predominated above all aU Before I T was vas graduated from high school so earnestly had I 1 applied myself to the study of music that I had learned to play on several In- In For one of mv roy earliest ambitions was to be a musician My father was very sympathetic and understood this desire of mine but had no intention of encouraging me in it Another brother had already been allowed to follow his natural bent of or making music his life Ufe work vork lie He be became became be- be came professor of music at the Royal noyal Academy of Music in Berlin My fathers father's eight children had been n trained to obey so aO that when ho homade homade homade made his plans for me I was guided by his wisdom I was only 17 when he secured for forme forme forme me a position in a bank at Karlsruhe near Mannheim where I 1 was to begin an apprenticeship with the idea of j becoming a banker In my nay first position I was nothing more than an office boy boj I The fact that my father was las able to give me a place considerably higher high high- I er cr up than my present position If he lie wanted to made mado no difference In In the attitude of the other I started at the lowest rung of the I lad ladder del and was made to realize it For some time my chief duties I were cleaning the inkwells of the theother theother I other clerks running out to buy their lunches carrying in their beer I generally waiting on them and principally principally prin prin- I being made to feel teel my in In- In I instead of developing any I incipient superiority Although it is a much preached maxim one must learn to obey II before he lie is fit to command this was wasa I a useful and salutary training and taught discipline and order It in instilled In- In stilled In me n a proper sense of my I place and emphasized that the most humble duties must be performed I conscientiously and without any loss of self respect I suppose I must have haye wiped the inkwells fairly satisfactorily for it was not long before I was promoted and had another novitiate to clean my nay inkwell and fetch m my lunch When I had been in In Karlsruhe for three years ears I went into the German Gennan I army as a hussar for tor one year and after ater that I entered the London agency of the London bankI bank I I expected to remain only temporarily tempo tempo- in m England but the mode of or of me life both political and social with j I its freedom breadth opportunity arid and inspiring traditions appealed to l me meso meso e eso so tremendously that I renounced my German citizenship and became a naturalized Englishman from front conviction con con con- In 1893 the ers l in London of offered of- of me ma a position in their New York house I came to the United I States not intending to remain per per- I On January 1 I 1807 1897 I joined the banking ba house of Kuhn Loch Loeb Co 1 Several years ago tempted by hy a vision of a quieter and more sett settled ed life Ufe I planned to i 1 turn fo fa London I remained there only a short time and returned to America I 1 discovered that my roots meets had zone gone too deeply into American soil son ever to he be ted |
