Business and Black Capitalism

Arnold Saltzman, the President of the Seagrave Corporation, is one of those businessmen who, having made a bundle in his own world, would like to help develop “new environments” for a “New Age of Man.” The rhetoric, which is taken from one of Mr. Saltzman’s characteristically able speeches, could be discounted as just that, but in this particular instance we happen to be dealing with an entrepreneur who tries desperately to put his money where his mouth is. For example: by volunteering to help President Richard Nixon give solid content to glorious campaign promises about combining the power of government with that of business to create a black capitalism.

In line with his conviction that the quest for “new environments” should “originate from inside the business community, not be imposed from without,” Mr. Saltzman sought to present Washington with something that could be described as being at least a semi-fait accompli. He set up an acronymical organization called LEAD (League for Economic American Democracy). His idea was to team six important black militants and six white industrialists in a group leadership of LEAD, with the outsize objective of persuading five hundred American corporations to lend two able technicians each to work for a year with new black enterprises. The corporations would continue to pay the salaries of the thousand technicians-on-loan; the Small Business Administration in Washington would provide seed money for new ghetto capitalists. All of this could be dream stuff at a time when the inflationary dragon has yet to be slain, but Mr. Saltzman didn’t stop with a word fresco. Knowing that the Small Business Administration had $30 million of outstanding loans, Mr. Saltzman tried to figure out a way of turning the $30 million into a revolving fund to be used over and over again, thus avoiding the necessity of getting anything more out of Congress. Mr. Saltzman talked things over with some of his friends in the big insurance companies, who promised him that thirty million of insurance company capital would be available to “buy” the SBA’s loans. The Treasury Department assured Mr. Saltzman that the “sale” would be legal, and everything seemed set to work out a program which would send the freed SBA funds marching to the aid of black capitalism.

JC

About the Author

John Chamberlain

John Chamberlain (1903–1995) was an American writer.

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Arnold Saltzman, the President of the Seagrave Corporation, is one of those businessmen who, having made a bundle in his own world, would like to help develop “new environments” for a “New Age of Man.” The rhetoric, which is taken from one of Mr. Saltzman’s characteristically able speeches, could be discounted as just that, but in this particular instance we happen to be dealing with an entrepreneur who tries desperately to put his money where his mouth is. For example: by volunteering to help President Richard Nixon give solid content to glorious campaign promises about combining the power of government with that of business to create a black capitalism.

In line with his conviction that the quest for “new environments” should “originate from inside the business community, not be imposed from without,” Mr. Saltzman sought to present Washington with something that could be described as being at least a semi-fait accompli. He set up an acronymical organization called LEAD (League for Economic American Democracy). His idea was to team six important black militants and six white industrialists in a group leadership of LEAD, with the outsize objective of persuading five hundred American corporations to lend two able technicians each to work for a year with new black enterprises. The corporations would continue to pay the salaries of the thousand technicians-on-loan; the Small Business Administration in Washington would provide seed money for new ghetto capitalists. All of this could be dream stuff at a time when the inflationary dragon has yet to be slain, but Mr. Saltzman didn’t stop with a word fresco. Knowing that the Small Business Administration had $30 million of outstanding loans, Mr. Saltzman tried to figure out a way of turning the $30 million into a revolving fund to be used over and over again, thus avoiding the necessity of getting anything more out of Congress. Mr. Saltzman talked things over with some of his friends in the big insurance companies, who promised him that thirty million of insurance company capital would be available to “buy” the SBA’s loans. The Treasury Department assured Mr. Saltzman that the “sale” would be legal, and everything seemed set to work out a program which would send the freed SBA funds marching to the aid of black capitalism.