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World-Wide
Sends Markets –2
25%
10-day index performance
On Wild Week
–3
EXCHANGE
Gear & Gadgets D10 U.S. News............ A2-4
Heard on Street...B14 Weather................... A14
arrow into the red ring on a daughters are occupied with her family 24 summers, says:
Obituaries................. A6 World News....... A7-9 target 40 yards away. activities, he relives his youth. “It’s a great time to just un-
“I’m psyched!” he ex- This year, Mr. von Bernthal, of plug.”
claimed. The shot made him Waterford, Mich., also tie-dyed Unplug, maybe, but not nec- LAW REVIEW
> Archery Tournament Champ. an old polo shirt, sang songs essarily unwind. Making partner once
It capped an awesome stay around a bonfire and sailed a Some campers pack their meant a job for life.
at summer camp—for a 52- Hobie Cat, which he tipped schedules—skipping breakfast
year-old investor and manu- over. to make it to tennis, shooting
Now it means
facturer’s representative. Chief executives, doctors for awards, writing their own something very
s 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All Rights Reserved Mr. von Bernthal comes and professors say they attend camp rules. The camp enjoys different. B1
with his family every year to Camp Michigania to have fun Please turn to page A10
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U.S. NEWS
THE NUMBERS | Jo Craven McGinty
Rule Aims
Can Amazon Break Outside the Box? To Speed
Pipeline
E-com- were used for e-commerce Paper Trail original packaging is too
merce has
buoyed the
paper indus-
and mail-order deliveries, ac-
cording to Fastmarkets.
In the past, some of these
Paperboard production in the U.S. has risen despite a drop in
employees at the plants.
flimsy to survive shipping.
Egged on by irritated cus-
tomers, Amazon.com Inc.,
Approvals
try for years boxes would have been di- the largest online retailer, BY TIMOTHY PUKO
Net supply of new paperboard Number of paperboard
by increasing verted to traditional bricks- has branded its plans to re-
employees
demand for cardboard boxes. and-mortar stores, but Fast- duce packaging waste as a WASHINGTON—The Envi-
So what happens when markets attributed at least 50 million tons Paperboard manufacturers way to eliminate “wrap ronmental Protection Agency
online stores decide to cut 80% of the boost in demand Paperboard mills
rage.” But cutting down on is proposing a change in Clean
costs by shipping packages to e-commerce and mail-or- packaging could also save Water Act regulations aimed
in fewer and smaller con- der. In part, that’s because 40 200,000 the company substantial at streamlining the approval
tainers? online and mail-order outlets amounts in shipping and process for permits that are
In the short term, proba- use about seven times as 160,000 transportation costs. Last often a sticking point for pipe-
30
bly not much. But in the long many boxes per dollar spent year, the retail giant spent lines and other major infra-
term, it gets more compli- as bricks-and-mortar stores. 120,000 $27.7 billion on shipping, in- structure projects.
cated. Even so, the box indus- 20 cluding transportation, ac- The proposed regulatory
At the turn of the millen- try’s profits have grown 80,000 cording to its annual report, change is aimed at bolstering
nium, e-commerce accounted slowly, perhaps because the up from $21.7 billion in 2017 federal authority in granting
for only 1% of retail sales in majority of the products are 10 and $16.2 billion in 2016. these permits and at prevent-
40,000
the U.S. But by last year, to- generic and generate intense To help mitigate the cost, ing states from overstepping
gether with mail order, it ac- price-based competition, ac- 0 0 the company employs a team their authority, EPA Adminis-
counted for 17%, excluding cording to IBISWorld, a mar- of machine-learning experts trator Andrew Wheeler said in
2005 ’08 ’11 ’14 ’17 2005 ’08 ’11 ’14 ’17
cars and gas, according to ket-research firm that has and physicists to calculate an interview.
Fastmarkets RISI, which ana- analyzed the cardboard-box Note: Supply is production plus imports minus exports. 2018 supply figure is preliminary. how much material can be He singled out New York
lyzes the forest-products and container-manufacturing Source: The American Forest and Paper Association (supply); Bureau of Labor Statistics removed from standard cor- and its yearslong fight with
market and has examined industry. (employees) rugated boxes without risk- Williams Cos. about the Con-
the relationship between on- The average profit margin, ing shipping mishaps, and its stitution Pipeline and other
line shopping and paper measured as earnings before with about 31,000 workers provided by the Forest and “frustration-free packaging” stymied pipeline projects that
packaging. interest and taxes, increased and fewer than 2,400 manu- Paper Association, has in- program requires the pack- have kept new natural-gas
(By itself, e-commerce ac- from 5% of revenue in 2014 facturers with around creased from 46 million tons ages it dispatches to meet supplies from reaching the
counted for 9.7% of retail to an estimated 5.8% in 150,000 workers. in 2000 to 47.9 million tons one of three certification Northeast.
sales, but for its analysis, 2019—or a total of $3.9 bil- The American Forest and last year. tiers, including “ships in its “What we’ve seen is states
Fastmarkets combined it lion out of $67.9 billion in Paper Association, a national own container.” using the Clean Water Act…to
G
with mail order, which has revenues, according to IBIS- trade group that represents oing forward, the rela- Since Aug. 1, Amazon has hold up these projects,” Mr.
similar shipping require- World. the paper and wood-prod- tionship between e- required items larger than 18 Wheeler said. “It’s a regulation
ments.) ucts industry, attributes the commerce and paper inches by 14 inches by 8 to tell all the states to follow
A
As the e-commerce and t the same time, the decreases to streamlining. packaging will weaken, Fast- inches or weighing 20 the law.”
mail-order sector has grown, number of paperboard “The number of facilities markets predicts, thanks to pounds or more to be certi- Mr. Wheeler signed a copy
cardboard boxes, the most mills and manufactur- has gone down, but the ca- the increased use of shipping fied as ready-to-ship without of the proposal Thursday eve-
common type of shipping ers has declined. Nearly 300 pacity of existing facilities alternatives such as plastic the need for additional pack- ning, setting in motion a 60-
container in the U.S., have mills operated in 2001 with has gone up,” said Terry mailers, efforts to “right aging. But here’s the conun- day public-comment period.
hitched a ride. about 41,000 employees, ac- Webber, executive director of size” packages to do away drum: As Amazon seeks to The proposed measure tar-
In 2018, about half of all cording to the Bureau of La- packaging at the association. with outsize boxes, and at- curb its packaging excesses, gets New York and other
domestic corrugated-box bor Statistics, and more than “We’re investing in our mills tempts to reduce “overbox- it also aims to increase its states that have cited Clean
shipments for the retail sec- 3,000 manufacturers oper- so they have more capacity.” ing,” when a product must sales. And you know what Water Act authority in deci-
tor—consuming 40 billion ated with 211,000 employees. The supply of new paper- be stowed in a second, stur- that means. sions that have blocked or de-
square feet of material— Now, there are 255 mills board, according to figures dier container because its More boxes. layed projects, EPA officials
said. But some analysts think
the move could have limited
U.S. WATCH impact because states still
have broad authority, both un-
der the Clean Water Act and
PENTAGON tacted by The Wall Street Journal several other statutes, to slow
for comment on the allegation. permit reviews.
Computing Contract A lawyer for Ms. Brennan de- The proposed regulatory
Award Is Delayed clined to comment. Mr. Alvarez’s change would more clearly put
lawyer didn’t respond to a re- a one-year deadline into
The Pentagon will take weeks quest to comment. agency policy that applies to
to brief Defense Secretary Mark —Joseph De Avila states that have permitting
Esper and await his approval be- authority under the Clean Wa-
fore awarding a potentially lucra- VIRGINIA ter Act. Those states also
tive cloud-computing contract, could cite only water-quality
officials said Friday. Judge Sanctions issues in rejecting a permit.
“We are not going to rush to White Nationalists If states miss the deadline
a decision,” said Dana Deasy, or cite another rationale for a
PETER PEREIRA/STANDARD TIMES/ASSOCIATED PRESS
chief information officer at the A federal judge sanctioned rejection, their authority could
Defense Department. “I’m not go- white nationalists for their “un- be waived or invalidated. Per-
ing to try to predict an end date.” acceptable” behavior in a lawsuit mitting decisions would then
On Aug. 1, Mr. Esper said he against them in connection with revert to federal agencies such
would be reviewing the program a deadly rally in Charlottesville as the Federal Energy Regula-
known as the Joint Enterprise nearly two years ago. tory Commission or the U.S.
Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI. The judge on Friday ordered Army Corps of Engineers.
He didn’t give a timeline. Elliot Kline, Matthew Heimbach, Christopher Gray, spokes-
The Pentagon previously had and the organization Vanguard man at New York University
signaled it could award the po- America to pay “reasonable attor- School of Law’s State Energy
tentially $10 billion contract by ney’s fees” over their “refusal” to and Environmental Impact
the end of August, with Ama- participate in the discovery pro- Center, which has worked with
zon.com Inc. and Microsoft cess. He suggested “more drastic several state attorneys general
Corp. as finalists. sanctions” could be imposed if on clean-energy issues, dis-
—Ryan Tracy HOOKED: Youngsters played basketball on Friday at Clasky Common Park in New Bedford, Mass., their behavior doesn’t change. puted the claim that states are
during a block party sponsored by Creative Courts, which painted the court with a nautical theme. The lawsuit brought by Virginia abusing the law.
NEW JERSEY residents hurt during two days of He said states frequently
a state employee who accused of staff for New Jersey’s hous- in The Wall Street Journal. He violence accuses the white nation- deal with companies that sub-
Ex-Campaign Staffer him of sexual assault, claiming ing agency, accused then-cam- wasn’t charged with a crime. alists of violating civil-rights laws. mit incomplete applications or
Sues State Employee she defamed him and made false paign staffer Al Alvarez of as- Mr. Alvarez was hired as chief It seeks a court ruling prohibiting omit critical data, a bigger
accusations to get him fired. saulting her after a campaign of staff for the New Jersey the white nationalists and other cause for delays. That problem
A former staffer on New Jer- Katie Brennan, a former vol- event in Jersey City in 2017. Schools Development Authority in groups from committing further could get worse under the
sey Gov. Phil Murphy’s guberna- unteer for Mr. Murphy’s cam- The allegation, which Mr. Al- January 2017. He left his position civil-rights violations. EPA’s new proposal, Mr. Gray
torial campaign has countersued paign who now works as chief varez denies, was first reported in October 2018 after being con- —Associated Press said.
CORRECTIONS AMPLIFICATIONS
Degrees about 2001. Several factors are
likely to blame. After the tech
bust of the early 2000s, the
Percentage difference in
average net worth of college
graduates vs. nongraduates
for decades.
In 2016, the typical house-
hold headed by someone with
Paul Beaudry, David A. Green in January, which analyzed him as former FBI director. Eric Zarnikow, the execu-
300
Continued from Page One and Benjamin Sand. data from the Fed’s Survey of tive director of the Illinois
tween ages 25 and 29 with a As a result, college gradu- Consumer Finances. But that The Twitter handle for the Student Assistance Commis-
bachelor’s degree rose to 37% ates started taking up jobs 200 wealth premium has declined account of Sen. Mitch McCon- sion, spoke at an Illinois legis-
last year from 29% in 2000, Ed- previously held by those who substantially for younger gen- nell’s campaign is lative hearing Thursday about
ucation Department data show. went only to high school, 100 erations of college graduates, @team_mitch. A U.S. News ar- a loophole that has allowed
College and graduate-school pushing down wages for high- particularly those born in the ticle Friday about some Repub- some middle-class and wealthy
tuition has risen at triple the school graduates. College 0 1980s. Among some demo- lican groups freezing spending parents to get financial aid in-
rate of inflation this century, grads thus maintained an 1930s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s graphic groups, there is little on the site incorrectly said the tended for poor students. A
according to Labor Depart- earnings advantage over non- DECADE BORN or no wealth advantage at all. handle was @teammitch. U.S. News article Friday incor-
ment data. Students who bor- grads, but their real wages The typical black family rectly said Kevin Huber, the
Note: Doesn’t include graduate degree holders
rowed now leave college with didn’t rise. New York Fed data Source: St. Louis Federal Reserve
headed by someone with a col- Christopher Ayres is a law- chairman of the group, spoke.
more than $30,000 in debt, on show roughly four in 10 recent lege degree—but no graduate
average, and a small but grow- college graduates—those be- degree—born in the 1970s and Readers can alert The Wall Street Journal to any errors in news articles by
ing number is carrying tween ages 22 and 27—are in may be financially advanta- 1980s barely had any more emailing wsjcontact@wsj.com or by calling 888-410-2667.
$50,000 and beyond, accord- jobs that typically don’t re- geous on average, the flatten- wealth than the typical black
ing to a report last year by the quire a degree. And other re- ing of returns as costs have household headed by a non-
Brookings Institution. search shows that during the continued to rise suggests that graduate. Hispanic households THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
College graduates still earn recession, some employers re- college may be an unfavorable of the same age groups have (USPS 664-880) (Eastern Edition ISSN 0099-9660)
(Central Edition ISSN 1092-0935) (Western Edition ISSN 0193-2241)
far more than those who never quired bachelor’s degrees for financial investment for rising only a small wealth premium.
Editorial and publication headquarters: 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10036
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school. Americans with a only a high-school education. omist Robert Valletta of the “Among families born in the Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and other mailing offices.
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U.S. NEWS
ernor to a commission that ity. It also exposed a system in officers have gone through in in June, according to federal
made recommendations for ad- St. Louis County of excessive terms of criticism, it’s cer- data.
dressing the region’s chal- fines and arrest warrants for tainly not the hottest job, es- The state voted late last
lenges exposed by the unrest. minor traffic or parking infrac- pecially in the African-Ameri- year to raise the minimum
A $12 million Boys and Girls tions that were generating rev- can community,” he said. wage to $12 an hour by 2023.
Club teen center is slated to enue for the city at the expense Still, the current police The Ferguson Commission re-
open in October on the most of its poorest citizens. chief is African-American and port, co-chaired by Rev. Wil-
desolate stretch of West Flo- Recent data from the Mis- the current force is 50% black, son, had recommended a $15
rissant Avenue, just across the souri courts show that munici- up from 10% in 2014. The City minimum wage.
street from the Ferguson Mar- pal fees have dropped 81% in Council now has four black Samona Jones, 35, said her
ket and Liquor store where Mr. Ferguson, while arrest war- members, up from one in 2014. two teenage daughters were
Brown allegedly stole a box of rants have dropped 93%. Some activists say the he looking for jobs all summer,
cigarillos before he was killed The city has updated poli- police continue to target Afri- and only one recently found
by Ferguson Police Officer cies on issues like use-of-force can-Americans. one, at McDonald’s. “It’s not
Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014. and body cameras, according “As long as they’re black, easier to get a job” today than
Joseph Maguire is named acting director of national intelligence. A St. Louis County grand jury to an independent monitor ap- they’re going to get harassed,” before the riots, she said.
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U.S. NEWS
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OBITUARIES
PAT R I C K S H E E H Y ARTHUR MCGEE
1930 — 2019 1933 — 2019
P
atrick Sheehy, who in the BAT hired him in 1950 and sent When he was trying to break Wonder and Dexter Gordon.
1980s and 1990s headed what him to Copenhagen, where he dis- into the business in the 1950s, Yet many in the industry didn’t
is now called British Ameri- covered an odd rule: Employees of however, he was told there were recognize him. If he showed up at
can Tobacco PLC, or BAT, wrote in the tobacco company there weren’t no jobs for people of color. an office with an envelope under
his 2016 memoir that selling ciga- allowed to smoke in the office un- Mr. McGee, who died on July 1 his arm, receptionists sometimes
rettes was “not a particularly note- til after lunch. at the age of 86, did find work, mistook him for a delivery man.
worthy or honorable occupation.” Then came sales positions in Ni- mainly in the background, and He had a playful sense of hu-
At least, he added, it provided tax geria and the Gold Coast, soon to set up a workshop in Manhattan. mor. When one boss ordered him
revenue to fund social programs. be Ghana, where he helped launch He made clothes for Broadway to come up with something new,
BAT dealt with the health-related a low-price cigarette, Tusker. He stars and other celebrities. Mr. McGee produced a sweater
stigma of tobacco by diversifying. also worked in Jamaica and Barba- In 1957, he got a job designing with three sleeves, he recalled in
The maker of Kool and Kent ciga- dos before being assigned as a for the Bobbie Brooks label and a 2009 video interview recorded
rettes bought retailers including traveling adviser to lagging subsid- became the first African-Ameri- by the Metropolitan Museum of
Kohl’s and Saks Fifth Avenue, along iaries around the world. can to head a design team on Art.
with cosmetics, paper and packag- When he was promoted to chair- New York City’s Seventh Avenue, “I said, ‘Is that what you
ing companies. Unsatisfied with man in 1982, Mr. Sheehy promptly according to Women’s Wear want?’ He said, ‘OK, touché.’ ”
growth prospects in those indus- expanded the retailing arm by ac- Daily. —James R. Hagerty
tries, Mr. Sheehy acquired Farmers quiring the Chicago-based Marshall
Group Inc. and other insurers. Field department-store chain.
Philip Morris, the maker of Marl- with two sisters, to boarding But Mr. Sheehy saw financial ser-
boro cigarettes, diversified into school in Great Missenden, Eng- vices as a better long-term bet than JEROME SINGER
Miller beer in the 1970s and later land. Later he attended a prep retailing. When Allianz Versich- 1921 — 2019
added Jell-O and other food brands. school in Hertfordshire, where pun- erungs AG of Germany made a hos-
Then, in the late 1980s, investors ishment “involved lying over the tile bid for Eagle Star Holdings PLC
turned against conglomerates. By
the time Mr. Sheehy retired in 1995,
BAT was on its way to becoming a
side of the bed with one’s trousers
down and being given ‘six of the
best’ with a thick leather strap.”
in 1984, BAT charged in as a white
knight and acquired the British in-
surer for the equivalent of about
Berkeley Professor
pure tobacco company again. $1.4 billion.
Pioneered MRI
I
Mr. Sheehy, who died July 22 at n 1940, with World War II rag- Mr. Sheehy’s grand strategy was
age 88, largely was self-taught as a ing, the 10-year-old Patrick and interrupted in 1989 by a $21 billion
business leader. His only formal his sisters were put on a P&O hostile takeover bid from a group
A
training was a brief course for liner and evacuated to Sydney, of investors led by James Gold- s a teenager, Jerome Singer the same field, he credited Dr.
managerial trainees. He later said Australia. Crew members on the smith. They proposed to focus on had little interest in school Singer with creating “an early
he succeeded because he was impa- ship introduced him to the plea- tobacco and sell everything else. but tinkered with radios and predecessor to MRI.”
tient for results and blessed with a sures of smoking. Mr. Sheehy countered by pledging made rifles that shot rubber bands. Dr. Singer, who died July 30 at
“large dollop of common sense.” At his Jesuit school in Sydney, he to sell the retailing and other busi- He later tried various trades, in- age 97, said he and his research
Rising through the BAT ranks, later wrote, “discipline was en- nesses but keep tobacco and insur- cluding furrier, electrician, machin- colleagues earned $2 million from
he wasn’t impressed by the way forced by a thick, fairly rigid, black ance, while increasing dividends. ist and wartime ship navigator. At patents related to MRI technology.
the company was run. Most of the strap.” When the Australian boys Though the hostile bid failed, Boeing Co., he failed to find a way He taught for 25 years at UC
directors in 1970, he wrote, “could taunted him as a “Pom,” he ended BAT’s days as a conglomerate were to make jetliners quiet. Berkeley and helped start compa-
not read a balance sheet, did not up fighting one of the ringleaders ending. Mr. Sheehy’s successor, He finally found his calling as a nies involved in software and use
understand cash flow and were un- and later said: “I didn’t lose and Martin Broughton, shed the insur- professor of engineering at the of MRI technology to monitor en-
familiar with return on invest- thereafter I was accepted.” His fa- ance business in 1998 by merging University of California, Berkeley. ergy pipelines and prevent rup-
ment.” ther sent occasional letters to be- it with Zurich Group. Starting in 1959, he built de- tures.
Mr. Sheehy was born Sept. 2, rate him for poor exam results. Mr. Sheehy, who was awarded a vices using magnets and radio His wife, Margaret Singer, was
1930, in Burma, now Myanmar. “I Young Pat informed his father he knighthood in 1990 and became signals to measure blood flows a psychology professor at UC
hardly knew my parents,” he wrote. wanted to be a sheep farmer. known as Sir Patrick, is survived inside a mouse and then inside Berkeley and an expert on cults
His Irish father, John Sheehy, be- In 1944, his father shattered by his wife, the former Jill Tyndall, human fingers and arms. He and brainwashing techniques.
came a colonial bureaucrat in Brit- those farming visions by shipping two children and two grandchil- earned patents and plaudits as a They filled two houses in Berke-
ish-ruled India and Burma. His him back to England to attend the dren. pioneer of today’s magnetic reso- ley with books, research papers
mother, the former Jean Newton Ampleforth boarding school. When nance imaging, or MRI, scanners. and scientific apparatus. She died
Simpson, was of Scottish descent. weak exam results thwarted his Read a collection of in-depth When Paul C. Lauterbur shared in 2003.
At age 3, he was sent, along ambition to attend Oxford, he profiles at WSJ.com/Obituaries a Nobel Prize in 2003 for work in —James R. Hagerty
© 2019 Dow Jones & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. 6DJ8095
For personal, non-commercial use only. Do not edit, alter or reproduce. For commercial reproduction or distribution, contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing at (800) 843-0008 or www.djreprints.com.
WORLD NEWS
China Blames U.S. for Hong Kong Protests
State media publishes
family details about a
top diplomat who met
with opposition
China ratcheted up its accu-
sations of U.S. involvement in
fomenting protests in Hong
Kong, spotlighting a top diplo-
mat in state media, as the res-
tive city prepared for a 10th
weekend of demonstrations
under the threat that Beijing
could step in.
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1. Churchill and the Muse of History
2. Young Churchill
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4. Churchill’s Rise to the Admiralty
5. Churchill and Failure in World War I
6. Churchill in War and Peace
7. Churchill as Chancellor of the Exchequer
8. The Rise of Tyranny in the 1930s
9. Churchill as Author and Historian
10. The Gathering Storm in Nazi Germany
11. Churchill in the Age of Appeasement
12. The Road to Dunkirk
13. Churchill in Power
14. Surviving the Nazi Blitz
15. Turning the Tide against Hitler
16. Churchill and Roosevelt
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WORLD NEWS
A10 | Saturday/Sunday, August 10 - 11, 2019 * *** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
SoftBank’s
Solar Bid
Founders
Continued from Page One
have jousted over who would
lead expansion efforts, and ex-
ecutives misread markets or
fumbled relationships with gov-
ernment officials, according to
interviews with people familiar
with its solar business. Many of
its new projects aren’t likely to
generate the kinds of returns
Mr. Son had hoped for, the peo-
ple say.
The problems have sowed
doubts among potential part-
ners, leading government offi-
FAISAL AL NASSER/REUTERS
cials with grand energy visions
of their own to question
whether SoftBank is capable of
delivering what it has proposed.
In the technology sector, bet-
ting big can accelerate growth
and disrupt markets, says Manoj
Upadhyay, CEO of ACME Solar A solar plant in Saudi Arabia, a country where SoftBank said it would build 200 gigawatts of solar capacity. It has yet to complete a project in the country.
Holdings Ltd., one of India’s big-
gest solar developers. “But in quit SoftBank for a year to focus Solar Dreams handling such a large project.”
infrastructure, it cannot.” on energy issues, prompting a Mr. Nanda says SoftBank’s
SoftBank has sought to install more solar capacity in two countries than some analysts think the
Mr. Son said SoftBank’s solar shouting match as they argued India plants “have consistently
whole world will achieve by 2030.
business has been focusing on him out of it, he has said. performed above” targets set by
India and “is still expanding vig- In 2015, Mr. Son met Indian Solar-power market in gigawatts 2,500 Batteries for electric-grid storage, 1,000 his board and are getting
orously” at a pace that could Prime Minister Narendra installed capacity estimates “above-market returns.” He says
eventually make it one of the Modi—another renewable-en- in gigawatt hours the company has a business that
world’s biggest developers. “As ergy fan—and they hit it off, ac- 2,000 800 can grow quickly.
Optimistic estimate
for Saudi Arabia, it has its own cording to Satoshi Shima, then- (15% annual increase) In Saudi Arabia, energy offi-
internal plans and things to head of SoftBank’s office of the cials had auctioned off solar
manage, so it will take a little CEO. They exchanged cellphone Conservative estimate 1,500 600 contracts to other developers
while,” he said at a press con- numbers, Mr. Shima says. (10% annual increase) based on the lowest price that
ference this week. The two discussed an invest- 1,000 400 builders could offer. Saudi offi-
SoftBank says it has made in- ment of as much as $100 billion, cials proposed buying electricity
roads in India and Japan, and Mr. Shima says. Mr. Son after from SoftBank at prices similar
company executives see more to the meeting announced a more 500 200 to those achieved at auction,
come. “I honestly believe what modest plan for 20 gigawatts of which would allow profit mar-
we’re doing today is a tenth, a solar-energy in India, at an esti- gins of 4% to 6%, the people fa-
0 0
fifteenth, a hundredth of what’s mated cost of $20 billion. That miliar with the matter say.
about to happen,” says Raman is almost seven times what the 2005 ’10 ’20 ’30 2015 ’20 ’25 ’30
Nanda, chief executive of Soft- country had installed in 2015.
Bank’s Delhi-based energy unit. SoftBank brought in Mr.
Global capacity
in 2030*
Capacity proposed
by SoftBank in 2030
Capacity proposed
by SoftBank
Low returns
Nanda, a solar veteran who had Global By early this year, Mr. Son
for India in 2030
been working with the com- capacity had told officials their proposed
For For
Competing units pany’s renewable-energy team
Global
capacity India Saudi
in 2030
returns were too low for Soft-
SoftBank runs and invests in in Japan, to run the new India Arabia Global Bank, a person familiar with
in 2018
capacity
the $100 billion Vision Fund, the unit. It landed its first contract Saudi Arabia’s renewable pro-
in 2018
world’s largest technology-in- for a 350 megawatt plant in De- 480 2,587 1,200 1,500 gram says. The murder of Saudi
vestment vehicle. The company cember of 2015—more than half gw gw gw gw 12gwh 854gwh 2,200gwh journalist Jamal Khashoggi in
is launching a second fund it the size of SoftBank’s entire October, accompanied by allega-
says will be even bigger. Japan solar portfolio—four *Optimistic estimate Note: 2019 and onwards are estimates. tions, which Saudi Arabia de-
For solar ventures, SoftBank months after it was founded, Sources: 2005-2018 International Renewable Energy Agency; 2019-2023 International Energy Agency; 2024-2030 Institute of Energy Economics Japan nied, that Prince Mohammed
has two main energy units—one with eight staffers. analyst estimate, Yasushi Ninomiya; Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (batteries) was involved, complicated the
in Japan, the other in India. The real boost to SoftBank’s kingdom’s relationship with
Both have said they are respon- solar ambitions would come driven a hard bargain with in- nies to make the batteries Arabia and India, people famil- SoftBank and made it difficult
sible for new projects in Africa, months later in 2016, after Mr. ternational oil companies, seek- needed to support all that ca- iar with the company say. for the partners to do anything
and both are exploring opportu- Son connected with Saudi Ara- ing to maximize the value of the pacity. It proposed to invest in In India, government officials together, people with knowledge
nities in Saudi Arabia, people bia’s Crown Prince Mohammed kingdom’s abundant natural re- Kentucky-based startup Ener- reviewing SoftBank’s proposal of the events say.
familiar with them say. Soft- bin Salman. Mr. Son has said it sources. They had the same plan Blu, which was seeking $60 mil- decided the country could ab- SoftBank walked away its
Bank never formally decided only took him 45 minutes to with Saudi Arabia’s abundant lion to build a modest battery- sorb only a maximum of 350 proposed deal with EnerBlu in
who would handle a major convince the Saudi royal to in- sunshine, and the ministry had manufacturing plant, its first. gigawatts of solar energy by January. EnerBlu, drained of
Saudi solar development, al- vest $45 billion in SoftBank’s Vi- its own renewable-energy unit SoftBank said it needed more. 2030, an energy official says. money by the long courtship
though the India unit ended up sion Fund. In return, Mr. Son with a less ambitious solar plan. A SoftBank official said Mr. With solar technology and with SoftBank, has filed for
spearheading work, those peo- has publicly promised to help In March, Prince Mohammed Son would want to make a far prices changing so fast, the gov- bankruptcy protection.
ple say. Both units are called SB remake the kingdom’s oil-de- and Mr. Son made a surprise greater investment and pushed ernment felt it wouldn’t be wise “SoftBank shows up and says
Energy, although the India team pendent economy. appearance at New York’s Plaza EnerBlu to build a facility that to award so much capacity at they’re going to do all this
late last year added “Global” to As SoftBank sought to Hotel. Together, SoftBank and was 10 times the size of its ini- once, the official says. stuff,” says Mr. Elliott, who is
its name. deepen its financial ties in Saudi PIF announced a plan to build tial plan. SoftBank said it would Fierce competition for con- now working for a private-eq-
Mr. Son, who founded Soft- Arabia, discussions between Mr. 200 gigawatts of solar capacity invest around $400 million, ac- tracts, pressure from local gov- uity firm in California. “Shame
Bank in 1981, is famous for his Son and the country’s sover- at a cost of $200 billion by cording to former EnerBlu CEO ernments wanting cheap power, on us for trusting them.”
grand visions, even among tech- eign-wealth fund, called the 2030. The press release, issued Daniel Elliott. land acquisition struggles and SoftBank concluded EnerBlu
nology founders. In 2016, he or- Public Investment Fund, or PIF, by the Saudi embassy in the U.S. other complications were driv- wasn’t equipped to handle the
chestrated a $32 billion pur- turned to solar. SoftBank could and PIF, didn’t mention the en- ing down the profitability of so- scale needed for the deal and
chase of U.K. chip designer ARM
Holdings PLC, predicting Arm’s
help Saudi Arabia achieve its
long-sought goal of using less
ergy ministry at all.
The deal wasn’t subjected to
‘Shame on us for lar-project returns in the coun-
try. Mr. Nanda and his team
decided not to proceed, accord-
ing to a company statement.
architecture would be in 90% of oil in domestic power produc- the kind of vetting and bidding trusting them,’ says were torn between Mr. Son’s de- “No commitments were made at
a trillion connected devices by
2035. The Vision Fund, which
tion and exporting it instead,
Mr. Son said, by building up the
process energy officials in the
country use for oil deals, ac-
a former battery mand for scale and his push for
high returns, the people familiar
any stage,” the statement said.
On Jan. 15, the Saudi energy
poured billions into WeWork kingdom’s solar-power capacity, cording to people familiar with company executive. with SoftBank’s business say. minister unveiled a scaled-down
Cos., rarely cuts checks of less according to a person familiar the process. Energy officials felt SoftBank skipped one tender energy plan calling for 40 giga-
than $100 million and often with the discussions. slighted and saw the proposal for 10 gigawatts of solar-genera- watts of solar-power generation
presses companies to take more In the fall of 2017, Mr. Son as unrealistic, the people say. tion capacity. For another auc- by 2030. The energy ministry
money than they had planned. and PIF floated their initial plan A month later, Mr. Son “Frankly, $60 million doesn’t tion of 3 gigawatts last summer, would be responsible for 30% of
Mr. Son’s alternative-energy with a group of Saudi energy of- pitched Indian officials a plan to move our needle; I can’t take SoftBank told officials it would that and PIF and international
efforts date from 2011, when a ficials. As partners, they would develop 1,200 gigawatts of solar that back to Masa-san,” a senior take the entire amount at a fa- partners the remaining 70%, ac-
tsunami caused a nuclear melt- build 1,500 gigawatts of energy- power by 2030, along with SoftBank executive over India vorable price if authorities re- cording to a diagram of the
down and energy crisis in generating capacity, complete 2,200 gigawatt hours of battery told EnerBlu at a May 2018 vised regulations to let it do so, plan. SoftBank wasn’t men-
Japan. Mr. Son announced plans with plants to make the solar storage capacity and manufac- meeting, using a common moni- an Indian official says. When tioned.
for dozens of solar projects at panels and create 100,000 jobs. turing plants to make panels ker for Mr. Son, Mr. Elliott says. the government obliged, Soft- SoftBank remains an “impor-
home and began seeking deals Saudi officials burst out and batteries domestically, ac- SoftBank’s Japan solar busi- Bank bid for much less, at a tant partner for PIF and for the
abroad, aiming to create trans- laughing, according to people cording to people familiar with ness was making high returns in much less favorable price, an- Kingdom,” the fund said in a
national power grids that could familiar with the proposal. The the proposal. The world’s big- the country’s heavily subsidized noying New Delhi. The award written response. It declined to
export solar or wind energy 1,500 gigawatt total was more gest lithium-battery factory, run market, targeting around 30% was later canceled. comment on specific investment
from places including India, than triple the entire world’s so- by Tesla, Inc., has a capacity of investment returns, according “Masa has a big dream” for decisions.
Mongolia or the Middle East. lar-power capacity at the time. around 35 gigawatt hours. to one person familiar with the unprecedented solar-energy —Summer Said and Mayumi
In 2011, Mr. Son told his For decades, the country’s SoftBank’s energy unit in In- matter. Mr. Son expected re- scale, says the Indian official. Negishi contributed
board that he was planning to powerful energy ministry has dia went shopping for compa- turns of 15% to 30% in Saudi “But they are not capable of to this article.
For personal, non-commercial use only. Do not edit, alter or reproduce. For commercial reproduction or distribution, contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing at (800) 843-0008 or www.djreprints.com.
OPINION
THE WEEKEND INTERVIEW with Nathan Law | By Jillian Kay Melchior
KEN FALLIN
glasses, lightly wrinkled T-shirt spokesman for China’s Hong Kong the world, and then they try to
and backpack, he had the sleep-de- and Macau Affairs Office of the make you obedient by imposing all
prived demeanor of a student dur- State Council warned: “Those who the restraints, all the rules, all the
ing finals week. His youth belies play with fire will perish by it.” On sorted to disorderly behavior. Last Mr. Law’s mother learned of his restrictions in jail.” He tried to
his deep political experience. Wednesday, the office’s director, month, some broke into the Legis- political activism in 2014 “by look at it as “kind of like training
As an undergraduate, Mr. Law Zhang Xiaoming, said the Hong lative Council building and dam- watching television and seeing or testing for me.” He worked on
helped lead Hong Kong’s 2014 pro- Kong protests have “the clear aged property, and others defaced that I got arrested.” That was dur- cultivating mental strength, “to be
democracy Umbrella Movement, characteristics of a color revolu- China’s national emblem at the ing the Umbrella Movement. Police stable, be consistent, to face any
the precursor to today’s protests. tion” and that “if the situation government’s liaison office. Some held him only a few hours, but a difficulties that lie ahead.” He
“I didn’t have much time to study,” worsens further, and there is tur- have thrown bricks and Molotov difficult conversation awaited him gained exposure to different
he says, sounding genuinely apolo- moil that the Hong Kong govern- cocktails. at home. Both his parents had fled swaths of Hong Kong society—ma-
getic. He later became the youn- ment is unable to control, the cen- Yet Mr. Law says even the most mainland China for Hong Kong, fiosos, drug dealers, petty crimi-
gest person ever elected to Hong tral government absolutely will not militant protesters have avoided and they carried a “refugee men- nals. “You know more about the
Kong’s Legislative Council. That just watch without doing any- damaging private property or put- tality—stable life, taking care of world by staying in jail.”
Y
drew the eye—and the ire—of Bei- thing.” More than 10,000 mainland ting bystanders in harm’s way. your family, find a stable job,
jing, which intervened to have him police conducted antiriot drills in That’s “such an important feature that’s it,” Mr. Law explains. “They et he hasn’t lost interest in
unseated and imprisoned. nearby Shenzhen this week, squar- that we have to bear in mind be- do not talk about politics” and conventional education. This
ing off against fake protesters who cause it shows these protesters are “were very worried” about his ac- month he’ll begin a graduate
wore the same yellow hard hats not out of order. These protests tivism. “They kept saying, ‘You program in East Asian studies at
At 26, he’s already been and black T-shirts as Hong Kong’s are directed to symbols of power cannot mess with the Chinese gov- Yale—“as long as they don’t arrest
demonstrators. and power itself.” It’s a risky strat- ernment, with the Communist me. I don’t know.” He plans to do
elected to office and spent Far from being intimidated, Mr. egy: “They’ve been charging pro- Party. They are way more awful whatever he can to help the move-
time in jail. He explains Law says, protesters are embold- testers with rioting, which can lock than you expect.’ ” ment from New Haven, but a seri-
ened. The harsh response has com- them up in jail up to 10 years.” Mr. Law was undeterred. After ous education is “a very precious
why the protesters have pelled them to demand direct elec- Mr. Law’s political evolution be- the Umbrella Movement receded, opportunity.” Mr. Law worries he’ll
become more aggressive in tion of the chief executive and gan not at home but in the class- he and Joshua Wong founded the be unable to return to Hong Kong
legislators. “People clearly under- room of a publicly subsidized pro- Demosistō, a pro-democracy politi- after Yale, or that he won’t recog-
their tactics and demands. stand that if we don’t have a re- Beijing high school in Hong Kong. cal party, and ran for the Legisla- nize the place: “Will the political
sponsible government that is ac- Chinese dissident and political tive Council in 2016. “Most of the severity and condition become
countable to the people, then this prisoner Liu Xiaobo had won the seats are basically reserved for worse in the future? I don’t think
Mr. Law insisted in June that chaos could be repeated very eas- 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for his Ti- Beijing,” Mr. Law explains. “So in that is a fantasy. That might hap-
most Hong Kong youths share his ily because there’s no checks and ananmen Square activism and his every election, the pro-democracy pen if we face a true crackdown,
yearning for democracy and fear of balances,” he says. “We’re dealing role in drafting the Charter 08 camp wins by a majority, but in and all of us face political retalia-
Chinese communism. His peers with a government that does not manifesto. Mr. Law recalls his the council, we are a minority.” Mr. tion coming from the Communist
have proved him right. The politi- listen to its people, so I think that school principal condemning Liu, Wong, now 22, was disqualified for Party.”
cal crisis began when the Legisla- is exactly why we should not “saying he was a traitor.” his youth, but Mr. Law won one of Still, his fellow protesters give
T
tive Council, dominated by law- stop—because we’ve got such huge the few seats chosen by direct him reason to hope. Many are his
makers sympathetic to Beijing, momentum, and people are getting he 17-year-old Nathan had election. age or younger. Without anyone
rushed to enact a bill that would clear that only by having a true never heard of Liu. Nor had At his induction ceremony, Mr. telling them what to do, they
allow China to extradite people in democracy shall our rights be pro- he been taught much “about Law made clear that his loyalties spread the word about where and
Hong Kong to the mainland. Mil- tected.” democracy and human rights and were with Hong Kong, not Beijing. when to meet, and they show up
lions took to the streets in protest. Mr. Law argues that the Chinese liberalism,” the principles es- The oath of office has become “a with useful supplies like water bot-
Chief Executive Carrie Lam backed have violated the treaty under poused in Charter 08, he says. But tool of the authorities,” Mr. Law tles and first-aid kits. Some even
down and declared the bill “dead,” which Britain handed Hong Kong the teen reasoned that “people said, so “while I will go through tidy up the streets afterward to
but opponents are not reassured over in 1997. “Autonomy and de- who are awarded with a Nobel the necessary procedure, it doesn’t prove their orderly and law-abid-
because she hasn’t withdrawn it mocracy are the things that have Prize means that he or she has an mean that I will bend and bow to ing intentions. “It’s a leaderless
fully. She has also refused protest- been promised by China, and we excellent contribution in that absolute authority. . . . I will never movement, so they have to think
ers’ demands to resign, to investi- haven’t been asking for more,” he area.” Moreover, he adds with a bear allegiance to the powers that about what to do by themselves,”
gate police brutality against dem- says. “But if such humble demands smirk, authorities’ propaganda and be that kill their people. I will use Mr. Law says. “That’s very valu-
onstrators, to release and are not being met by them, it’s attempts at brainwashing “make my conscience to defend Hong able. These kinds of independent
exonerate those who have been ar- easy to predict that people may people more curious about the Kong people.” He recited the pre- acts actually make them more ma-
rested, and to retract claims that ask more.” Still, he says: “I don’t things that they condemn.” So “I scribed oath, then added: “Power ture and make them more experi-
they were “rioting” on June 12. think this has become a pro-inde- decided to explore things.” He be- returns to the people. Absolute enced in terms of having political
Since June 9, Hong Kong police pendence movement.” gan to read about human rights, and autocratic powers will not live actions.” Sounds like excellent
have arrested almost 600 people It has, however, become more history and politics online, and forever. There should be demo- preparation for self-government.
and fired more than 1,800 rounds aggressive in its tactics. Though what he learned shocked and trou- cratic self-determination, and
of tear gas and 160 rubber bullets the vast majority of protesters bled him. Eventually, it also drove there will be continuous struggle.” Ms. Melchior is a Journal edito-
at demonstrators. “I myself have have been peaceful, some have re- him to activism. Thus ended Mr. Law’s political rial page writer.
On Two Wheels, the Trump Train Rolls Into the Black Hills
Sturgis, S.D. souvenirs. There’s nothing compara- lan to Snoop Dogg to “Weird Al” Trump campaign event. The vibe is turned against fossil fuels. The an-
They’re selling ble for the Democrats—no Beto mugs Yankovic. Sarah Palin and the 78- different. “We have good jobs, we’re swer is also partly economic: Motor-
Trump T-shirts and or Kamala Harris cigarette lighters. I year-old drag racer Don Prudhomme educated,” insisted David Breunig, cycles were always associated with
shot glasses, Trump watched a mother holding a Trump are among the visiting celebrities president of the Highway Riders, a the working class, and the blue-col-
squishy dolls and shirt up to her 10-year-old daughter, this year. California motorcycle club. “Just be- lar Rust Belt now falls in the Trump
teddy bears. They’ve gauging the size. “We sell 30 a day,” “We’re all on the same side,” a cause we ride a Harley and look like column. Vietnam vets and their MIA
got bobblehead motorcycle-shop owner named David this, we’re [still] good people.” The movement added the American flag
CROSS
COUNTRY Trumps and bumper MacDonald explained about the poli- point of the Sturgis Rally, he said, is back into the mix.
By Faith
stickers for sale Love for the president tics of the riders. “It does seem a lot to be “a pilgrimage,” an “expression In the 1953 biker movie “The Wild
alongside Trump of bikers are on the Trump side,” a of freedom” and deeply “patriotic, One,” a waitress asks Marlon
Bottum
coasters and coffee among the ‘patriots,’ young man told me, while asking not [with] everyone flying American Brando’s character what he is rebel-
cups, Trump flags ‘rebels’ and ‘crazies’ at the to be named for fear he would lose flags.” ling against. “What do you got?” he
and flasks. Everywhere you look it’s his job in California. “I saw bikers And maybe something like that answers. Bikers are still rebels, only
Trump, Trump, Trump—Donald Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. wearing Trump gear like the gear explains how we got from outlaw now they are rebelling against a
Trump’s face on merchandise at the I’m wearing”—because under Trump biker culture to support for Donald dominant liberal culture that seems
dozens of pop-up stores serving the “unemployment has gone down and Trump. The answer is partly socio- dull and prissy, and never liked them
hundreds of thousands of bikers who one vendor said of the shirts, and the the economy is doing better.” logical: There’s an old American tale anyway.
have come to the Black Hills this rally is definitely “one-way political.” And yet the Sturgis gathering of freedom, and the open road be-
week for the annual Sturgis Motor- After only a single day, “we’re al- isn’t overwhelmingly political. Al- came a conservative cause when the Ms. Bottum is a civil-engineering
cycle Rally. ready on our second box,” another most everyone there is for Trump, left embraced the coastal cities over student at the South Dakota School
Each August, topless women pa- vendor confided. but the rally doesn’t feel like a Middle America’s countryside and of Mines.
rade up Main Street in this town of Asked what brings him to the
7,000, as an endless line of motorcy- Sturgis Rally, Mike Ford, a 55-year-
clists roar back down Lazelle Street.
People come to Sturgis from all over
the country to be around other lov-
old biker from Oklahoma City, an-
swered, “I come for the crazy peo-
ple.” The crazies are certainly
My Younger Brother’s Laugher Curve
ers of machines and the open road. around. A man in a beer barrel wad- By Mike Kerrigan stratively tapping each shirt and I peeled back the bread on my re-
H
It’s a chance to look at classic hogs dles through the crowd. Bikers perch pants pocket to convince me he was maining half-sandwich to find what
and custom choppers, an occasion to dogs, some wearing doggy goggles, e who eats alone chokes wallet-free. I feared: a partly eaten paper-nap-
celebrate bikers and the old outlaw on their handlebars. A self-pro- alone, warns an Arabian I trace my communal-dining skep- kin, one with red-ink drink specials
culture. claimed “professional hobo” named proverb. That depends on the ticism to one particular lunch during printed on it. Jack had jammed it be-
The hardest question to answer “Tinker” offers a business card and company you keep. The company I his first and my third year in law tween the turkey and lettuce while I
here is how outlaw culture came to fancy knives for sale. Todd Gilmore kept through young adulthood was school. We were at an inexpensive had looked away.
be so Republican. During the 10-day from Colorado, dressed up as Bat- my kid brother, Jack. Two years my restaurant we frequented, and the It wasn’t my bons mots that had
extravaganza, the last remnants of man, captures Goblin, his mock- junior, Jack was almost always in waiter brought our food just as I was delighted him so. It was watching his
the Hells Angels mingle with Chris- criminal companion in a green camo school with me. I liked to think he drawn into conversation with a big brother devour a cocktail napkin,
tian bikers, stockbrokers riding ex- morphsuit. “It makes everyone so chose to follow his big brother. I see friend seated nearby. A small win- bite by oblivious bite. Jack claims he
pensive Harley-Davidsons, old men happy when I’m here,” he boasted now that some of it was his not dow, but it was all the time Jack stood ready to deliver the Heimlich
on Triumphs, and young gearheads when I interviewed him. Meanwhile, wanting to part company with such needed. Turning my attention back maneuver if that proved necessary.
on light Suzukis. Together they a biker gang of California Sikhs, all an easy mark. to my brother, I picked up the con- I’m not sure he, doubled over with
cruise the Black Hills, enjoy concerts in turbans, rolls past the sales tents We often ate together when we versation where it had ended. laughter by the end, could have done
by George Thorogood and Keith Ur- and the strolling police, who are attended the University of Virginia I should have noticed Jack was up it.
ban, drink at the bars, and buy lots careful not to notice the public nu- law school. I usually paid. My to something. We usually kept our It may well be that he who eats
and lots of Trump memorabilia. dity and minor misdemeanors. brother is a generous fellow now, discussions light, but he was laugh- alone chokes alone. But he who eats
Cornell “Tuffy” Nicholas, a circus Even in a weak year the half a but truly no man can have forgotten ing a little too loud and smiling a lit- with my brother without watching
owner from Florida, opened five million people who come to the his wallet as frequently he claimed tle too long over my pleasantries. By his food like a hawk chokes on a
“loud and proud” Trump shops in an- Sturgis Rally drop around $800 mil- to have back then. Not that subsidiz- the fifth bite, something felt amiss— cocktail napkin.
ticipation of the rally. But nearly ev- lion. South Dakota’s total state bud- ing him was without entertainment. something I felt in my bones and,
ery pop-up store in Sturgis sells get is only $4.6 billion. Concert Whenever the check came, Jack more to the point, in the back of my Mr. Kerrigan is an attorney in
Trump merchandise alongside rally headliners have ranged from Bob Dy- danced an ersatz Macarena, demon- throat. Charlotte, N.C.
For personal, non-commercial use only. Do not edit, alter or reproduce. For commercial reproduction or distribution, contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing at (800) 843-0008 or www.djreprints.com.
A12 | Saturday/Sunday, August 10 - 11, 2019 * *** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
OPINION
REVIEW & OUTLOOK LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Elizabeth the Vampire Slayer Does Diversity Help or Hurt Most Students?
E
lizabeth Warren’s favorite image for reduce the incentive to invest in companies Anthony Kronman argues that the which he sees as a tool to silence di-
businesses is that they “suck” profits with uncertain prospects. Ditto Ms. Warren’s downgrading of excellence and origi- vergent opinions. But even skin-deep
nality is the real crisis in higher edu- diversity can amplify debates. Our
out of American society like vampires. proposal to hold private-equity firms liable for
cation (“The Downside of Diversity,” research, published in the Proceed-
Her latest targets are private- the debts, legal judgments and Review, Aug. 3). But instead of using ings of the National Academy of Sci-
equity firms that invest in The Senator takes out pension obligations of the truth (always a subjective concept) ences, shows that when financial
struggling companies, often
replace management and bet
the garlic and crosses companies in which they in-
vest. No investor will sink
as a barometer of excellence, I would traders interact with others who are
choose knowledge. The absence of ethnically different, they process in-
on a turnaround. She wants to against private equity. money into a failing enter- such a term in the article is both re- formation more carefully—and price
put them out of business. prise if doing so requires as- vealing and symptomatic. In our age assets more accurately—than traders
“The Stop Wall Street Loot- suming all its liabilities. of high-speed access and focus on working in ethnically homogenous
ing Act,” as Ms. Warren calls her new bill, would Some PE-backed businesses like Toys “R” Us information, identity politics may settings. Diversity enhances perfor-
impose new taxes, legal liabilities and regulations and iHeartRadio have filed for bankruptcy, but turn people into instant experts on mance not because minorities neces-
that would make it more costly and risky for in- they might have failed sooner due to industry- their social predicament. But aca- sarily bring different views, but be-
demic excellence, regardless of race cause it fosters greater interpersonal
vestors to try to revive businesses. It would also wide problems without a private-equity inter-
or gender, can’t be achieved without friction and encourages more scru-
effectively rewrite the bankruptcy code. vention. Moody’s has found PE-controlled busi- a rigorous, time-consuming pursuit tiny, guarding against irrational
Ms. Warren describes private equity as nesses are no more likely to file for bankruptcy, of knowledge. Today everyone has herding and price bubbles. Prof.
“bleeding the company dry and walking away and investor equity is typically wiped out in an opinion because of access to the Kronman is right to fear the tyranny
enriched even as the company succumbs.” Per- bankruptcy. internet and other media, yet there of majority opinion, but he is wrong
haps she’s trying to appeal to “Twilight” and Senator Warren nonetheless wants to re- are no shortcuts to book-acquired to blame diversity for it. When man-
“Buffy” loving millennials. But her garlic-wield- write the bankruptcy law for private equity. Her knowledge. aged right, diversity can be the anti-
ing caricature overlooks that private-equity bill would reorder the creditor hierarchy by re- ANOUAR MAJID dote.
managers lose money if their investments fail. quiring that company pension contributions Portland, Maine PROF. SHEEN S. LEVINE
Private-equity firms make long-term invest- and employee severance receive equal priority The University of Texas at Dallas
ments in underperforming companies and aim to operating and “administrative expenses.” Prof. Kronman’s article ignores Dallas
America’s history. Diversity isn’t the
to create value—and turn a profit—by fixing in- This would push unsecured creditors further equivalent of identity politics. He The article should give all higher
efficiencies. They raise capital from institu- down the priority line. wants us to see the downside of di- education faculty pause. Those who
tional investors like college endowments and While bondholders may now seek to take versity when suggesting that stu- influence and guide young minds
public pension funds, which they often supple- control of a company in bankruptcy, Ms. War- dents claim “something is true be- need to re-evaluate how the push for
ment with debt, to buy out public shareholders. ren’s bill “directs bankruptcy courts to approve cause I believe it or feel it to be diversity is ruining the education of
Managers are compensated with an annual the offer that best preserves the company’s jobs true.” Even Alexis de Tocqueville and the minority groups they profess to
fee—typically between 1.5% to 2% of a fund’s in- and maintains the terms and conditions of em- Aristotle honor the individual expe- be helping. Pushing groups into cor-
vested capital, which is taxed as ordinary in- ployment for its workers.” In other words, a rience, which today means acknowl- ners by embracing victimhood and
come. Only if a company returns profits over buyer’s investment or financial offer wouldn’t edging the trauma faced for centu- instilling guilt can never create an
several years that exceed a “hurdle rate”—on matter if another bidder promises workers a ries by blacks in America. Still today, environment for objectivity, building
despite the mass shootings by white character or independent thought.
average 8%—do managers get a cut. If returns better deal, even if it is financially unsustain-
supremacists, despite the killings of Bravo to Prof. Kronman for so elo-
decline, outside investors can claw back profits able. The upshot is that creditors will be more unarmed blacks by police officers, quently presenting his case.
from managers. likely to push to liquidate failing companies in the black community is standing tall. JOHN BURK
This aligns the incentives of fund managers a chapter 7 bankruptcy rather than try to sal- These facts aren’t feelings but rather Santa Barbara, Calif.
with their investment partners and encourages vage them for reconstruction. serve to retraumatize an entire peo-
the long-term investment that progressives like The Warren bill would also require PE funds ple. The author criticizes this “cul- I was with the author until near
Ms. Warren supposedly desire. Private equity to publicly disclose their performance and fees. ture of grievance and group loyalty.” the end when he let his mask slip
has turned around Dunkin’ Donuts, Hilton ho- Most PE managers already disclose this infor- When Robert Smith gave his $40 and revealed that he is a practitio-
tels, Dollar General and many other companies, mation to investment partners. But the Senator million gift to Morehouse graduates ner of the behavior he laments. He
though most success stories aren’t known to is trying to please union pension funds that this spring, he spoke of the resil- just couldn’t resist a swipe at Donald
consumers while failures grab headlines. want more leverage over private-equity firms ience of the black community, chal- Trump with “especially at a moment
lenging the graduates to pay it for- when our basic norms of truthful-
Ms. Warren assails private equity for loading when deciding whether to invest.
ward, take care of their own. If ness and honesty are mocked every
companies with debt, which the corporate tax The irony is that public pension funds have sticking together, voicing true griev- day by a president who respects nei-
code has encouraged by allowing a deduction been increasing their investments in these vam- ances, naming historical facts and ther.” If he were honest, he would
for interest payments. The GOP tax reform lim- pires, er, private-equity funds as they shoot for calling out racist behavior is wrong, acknowledge that politicians playing
ited the deductibility for interest to 30% of a higher returns to finance generous worker re- then I don’t want to be right. fast-and-loose with the truth has a
company’s adjusted earnings, which we sup- tirements. The 10-year average annual return CHARLOTTE BEYER very long tradition. Furthermore, his
ported along with the corporate rate cut. But for private equity is 10.2%—13.63% in Ms. War- New York phrase “our basic norms” is an ex-
Ms. Warren opposed that trade-off and now ren’s home state—compared to 8.5% for stocks ample of his assumption that every-
wants to raise tax rates and set a stricter cap and 6.7% overall. Why does the Senator want A free exchange of ideas is crucial one of right thinking agrees with
on “excessive leverage” for private equity. Her to hurt union retirees? in bringing us closer to a Socratic him. Evidently, this is his “truth,”
bill doesn’t say what it should be, but it would Senator Warren describes herself as a “capi- truth, and the author bemoans that but it isn’t mine.
such diversity of views has been JEFFREY KAHN
significantly raise the cost of capital. talist to the bones.” She must have a strange
substituted by superficial diversity, Milton, Ga.
The Senator would also tax the profits above definition of capitalism. Every policy she pro-
the hurdle rate of return at the ordinary income poses would increase government control over
rate rather than as capital gains, which would the private economy.
The Wireless Swamp Is a Pretty Uniform One
A Political Steel Trap Holman Jenkins’s conclusions re-
garding the Sprint and T-Mobile
bile’s or Sprint’s, and won’t be af-
ter 5G introduction. There are mar-
L
ast June the president and CEO of JSW quantities” the company requires. In denying merger are absolutely correct keting claims about good, better or
Steel USA, John Hritz, was praising its request for an exclusion, says JSW, the (“Faster Wireless vs. the Swamp,” best, but in reality, it is the same
Business World, July 31). When in service, packaged differently. As a
President Trump for the tariffs he felt Trump Administration “yielded to the objec-
the course of antitrust determina- former wireless professional, I hark
would reward companies such as his, whose tions” of three U.S. steelmakers—United States tion did the Justice Department pick back to the words I often used dur-
$1 billion investment in America included the Steel Corporation, AK Steel Corporation, and specific firms as winners in the bat- ing regulatory hearings: “How much
restoration of a shuttered steel plant in Ohio. Nucor Corporation—without examining tle? The simple fact is that after all competition is too much competi-
“We are completely in lockstep with the presi- whether they could produce the steel slab JSW these years of cellular communica- tion?” As for Charlie Ergen, the
dent,” Mr. Hritz told CNBC. needs to make its own products. JSW com- tions development, the marketplace FCC, Justice and all those interven-
That was then. Now JSW Steel USA, the U.S. plains it has had to pay “tens of millions in tar- for service has settled on three via- ers who have turned a blind eye to
arm of an Indian infrastructure conglomerate, iffs from which it should have been exempted.” ble providers. Yes, it is true that the regulatory duties that come
is suing the Trump Commerce Department. JSW makes a good case. Still, the company without a merger of almost equals, with the acquisition of spectrum li-
The beef? That Commerce denied the company thought it would be a winner under the steel Sprint or T-Mobile would face the censes—build it, or lose it. The FCC
the exclusions it sought from the very steel and aluminum tariffs. It’s now finding out it wrath of creditors and face elimina- should follow its own rules and not
tion, but that is a natural occur- play games. Require Mr. Ergen to
tariffs it earlier endorsed. will be one of the losers. That can happen
rence in any market for homogenous follow the rules before awarding
Specifically, the company is seeking tariff when you rely on political mediation via trade goods and services. him another chance to get out un-
exemptions for steel slab that it says is “not policy to gain a competitive advantage. What Let’s face it, AT&T’s personal scathed.
available in the U.S. market in the quality and politicians giveth they can also taketh away. communications services aren’t any EDWARD HORNER
different from Verizon’s or T-Mo- Columbus, Ga.
OPINION
I
pretty worldly person, but in my But here a responsible person
’m in the waiting area of the imagination she’s a 15-year-old would note that we are in a cri-
doctor’s office and it comes on kid from Jersey, she’s on the sis, as the doctor suggested. It’s
the Muzak system and I’m sit- Route 4 bus from Paramus, she’s not a problem, it’s a crisis, it’s
GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO
ting peacefully, not scrolling or from a beat-up family, no one’s continuing, it has a hundred
looking at headlines, and I taking care of her, she’s on her causes, we have to chip away at it
hear the music and remember the own, but she’s imagining an al- hard. In a crisis you try this thing
lyrics and my eyes start to fill. ternative self, this tough, care- and then that; you experiment,
That old American song, mid-20th less, glamorous self she’s going boldly. You become daring.
century, and those words . . . to turn into when she gets to We argue about which solu-
Someone once said a hallmark of New York. It’s about the stories tions are right, but all the solu-
good music is that it is confident of we tell ourselves to keep going, tions are part of the solution. We
the values it asserts. In this case the worlds we imagine to keep up to make money and be respected.” huckleberry reference was an at- are in a mental health crisis; it’s not
those values include tranquillity, or- our morale. Oh, dream maker tempt to engage in a suggestive, even a right-wing talking point. We need
der, harmony. But really it’s a song But “Moon River”—I’ve always You heartbreaker protometaphorical manner with more hospitalizations and more hos-
about yearning. thought it such an American song be- Wherever you’re going I’m going America’s central and founding di- pitals. We do need red-flag laws so
cause there’s not only yearning in it your way lemma, race,” Mercer said. that those who are potentially harm-
but loneliness. This comports with my That’s America, the dream maker Actually he never said that. I ful to themselves or others have their
In times like this, brave sense of America as a vast place set- and heartbreaker, but you’re inter- made it up. But years ago that’s what guns taken. We do need deep national
tled by people from somewhere else, twined with it, you’re not alone. I thought was on his mind, that we’re background checks, and let judges ad-
and bold experimentation most of whom were on a losing Two drifters off to see the world all on this journey together and have judicate disputes. We do have to help
is the closest we’ll get to strain—no money, no prospects. Ban- There’s such a lot of world to see to get it right. And maybe it is what the single mother who knows her son
dits who hadn’t been caught, adven- I’m nobody from nowhere but it’s Mercer meant. is a ticking time bomb—she needs a
finding a solution. turers, dreamers, earnest younger all out there waiting for me. You’re That song came from our culture. better response than “There’s nothing
brothers who stood to inherit noth- not really American until you have a And I’m thinking of what the we can do until he hurts someone.”
ing, lost girls on their own. They got poignant sense of the bigness of words mean to me as they call my We should try banning assault weap-
It has always seemed to me such a chance and left families behind, left things. When “Moon River” came name and I meet with the doctor and ons. I don’t care if we don’t have sta-
an American song. I see a lot of centuries of a certain way of being out, in 1961, the American president have my exam. tistics proving it will help—do it any-
songs as “such an American song.” behind. In this way our parent-forget- had a little plaque on his desk: “O, Then, because this is America and way, as a crisis measure, do it for 10
Here are two examples off the top of ting country was born and invented God, Thy sea is so great and my boat we are citizens, our conversation years again and see if it helps. If the
my head. Al Jolson’s “She’s a Latin itself. They got to America, pushed is so small.” turned to what has been happening. National Rifle Association were wise,
From Manhattan,” is about a 1920s west, lit out for the territories, We’re after the same rainbow’s The doctor is worried about his it would be supple now, in crisis. If
vaudeville hoofer. Sultry, glamorous searched for Sutter’s gold. Or, dragged end three kids in grade school. They see the president were wise, he’d look to
Latins are all the rage on the stage, from Africa, lived in the South, joined Waiting round the bend the headlines and hear everything. the country and put distance between
so she’s changed her name and walks the great migration North. Always on My huckleberry friend They do shooter drills in their the NRA and himself. If Democrats
around with a tambourine passing the move, all of us. Moon river and me schools. “And it’s everywhere.” were wise they wouldn’t turn this
herself off as a mysterious lady from “Moon River” is about how you’re It’s all within grasp, all possible. Yes. I said one of the painful into a game.
Madrid or Havana. A guy in the audi- going to move. It’s a promise to Again, I’m not alone. The lyricist things we’re witnessing is the loss of I want so badly on this pretty Au-
ence falls in love but then thinks: yourself: “I’m crossing you in style Johnny Mercer nodded to Huckle- the fantasy worried parents had, the gust day to tie this back to the old
Wait, I remember her! “Though she someday.” It’s not enough you’ll berry Finn, the abandoned boy who fantasy of “I can give all this up and songs and their confidently asserted
does a rumba for us / And she calls cross that river, you’ll cross it in shoved off down the river and came move to Ketchum, Idaho. I can leave values. I can’t. There’s no nice song
herself Dolores / She was in a Broad- style. “I will rise and everyone will upon the man who became his best the unsafe place and go to a safe about people scared for their kids
way chorus / Known as Susie Dona- see it, everyone will know. I’m going friend, the escaped slave Jim. “The place and bring up my children and afraid for their country.
T
pability to work with the Afghan neighboring tribal areas of Paki- which promptly became the all-con- is that the U.S. would have been in
he announcement of a peace government against international stan—will prove all but impossible suming problem for American na- a stronger position to respond
agreement between the U.S. terrorists—and there is ample rea- absent an enduring U.S. footprint on tional security and compelled the when the country’s fragile politics
and the Taliban is said to be son to doubt this—common sense Afghan soil. administration to rush thousands of began to fracture and could have
imminent, after years of combat and dictates the U.S. must retain its own Others say it still isn’t worth soldiers back to Iraq and later Syria. reacted much more rapidly when
months of negotiation. The U.S. will means to pressure extremist net- staying even if Afghanistan is poised If the U.S. abandons Afghanistan to ISIS appeared.
reportedly promise to reduce its works plotting against the American to collapse without U.S. troops. In chaos, this pattern is likely to repeat The Trump administration should
military presence in Afghanistan in homeland and U.S. allies. This can an era of resurgent great-power itself and the resulting crisis will apply the lessons of that tragic ex-
exchange for a Taliban commitment be accomplished only by having competition and record deficits, the once again dominate Washington’s perience to the present situation in
to cooperate against international some number of capable American thinking goes, keeping U.S. forces in foreign-policy bandwidth, to the det- South Asia. Simply put, the kind of
terrorism and enter direct talks with forces in Afghanistan, along with Afghanistan is an unaffordable dis- riment of its ability to manage other U.S. withdrawal that was inadvisable
the Afghan government. substantial “enablers” such as un- traction from other, more pressing challenges, including China. in Iraq eight years ago would be in-
manned aerial vehicles and close air national issues. This, too, is wrong. The alternative is to recognize defensible for Afghanistan today.
support. The cost of retaining a few thousand that the U.S. doesn’t need a plan for
The Taliban have left no While Iraq’s sectarian unraveling troops in Afghanistan pales in com- leaving but a strategy for staying— Mr. Petraeus, a retired U.S. Army
after the U.S. withdrawal in 2011 was parison with the price the nation one that carefully minimizes Ameri- general, served as commander of
doubt that they’ll try to a possibility that some foresaw, it will pay, strategically and economi- can, coalition and Afghan costs and U.S. Central Command and of coali-
overthrow the government was far from assured. If the Trump cally, if al Qaeda or ISIS rebuilds a casualties but accepts the necessity tion forces in Iraq and Afghanistan
administration orders a full pullout terrorist platform there. of a sustained and sustainable and as director of the Central Intelli-
if American forces leave. from Afghanistan, there is consider- The Obama administration left troop presence to safeguard vital gence Agency. Mr. Serchuk is an ad-
ably less doubt about what will hap- Iraq in part because it believed that U.S. interests. junct senior fellow at the Center for
pen—full-blown civil war and the re- doing so would free up resources for We’ll never know whether Iraq’s a New American Security and served
For Americans as well as Afghans, establishment of a terrorist its “rebalance” in favor of Asia and collapse could have been averted as foreign-policy adviser to former
any possibility of settling this con- sanctuary as existed when the 9/11 domestic priorities. Instead, renewed had the Obama administration left Sen. Joseph Lieberman.
flict is cause for hope. But even as attacks were planned there.
citizens in both countries pray for The Taliban have clearly indicated
peace, leaders in Washington must
proceed with caution. While diplo-
matic progress with the Taliban may
what they will try to do once U.S.
forces are gone: overthrow the Af-
ghan government and reimpose me-
How Bad Will It Get for Netflix?
justify a reduction in U.S. force lev- dieval rule. Their resistance to a for- Netflix got there awaited streaming service at $6.99 a larger underlying businesses.
els, under no circumstances should mal cease-fire, continued barbaric fustest with the month, about half the $12.99 Netflix Now throw in the possibility that
the Trump administration repeat the attacks on civilians, and opposition mostest, in the charges for its basic high-definition these complicated economics, along
mistake its predecessor made in Iraq to elections scheduled for this fall apocryphal words service. with the industry’s giant collective
and agree to a total withdrawal of are all warning signs. Such a confla- of a Civil War gen- With diabolical intent, Disney overspend on content, will be hitting
combat forces from Afghanistan. gration is likely to reinvigorate the eral. Its dominance seems out to scramble viewer per- the fan just as the economy enters
A complete military exit from Af- flagging fortunes of Islamist extrem- of the streaming ceptions of what constitutes a “pre- recession. Will consumers treat
BUSINESS
ghanistan today would be even ism world-wide and the global ter- entertainment mium” service. Netflix positioned it- streaming subscriptions the way
WORLD
more ill-advised and risky than the rorist threat—which, despite the de- business is re- self as the basic cable of streaming, they did their cable bills? Back in
By Holman W.
Obama administration’s disengage- struction of Islamic State’s territorial flected in its mar- valued for its breadth of watchable the day, Americans cut back on food
Jenkins, Jr.
ment from Iraq in 2011. Iraq had caliphate in Iraq and Syria, is by no ket cap, which rose stuff even if you then also sub- before they cut back on TV. Percep-
largely been stabilized by the time means defeated. 15-fold, to more scribed to HBO or Showtime for tions of streaming’s superfluity of
the last U.S. combat elements left, Some have suggested that, should than $150 billion, in eight years. But their cultural landmark shows. content may be very different. If you
with al Qaeda having been routed Afghanistan implode following the a line in its latest earning report Disney clearly wishes to unbase drop Netflix, how much you will re-
during the 2007 surge. In Afghani- departure of American ground was a stunner: Its U.S. subscribers these expectations. Its price point is ally miss a show you haven’t found
stan, by contrast, the Taliban are troops, the U.S. can simply adopt an actually dropped in the second meant not only to get Disney’s ser- time to watch in weeks? Plus you
far from defeated, while some 20 “offshore” counterterrorism strat- quarter. vice taken up but Netflix’s canceled. can always renew and catch up later.
foreign terrorist organizations like egy—relying on drone strikes and More Americans left the service Disney further upped the ante this Netflix was once the last service a
al Qaeda and ISIS retain a presence targeted raids from afar to disrupt than signed up. Wow. week by announcing that for the consumer might think about cancel-
in the region. It is unlikely that any plots. That is a fantasy. Unlike Ye- Netflix blamed a weak lineup of same $12.99 Netflix charges it will ing. Not anymore.
will join a peace deal. men or Somalia, landlocked Afghani- new shows. It said growth would throw in Hulu and ESPN+ as well. Netflix’s proposition to consum-
The idea that the U.S. can leave if stan is distant from U.S. air bases. soon return. And maybe it will, but ers used to be simple: “more con-
the Taliban promise to combat For all the wizardry of technology, the episode reminds us of one way tent than you can possibly watch
rather than conspire with these drones can fly only so fast and stay streaming is different from cable TV: Everything we knew for the price of a movie ticket.”
groups is also wrongheaded. Until aloft only so long. Effective counter- the ease of quitting. And with the With the ease of switching and pro-
arrival now of determined competi- about streaming when liferation of alternatives, customers
tors, Netflix’s next decade is likely to one company dominated will start asking “which service has
be very different from its last. the most enticing lineup this
PUBLISHED SINCE 1889 BY DOW JONES & COMPANY Take the loss of its two most pop- may soon be obsolete. month?” With its lack of sticky un-
Rupert Murdoch Robert Thomson ular shows, “Friends,” which AT&T’s related offerings, Netflix will be un-
Executive Chairman, News Corp Chief Executive Officer, News Corp
WarnerMedia is reclaiming for its der constant pressure to roll out
Matt Murray William Lewis
Editor in Chief Chief Executive Officer and Publisher forthcoming streaming service, and This seems like a plan to get Net- eye-catching new content. It will
Neal Lipschutz Karen Miller Pensiero DOW JONES MANAGEMENT:
“The Office,” which NBCUniversal is flix demoted from the must-have also be under pressure to cut deals
Deputy Editor in Chief Managing Editor Ramin Beheshti, Chief Technology Officer; taking back for its own streaming tier to the nice-to-have tier, which with rivals allowing its content to
Jason Anders, Chief News Editor;
Kamilah Mitchell-Thomas, Chief People Officer; service. Netflix’s Reed Hastings and I’m pretty sure is not how Netflix be bundled with theirs. Is Netflix up
Edward Roussel, Chief Innovation Officer;
Thorold Barker, Europe; Elena Cherney, Coverage
Christina Van Tassell, Chief Financial Officer
Ted Sarandos anticipated this mo- imagined it would be positioned in to the creative challenge, especially
Planning; Andrew Dowell, Asia; Alex Martin, ment. They long since got Netflix the future streaming wars. when it lacks the safety net of, say,
OPERATING EXECUTIVES:
Writing; Michael W. Miller, Features & Weekend;
Emma Moody, Standards; Shazna Nessa, Visuals;
Kenneth Breen, Commercial; heavily into the business of produc- All this comes when Netflix live news and sports that some ri-
Jason P. Conti, General Counsel; ing original shows. Netflix expects watchers are noticing that throwing vals may have?
Matthew Rose, Enterprise; Michael Siconolfi,
Tracy Corrigan, Chief Strategy Officer;
Investigations; Louise Story, Strategy and Interim
Frank Filippo, Print Products & Services; to spend a massive $15 billion this money at stars and producers is (un- This column does not make stock
Product & Technology; Nikki Waller, Live Kristin Heitmann, Chief Commercial Officer; year. But the shows and franchises it surprisingly) no guarantee of good recommendations (though you
Journalism; Stephen Wisnefski, Professional News Nancy McNeill, Corporate Sales; creates will be new and unfamiliar— results. Then there’s another wrinkle: would have done well if you heeded
Gerard Baker, Editor at Large Thomas San Filippo, Customer Service;
Josh Stinchcomb, Advertising Sales; Netflix doesn’t have the library of Disney and others have ways of gen- my Netflix-isn’t-doomed column in
Paul A. Gigot, Editor of the Editorial Page; Suzi Watford, Chief Marketing Officer; cultural comfort food that some of erating revenue from content that 2011). Let’s also recognize that Net-
Daniel Henninger, Deputy Editor, Editorial Page Jonathan Wright, International its rivals have, nor the guaranteed Netflix doesn’t have, including from flix’s executive team has shaked,
Barron’s Group: Almar Latour, Publisher
access to studio franchises and con- advertising, cable fees and theme shimmied and adapted with the best
WALL STREET JOURNAL MANAGEMENT: Professional Information Business:
Joseph B. Vincent, Operations; Christopher Lloyd, Head; tent hoards that produce instant ca- parks, etc. Even worse, several giant of them. Purely from a sporting per-
Larry L. Hoffman, Production Ingrid Verschuren, Deputy Head chet with viewers. competitors, such as Apple, Amazon spective, though, its business model
EDITORIAL AND CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS: Into this challenge Disney plans and AT&T, basically are using will soon be facing a competitive en-
1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y., 10036 to inject a new complication. In the streaming as a sweetener, sometimes vironment completely unlike the one
Telephone 1-800-DOWJONES
fall, it will launch its own much- even as a free add-on, for much in which it thrived till now.
For personal, non-commercial use only. Do not edit, alter or reproduce. For commercial reproduction or distribution, contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing at (800) 843-0008 or www.djreprints.com.
A14 | Saturday/Sunday, August 10 - 11, 2019 * ******* THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
SPORTS
BY BRIAN COSTA older sport connect with a youn- fans to create and curate their duo ended up splitting ahead of his poor shot, it was not a trivial
ger audience, making social-media own content and share it on social the fall Ryder Cup, in which the distraction for a player who went
N
Jersey City, N.J. moments out of tournament hap- media,” said then-PGA Tour chief U.S. was routed by Europe. on to finish tied for third.
ormally, when Rita penings. At worst, it has annoyed marketing officer Joe Arcuri, who For star players in particular, “Ninety-nine percent of people
Choi watches Tiger players, as phone-clicks interrupt has since left the organization, in the deluge of devices have added do a good job of understanding
Woods, it’s through a backswings and tantrums recorded an interview last year. stress to recovery shots from out- how to put your phone on silent,”
television screen. So by fans go viral. The photos and videos can high- side the ropes. Rose said. “And some people just
when the 59-year-old In between, it has altered the light one of golf’s best selling Spieth, after taking relief from a haven’t quite figured that part out
fan spotted Woods approaching acoustics of the sport, whose fa- points: fans can end up standing cart path one day last year, told yet.”
the 14th green at Liberty National mously restrained cheering coined within a few feet of players, no re- the crowd, “If everybody could do After a fan’s cellphone rang dur-
Golf Club on Wednesday, she the phrase “golf clap.” served seat required. But the na- me a huge favor and not video this ing his swing at a European Tour
watched him the way people do in “The art of the clap is gone,” ture of that content isn’t always fa- shot. Thank you. Sometimes it’s event the following week, former
2019 when they see a famous said Woods, who withdrew from vorable to players. The same rules cool to actually watch.” world No. 1 Lee Westwood re-
golfer in the flesh: through her the Northern Trust on Friday, cit- that have helped promote their By rule, phones are supposed to corded a seven-second tutorial
phone screen. ing an oblique strain. “People best moments have also amplified remain in silent mode. But that video on the subject. “It really is
“My memory of this will fade,” don’t clap, because how can you their most controversial ones. hasn’t stopped the occasional cam- this simple,” he says as he silences
Choi said after recording videos clap when you have a cellphone in Sergio Garcia, who was disquali- era-click sound from piercing the his phone.
and photos of Woods ahead of the your hand? People are now fied from a February tournament silence during a player’s swing. Phones occasionally become in-
opening FedEx Cup playoff event screaming and they are pretty for intentionally damaging the In May, an apparent noise from advertent shields from errant
here. “But if I take a video of him, loud. Especially late in the day greens, has had two recent tan- a woman’s phone interrupted shots. Rory McIlroy’s first shot at
I will have this forever.” when it’s hot and they have tipped trums caught on videos posted on- Kevin Na’s swing as he tried to the British Open, which led to his
For years, professional golf back a few, it gets even louder.” line by fans. At the British Open, protect his lead at the Charles opening-hole collapse, struck and
tournaments tried to resist the in- Two years ago, the PGA Tour he was seen throwing his driver at Schwab Challenge. After his shot damaged a woman’s phone. A year
vasion of mobile devices outside changed its policy to allow specta- his caddie. The following week in flew over the green, he slammed earlier at the same tournament, a
the ropes. Even as they became tors to take photos and videos Memphis, he damaged a tee box in his club and turned toward the shot by Woods smashed a fan’s
ubiquitous at nearly every other during competition, which had frustration after a poor drive. gallery. His caddie berated the phone as it was recording a video.
sporting event in the world, previously been restricted to prac- Only because of a spectator woman. Naturally, the fan posted it online.
phones would often be confiscated tice rounds. The U.S. Open has ad- video did it become public early “I was upset at first,” Na said af- The Masters has become such
if spotted in the open. opted a similar policy, while only last year when Patrick Reed, while terward, “and then I saw the lady’s an outlier in this regard that play-
Now golf is embracing them vir- the Masters bans cellphones from lobbying a rules official for a free face and I was like, ‘Oh, my God. ers are increasingly struck by the
tually everywhere except the Mas- the premises outright. drop, took a shot at his two-time She’s going to pee in her pants.’” difference in how spectators there
ters, upending the atmosphere at The idea was to make golf tour- Ryder Cup partner. “I guess my At the U.S. Open in June, Justin watch the sport.
professional events in ways that naments more modern and less name needs to be Jordan Spieth,” Rose of England had a tee shot in- “They don’t constantly have
were both predictable and not. staid, which has happened, to Reed groused after being denied terrupted by a phone click. While their face in the device,” McIlroy
At best, the shift has helped an some degree. “We really want our the drop. The previously successful Rose didn’t blame the sound for said. “It’s refreshing.”
Weather
60s
Shown are today’s noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
Edmonton
d
Calgary
t
70s
50s <0
0s
Juiced Ball Hits Triple-A
Vancouver
V 50s 60s 60s 10s BY JARED DIAMOND Manfred acknowledges that
Winnipeg
p
Seattle
80s 20s AND AMANDA CHRISTOVICH the current baseballs have
Portland
P
Por d
Helena Montreal 30s less air resistance and are
Ottawa
Billings
g
80s
80s Augusta
A g t 40s IF THERE WAS any lingering more aerodynamic than the
Eugene 70s Bismarckk 60s doubt about the cause of the previous ones. He denies that
Boise 50s
60s Mpls./St. Paul
p s / . Pau T
Toronto Albany
A bany
ny t
Boston
70s 70s unprecedented power surge they have changed at the di-
Hartford
rtford 60s
60s Pierre Sioux
ouxx Falls k
Milwaukee Detroit l
Buffalo across Major League Baseball, rection of MLB, attributing
90s Cleveland
Cl
Clevel d New Yorkk
ew Y 70s
Chicago
C h
Reno 90s Cheyenne
y Des
es Moines Ph
hil d lphi
Philadelphia
the highest level of the minor the difference to quirks in the
Sacramento Salt 70s 80s
alt Lake
L e City
C
Omaha
h Springfield
p g
Pittsburgh
Indianapolis Pittsb h leagues is erasing it. manufacturing process, which
60s Denver Charleston hington
g on D.C.
Washington DC 90s
San
n Francisco 70s This season, the two Tri- is done largely by hand.
Colorado
Colorad
C Topeka 90s 90s 70s
90s LLas 90s Springs
p 90s Kansas St.. Lou
LLouis
Lo
Richmond
h d 100+ ple-A leagues switched to the The majors and minors
Vegas
Ve City LLouisville
Lou ill
Raleigh
l igh
h
80s Wichita
h 80s Nashville h ill Charlotte
Chh same baseball used in the have long used different balls.
Angeles
Los A
Ange l 70s Albuquerqu Santaa FFe
Albuquerque
q q 90s
Little
L e Rockk Memphis ph C l b
Columbia majors, rather than a cheaper The MLB ball, which is manu-
Phoenix 70s
100s Ph Oklahoma
kl City
Ci
C ity Atlanta
Atl t Warm Rain
San Diego Birmingham
h ball used elsewhere in the mi- factured in Costa Rica, has
Tucson El Paso Dallas
D ll
100s nors. The results have been tighter specifications and uses
Ft. Worth Cold
80s 100s Jackson
Jack T-storms stunning. Triple-A teams are slightly different materials
100s Mobile
b Jacksonville
J k
50s 40s Austin
A ti
Houston
t Stationary Snow
on pace to hit more than than its minor-league coun-
60s 80s ew
w Orleans
New Orlando
l d
2,000 additional home runs terpart, which is made in
San
an Antonio Tampa
Ta p
90s from last year—a ridiculous China and costs about half
Anchorage
A h g Honolulu
l l 80s 80s Showers Flurries
70s Miami
70s
increase of about 60%. as much. Players say the
Ice In other words, the debate MLB ball has lower seams.
over why so many home runs Both balls are produced by
U.S. Forecasts City
Today Tomorrow
Hi Lo W Hi Lo W City Hi
Today Tomorrow
Lo W Hi Lo W
are being hit is over. It’s not Rawlings, which has been
s...sunny; pc... partly cloudy; c...cloudy; sh...showers;
Omaha 90 71 c 86 75 t Frankfurt 80 58 pc 80 57 t
launch angle. It’s not in- owned by MLB since last year.
t...t’storms; r...rain; sf...snow flurries; sn...snow; i...ice creased pitcher velocity. It MLB and its teams thought
Orlando 91 75 pc 91 74 t Geneva 76 60 t 83 63 t
Today Tomorrow
City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W
Philadelphia 85 65 s 84 67 s Havana 91 73 t 91 73 pc isn’t the bats. It’s the ball. there would be “player devel-
Phoenix 101 80 t 100 84 pc Hong Kong 91 83 t 92 83 t
Anchorage 73 58 pc 71 59 c Pittsburgh 78 56 s 81 61 pc Istanbul 88 75 s 85 75 s
One man who should know opment benefits” to Triple-A
Atlanta 94 76 pc 97 76 pc Portland, Maine 76 55 pc 78 60 s Jakarta 91 74 s 92 74 pc is Cody Decker, a real-life using the big-league ball, ac-
Austin 101 76 s 101 76 s Portland, Ore. 76 60 c 77 60 c Jerusalem 84 62 s 85 64 s Crash Davis who retired last cording to a person familiar
Baltimore 87 63 s 86 63 s Sacramento 85 59 s 92 62 s Johannesburg 68 47 s 72 52 s
Boise 81 57 t 78 56 s St. Louis 90 73 pc 91 75 pc London 72 57 sh 73 54 pc
month after hitting his 204th with the matter. Officials be-
Boston 81 61 s 81 63 s Salt Lake City 92 68 s 85 60 s Madrid 91 64 pc 89 60 pc career home run in the mi- lieved that the players closest
Burlington 71 55 t 79 61 pc San Francisco 76 59 pc 75 57 pc Manila 88 80 sh 88 81 t nors. He calls the current ball to the majors should have the
Charlotte 94 70 pc 92 70 s Santa Fe 86 58 pc 83 54 t Melbourne 52 42 r 55 44 sh
“a joke.” “The fact that the experience using the ball be-
STEPHEN SMITH/FOUR SEAM IMAGES/ASSOCIATED PRESS
BUSINESS | FINANCE | TECHNOLOGY | MANAGEMENT THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. * * * * Saturday/Sunday, August 10 - 11, 2019 | B1
DJIA 26287.44 g 90.75 0.3% NASDAQ 7959.14 g 1.0% STOXX 600 371.56 g 0.8% 10-YR. TREAS. g 6/32 , yield 1.731% OIL $54.50 À $1.96 GOLD $1,496.60 g $1.10 EURO $1.1201 YEN 105.67
ILLUSTRATION: ZOHAR LAZAR; ROCK ALBUMS: CARLOS GONZALEZ/STAR TRIBUNE/GETTY IMAGES
BY SARA RANDAZZO
F
our hundred of Kirkland & Ellis LLP’s
top lawyers gathered in May at an
in California, they hold no equity in the firm
and generally can expect to make $800,000 at
43:1 That model, and the culture that grew up
around it, is all but dead. Law firms are now of-
oceanfront resort in Southern Cali- most. While a comfortable living, the salary The spread ten partnerships in name only. Full-time chief
fornia to toast another banner year. and its implied second-class status is not the between the executives, some without law degrees, have re-
Kirkland was the highest-grossing reward many expected after striving to join highest- and placed the senior partner running human re-
law firm in the world for the second the venerated partnership. lowest-paid sources and accounting. Law firm names have
year running, earning $3.76 billion in revenue. This is life at the modern law firm, where partners at trended toward the shorter and snappier, more
When a slide flashed on the screen, showing not all partners are created equal, and data Kirkland & Ellis befitting a tote bag than a law library.
the value of the firm’s shares, the partners in and money rule. Many firms have expanded rapidly to mir-
the room quickly did the math. They would be Being named a partner once meant joining ror the growth of their corporate clients, with
taking home $1.75 million to $15 million.
Not invited were another 560 partners,
a band of lawyers who jointly tended to long-
time clients and took home comfortable, and
29 hundreds of partners spread around the
world. The largest, Dentons, recently hit
who were back at the firm’s 15 offices around roughly equal, paychecks. Job security was U.S. firms 10,000 lawyers in 78 countries, around a third
the world, working. Though outwardly carry- virtually guaranteed and partners rarely with at least of them partners.
ing the same title as those lounging poolside jumped ship. 1,000 lawyers. Please turn to page B6
ing with the aim of accomplishing the company’s listing, which had been Sachs Group Inc. executives over
what would be the world’s biggest previously put off. their handling of the sprawling fi-
listing as soon as early next year, ac- The financial results are expected nancial scandal at state investment
cording to people familiar with the to show that Aramco remains the fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
discussions. world’s most profitable business, out- Malaysia is ramping up pressure
stripping the likes of Apple Inc. and on Goldman as the bank negotiates
By Summer Said in Cairo Exxon Mobil Corp. Still, the company what is likely to be a multibillion-
and Julie Steinberg may not be keeping pace with last dollar settlement with the U.S. De-
and Ben Dummett in London year because of lower oil prices and partment of Justice for its role in
reduced output, Aramco executives the fund, known as 1MDB.
The IPO process for Saudi Arabian familiar with the matter said. That Offer to Make You Debt-Free? Among the current and former
Oil Co., known as Saudi Aramco, is Before an Aramco IPO was all but Goldman employees charged Friday
being accelerated as government offi- shelved last year, it was meant to be It Can Make You Worse Off are two members of Goldman’s top
cials hope to capitalize on the positive the centerpiece of a Saudi plan— executive committee: Richard
market reaction to the state-owned championed by Crown Prince Moham- BY JEAN EAGLESHAM “You may be completely debt Gnodde, who runs the bank’s inter-
company’s debut bond sale in April, med bin Salman—to open up the AND ANNAMARIA ANDRIOTIS free in only 24-48 months,” said national operations, and Robin
which raised $12 billion, people close economy and give investors access to a typical mailer from New York- Vince, its chief risk officer.
to the talks said. the kingdom’s flagship company. Early this year, Phoebe Tu based National Debt Relief, Others include Michael Sher-
Saudi officials also believe interna- Prince Mohammed had announced was rejected for a $30,000 loan which added that the offer was wood, who was overseeing Gold-
tional outrage over the murder of dis- plans to list 5% of Aramco in 2018 at to consolidate her credit-card based on a credit report. man’s trading operation at the time
sident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a valuation of roughly $2 trillion for debt. Within days, the gears Companies like National Debt of the scandal but is no longer with
the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul is the entire company. Even that small were turning in a multibillion- Relief seek out heavily indebted the bank, and Michael Evans, a se-
easing, according to people familiar portion would constitute the world’s dollar lending machine that en- consumers with a promise to nior executive at the time of the
with the matter. largest IPO at around $100 billion. ables consumers to borrow and, help them get out from under it. 1MDB dealings who is now president
The Saudi government needs the The process stalled partly due to more recently, has tried to profit But regulators say these debt- of Chinese e-commerce company
proceeds from the IPO to finance so- concerns that international valuations as they run into trouble. settlement programs can leave Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
cial and military spending, and to di- put on the company weren’t close to The system is powered by the customers worse off, facing high Goldman raised $6.5 billion for
rect toward Neom, a futuristic city it the royal’s estimate. Prince Moham- companies that compile credit fees, damaged credit scores and 1MDB through three bond sales in
is building at a cost of $500 billion. med more recently called for an IPO reports based on consumers’ unexpected income-tax bills. 2012 and 2013.
Higher public spending will boost later in 2020 or in 2021. borrowing histories. These Steven Boms, an adviser to U.S. authorities allege that more
Saudi Arabia’s budget deficit to 7% of The Saudi leadership is now more credit-reporting companies typi- the American Fair Credit Coun- than $4.5 billion went to fraudulent
gross domestic product in 2019, well confident about a listing following cally sell the data to financial in- cil, the debt-settlement indus- shell companies controlled by cor-
above the government’s forecast of Please turn to page B2 stitutions offering loans, but as try’s trade body, said most peo- rupt officials in Malaysia and Abu
4.2%, the International Monetary consumer debt has risen, another ple who enroll in debt- Dhabi.
Fund said in May. Heard on the Street: Odds look type of offer is being pitched to settlement programs already are Malaysian officials said last year
In an unprecedented move, Aramco better in Aramco take two............ B14 tens of millions of households. Please turn to page B8 Please turn to page B12
For personal, non-commercial use only. Do not edit, alter or reproduce. For commercial reproduction or distribution, contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing at (800) 843-0008 or www.djreprints.com.
THE SCORE
THE BUSINESS WEEK IN 7 STOCKS
W
that sale, the company disclosed
key financial metrics for the first
hen Carol Tomé be- time, including earnings of $111
came chief financial billion for 2018, making it the
officer at Home world’s most profitable business
Depot Inc. in 2001 by a long shot.
she faced several The sale exceeded expectations
challenges. Sales and was seen inside the company
were slowing, and new Chief Execu- and among bankers and investors
tive Robert Nardelli was struggling as a successful precursor to an
to change the home-improvement IPO. The company’s $69.1 billion
retailer’s strategy and ruffling purchase of a majority stake in
feathers with efficiency measures. petrochemicals maker Saudi Basic
Over the next 19 years, Ms. Industries Corp., announced in
Tomé helped the company return March, also fortified it in the eyes
to a solid footing, successfully of investors as a firm looking to
navigate the housing crisis and, diversify beyond pumping oil.
thus far, fend off incursions from Prince Mohammed has said the
Amazon.com Inc. IPO was held up to allow Aramco
In 2014, she was one of three to acquire the stake in Sabic from
top executives considered by the the country’s sovereign-wealth
board to succeed Frank Blake as fund. The transaction, which
SALLY MONTANA FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
CEO. She didn’t get the job, but hasn’t been completed, would in-
decided to stay on as finance chief. fuse the fund with billions of dol-
The 62-year-old executive will lars to carry out the prince’s
retire from Home Depot this agenda and possibly make new in-
month and be succeeded by Rich- vestments abroad.
ard McPhail, whom Ms. Tomé The company is expected in the
helped to groom for the role over next couple of weeks to request
many years, she said. proposals from international in-
From the back room of a Home vestment banks hoping to get a
Depot store in Lodi, N.J., Ms. Tomé role underwriting the deal, some
reflected on her nearly two decades of the people said.
as CFO at the retailer. The interview
has been edited and condensed for
readability. —Sarah Nassauer Carol Tomé stayed on as chief financial officer of Home Depot after being passed over as chief executive. Saudi officials are
again debating the
WSJ: Home Depot was struggling
a bit in those years before the
held the hand of the associates
who were crying. I’m like, “It’s not
Carol Tomé cisions at that point, because typi-
cally if you’re in line and you don’t
valuation of the listing
housing crisis. What was it like to your fault. We had a big, bad busi- Age: 62 get it, well, you’ve got to decide as well as the venue.
be in your role at the largest ness model.” I vowed to myself on Education: Bachelor’s in what you’re going to do.
home-improvement retailer? that day that I would never allo- communication, University The other person who was be-
Carol Tomé: We took our focus off cate capital again to another store of Wyoming. M.B.A., Univer- ing considered was Marvin Ellison Aramco had previously ap-
of the retail business to invest in that needed to be closed, because sity of Denver [the current CEO at rival Lowe’s pointed JPMorgan Chase & Co.,
the wholesale distribution busi- it was just too hard. [We decided] Cos.], and he elected to leave our Morgan Stanley and HSBC Hold-
Early life: Grew up in Jackson
ness, but there was more to it than our economic engine will no longer company. Frank Blake, who I just ings PLC to work as underwriters
Hole, Wyo., where her father
that. There was a cultural revolu- be driven by square-footage adore, he gave me a piece of ad- on the IPO. It isn’t clear whether
ran a bank. On ski team in
tion happening in the company in growth. It will be driven by pro- vice. He said, “Carol, as you think the banks’ previous work would
high school and college.
that we had turned what is really ductivity and efficiency coming off about it, I’d ask that you think give them an advantage in the
a unique management construct, of effective capital allocation. about it through the lens of im- competition to sell the oil com-
the inverted pyramid, where we’re pact. Where could you have the pany’s shares this time around.
at the bottom of the pyramid sup- WSJ: Today we see other retailers biggest impact?” And so I thought Aramco in recent months has
porting our associates who take making or thinking about similar nance people second. It’s really long and hard about that. I’m like, been speaking with banks lobbying
care of our customers. We had choices. Do you remember back in clearly important to your effective- “You know what? I think I could for an advisory role on the deal
turned that pyramid around and those days what some of the de- ness to understand the business have the biggest impact at The that wouldn’t involve underwrit-
our associates were at the bottom bate was around that shift? you’re supporting. And that means, Home Depot.” And it was by far ing, some of the people said. Moe-
of the pyramid. So, when Frank Ms. Tomé: The leadership team, for me, when I started, I had to put the best decision I’ve ever made. lis & Co. and Evercore Partners
Blake became our CEO beginning we were all on board. We under- on an apron and work in the store. previously held that role.
in 2007, he turned to me and said, stood that this was the right You need to be able to speak the WSJ: If you look into your crystal Some bankers have expressed
“What should we do with HD Sup- thing to do. We had to bring ev- language of the business, not the ball beyond the time you will be skepticism that the deal can get
ply?” And I said, “Sell it. We’ve erybody else along with us...We language of finance. You have to at Home Depot, how do you think done at the prince’s preferred val-
got to focus back on the core.”... would put up data. When I figure out what motivates people. Amazon will challenge the home- uation and are worried about once
We sold HD Supply at a time started, there were 75,000 house- Is it career opportunities? Is it ca- improvement space? again sending dozens of bankers
when we were heading into the holds per home-improvement reer growth? Hit those emotional Ms. Tomé: The difference between to Saudi Arabia to prepare for an
worst recession since the Great De- store. By the 2007, 2008 time sweet spots. Try to be an inspira- us and Amazon is this: We don’t offering that might not even hap-
pression. As you know it was led by frame, 33,000 to 35,000 house- tional leader. So many finance have a moat around our business. pen or not generate much in fees.
housing. It was led by the financial holds per home-improvement folks are not very inspirational. But we have a number of barrier Saudi officials are again debat-
crisis, and we felt it. We felt it big. store. The market was getting sat- islands, and we’re investing in ing the valuation of the listing as
Between 2006 and 2009, we lost urated, so you could show, hey, WSJ: What are your thoughts and those barrier islands. One would well as the venue. Prince Moham-
$13 billion in our sales, or 25%. opening up stores in markets advice on how to navigate three be our people. Customers come med and his advisers have tele-
where we are already present ac- very different CEOs? How do you into our store because they need graphed that the target valuation
WSJ: Can you talk us through tually is dilutive. We had to talk stay valuable to the company, and help, right? “I don’t want to burn remains around $2 trillion, accord-
some of the key hard decisions, about it, and talk about it, and want to keep doing the job? down my house, and yet I need to ing to people familiar with the
and how you felt about them at talk about it again. But when we Ms. Tomé: I view my role as a rewire this socket. Could you help messaging.
the time? came out of the recession and we partner. I view my role as someone me?” When you think about our “We are all well aware of one
Ms. Tomé: We had to close stores. started to show that we could who should debate. Debate from a potential contractor customer thing: How Aramco is sensitive to
We had to take new stores out of grow, and not only grow, but out- point of facts, but debate...But making 45% of our sales, you know oil price,” said a senior Saudi offi-
our store opening pipeline. We had perform our next largest big-box once the play is called, as long as why they come into our store? cial. “If, let’s say, oil prices are
to exit businesses. When we closed competitor, people started to be- the play is ethical. I run the play They come into our store for a trading at $60 a barrel, there is no
our Expo business [a chain of high- lieve. full out. I’m as loyal as the day is break. We have free coffee for way we can get the $2 trillion val-
end home remodeling stores] long. When Frank Blake was get- them. They can use our bath- uation the crown prince wants.”
Frank and I got in a plane and we WSJ: What advice do you have for ting ready to retire he had identi- rooms, and they can chat it up at Brent crude prices—the global
flew to Florida, because we had a other CFOs that are helping a fied three internal candidates who the Pro desk. That’s not an Ama- oil benchmark—have fallen more
number of Expo stores in Florida. company navigate a time of diffi- might follow him, and I was one of zon-like experience. Amazon is a than 13% since early July to
We walked into the store and the culty beyond their control? those. When Craig Menear was fantastic, amazing company. But around $58 per barrel.
associates were there who were Ms. Tomé: I think the best CFOs named CEO, I was thrilled for we offer a different experience, so —Maureen Farrell in New York
losing their jobs. I sat down and are business people first, and fi- Craig...But I had to make some de- that’s a bit of a barrier island. contributed to this article.
For personal, non-commercial use only. Do not edit, alter or reproduce. For commercial reproduction or distribution, contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing at (800) 843-0008 or www.djreprints.com.
Huawei
Readies
Uber Is Feeling Post-IPO Blues
BY CORRIE DRIEBUSCH IPOs, illustrating how difficult most recent quarter. ing company’s revenue Lyft shares remain roughly
EXCHANGE
Sharon Wilson, with the advocacy group Earthworks,
monitors leaks in Texas. Bottom, Landon Blair of Kairos
Aerospace identifies methane releases from the sky.
GAS-COMPRESSOR, INFRARED: EARTHWORKS; WILSON, BLAIR: JAMES DURBIN FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
In the infrared image in black and white, natural gas, which can’t be seen by the naked eye, is released into the atmosphere at an
Energy Transfer LP gas-compressor station in Reeves County, Texas. Such releases, which include methane, can be legally permitted.
EXCHANGE
THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR | JASON ZWEIG
Investors Need
This Cop to Get
Off Its Duff
Does the CFP Board have the backbone to
improve its scrutiny of financial advice?
ALEX NABAUM
ary practices at the terest in growing the number of
Certified Financial CFPs than there is in vetting them
Planner Board of Standards Inc., to protect the public,” says a for-
which awards the CFP designation mer CFP Board executive.
coveted among financial advisers. That contention is “simply in-
How soon and how much the correct,” says the CFP Board, add-
CFP Board can improve its proce- ing that all its strategic priorities Board says, more CFPs have been More and Less On Dec. 22, 2017—four years after
dures is a critical question for the are “tied to [its] mission to bene- volunteering to be disciplined, re- he filed the complaint—the CFP
millions of families who rely on fit the public.” ducing the number of investigations. As the number of certified financial Board finally told Mr. Klein that its
the nation’s nearly 85,000 certified The CFP Board’s enforcement The fall-off in investigations planners has gone up, the number of investigation was complete and “did
financial planners for competent history isn’t encouraging, though. isn’t the only concern. investigations by the CFP Board of not result in a public sanction”
and ethical advice. According to its tax filings, in In 2013, the Journal reported Standards has gone down. against either of the planners.
LetsMakeAPlan.org, the CFP 2010 the Board reviewed 1,472 that hundreds of CFPs were falsely 1,500 Mr. Klein is baffled by that in-
2010
Board’s online search directory, ne- cases of alleged violations of its describing themselves as “fee- conclusive response. He is the re-
glected to inform the public that professional standards. That re- only” on LetsMakeAPlan.org while tired chief executive of a major
thousands of the planners listed sulted in 103 formal hearings and working for firms that collect com- health-care insurer in Rochester.
there have disclosed customer com- 68 disciplinary actions that were missions. Although the CFP Board 1,000 2008 He has an M.B.A. from the Univer-
plaints, criminal histories, financial made public. In 2017, the latest cracked down on that practice, it sity of Chicago and serves on the
problems or regulatory proceedings, year available, the CFP Board re- continued for six more years to board of directors of Computer
the Journal’s investigation found. viewed “in excess of 336” cases—a rely on self-reporting by planners Task Group Inc., a publicly traded
Among these CFPs were 499 decline of approximately 75% since to monitor their conduct. Only af- 500 company that provides technology
who have faced criminal charges, 2010. Only 68 formal hearings re- ter the Journal’s latest article did 2013 services and staffing.
324 who left a previous firm amid sulted; the Board tells me it meted the Board say it will stop “solely “I got the impression that this
2017
allegations of misconduct, 323 out 53 public disciplinary actions in relying on self-disclosure.” was more of a marketing cam-
who had been disciplined or inves- 2017, although its tax filings no lon- Finally, it isn’t clear how re- paign,” he says, “than an earnest
tigated by regulators, and 68 who ger disclose those numbers. sponsive the CFP Board is to com- 0 commitment to making sure that
65,000 75,000
filed bankruptcy within the past 10 At year-end 2010, there were plaints from the public. CFPs CFPs perform in full compliance
years. According to Lets- 61,951 CFPs; by the end of 2017 On Dec. 4, 2013, David Klein filed Note: Investigation totals from 2011-15 are low estimates.
with the standards of ethics the
MakeAPlan.org, none had been dis- there were 80,035. So, even as the a complaint with the CFP Board Source: CFP Board annual tax filings (investigations); CFP Board sets forth.”
ciplined by CFP Board. Yet all number of certified planners rose against two CFPs, Anthony Gugino CFP Board 2017 annual report (CFPs) The CFP Board says it doesn’t
these red flags were disclosed at by nearly one-third, the number of and Megan Burke of Tompkins Fi- disclose details on its investiga-
BrokerCheck, a website run by the investigations fell by three-quarters. nancial Advisors in Pittsford, N.Y. tions, but “the time it takes to re-
Financial Industry Regulatory Au- The CFP Board tells me that Mr. Klein contended that in “I’m a well-to-do guy who solve each complaint may vary sig-
thority, which oversees how bro- “the comparison you seek to draw 2009, as his then-wife was dying should have known better, but it nificantly case by case.”
kerage firms sell investments. is inaccurate and the numbers are of cancer, Mr. Gugino and Ms. was a difficult time in my life,” Roughly 1,900 years ago, the
After the Journal’s article, the not comparable.” Burke had recommended a $6.2 says Mr. Klein. Later, he became Latin poet Juvenal asked, in loose
Washington-based, nonprofit CFP In 2012, says the CFP Board, it million life-insurance policy (an- “concerned that they hadn’t done translation, “But who will watch
Board said it was creating a task began reporting only those cases nual premiums: $140,000) for him. good planning.” the watchdogs?” Consumers can
force to “examine and modernize” that result in “ongoing investiga- That may not have been necessary, A spokeswoman for Tompkins, only hope the CFP Board’s task
its disclosure and disciplinary pro- tions.” It stopped investigating sin- given the insurance and other as- speaking on behalf of Mr. Gugino force for modernizing its enforce-
cedures. The task force is expected gle bankruptcy filings. And, the sets Mr. Klein already had. and Ms. Burke, declined to comment. ment has more bite than bark.
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EXCHANGE
Partnership
Isn’t What It
Used to Be
Continued from page B1
“Can you be partners with
someone you don’t even know?”
said legal consultant Aric Press.
In the new paradigm, lawyers
are expendable, and partners may
jump to a competitor for the right
amount of money, taking as many
clients as possible with them on
the way out.
Junior lawyers always worked
EXCHANGE
Rock albums used to Genre of the top album on the Billboard 200, by week
dominate the Billboard 200 Rock Pop R&B/Hip-hop Country/Folk Jazz/Classical Soundtrack/Compilation
chart, but now they struggle
to hit No. 1. That has led some Jan. Dec.
artists to bundle albums with
concert tickets to lift their
'70
1970s
Billboard rankings.
'75
Rock albums dominated in the ’70s.
Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumors’ held the
'79 top spot for 31 weeks in 1977 and
1978.
1980s '80
'85
Michael Jackson’s pop album ‘Thriller’
holds the record for longest time on
top of the modern-day chart, with 37 '89
total weeks from 1983-84.
'90
1990s
'95
Soundtracks have occasionally
topped the Billboard 200 since the
'99 beginning. ‘Titanic’ was No. 1 for 16
weeks in the spring of 1998.
2000s '00
'05
Pop is now the dominant genre—led
by megastars like Taylor Swift, who’s
had five albums hit No. 1. Her first to '09
hit the top, “Fearless,” stayed for 11
weeks.
'10
2010s
'15
Rock albums now rarely top the
Note: Genre categories are based on a Wall Street
charts. So far, the Raconteurs’ ‘Help
Journal analysis of Spotify genres attached to each '19 Us Stranger’ is the only one this year.
artist. Billboard releases charts weekly, so some years
have one more chart than others.
Sources: Billboard (albums); Spotify (genres) Peter Andringa/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Zelnick
CEO of Take-Two Michael Donald J. Richard Barry Diller
Interactive Software Inc. Dornemann Gogel Parsons Chairman of
CEO of Chairman, Former CEO IAC/InterActive
Strauss Zelnick credits his suc- Dornemann & Co. president and and chairman of
CEO of Clayton, Time Warner Mr. Diller once
cesses in life in part to having the
Mr. Dornemann Dubilier & Rice hired Mr. Zelnick
nerve to introduce himself to any- went from being While serving as to manage the
one he finds intriguing and then Mr. Zelnick’s boss Mr. Zelnick was in president and business opera-
cautiously leaning on them for at BMG his 20s working CEO of BMG, Mr. tions of Twenti-
knowledge or advice. “My strat- Entertainment in as a summer as- Zelnick cold called eth Century Fox.
egy is: Make an introduction and the late 1990s to sociate at McKin- Mr. Parsons, in Today, the two
don’t overstay your welcome.” his boardroom sey & Co. when hopes of building men regularly
colleague at Take- he began poking a rapport. Mr. Zel- keep in touch. Mr.
Mr. Zelnick oversees a video- Zelnick says he
Two in 2007. He his head into Mr. nick was contem-
game maker that is responsible once gave advice Gogel’s office. plating launching has adopted a
for Grand Theft Auto and NBA that Mr. Zelnick “I would go by his own media in- number of prac-
2K. He also runs private-equity will never forget. and say hello for vestment firm. tices from Mr.
firm ZMC and authored “Be- “He said, ‘Strauss, two minutes,” “He said if you’re Diller. One exam-
coming Ageless: The Four Se- you’re very, very Mr. Zelnick says. going to start ple: “Respond to
crets to Looking and Feeling smart. Too bad it “And if I could something that’s everyone, always
doesn’t matter,’ ” bring an interest- this challenging, within 24 hours.
Younger Than Ever.” Here are It’s courteous and
Mr. Zelnick says. ing question or lash yourself to
Mr. Zelnick’s trusted advisers: “It was his kind bring an interest- the deck, so that you never know
—Sarah E. Needleman way of saying ing piece of infor- if the ship goes where opportuni-
become a better mation, that down, you go ties are going to
IKE EDEANI FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
EXCHANGE
4
use consumer-credit reports 2
Continued from page B1 for debt-settlement solicita-
behind on payments. “The only real tions since “that’s not a firm 0
alternative many of these consum- offer of credit.” He added 2015 ’16 ’17 ’18 ’19
ers have to debt-settlement is bank- that the law requires credit- Average household credit-card debt†,
ruptcy,” he said. reporting companies to ob- adjusted for inflation
Consumer debt, not counting tain certification from the en-
$10,000 RECESSION
mortgages, hit a record $4.02 tril- tities with which they share
lion this year, a big reversal after such information that it will
8,000
Americans aggressively paid down be used for a lawful purpose.
what they owed and lenders wrote Credit-reporting companies
6,000
off unpaid debts following the fi- that sell data used to solicit
nancial crisis. As borrowers have debt-settlement services
4,000
fallen deeper into debt, the amount “bear some responsibility”
enrolled in debt-settlement pro- for the practices of some in
2,000
grams has risen sevenfold, from that industry because they
$1.7 billion to $12 billion in the five should be vetting the firms
0
years that ended in March 2017, ac- they sell the information to
1990 2000 2010
cording to a survey by the debt-set- and how those firms use it,
*Estimated numbers of mailed solicitations †Average
SARA STATHAS FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
tlement industry’s trade group. said Chi Chi Wu, staff attor- credit-card debt per household for consumers who carry
Data from credit-reporting com- ney at the National Consumer this debt, as of the end of each calendar year
panies has been used by some debt- Law Center, a nonprofit con- Sources: WalletHub (debt); Competiscan (mailers)
settlement firms to solicit consum- sumer-advocacy group.
ers as their debt is rising and when TransUnion told the Jour-
many are trying to sort out their fi- nal it no longer supplies sent earlier this year by CreditAsso-
nancial situation. Other firms flood credit-report data to the ciates. “This ‘pre-screened’ offer of
mailboxes with offers of loans, but debt-settlement industry. A credit is based on information in
when consumers call, the pitch can spokesman said the company your credit report.”
be very different. “historically…has sold pre- Rick Burton, a co-founder of
screen data” to some debt- CreditAssociates, said its debt-set-
‘Get the client’s guard down’ settlement companies, adding tlement offer in the mailer qualified
Ms. Tu, a 33-year-old business de- that this complied with fed- as credit because clients can pay the
velopment manager in the San Amanda Ricchio, a 34-year-old accounting student in Wisconsin, was mailed eral law because these firms fees it charges in installments,
Francisco Bay Area, said that after loan offers after she put a few thousand dollars in college costs on credit cards. allowed consumers to delay rather than a lump sum. This ap-
she was rejected for the personal payments for their services— proach was approved by TransUnion
loan, a mailing from GreenLink Fi- which TransUnion said was a compliance personnel, he said.
nancial LLC arrived offering a loan GreenLink, of Santa Ana, Calif., agement plan. These plans usually form of credit—or because they A TransUnion spokesman said it
of about $60,000—twice what she sent about 27 million mailers last don’t reduce the amounts owed; in- actually offered loans. doesn’t provide legal or compliance
wanted—and at a surprisingly low year, according to estimates from stead, creditors may agree to lower An Equifax spokeswoman said advice to its customers and doesn’t
interest rate. But when she called data-provider Competiscan, up from interest rates or waive fees. Credit the company “does not, as a matter approve customers’ mailers.
the firm, it turned her down for the about 1.2 million in 2015, the first counselors may charge fees for of policy, provide consumer-report Prof. Sovern called the practice
loan and pitched her a debt-settle- calendar year after the company some of their services. information to companies who it of letting customers pay fees in in-
ment program instead, she said. was formed. knows to be charging advance fees stallments a “quite imaginative”
“They said, ‘It’s to help you get Freedom Debt Relief in July Legal gray area for debt or mortgage-assistance re- way of using the fair-credit law’s
by because you’re in a financial cri- agreed to pay $25 million to settle a At least some debt-settlement lief.” The spokeswoman didn’t re- provision allowing the use of credit-
sis.’ I’m not in a financial crisis, just civil lawsuit filed by the federal firms have used information from spond to questions about whether report data for loan offers “for a
trying for a low interest rate,” she Consumer Financial Protection Bu- credit-reporting companies to Equifax sells information to debt- completely different purpose of
told The Wall Street Journal. reau that claimed it charged con- pounce on troubled borrowers. The settlement companies that don’t debt-settlement offers.”
Former GreenLink employees sumers without settling their debts federal Fair Credit Reporting Act charge advance fees, a group that
said only a small number of people as promised, and misled them about allows the companies, including includes the biggest players in the Concern about credit score
who responded to the company’s fees. Freedom didn’t admit or deny TransUnion, Equifax Inc. and Ex- industry. By law, for-profit compa- In some cases, sales pitches for
mailings were offered loans. In- the allegations. perian PLC, to sell the data from nies that sell debt-settlement ser- debt-settlement programs appear to
stead, they were pitched a debt-set- A representative of Freedom credit reports only for certain uses, vices over the phone are barred minimize the risk to a consumer’s
tlement program that GreenLink Debt Relief, which describes itself such as firm offers of credit. Debt from charging advance fees. credit score. Amanda Ricchio, a 34-
sells on behalf of San Mateo, Calif.- as the nation’s biggest debt-settle- settlement isn’t specified in the law Experian said it has never sold year-old accounting student in Ra-
based Freedom Debt Relief, the for- ment company, didn’t respond to as a permitted use of this sensitive information from credit reports to cine, Wis., was mailed offers for
mer employees said. requests to comment. National Debt financial information to solicit con- the debt-settlement industry for so- loans after she put a few thousand
GreenLink’s salespeople were Relief also didn’t respond. sumers, and some experts consider licitation purposes. dollars of college costs on her credit
taught to “get the client’s guard Consumers who sign up for these it a gray area. CreditAssociates LLC, a Dallas- cards. The offers said they were
down,” according to a GreenLink programs are often told to stop Some firms use the data to based debt-settlement company, based on credit reports.
telephone sales script reviewed by paying their credit-card bills and pitch debt-settlement plans, ac- said it stopped receiving data from Ms. Ricchio called Simple Path Fi-
the Journal. The Journal couldn’t other debts and instead put the cording to mailings reviewed by TransUnion last year, but sent of- nancial LLC, of Irvine, Calif., but was
determine the date of the script. payments in a special bank account, the Journal and lawsuits filed by fers to consumers based on the refused the 4.99% loan she had been
Most people who responded to regulators say. Then the debt-settle- consumers. The lawsuits reviewed company’s information as recently pitched. Instead, she said she was
GreenLink mailers were told they ment company negotiates with by the Journal all were settled as last month. offered a debt-settlement program,
would be called back after loan-un- creditors to try to get them to re- confidentially by the firms. “You are preapproved for a debt which she was told would cause
derwriting checks had been made, duce the consumer’s debt. Other firms first offer loans and relief program that can save you only a “slight hit at first” to her
the former employees said. On that Halting payments, though, can then shift their sales pitches to debt thousands of dollars,” said a mailer credit score.
second call, the salespeople were trigger big penalties and potentially Ms. Ricchio, who had worked for
told to say, “I couldn’t stop thinking lawsuits by creditors and can hurt a a credit union where her father was
about your file” and to pledge, “I person’s credit score. Even if the Selling Relief chairman, said she didn’t believe
am going to make YOU my top pri- company persuades a creditor to re- the claim. “I know this kind of pro-
How information from lenders has been used to sell
ority today,” according to the script. duce the debt—and there is no gram would actually cause serious
debt-settlement services.
Then, the consultants were told guarantee of this—the customer damage to my credit score,” Ms.
to break it to the caller that he or may owe income taxes on the 1. Banks and other lenders sent
Ricchio said.
she didn’t qualify for the loan offer amount of debt forgiven. information on consumers' 1 Mr. Boms, the adviser to the
the company mailed, the script said. Taxes combined with fees these debts to a credit-reporting CREDIT debt-settlement industry trade
“But this actually turned out to firms charge of as much as 25% of company. BANK REPORTING group, said the credit scores of the
be GREAT NEWS!” the salespeople enrolled debt could wipe out any 2. Credit-reporting company COMPANY “vast majority” of people who en-
were instructed to say, according to savings from a reduced debt bal- sold lists of consumers who roll in the programs would fall due
the script, before pitching the debt- ance. And a lower credit score that appear to be getting deeper to their existing financial problems,
2
settlement program that offers “a the strategy can trigger could make into debt to loan brokers. whether or not they go this route.
payment which fits perfectly within future borrowing more expensive. 3. Loan brokers mailed indebted Simple Path was founded in 2016
your budget.” The trade group’s Mr. Boms said consumers an offer for a loan, by Bradley Smith and Branden Mill-
Responding to an online com- companies marketing loans often to consolidate their debts at a
LOAN stone and sells debt-settlement
plaint on Yelp by Ms. Tu, GreenLink discover information during the low interest rate. 3 plans from another firm founded by
BROKER
wrote in May that its agent had loan-underwriting process, such as 4. Consumers called loan the two men, public records show.
“handled the call with utmost re- additional debts, that wasn’t known brokers and typically were CONSUMER Mr. Millstone in an interview said a
spect.” It added that Ms. Tu did when a mailer was sent. The group refused a loan. “very large number of people” who
“not meet the minimum require- said last year that a survey of its 5. Instead, the loan brokers respond to Simple Path mailers are
ments needed to get approved for members found debt-settlement pitched a program from an 4 offered a loan, adding that he didn’t
affiliated debt-settlement firm. have the exact numbers.
any loan with our funding source.” plans reduced consumers’ debts by
These programs can involve high
In response to a complaint on the an average of $2.64 for every dollar fees, damaged credit People who do qualify for a loan
Better Business Bureau website, they paid the firms in fees. and unexpected tax bills. may choose debt-settlement as a
5
GreenLink wrote that debt-settle- Alternatives to debt-settlement better option than “putting a Band-
ment “is only an option for clients companies include nonprofit credit Aid on their situation” by taking on
that we can’t qualify for a loan.” counseling services, which attempt more debt, he added.
The company didn’t respond to to work with the borrower and DEBT —Lisa Schwartz
requests for further comment. creditors to agree on a debt-man- SETTLEMENT FIRMS contributed to this article.
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26287.44 Trailing P/E ratio 19.01 22.85 2918.65 Trailing P/E ratio * 22.67 24.05 7959.14 Trailing P/E ratio *† 23.54 25.01 commodities performed around the world for the week.
t 90.75 P/E estimate * 16.92 16.41 t 19.44 P/E estimate * 17.69 17.61 t 80.02 P/E estimate *† 21.24 21.21
Stock Currency, Commodity, Exchange-
Dividend yield 2.37 2.14 Dividend yield * 1.92 1.82 or 1.00% Dividend yield *† 1.05 0.96
or 0.34% or 0.66% index vs. U.S. dollar traded in U.S.* traded fund
All-time high:
All-time high Current divisor All-time high Comex silver 4.16%
8330.21, 07/26/19
27359.16, 07/15/19 0.14744568353097 3025.86, 07/26/19 Lean hogs 3.61
Comex gold 3.53
27000 3000 8400 Soybeans 2.76
Corn 2.69
26500 2950 8150 iSh 20+ Treasury 2.59
Wheat 1.78
7900 S&P 500 Real Estate 1.77
26000 2900
Sao Paulo Bovespa 1.29
Session high
S&P BSE Sensex 1.25
DOWN UP 25500 2850 7650
IPC All-Share 1.11
t
0.99
65-day moving average iSh TIPS Bond 0.93
Session low 7150 iSh 7-10 Treasury 0.88
24500 2750
Bars measure the point change from session's open Japanese yen 0.86
24000 2700 6900 Euro area euro 0.83
June July Aug. June July Aug. June July Aug. Comex copper 0.74
Weekly P/E data based on as-reported earnings from Birinyi Associates Inc.
S&P 500 Materials 0.72
iShJPMUSEmgBd 0.66
iShiBoxx$InvGrdCp 0.66
Major U.S. Stock-Market Indexes Trading Diary iShNatlMuniBd 0.60
Latest 52-Week % chg Volume, Advancers, Decliners VangdTotalBd 0.59
High Low Close Net chg % chg High Low % chg YTD 3-yr. ann. NYSE NYSE Amer. VangdTotIntlBd 0.50
Dow Jones Total volume* 775,288,122 16,970,147 S&P/TSX Comp 0.43
Industrial Average 26413.36 26097.64 26287.44 -90.75 -0.34 27359.16 21792.20 3.8 12.7 12.4 Adv. volume* 167,175,264 6,488,315 Norwegian krone 0.41
Transportation Avg 10310.18 10161.28 10207.21 -117.17 -1.13 11570.84 8637.15 -8.0 11.3 9.2 Decl. volume* 582,746,356 8,478,668 S&P 500 Health Care 0.41
Utility Average 829.81 823.71 826.30 1.28 0.16 831.33 692.00 14.2 15.9 6.2 Issues traded 3,033 288 Bloomberg Commodity Index 0.26
Total Stock Market 30144.35 29787.73 29959.66 -220.42 -0.73 31091.22 24126.04 1.7 16.5 9.9 Advances 981 124 iSh 1-3 Treasury 0.17
Barron's 400 673.02 661.21 663.32 -9.69 786.73 571.68 -13.5 8.8 6.5 Declines 1,946 150 S&P 500 Consumer Staples 0.01
-1.44
Unchanged 106 14 -0.01 S&P 500 Consumer Discr
Nasdaq Stock Market New highs 177 11 -0.04 Indonesian rupiah
Nasdaq Composite 8020.56 7910.35 7959.14 -80.02 -1.00 8330.21 6192.92 1.5 20.0 15.1 New lows 114 8 -0.09 Nymex natural gas
Nasdaq 100 7709.50 7591.14 7646.27 -78.56 -1.02 8016.95 5899.35 3.2 20.8 16.8 Closing Arms† 1.79 1.01 -0.12 Russian ruble
Block trades* 5,353 186 -0.13 Canada dollar
S&P
Nasdaq NYSE Arca
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500 Index 2935.75 2900.15 2918.65 -19.44 -0.66 3025.86 2351.10 3.0 16.4 10.2
-0.16 iShiBoxx$HYCp
MidCap 400 1917.06 1896.08 1901.33 -23.98 -1.25 2050.23 1567.40 -4.7 14.3 6.8 Total volume*2,240,495,294 228,586,465
-0.24 Australian dollar
SmallCap 600 940.40 928.81 930.75 -11.60 -1.23 1098.36 793.86 -12.3 10.2 7.7 Adv. volume* 781,457,614 35,338,176
-0.46 S&P 500
Decl. volume*1,440,220,919 191,190,220
Other Indexes -0.53 Mexico peso
Issues traded 3,219 1,590
Russell 2000 1530.96 1509.96 1513.04 -19.09 -1.25 1740.75 1266.93 -10.3 12.2 7.1 -0.56 Nasdaq Composite
Advances 1,020 282
NYSE Composite 12828.82 12689.67 12748.42 -80.39 -0.63 13239.87 10769.83 -0.7 12.1 5.7 -0.58 CAC-40
Declines 2,107 1,290
Value Line 517.04 509.40 -6.41 -1.24 593.57 446.06 8.1
-0.60 Nasdaq 100
510.63 -11.9 1.9 Unchanged 92 18
-0.62 S&P 500 Industrials
NYSE Arca Biotech 4669.89 4544.04 4599.60 -70.29 -1.51 5400.34 3890.37 -10.4 9.0 10.6 New highs 62 21
-0.64 S&P 500 Telecom Svcs
NYSE Arca Pharma 586.86 579.76 583.64 0.44 0.07 612.45 535.91 3.0 2.6 2.6 New lows 141 14
-0.69 S&P MidCap 400
KBW Bank 95.05 93.56 94.48 -0.39 -0.41 111.44 80.78 -13.4 10.1 10.5 Closing Arms† 0.89 1.00
-0.75 Dow Jones Industrial Average
PHLX§ Gold/Silver 97.26 95.55 95.78 -1.14 -1.17 96.92 61.84 29.7 35.6 -4.8 Block trades* 9,425 1,251
-0.79 S&P SmallCap 600
PHLX§ Oil Service 67.53 65.16 65.46 -2.07 -3.07 154.64 65.46 -55.4 -18.8 -26.4 * Primary market NYSE, NYSE American NYSE Arca only. -0.80 South Korean won
PHLX§ Semiconductor 1481.33 1455.20 1464.34 -26.92 -1.81 1622.02 1069.39 8.1 26.8 23.4 †(TRIN) A comparison of the number of advancing and declining
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Cboe Volatility 19.44 17.31 17.97 1.06 6.27 36.07 11.61 36.6 -29.3 15.5 -1.10 UK pound
Arms of less than 1 indicates buying demand; above 1
Nasdaq PHLX Sources: FactSet; Dow Jones Market Data indicates selling pressure. -1.34 Russell 2000
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International Stock Indexes Percentage Gainers... -1.57 IBEX 35
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Plus, deeper money-flows data and email delivery of Arcadia Biosciences RKDA 56,446 42757.8 4.51 124.38 10.40 1.82 YTDchg YTDchg
Fri Fri
.COM key stock-market data. * Common stocks priced at $2 a share or more with an average volume over 65 trading days of at least Country/currency in US$ per US$ (%) Country/currency in US$ per US$ (%)
Available free at WSJMarkets.com 5,000 shares =Has traded fewer than 65 days Americas Europe
Argentina peso .0221 45.2440 20.2 Czech Rep. koruna .04332 23.081 3.0
Brazil real .2536 3.9425 1.6 Denmark krone .1501 6.6633 2.3
Consumer Rates and Returns to Investor Benchmark
Treasury Yields
yield curve Forex Race Canada dollar .7563 1.3222 –3.1 Euro area euro 1.1201 .8928 2.4
Selected rates
and
Yield toRates
maturity of current bills, Yen, euro vs. dollar; dollar vs. Chile peso .001408 710.10 2.3 Hungary forint .003453 289.59 3.4
U.S. consumer rates notes and bonds major U.S. trading partners Ecuador US dollar 1 1 unch Iceland krona .008147 122.75 5.7
New car loan Mexico peso .0515 19.4100 –1.2 Norway krone .1126 8.8807 2.8
A consumer rate against its
Uruguay peso .02831 35.3200 9.0 Poland zloty .2590 3.8606 3.2
benchmark over the past year 4.00% 8%
Bankrate.com avg†: 4.66% Asia-Pacific Russia ruble .01532 65.262 –5.7
First Command Bank 2.99% Sweden krona .1048 9.5443 7.8
Australian dollar .6786 1.4736 3.9
One year ago 3.00 4 WSJ Dollar index Switzerland franc 1.0283 .9725 –0.9
5.50% Fort Worth, TX 888-763-7600 China yuan .1416 7.0624 2.7
t t s
Turkey lira .1821 5.4917 3.8
Hong Kong dollar .1275 7.8418 0.1
Prime rate Think Mutual Bank 2.99% 2.00 0 Ukraine hryvnia .0396 25.2540 –8.9
5.00 India rupee .01408 71.044 2.1
Rochester, MN 800-288-3425 t
Indonesia rupiah .0000705 14190 UK pound 1.2028 .8314 6.1
–1.3
t 4.50 Cambridge Savings Bank 3.24% Friday 1.00 –4 s Japan yen .009464 105.67 –3.6
s
New car loan Kazakhstan tenge .002578 387.87 0.9
Middle East/Africa
Cambridge, MA 888-418-5626 Yen Euro
4.00 0.00 –8 Macau pataca .1236 8.0877 0.2 Bahrain dinar 2.6525 .3770 0.01
First Savings Bank of Hegewisch 3.50%
1 3 6 1 2 3 5 710 30 Malaysia ringgit .2390 4.1845 1.3 Egypt pound .0604 16.5510 –7.6
Chicago, IL 773-646-4200 2018 2019 New Zealand dollar Israel shekel .2875 3.4781 –7.0
3.50 month(s) years .6466 1.5466 3.9
S O ND J FMA M J J A PNC Bank 3.79% Pakistan rupee .00633 158.065 13.1 Kuwait dinar 3.2875 .3042 0.3
maturity
2018 2019 Washington, DC 888-PNC-BANK Philippines peso .0192 52.044 –0.9 Oman sul rial 2.5976 .3850 –0.01
Sources: Ryan ALM; Tullett Prebon; Dow Jones Market Data Singapore dollar .7218 1.3855 1.7 Qatar rial .2745 3.642 0.2
South Korea won .0008234 1214.45 9.0 Saudi Arabia riyal .2666 3.7513 –0.01
Yield/Rate (%) 52-Week Range (%) 3-yr chg
Interest rate Last (l)Week ago Low 0 2 4 6 8 High (pct pts) Corporate Borrowing Rates and Yields Sri Lanka rupee
Taiwan dollar
.0056532 176.89
.03187 31.382
–3.3
2.6
South Africa rand .0656 15.2540 6.2
Federal-funds rate target 2.00-2.25 2.00-2.25 1.75 l 2.25 1.75 Yield (%) 52-Week Total Return (%) Thailand baht .03252 30.750 –4.9 Close Net Chg % Chg YTD%Chg
Bond total return index Close Last Week ago High Low 52-wk 3-yr
Prime rate* 5.25 5.25 5.00 l 5.50 1.75 Vietnam dong .00004309 23205 0.04 WSJ Dollar Index 90.76 0.02 0.03 1.22
Libor, 3-month 2.18 2.24 2.18 l 2.82 1.36 Treasury, Ryan ALM 1598.878 1.728 1.848 3.154 1.669 10.625 2.084 Sources: Tullett Prebon, Dow Jones Market Data
Money market, annual yield 0.72 0.72 0.41 l 0.75 0.45 10-yr Treasury, Ryan ALM 1914.892 1.731 1.864 3.232 1.675 13.381 1.739
Five-year CD, annual yield 1.94 1.85 1.81 l 2.07 0.75 n.a. n.a.
30-year mortgage, fixed† 3.77 3.81 3.70 l 4.99 0.25
DJ Corporate n.a. 3.072 n.a. n.a. n.a. Commodities
Aggregate, Barclays Capital 2105.340 2.290 2.380 3.660 2.250 9.321 2.707 Friday 52-Week YTD
15-year mortgage, fixed† 3.24 3.26 3.20 l 4.34 0.45 Pricing trends on someClose
raw materials, or commodities
Net chg % Chg High Low % Chg % chg
High Yield 100, Merrill Lynch n.a. n.a. 5.618 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
Jumbo mortgages, $484,350-plus† 4.23 4.21 4.16 l 5.16 0.11 DJ Commodity 598.87 3.58 0.60 642.46 572.87 -2.53 4.54
Fixed-Rate MBS, Barclays 2116.180 2.460 2.540 3.810 2.410 6.920 2.264
Five-year adj mortgage (ARM)† 4.18 4.41 3.94 l 4.89 1.01 TR/CC CRB Index 172.09 1.77 1.04 201.23 167.89 -10.23 1.35
Muni Master, Merrill n.a. n.a. 1.631 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
New-car loan, 48-month 4.66 4.65 3.89 l 4.81 1.79 Crude oil, $ per barrel 54.50 1.96 3.73 76.41 42.53 -19.41 20.02
EMBI Global, J.P. Morgan 870.357 5.354 5.465 7.372 5.354 13.296 4.505
Bankrate.com rates based on survey of over 4,800 online banks. *Base rate posted by 70% of the nation's largest Natural gas, $/MMBtu 2.119 -0.009 -0.42 4.837 2.070 -28.02 -27.93
banks.† Excludes closing costs.
Sources: FactSet; Dow Jones Market Data; Bankrate.com Sources: J.P. Morgan; Ryan ALM; S&P Dow Jones Indices; Barclays Capital; Merrill Lynch Gold, $ per troy oz. 1496.60 -1.10 -0.07 1507.30 1176.20 23.57 17.08
For personal, non-commercial use only. Do not edit, alter or reproduce. For commercial reproduction or distribution, contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing at (800) 843-0008 or www.djreprints.com.
B10 | Saturday/Sunday, August 10 - 11, 2019 * *** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
MARKET DATA
Futures Contracts Open
Contract
High hilo Low Settle Chg
Open
interest Open
Contract
High hilo Low Settle Chg
Open
interest Open
Contract
High hilo Low Settle Chg
Open
interest
Metal & Petroleum Futures Nov 358.20 358.20 346.10 346.70 –12.80 814 S&P 500 Index (CME)-$250 x index Dec 7713.5 7737.8 7614.0 7677.5 –75.5 1,955
Contract Open
Milk (CME)-200,000 lbs., cents per lb. Sept 2930.20 2935.30 2900.00 2919.70 –20.40 29,117 Mini Russell 2000 (CME)-$50 x index
Open High hi lo Low Settle Chg interest Aug 17.51 17.61 17.51 17.61 .07 3,003 Mini S&P 500 (CME)-$50 x index Sept 1527.80 1532.30 1508.20 1513.70 –20.40 454,699
Sept 17.79 17.90 17.78 17.87 .08 3,393 Sept 2928.00 2935.75 2899.00 2919.75 –20.25 2,482,349 Mini Russell 1000 (CME)-$50 x index
Copper-High (CMX)-25,000 lbs.; $ per lb. Cocoa (ICE-US)-10 metric tons; $ per ton. Dec 2929.50 2936.00 2899.75 2920.25 –20.25 64,805 Sept 1620.60 1628.10 1607.40 1618.00 –10.10 8,415
Aug 2.5970 2.5970 2.5850 2.5840 –0.0180 1,193
Sept 2,205 2,216 2,184 2,195 –10 38,752 Mini S&P Midcap 400 (CME)-$100 x index U.S. Dollar Index (ICE-US)-$1,000 x index
Sept 2.5970 2.6175 2.5820 2.5890 –0.0185 148,473
Dec 2,254 2,260 2,239 2,242 –12 90,022 Sept 1918.90 1923.30 1895.30 1901.60 –25.10 70,273 Sept 97.41 97.47 97.18 97.32 –.11 53,492
Gold (CMX)-100 troy oz.; $ per troy oz. Coffee (ICE-US)-37,500 lbs.; cents per lb. … 1923.90 1900.50 1905.60 –25.10 114
Dec Dec 96.97 97.00 96.82 96.93 –.11 1,550
Aug 1506.20 1507.50 1495.60 1496.60 –1.10 2,418 Sept 97.20 98.10 96.65 97.30 –.10 78,033 Mini Nasdaq 100 (CME)-$20 x index
Oct 1512.40 1513.20 1500.00 1502.00 –1.10 45,654 Dec 100.55 101.45 100.15 100.70 –.15 88,440 Sept 7699.5 7724.0 7596.8 7660.3 –75.5 199,599 Source: FactSet
Dec 1515.90 1521.10 1506.20 1508.50 –1.00 456,209 Sugar-World (ICE-US)-112,000 lbs.; cents per lb.
Feb'20 1522.30 1525.40 1512.30 1514.50 –0.90 48,867 Oct 11.43 11.90 11.43 11.86 .43 538,205
April 1528.80 1528.80 1517.80 1519.40 –0.80 20,809 March'20 12.56 12.98 12.56 12.95 .39 278,167
June 1526.00 1533.80 1522.70 1523.30 –0.70
Palladium (NYM) - 50 troy oz.; $ per troy oz.
18,267 Sugar-Domestic (ICE-US)-112,000 lbs.; cents per lb.
Nov 25.76 25.95 25.76 25.88 .11 3,199
Bonds | WSJ.com/bonds
Aug … ... ... 1414.10 5.80 Jan'20 26.00 26.00 25.94 25.95 –.07 1,137
Sept 1416.40 1430.20 1412.70 1419.30 5.80 18,151 Cotton (ICE-US)-50,000 lbs.; cents per lb. Global Government Bonds: Mapping Yields
Dec 1418.00 1430.30 1415.20 1421.00 5.90 4,784 Oct 59.00 59.35 58.76 59.05 –.49 264
Platinum (NYM)-50 troy oz.; $ per troy oz. Dec 59.62 59.70 58.79 58.90 –.68 141,885 Yields and spreads over or under U.S. Treasurys on benchmark two-year and 10-year government bonds in
Aug ... ... ... 861.10 –3.70 110 Orange Juice (ICE-US)-15,000 lbs.; cents per lb. selected other countries; arrows indicate whether the yield rose(s) or fell (t) in the latest session
Oct 868.70 871.90 861.30 863.80 –3.70 70,568 Sept 101.50 102.65 100.20 102.30 .50 12,896
Silver (CMX)-5,000 troy oz.; $ per troy oz. Nov 104.00 105.25 102.80 104.95 .50 4,165 Country/ Yield (%) Spread Under/Over U.S. Treasurys, in basis points
Aug ... ... ... 16.897 –0.004 256 Coupon (%) Maturity, in years Latest(l)-2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 Previous Month ago Year ago Latest Prev Year ago
Sept 16.940 17.140 16.860 16.931 –0.005 142,440 Interest Rate Futures 1.750 U.S. 2 1.632 s l 1.617 1.917 2.649
Crude Oil, Light Sweet (NYM)-1,000 bbls.; $ per bbl. 1.625 10 1.736 s l 1.720 2.068 2.928
Sept 52.88 54.92 52.37 54.50 1.96 301,000
Ultra Treasury Bonds (CBT) - $100,000; pts 32nds of 100%
Oct 52.72 54.75 52.31 54.37 1.91 239,418 Sept 187-310 189-130 187-010 187-170 –2.0 1,179,878 5.750 Australia 2 0.736 t l 0.753 0.969 2.049 -89.6 -86.4 -60.0
Dec 189-250 190-050 187-270 188-090 –2.0 22,797
Nov 52.57 54.42 52.14 54.09 1.80 178,173 3.250 10 0.953 t l 0.987 1.330 2.663 -78.4 -73.2 -26.5
Dec 52.30 54.11 51.93 53.78 1.68 258,870 Treasury Bonds (CBT)-$100,000; pts 32nds of 100%
June'20 50.96 52.48 50.66 52.20 1.33 161,131 Sept 161-250 162-140 161-010 161-090 –9.0 971,823 0.000 France 2 -0.751 t l -0.746 -0.657 -0.425 -238.3 -236.3 -307.4
Dec 50.39 51.71 50.06 51.39 1.12 161,745 Dec 160-310 161-190 160-080 160-150 –8.0 20,546 0.500 10 -0.272 s l -0.280 -0.053 0.712 -200.8 -199.9 -221.5
NY Harbor ULSD (NYM)-42,000 gal.; $ per gal. Treasury Notes (CBT)-$100,000; pts 32nds of 100%
Sept 1.7846 1.8210 1.7719 1.8080 .0314 122,548 Sept 130-000 130-085 129-210 129-220 –7.5 3,855,797 0.000 Germany 2 -0.862 t l -0.847 -0.728 -0.608 -249.4 -246.4 -325.7
Oct 1.7915 1.8281 1.7789 1.8148 .0317 79,151 Dec 130-185 130-265 130-070 130-080 –7.5 173,042 0.000 10 -0.572 t l -0.555 -0.352 0.379 -230.8 -227.4 -254.9
Gasoline-NY RBOB (NYM)-42,000 gal.; $ per gal. 5 Yr. Treasury Notes (CBT)-$100,000; pts 32nds of 100%
Sept 1.6505 1.6895 1.6417 1.6740 .0283 118,786 0.050 Italy 2 0.344 s l 0.023 0.093 0.990 -128.9 -159.4 -166.0
Sept 119-017 119-067 118-247 118-280 –4.5 4,379,882
Oct 1.4980 1.5332 1.4873 1.5213 .0294 92,045 Dec 119-142 119-185 119-077 119-080 –4.7 283,249 3.000 10 1.817 s l 1.536 1.741 2.898 8.1 -18.4 -3.0
Natural Gas (NYM)-10,000 MMBtu.; $ per MMBtu. 2 Yr. Treasury Notes (CBT)-$200,000; pts 32nds of 100%
Sept 2.124 2.145 2.064 2.119 –.009 369,849 0.100 Japan 2 -0.272 t l -0.239 -0.190 -0.110 -190.4 -185.6 -276.0
Sept 107-235 107-255 107-212 107-217 –1.5 3,669,623
Oct 2.140 2.159 2.084 2.133 –.013 234,028
Dec 107-310 108-007 107-286 107-290 –1.5 294,194 0.100 10 -0.219 t l -0.190 -0.139 0.115 -195.5 -191.0 -281.2
Nov 2.226 2.239 2.171 2.214 –.014 151,908
Dec 2.412 2.426 2.363 2.406 –.012 134,054
30 Day Federal Funds (CBT)-$5,000,000; 100 - daily avg. 0.750 Spain 2 -0.487 s l -0.496 -0.439 -0.288 -211.9 -211.3 -293.7
Aug 97.8700 97.8750 97.8675 97.8700 –.0025 446,957
Jan'20 2.531 2.544 2.486 2.530 –.010 119,647 0.600 10 0.252 s l 0.219 0.370 1.395 -148.4 -150.1 -153.3
March 2.435 2.455 2.403 2.445 –.009 80,643 Oct 98.1950 98.2250 98.1800 98.1900 –.0050 327,964
10 Yr. Del. Int. Rate Swaps (CBT)-$100,000; pts 32nds of 100% 1.500 U.K. 2 0.445 t l 0.465 0.625 0.734 -118.8 -115.2 -191.5
Agriculture Futures Sept 113-065 113-150 112-290 113-000 –10.0 25,205 1.625 10 0.487 t l 0.523 0.722 1.298 -119.7 -163.0
-124.9
Eurodollar (CME)-$1,000,000; pts of 100%
Corn (CBT)-5,000 bu.; cents per bu. Aug 97.8825 97.8900 97.8600 97.8650 –.0025 375,829 Source: Tullett Prebon
Sept 410.75 417.00 407.25 410.25 –.75 450,514
Dec 418.25 424.50 415.25 417.75 –.50 780,290 Sept 97.9950 98.0250 97.9800 97.9800 –.0150 1,467,051
Oats (CBT)-5,000 bu.; cents per bu. Dec 98.1850 98.2200 98.1550 98.1600 –.0250 1,833,984 Corporate Debt
Sept 275.75 275.75 273.25 274.75 … 485 March'20 98.4500 98.4850 98.4100 98.4150 –.0300 1,232,109
Dec 273.00 276.75 272.75 275.75 1.75 3,781
Price moves by a company's debt in the credit markets sometimes mirror and sometimes anticipate, moves in
Soybeans (CBT)-5,000 bu.; cents per bu. Currency Futures that same company’s share price.
871.75 875.25 865.00 873.75 8.75 1,205
Aug
Nov 883.50 894.50 881.75 891.75 8.75 339,373 Japanese Yen (CME)-¥12,500,000; $ per 100¥ Investment-grade spreads that tightened the most…
Soybean Meal (CBT)-100 tons; $ per ton. Aug .9450 .9500 s .9440 .9477 .0034 998 Spread*, in basis points Stock Performance
Aug 295.60 296.90 294.50 296.70 1.90 721 Sept .9469 .9524 s .9450 .9497 .0034 150,047 Issuer Symbol Coupon (%) Maturity Current One-day change Last week Close ($) % chg
Dec 302.50 305.00 301.00 303.70 1.70 197,884 Canadian Dollar (CME)-CAD 100,000; $ per CAD
.7557 .7574 .7557 .7572 .0016 778
GE GE 5.000 Jan. 21, ’49 292 –102 278 9.15 –3.58
Soybean Oil (CBT)-60,000 lbs.; cents per lb. Aug
Aug 29.60 29.60 29.28 29.51 .55 261 Sept .7562 .7583 .7538 .7576 .0017 153,675 Viacom VIA 4.850 Dec. 15, ’34 266 –27 n.a. 34.24 –1.81
Dec 29.35 30.03 29.21 29.95 .57 220,625 British Pound (CME)-£62,500; $ per £ Altria MO 3.875 Sept. 16, ’46 200 –17 206 46.16 –0.73
Rough Rice (CBT)-2,000 cwt.; $ per cwt. Aug 1.2127 t 1.2037
1.21441.2058 –.0080 1,109 Bank of New York Mellon BK 2.200 Aug. 16, ’23 58 –15 53 45.81 0.53
Sept 1137.00 1139.50 1132.00 1137.00 1.50 4,826 Sept 1.2159 t 1.2044
1.21671.2073 –.0080 281,829
Nov 1163.50 1170.00 1163.00 1168.00 2.00 3,141 Swiss Franc (CME)-CHF 125,000; $ per CHF Bayer US Finance II BAYNGR 3.875 Dec. 15, ’23 113 –14 124 ... ...
Wheat (CBT)-5,000 bu.; cents per bu. Sept 1.0301 1.0333 1.0286 1.0319 .0030 54,395 Aetna AET 2.750 Nov. 15, ’22 71 –12 n.a. ... ...
Sept 498.25 505.25 496.00 499.50 1.00 133,311 Dec 1.0392 1.0412 1.0366 1.0400 .0031 82 Amazon.com AMZN 4.050 Aug. 22, ’47 86 –12 n.a. 1807.58 –1.38
Dec 499.25 506.25 497.50 501.50 1.50 137,934 Australian Dollar (CME)-AUD 100,000; $ per AUD
Wheat (KC)-5,000 bu.; cents per bu. Broadcom* AVGO 4.250 April 15, ’26 n.a. –12 219 275.73 1.75
Aug .6800 .6800 .6790 .6793 –.0013 716
Sept 417.00 421.00 414.75 417.00 –1.50 119,481
Dec 432.75 436.75 431.25 433.50 –1.50 92,604
Sept .6809 .6826 .6789
Mexican Peso (CME)-MXN 500,000; $ per MXN
.6800 –.0013 174,402 …And spreads that widened the most
Cattle-Feeder (CME)-50,000 lbs.; cents per lb.
Aug 139.875 140.275 138.650 138.900 –.950 5,279
Aug .05229 .05197 .05197 .05143 .00015 1 Citizens Financial CFG 4.150 Sept. 28, ’22 120 22 129 33.31 –0.57
Sept 139.800 139.875 138.075 138.450 –1.425 13,250 Sept .05120 .05129 .05098 .05119 .00015 214,873 Royal Bank of Scotland RBS 7.500 Aug. 10, ’49 382 18 388 5.05 –0.79
Cattle-Live (CME)-40,000 lbs.; cents per lb. Euro (CME)-€125,000; $ per € UniCredit SpA* UCGIM 5.861 June 19, ’32 444 18 373 ... ...
Aug 108.000 108.400 107.550 108.050 .100 14,603 Aug 1.1194 1.1227 1.1191 1.1214 .0020 845
Sept 1.1222 1.1254 1.1214 1.1238 .0020 517,572
Intesa Sanpaolo SpA* ISPIM 5.017 June 26, ’24 339 14 277 ... ...
Oct 107.000 107.850 106.425 106.750 … 151,310
Hogs-Lean (CME)-40,000 lbs.; cents per lb. Occidental Petroleum OXY 2.700 Feb. 15, ’23 119 13 85 47.13 ...
Aug 77.875 79.300 77.700 79.025 1.675 12,432 Index Futures Fluor FLR 4.250 Sept. 15, ’28 220 12 n.a. 19.41 –3.05
Oct 68.300 68.650 66.600 66.975 –.900 98,881
Mini DJ Industrial Average (CBT)-$5 x index Argentum Netherlands ZURNVX 5.125 June 1, ’48 183 12 n.a. ... ...
Lumber (CME)-110,000 bd. ft., $ per 1,000 bd. ft. Sept 26286 26394 26074 26268 –97 94,238
Sept 360.00 360.80 347.30 348.90 –14.70 1,907 Merck MRK 2.350 Feb. 10, ’22 30 11 26 85.52 0.93
Dec 26280 26360 26044 26243 –98 753
High-yield issues with the biggest price increases…
Exchange-Traded Portfolios | WSJ.com/ETFresearch
Bond Price as % of face value Stock Performance
Issuer Symbol Coupon (%) Maturity Current One-day change Last week Close ($) % chg
Closing Chg YTD CommScope Technologies COMM 6.000 June 15, ’25 90.500 5.50 89.250 12.20 –5.79
Largest 100 exchange-traded funds, latest session ETF Symbol Price (%) (%) New Gold NGDCN 6.250 Nov. 15, ’22 99.500 3.25 95.750 ... ...
Friday, August 9, 2019 Closing Chg YTD iShRussell1000Val IWD 125.02 –0.71 12.6 Diamond Offshore Drilling DO 7.875 Aug. 15, ’25 88.000 1.97 94.125 5.91 –2.96
ETF Symbol Price (%) (%) iShRussell2000Gwth IWO 197.08 –1.26 17.3
Closing Chg YTD iShRussell2000 IWM 150.62 –1.26 12.5
Titan International TWI 6.500 Nov. 30, ’23 79.916 1.92 81.250 3.02 –0.33
ETF Symbol Price (%) (%) iShSelectDividend DVY 97.66 –0.90 9.3
iShEdgeMSCIMinEAFE EFAV 71.90 –0.32 7.9
iShRussell2000Val IWN 115.49 –1.32 7.4 Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. BBVASM 6.125 Nov. 16, ’49 94.230 1.83 94.143 ... ...
AlerianMLPETF AMLP 9.04 –0.55 3.6 iShRussell3000 IWV 171.31 –0.75 16.6
CnsmrDiscSelSector XLY 118.29 –0.94 19.5 iShEdgeMSCIMinUSA USMV 63.24 –0.28 20.7 iShRussellMid-Cap IWR 55.31 –0.93 19.0
Weatherford International WFT 9.875 March 1, ’39 38.000 1.75 n.a. ... ...
CnsStapleSelSector XLP 59.32 –0.55 16.8 iShEdgeMSCIUSAMom MTUM 120.15 –0.32 19.9 iShRussellMCValue IWS 87.18 –1.03 14.2 Cincinnati Bell CBB 7.000 July 15, ’24 88.980 1.48 85.011 4.27 6.75
iShEdgeMSCIUSAQual QUAL 90.65 –0.85 18.1
EnSelectSectorSPDR XLE 59.10 –1.10 3.1
iShFloatingRateBd FLOT 50.82 –0.02 0.9
iShS&P500Growth IVW 179.34 –0.59 19.0 CNX Resources CNX 7.250 March 14, ’27 85.500 1.44 84.750 7.07 –1.26
FinSelSectorSPDR XLF 27.17 –0.33 14.1 iShS&P500Value IVE 115.21 –0.68 13.9
iShGoldTr IAU 14.33 –0.42 16.6
FT DJ Internet
HealthCareSelSect
FDN
XLV
138.23
91.40
–1.59
0.12
18.5
5.7
iShiBoxx$InvGrCpBd LQD 125.94 –0.29 11.6
iShShortCpBd
iShShortTreaBd
IGSB
SHV
53.50
110.55
–0.02
0.01
3.6
0.2
…And with the biggest price decreases
iShiBoxx$HYCpBd HYG 86.25 –0.14 6.4
IndSelSectorSPDR XLI 75.42 –0.84 17.1
iShJPMUSDEmgBd EMB 114.43 –0.05 10.1
iShTIPSBondETF TIP 116.54 –0.10 6.4 Exela Intermediate EXLINT 10.000 July 15, ’23 57.063 –12.94 81.750 ... ...
InvscQQQI QQQ 186.49 –0.94 20.9 iSh1-3YTreasuryBd SHY 84.82 –0.06 1.4
iShMBSETF MBB 107.93 –0.12 3.1
iSh7-10YTreasuryBd IEF 112.13 –0.15 7.6
Harland Clarke Holdings HARCLA 8.375 Aug. 15, ’22 75.000 –6.25 n.a. ... ...
InvscS&P500EW RSP 105.64 –0.92 15.6
iShMSCI ACWI ACWI 71.98 –0.68 12.2 MallinckrodtInternationalFinanceS.A.AndMallinckrodtCb MNK 5.750 Aug. 1, ’22 59.500 –6.25 75.644 … …
InvscS&P500LowVol SPLV 56.10 0.04 20.3 iSh20+YTreasuryBd TLT 140.05 –0.20 15.3
iShMSCIBrazil EWZ 43.99 –0.63 15.2
iShCoreMSCIEAFE IEFA 58.97 –0.74 7.2 iShMSCI EAFE EFA 62.94 –0.69 7.1
iShRussellMCGrowth IWP 143.19 –0.88 25.9 Polaris Intermediate MLTHCO 8.500 Dec. 1, ’22 84.250 –6.00 92.980 ... ...
iShCoreMSCIEmgMk IEMG 47.99 –0.97 1.8 iShUSTreasuryBdETF GOVT 26.19 –0.11 6.2
iShMSCI EAFE SC SCZ 55.36 –0.79 6.8 Neiman Marcus NMARI 8.000 Oct. 25, ’24 35.000 –5.25 n.a. ... ...
iShCoreMSCITotInt IXUS 56.07 –0.74 6.7 PIMCOEnhShMaturity MINT 101.62 0.02 0.7
iShMSCIEmgMarkets EEM 39.87 –1.02 2.1
iShCoreS&P500 IVV 293.36 –0.65 16.6 iShMSCIJapan EWJ 53.57 –1.05 5.7
SPDR BlmBarcHYBd JNK 107.60 –0.10 6.8 Envision Healthcare EVHC 8.750 Oct. 15, ’26 59.990 –4.09 69.250 ... ...
SPDRBloomBar1-3MTB BIL 91.50 –0.01 0.0
iShCoreS&P MC IJH 190.00 –1.31 14.4 iShNatlMuniBd MUB 114.57 –0.04 5.1 Mattel MAT 6.750 Dec. 31, ’25 101.250 –3.63 104.845 11.31 –15.79
76.59 10.5
SPDR Gold GLD 141.26 –0.33 16.5
iShCoreS&P SC IJR –1.24 37.06 0.08 8.3
iShPfd&Incm PFF
SchwabIntEquity SCHF 30.74 –0.65 8.4 Endo Finance ENDP 5.375 Jan. 15, ’23 59.446 –3.55 n.a. … …
iShS&PTotlUSStkMkt ITOT 66.19 –0.66 16.6 iShRussell1000Gwth IWF 158.98 –0.73 21.4
SchwabUS BrdMkt SCHB 70.02 –0.68 16.8
iShCoreUSAggBd AGG 112.64 –0.13 5.8 iShRussell1000 IWB 162.04 –0.78 16.8 *Estimated spread over 2-year, 3-year, 5-year, 10-year or 30-year hot-run Treasury; 100 basis points=one percentage pt.; change in spread shown is for Z-spread.
SchwabUS Div SCHD 52.30 –1.15 11.3
SchwabUS LC SCHX 69.79 –0.70 16.9 Note: Data are for the most active issue of bonds with maturities of two years or more
SPDR DJIA Tr DIA 263.18 –0.36 12.9 Sources: MarketAxess Corporate BondTicker; Dow Jones Market Data
Borrowing Benchmarks | WSJ.com/bonds SPDR S&PMdCpTr
SPDR S&P 500
MDY
SPY
346.42
291.62
–1.36
–0.68
14.5
16.7
SPDR S&P Div SDY 99.50 –0.79 11.1
B12 | Saturday/Sunday, August 10 - 11, 2019 * *** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
The Marketplace
To advertise: 800-366-3975 or WSJ.com/classifieds
BY PETER RUDEGEAIR
ADVERTISEMENT
Showroom
To advertise: 800-366-3975 or WSJ.com/classifieds
Goldman Mr. Sherwood couldn’t be
reached for comment.
Some of those charged, in-
Journal reported.
Others charged Friday were
junior employees at the time
MARKETS
Treasurys
Prices Fall
Copper’s Swoon Clouds Supply
BY AMRITH RAMKUMAR
B14 | Saturday/Sunday, August 10 - 11, 2019 * *** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
RUTH GWILY
companies sell and how they sell it. results, and that companies with fe-
Entire industries, such as child-care male directors encourage chief exec-
services for working parents, have utives to take on fewer risks.
sprung up. Online ordering services, Naturally women make mistakes,
from food to clothing, are wildly ates advance to more senior posi- More women taking the earn- versely, 14% of women said they too. While they have the opportunity
successful in selling to working tions. The median working college ings pole position within their would use the money to buy more to assume the role as a more active
moms. Now big household decisions graduate aged 25 or older earns families could augur a shift in things versus 19% of men. Those participant in economic decision-
from cars to home buying to retire- 81% more than the median worker American spending patterns. Sin- discrepancies suggest that stereo- making, for example, they haven’t
ment services are being remade as whose education didn’t extend be- gle women allocate more of their types about women overspending yet closed the gender gap in finan-
women have a bigger say in families’ yond high school, according to the budget toward health care, grocer- are misleading. Notoriously profli- cial literacy. That leaves women
financial choices. Labor Department. ies, apparel and housing than sin- gate American households may more prone to making poor financial
Women are on course to take a The education gap is showing up gle men with comparable budgets, even save more overall, though decisions.
more commanding role in the years in traditional married couples. It is Labor Department data show, higher incomes for women equal So there could be pitfalls. But
to come. For years now, more now more common for a woman to while men spend more on cars and more dollars to spend. women’s growing clout is unques-
women have been attending college be more educated than her husband alcohol, among other items. Such conservatism extends to- tionable. As they take on a larger
than men. There are now as many than vice versa. That might be Women’s attitudes toward ward women’s investing behavior. role in driving the economy, the
women with four-year college de- what is behind another change: As money also differ from men. In a This may hurt funds offering in- business and investing landscape
grees working as male college grad- of 2017, 31% of women earned as recent survey conducted by Bank vestment strategies to investors will be radically altered. Ignoring
uates and by next year there will much or more than their husbands, of America Merrill Lynch, 41% of that are riskier or more active and the changes is the equivalent of
likely be more. That should trans- according to a Pew Research Center women said they would use extra aid funds with passive strategies— sticking one’s head in shifting sand.
late into increasingly higher pay as analysis. That compares with 25% disposable income to pay down a clear industry trend recently. —Justin Lahart
today’s young female college gradu- in 2000 and just 13% in 1980. debt versus 36% of men. Con- And it may affect the companies and Lauren Silva Laughlin
OVERHEARD Signs of a
August is supposed to be a
Semiconductor Detente
sleepy time in the market
when it’s safe for market pro-
fessionals to head to the Trade relations between Japan and South Korea
beach.
Not with President Trump may be less messy than feared
kicking off the month by an-
AHMED JADALLAH/REUTERS
ing, overcoming one of its biggest jected in May that Saudi Arabia harm. show U.S. attitudes hardening
hurdles: unveiling its financial state- would have a budget deficit of 7% Indeed, the market had anew, just a month after President
ments to the public. All that points of GDP this year. appeared relatively relaxed. Trump suggested that American
to a higher likelihood a deal will go A deal can get done, but at what Samsung and SK Hynix shares chip companies would be allowed
through on this second attempt. price will MBS part with some of actually rose when the restric- to sell some products to Huawei
But buyers still have reasons to the family silver? Aramco’s $111 tions were imposed. Investors after all.
be uneasy. First, unlike bondhold- billion in 2018 profit gave bond- thought they would benefit from But at least this week brought a
ers who receive a fixed coupon pay- holders confidence to buy. A $2 higher memory prices, while smidgen of good news for the
ment, equity holders will likely care trillion price tag is another matter. avoiding serious disruption. semiconductor business.
more about how its controlling —Lauren Silva Laughlin A major snarl-up at the South —Jacky Wong
REVIEW
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CULTURE | SCIENCE | POLITICS | HUMOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. * * * * Saturday/Sunday, August 10 - 11, 2019 | C1
Our New
Terrorism
Problem
The U.S. should use its hard-won
experience against al Qaeda and
Islamic State to fight today’s surge of
lethal white supremacist attacks.
By Clint Watts
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN KUCZALA; GETTY IMAGES
P
ittsburgh, Tallahassee, Poway, Jeffersontown and now El Paso— lethal and very impactful, without resources.”
these American communities have been the scene since 2018 of the The Norway murderer’s vision helped to inspire
the Australian gunman who perpetrated the
most lethal mass shootings connected to white supremacist ideol- Christchurch massacre and surfaced in
“
ogy, but there have been many other lesser attacks and foiled plots. the attack allegedly planned by a U.S.
In the U.S., such terrorism has now eclipsed international jihadist Coast Guard lieutenant stationed in
terrorism in both frequency and severity. Events of the past week Washington, D.C. The gunman who
murdered nine black worshipers at a
seem to have finally awoken the country to the reality of this June 2015 Bible study meeting at the White
threat, but our politicians are already bickering about what to do about it. u In fact, historic Emanuel African Methodist supremacist
the formula for responding to America’s white supremacist terrorism emergency is quite Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.,
clear—in part because of our hard-won experience fighting jihadists from al Qaeda and made a point of writing a racist mani- terrorism has
its spawn, Islamic State. We must swiftly and carefully apply the best practices of the
festo beforehand. now eclipsed
But there are also key operational
two decades since Sept. 11, 2001, to counter this decade’s domestic terrorist threat—by differences between the two move-
international
passing new laws, increasing resources and enhancing investigative capabilities. ments, with implications for how to jihadist
fight them. Violent white supremacism terrorism in
The post-9/11 lessons are particularly applicable, extremist who murdered 51 worshipers in March at in the U.S. has grown from the bottom
in part, because of the similarities between the jiha- two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, used up, not the top down. Al Qaeda and Is- frequency
dists and violent white supremacists. Both extremist Facebook to broadcast live video of the massacre. lamic State often directed their most vi- and severity.
movements depend on the anger of alienated young Much like Islamic State and other transnational cious attacks from a central headquar-
men, vulnerable to moral suasion and often lacking terrorists, the atrocities of the new terrorists ters, whether al Qaeda’s safe havens in
strong community or social bonds as moderating in- serve to inspire their fellow extremists to more Please turn to the next page
fluences in their lives. Both depend on reaching and bloodshed. The white supremacists “crowd-
indoctrinating recruits via the internet. source” their ideology from the views of the
Today’s white supremacist terrorists band to- amorphous movement’s most prolific attackers. As Mr. Watts is distinguished research fellow at
gether online, further radicalize themselves and fire the terrorism expert J.M. Berger has noted, many the Foreign Policy Research Institute and the
one another up in much the same manner as their of them were particularly galvanized by a far- author of “Messing With the Enemy: Surviving
jihadist counterparts. White supremacists avidly right extremist’s shocking 2011 attack in Norway, in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terrorists,
network in the virtual world, whether or not they which left 77 dead. The killer wrote a manifesto, Russians and Fake News,” published by Harper
know each other in real life. They pick their targets which his admirers have treated as a sort of grim (which, like The Wall Street Journal, is owned
and methods and then share their manifestos, pro- proof of concept—showing, as Mr. Berger puts it, by News Corp). He is a former FBI special
nouncements and even attacks, using social media that “one person can carry out a spectacular agent and a former executive officer of the
platforms such as Gab and 8chan; the anti-Muslim terrorist attack—a terrorist attack that is highly Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.
Inside
Rolling
CULTURE LANGUAGE SCIENCE
How America’s
original ‘greatest Stone Having trouble
expressing irony
Danger Zone
Volcano risks
showman’ blazed the Keyboardist Chuck or sarcasm are lurking in
way for the likes of Leavell is the calm
center of the when you text? the U.S., but
Warhol, Madonna famously fractious Try writing not where you
and Trump. C5 rock band. C6 in lowercase. C3 may think. C4
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Domestic Terrorism
more transparently together to
detect likely attackers and stem
the flood of terrorist and violent
content. This should involve a
Continued from the prior page public-private partnership to cre-
Afghanistan and Pakistan or Islamic State’s self-declared “caliphate” in ate a joint center for social media
Syria and Iraq. Sometimes coordinating with foreign fighters and local intelligence, where investigators
recruits, these groups were able to stage such atrocities as 9/11 and the and personnel at the tech compa-
March 2016 suicide bombings in Brussels. These top-down-style as- nies share information about ex-
saults then inspired jihadist supporters with no direct connection to tremists. Such a center would
the terrorist groups’ leadership to perpetrate local attacks against soft help to identify the fringe sites
targets as opportunities arose. used by white supremacists and
Lacking any such centralized leadership, white supremacist terror- help smaller social media compa-
ism overwhelmingly involves the online self-radicalization of isolated nies defend their platforms.
young men. As a result, there is no terrorist headquarters to discover We should also try to conduct
and target. The new terrorists don’t control territory or take shelter online interventions with emerg-
with sympathetic governments. ing white supremacist, incel and
It also means that the ideology of the other extremists, connecting
new generation of attackers is often a them with counselors to try to give them “off
mishmash of overlapping or contradictory ramps” before they strike. The budgets for such
ideas. Today’s self-made domestic terror- programs should be increased dramatically.
ists create their own dogmas from a long Above all, domestic investigators must know
historical tradition of white supremacy, what to look for. That means a comprehensive
mixing conspiracy theories about Jewish study of domestic extremist ideologies, however
cabals out to “replace” embattled white confused or vitriolic, to understand the point when
Americans with Latinos or other nonwhites their adherents move from protected free speech
with snippets from tangential or even com- to illegal conspiracy or violence. Last decade, the
peting extremist ideologies. Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
The document that authorities say the El mapped the jihadist movement, illustrating the
Paso terrorist wrote is suffused with anti- messages and thought leaders inspiring violence.
Hispanic rhetoric but also expresses worries A similar project could map domestic extremist
about automation, corporations and environ- movements, with an eye to identifying those radi-
mental degradation. The FBI expanded its in- cals most likely to cross the line into terrorism.
vestigation of a July 28 mass shooting at a Some attacks will always get past law enforce-
food festival in Gilroy, Calif., into a domestic ment, but they need not be so bloody. Reducing
terrorism probe after discovering that the the impact of domestic terrorism requires restrict-
19-year-old killer had prepared a list of other ing the weaponry available to radicals. America
potential targets, including “religious organi- should treat guns much the way it does cars. Few
zations, courthouses, federal buildings and Americans would want to share the road with unli-
political institutions involving both the Re- censed, untrained and uninsured motorists, but
publican and Democratic parties.” with guns, we don’t require even one of these ele-
Meanwhile, the bureau said that the ex- ments to protect the public.
tremist who killed nine people in Dayton, Ask police officers, intelligence professionals and
Ohio, was “exploring violent ideologies”— military leaders: Weapons of war, like the assault ri-
note the plural. Other killers have been involved with so-called “in- homeland-security and judiciary committees should fles used by white supremacists in recent weeks and
cel” groups—short for involuntary celibates and used to denote mi- gather data about domestic terrorism’s different the 100-round drum magazine employed by the Day-
sogynists who viciously disparage and even rape and kill women. The variants and ideologies and ensure that the U.S. has ton shooter, have no place on American streets. To-
rhetoric of both incel and white supremacist groups surfaced in the Top, people the resources and personnel to meet each threat. At day’s terrorists have cops outgunned. Mandatory
vile social media videos made by the shooter who killed two women pay respect the same time, the foreign-affairs and intelligence background checks are just common sense. Manda-
last year in a yoga studio in Tallahassee, Fla. This stew of entitle- to nine black committees should examine the degree to which for- tory gun-owner liability insurance would create a
ment, hatred and self-aggrandizement is likely to continue to charac- worshipers eign countries and connections intersect with do- private-sector marketplace for assessing the individ-
terize American domestic terrorism, which makes identifying would- killed during mestic extremist movements. Finally, Congress ual risk of weapon ownership, thereby providing ad-
be attackers more difficult. Bible study should ensure that the FBI and the Department of ditional tips for law enforcement and slowing gun
A more fundamental challenge is that America’s counterterrorism by a racist Homeland Security get additional purchases by domestic abusers, the
“
system has long depended on a clear partition between international gunman, resources and tools to investigate mentally ill and terrorists.
and domestic terrorism. This has given focus and latitude to the fight June 19, 2015, domestic terrorism. Beyond these necessary policy
against post-9/11 jihadists. In pursuing white supremacist terrorism, Charleston, We should avoid repeating some changes, the most decisive weapon
by contrast, U.S. law enforcement—from the FBI to local police S.C. of our post-9/11 mistakes, including America has for defeating terror-
forces—will find itself restricted in various ways. The rulebook, re- setting up cumbersome structures The minority ism is leadership. Three days after
sources and public support for aggressive, intelligence-led, investiga-
tive approaches differ between the domestic and international realms.
Above, and ponderous procedures that did groups 9/11, President George W. Bush
stood amid the rubble of the Twin
mourning little to disrupt terrorist recruit-
For instance, the secretary of state can formally designate a foreign after a ment. Preventing even bloodier targeted Towers, picked up a bullhorn and
group as a terrorist organization, which gives the FBI a legal basis for gunman shot white supremacist attacks will re- by white offered reassurance and direction
pursuing U.S. persons who are providing that group with material 20 dead quire nimbler tactics. Rather than to all Americans. To the rescue
support. It also lets the authorities request court-supervised surveil- at a Walmart the convoluted “whole of govern- supremacists workers at ground zero, the presi-
lance and follow social media leads about violent radicalization. in El Paso, ment” approach beloved by some haven’t dent announced, “I can hear you!
We have no comparable mechanism for designating domestic-terror- Texas. in Washington, the FBI should take The rest of the world hears you!
ist groups—but we need one. Without it, investigators are left to pur- Authorities the lead in this effort. The focus
been clearly And the people—and the people
supported by
FROM TOP: CEM OZDEL/ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES; CALLAGHAN O’HARE/REUTERS
sue violent white supremacists individually, charging them based on say the killer should not be on winning over who knocked these buildings down
specific crimes or conspiracies, even if they are part of a larger nexus was a white whole communities that might har- U.S. political will hear all of us soon!” In tone
of online supporters bent on perpetrating violence. Moreover, investi- nationalist bor radicals but in detecting and and words, the commander-in-
gators have limited abilities to pre-emptively assess whether white su- who called demobilizing those few hundred leaders. chief assured all Americans that
premacists are taking a radical turn toward violence. The FBI should the murders individuals who are closest to per- he would protect all Americans
be granted more authority, with careful oversight, to designate domes- his response petrating a shooting or a bombing. and helped to unify the country
tic terrorist groups and then open nationwide investigative cases. to an The overall goal is clear and urgent: Detect vio- for the coming war with al Qaeda.
In this regard, the overall balance of U.S. counterterrorism efforts ‘invasion lent white supremacists online and intercept them But today, amid a seemingly endless surge of do-
is behind the times. FBI Director Christopher Wray testified just the of Texas’ by on the ground by increasing the volume of intelli- mestic terrorist attacks, the minority groups tar-
week before the Gilroy shooting that the bureau has recorded Hispanic gence and the speed with which it is shared among geted by white supremacists—from Pittsburgh to El
roughly as many domestic terrorism arrests as international terror- immigrants. federal, state and local law enforcement officers. Paso—haven’t been clearly heard or supported by
ism ones in 2019, with the bulk of these domestic arrests arising As white supremacists have been pushed from their political leaders. Last week, Marine One should
from white supremacist motivations. But the FBI still dedicates more more mainstream social media platforms, they have landed in the Walmart parking lot on the east
investigators to international terrorism than domestic, which likely have descended on less policed, more anonymous side of El Paso, and the president should have de-
increases the number of cases and subsequent arrests, simply be- platforms such as Gab and 8chan and even places clared, “I hear you, America hears you, and those
cause the bureau has more resources to tackle the jihadist problem designed for safe discourse like Mastodon. Pene- who shed this blood will hear from all of us soon!
and more legal authority to pursue its adherents. trating online terrorist networks without chilling Our country will do everything possible to protect
We urgently need to reset and standardize our approach to domestic constitutionally protected speech requires an im- Americans—all Americans—from white supremacy.
terrorism. If Congress is truly concerned about domestic terrorism and mediate investment in human intelligence—in in- I am with you, I will defend you, and we will defeat
serious about its oversight responsibilities, it should immediately hold vestigators who can identify those extremists most the new terrorists trying to rip our nation apart.”
hearings to clarify the extent of the threat and identify needs. The likely to become killers. That didn’t happen, but it is never too late to lead.
[Screed]
showed up in English sources in In Scottish usage, “screed” In 1995, when the “Un- sage on the online message
the 14th century, its meaning took on yet another meaning: a abomber,” later revealed to be board 8chan in advance of the
was quite different. It referred to long, tiresome list or a tedious Ted Kaczynski, demanded that shooting. While the press tended
a fragment or scrap, particularly bit of speech or writing. In a newspapers print his 35,000- to call that a “manifesto,” the
a cut piece of paper, leather or comic play from 1748 titled “The word essay, “Industrial Society shorter statement linked to the
fabric. The word apparently Double Traitor Roasted: A New and Its Future,” the FBI dubbed El Paso shooting (also posted on
was filled with hateful opinions originated as a variant form of Scots Opera,” one character lam- it “The Unabomber Manifesto.” 8chan) hardly seems worthy of
about a supposed “Hispanic in- “shred” appearing in some local poons the other’s flowery In the press, however, the essay that label. As Slate staff writer
vasion of Texas.” dialects of England. speech: “A Scots writer, by the was frequently called a “screed Lili Loofbourow observed on
Some followed the lead of lo- “Screed” developed other re- Lord, for they cannot speak against technology.” Twitter, calling it a “manifesto”
JAMES YANG
cal officials and called it a “man- gional meanings, such as a nar- without a screed of Latin.” Likewise, in 2017, when James would be “stupidly aggrandiz-
ifesto.” “We have to attribute row parcel of land, a bordering As the use of “screed” for Damore, an engineer at Google, ing,” while “rambling screed”
that manifesto directly to him,” strip or the frilled edge of a lengthy discourse became en- anonymously circulated a 10- fits the bill.
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REVIEW
F
outdoor-play-based preschool and
ive years ago, we switched countries. kindergarten known as Anji Play is
Pasi Sahlberg came to the U.S. as a visit- proving so successful in more than
Our Children
ing professor at Harvard University, and Wil- 100 rural schools that it is being ex-
liam Doyle moved to Finland to study its panded—and widely hailed as a na-
world-renowned school system as a Ful- tional model for early childhood ed-
bright scholar. We brought our families with us. And we ucation. In Singapore, education
were stunned by what we experienced. officials are trying to shift a nation
In Cambridge, Mass., Pasi took his young son to have
a look at a potential preschool. The school’s director
asked for a detailed assessment of the boy’s vocabulary
and numeracy skills.
“Why do you need to know this? He is barely 3 years
Need to Play of high achievers away from stress,
academic ranking and over-testing
toward a new vision of childhood ex-
ploration and “purposeful play.” In a
2018 speech, Education Minister Ong
old!” Pasi asked, looking at his son, for whom toilet Ye Kung said, “There is room for
training and breast-feeding were recent memories. A major lesson from Finland’s education system: Instead of parents to step back, give children
“We need to be sure he is ready for our program,” re- stress and cookie-cutter testing, focus on well-being and joy. space to explore and play.”
plied the director. “We need to know if he can keep up Meanwhile, in school districts in
with the rest of the group. We need to make sure all Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and
children are prepared to make the mark.” mantras rarely heard in U.S. schools: “Let children be chil- New York, tens of thousands of children are being given
Pasi was flummoxed by the bizarre education concept dren” and “The work of a child is to play.” A Finnish up to 60 minutes of daily outdoor, free-play recess. These
of “preschool readiness.” Compounding the culture mother told William, “Here, you’re not considered a good experiments are directly inspired by Finland’s schools—
shock was the stunning price tag: $25,000 a year for parent unless you give your child lots of outdoor play.” and educators are reporting sharp improvements in aca-
preschool, compared with the basically free, govern- Finnish children learn to take responsibility and man- demic performance, concentration and behavior.
ment-funded daycare-through-university programs that age risks at very young ages, in school and out. Follow- Our own children now attend public schools in two
the boy would have enjoyed back in Finland. ing local customs, William’s 7-year-old son learned to great global cities, New York and Sydney, Aus-
“
Pasi had entered an American school culture that is walk to school by himself, across six street crossings tralia. In both cities and countries, play is an
increasingly rooted in childhood stress and the elimina- and two busy main roads. One day, on a forest path, Wil- endangered or nonexistent component of edu-
tion of the arts, physical activity and play—all to make liam came upon a delighted Finnish father applauding cation—even though the American Academy of
room for a tidal wave of test prep and standardized his 6-year-old daughter as she scrambled up a tall tree— Pediatrics notes that “the lifelong success of
testing. This new culture was supposed to reduce to a height that would have petrified many parents The children is based on their ability to be creative
achievement gaps, improve learning and raise America’s around the world. “If she falls and breaks her arm, it importance and to apply the lessons learned from playing.”
position in the international education rankings. Nearly will be in a good cause. She will have learned some- We should take a lesson from Finland, fol-
two decades and tens of billions of dollars later, it isn’t thing,” the father said nonchalantly. of playful low doctors’ orders and build our schools,
working. Yet the boondoggle continues, even as the inci- In Finland, William experienced an education culture learning homes and communities on the learning lan-
dence of childhood mental-health disorders such as anx- that protects and cherishes childhood, one in which stu- guage of children: play.
iety and depression is increasing. dents are immersed in a play-rich education that goes
for children
Meanwhile, in Finland, William Doyle entered the all the way to high school. At his son’s school, William cannot This essay is adapted from the authors’
school system ranked as #1 in the world for childhood ed- saw children rush to the cafeteria in stocking feet, gig- new book, “Let the Children Play: How
ucation by the Organization for Economic Cooperation gling, hugging and practicing dance steps. Students got
be over- More Play Will Save Our Schools and Help
and Development, the World Economic Forum and Uni- a 15-minute outdoor recess every single hour of the emphasized.” Children Thrive” (Oxford University Press).
cef—a system built in large part on research pioneered school day, rain or shine. AMERICAN ACADEMY OF Mr. Sahlberg is a professor of education
(and increasingly ignored) in the U.S. Rather than pursu- “There are many reasons children must play in school,” PEDIATRICS, 2018 STUDY policy at the University of New South
ing standardized-test data as the Holy Grail of education, explained the school’s principal, Heikki Happonen. “When Wales in Sydney, Australia, and a former
Finland focuses on equity, happiness, well-being and joy they are moving, their brains work better. Then they con- director-general at Finland’s Ministry of
in learning as the foundations of education. centrate more in class. It’s very important in social ways Education. Mr. Doyle is a scholar in resi-
Finnish parents and teachers widely agree on several too.” He added, “School should be a child’s favorite place.” dence at the University of Eastern Finland.
On the Internet
digital medium, where
scrolling down is easy and
unbounded, the con-
straints are different. If
you no longer need the pe-
riod to break up your
BY GRETCHEN MCCULLOCH the internet, social media thoughts—a linebreak or a
and text messages have fi- new text bubble can do
IT’S HARD TO MAKE irony shine nally succeeded where centu- that—it becomes fertile
through in writing without the full ries of word mavens have ground for developing
range of eloquent pause, verbal in- failed. The ironic punctua- other meanings. Using it in
flection, arched eyebrow and wry lip tion mark that the social in- the traditional way, to
that we can employ in person. People ternet can claim as its own is mark the end of a sen-
noticed this problem long before the the sarcasm tilde, as in, tence, introduces a note of
internet, and many attempted to “That’s so ~on brand~” or irony or cognitive disso-
remedy it. There was Henry Denham, “Well, aren’t you ~special~.” nance when it comes at
a British printer who used a mirrored The sarcasm tilde has its ori- the end of a positive mes-
question mark to distinguish rhetori- gins in the assorted punctua- sage, creating an effect of
cal questions in 1575, and John Wil- tion marks known as “sparkles” that ercase. This too, is an example of an cally add capitals at the beginning of passive aggression (“OK. fine.”).
kins, a British scientist who proposed once decorated status updates on existing style taking on a second layer messages and after a period. Sud- Irony is a linguistic trust fall. When
an inverted exclamation mark to in- AOL and MSN Messenger or profile of meaning. From “Netiquette” guides denly, instead of lowercasing taking I write or speak with a double mean-
dicate irony in 1668. pages on MySpace or Xanga. in the 1990s to forum posts into the less effort, it often took more. Like a ing, I’m hoping that you’ll be there to
In more recent years, journalists In those early days of social me- mid-2000s, a hot topic for griping pair of artfully pre-ripped jeans, mini- catch me by understanding my tone.
and comedians have proposed a back- dia, people used sparkles such as the was internet users who typed in all malist typography took on the origi- The risks are high—misdirected irony
wards-slanting italics known as “iron- tilde to express genuine enthusiasm, lowercase. Those who liked it, and nal connotation of laziness and adds a can gravely injure the conversation—
ics,” the upside-down exclamation as in “~*~*~happy birthday~*~*~” or who didn’t, spoke about it in terms of second layer of meaning, converting it but the rewards are high, too: the
mark again and a swirl with a dot in “~*~here’s a song lyric I like~*~.” A ease of use. As one MetaFilter post to irony or anti-authoritarianism. sublime joy of feeling purely under-
the middle, which was patented in decade or so later, the sparkles had put it, “constantly hitting shift puts a “What could possibly go wrong?” is a stood, the comfort of knowing some-
2008 under the name SarcMark (“sar- become a bit dated, so their original lot of strain on the ol’ hands.” genuine invitation to make a contin- one’s on your side. No wonder people
castic mark”) and sold for noncom- connotation of sincere enthusiasm Starting around 2013, however, gency plan, but “what could possibly through the ages kept trying so hard
mercial use at the bargain price of shaded into a second meaning of lowercasing seemed to take on a new go wrong” is the wry acknowledge- to write it.
$1.99. But all to no avail. The problem ironic enthusiasm. meaning. Instead of laziness or effi- ment that an idea is unwise.
with adopting new irony punctuation But tildes can feel a bit obvious. ciency, it became a way of indicating The period, too, has acquired a sec- Ms. McCulloch is the author of “Be-
ROB WILSON
is that if the people reading you don’t For a wryer mood, a drier wit, one attitude. The change can be traced to ond layer of meaning, predicated on cause Internet: Understanding the
understand it, you’re no better off. might try a more subdued form of the rise of smartphones, with their the ironic use of formality in a casual New Rules of Language,” which was
But in the last few years, users of ironic punctuation—writing in all low- predictive keyboards that automati- context. A small dot is an economical published last month by Riverhead.
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REVIEW
WILCZEK’S UNIVERSE
FRANK WILCZEK
The Humble
Magic of
Liquid Crystals
THE MOST GLAMOR-
OUS fields in physics
are probably cosmol-
ogy and the search for
new fundamental laws.
While those subjects are glorious,
T
the electromagnetic waves we see as The internet has erupted far-flung locales like Hawaii or Alaska. It was
light. They absorb those waves and he series of powerful earthquakes with fears about the magma a reminder, too, that volcanoes that have been
then retransmit them in altered that shook Southern California in dormant for hundreds or even thousands of
forms. July prompted understandable con- under Yellowstone Park, years—Mount St. Helens had been quiet for
Because liquid crystals combine cern about whether the region is but mountains to the west more than a century—can suddenly come back
light-altering properties with fluid- prepared for a period of possibly pose the true dangers. to life. “Dormant” simply means “sleeping,”and
ity, they can provide ultra-flexible, more active seismic shifts. It also generated, things that are sleeping usually wake up even-
color-sensitive lenses and polariz- however, a viral wave of apocalyptic warnings tually.
that a “supervolcano” in Yellowstone National year, ranked as the No. 1 “very high threat.” Ha- The question, of course, is when. Precursor
Park, a few states away, was about to erupt and waii’s Mauna Loa volcano and five Alaskan vol- events such as increased seismic activity and
plunge the world into darkness in a colossal ex- canoes were also in that category. Of the 18 U.S. gas emissions can indicate that a specific vol-
plosion of lava and ash. volcanoes designated as “very high threat,” the cano is ready to blow, which is why we need
The Yellowstone volcano didn’t erupt, but other 11 are situated in California, Oregon and more and better volcano monitoring systems.
the internet did, with the number of Google Washington. Washington’s Mount Rainier, near After more than a decade of effort, earlier this
searches for the park’s volcano spiking after Seattle, which has erupted dozens of times in year Congress finally passed legislation to cre-
the first California earthquake hit. That was the past 10,000 years, ranked No. 3; California’s ate a National Volcano Early Warning System,
followed by such tabloid headlines as “‘The Big Mount Shasta, which last erupted about two which will upgrade and unify the nation’s vari-
One Is Coming’: California earthquakes ignite centuries ago, ranked No. 5; Oregon’s Mount ous volcano monitoring programs.
Yellowstone Supervolcano fears” and “Yellow- Hood ranked No. 6. Yellowstone, by contrast, But long-term volcano predictions are much
stone volcano: Will California earthquake trig- was ranked No. 21, and didn’t make it into the more difficult. For example, based on the geo-
ger ERUPTION?” “very high threat” category. logic record of eruptions over the past 5,000
Such claims, which have surfaced periodi- To be clear, a “very high threat” ranking years, the USGS estimates there’s about a 16%
cally in recent years, generally take chance of a small-to-moderate vol-
the form that Yellowstone is “over- canic eruption occurring some-
due” for a major eruption (it isn’t), where in California sometime in
ALAMY
that worried park officials are the next three decades. That’s
evacuating tourists (they haven’t) pretty vague, but right now it’s
A liquid crystal seen under and even that herds of bison are their best estimate.
a polarized-light microscope. frantically fleeing the park after In most cases, the only thing
sensing an impending blowup (not humans can do in the face of an
ers. This makes them tremendously so far). “Yellowstone seems to erupting volcano is get out of its
useful for building visual displays. have cornered the market on that way. To that end, some high-vol-
Indeed, liquid crystals are central sort of thing,” says geophysicist cano-threat states have developed
players in most modern computer Michael Poland, the scientist-in- extensive emergency warning sys-
screens. charge of the Yellowstone Volcano tems and evacuation plans, partic-
The mathematical theory of liq- Observatory, a multiagency group ularly for people who are in dan-
uid crystals combines the intricate that monitors seismic and volcanic ger from lahars, the massive
symmetry of crystalline patterns activity in the park. volcanic mudflows that can travel
with the dynamical richness of liq- It’s true that Yellowstone sits many miles and destroy everything
uid flows and then examines how astride a giant “hot spot” of in their paths. In May, some 8,000
these elements interact with light. magma that over the past two mil- students and others in the city of
In 1991, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes won lion years has produced “supervol- Puyallup, Washington (population
the Nobel Prize in Physics for his cano” eruptions that spewed out 42,000), which is in a Mount Rain-
contributions to that theory. hundreds of cubic miles of ash and ier lahar danger zone, participated
Yet when it comes to our under- other materials, the last one in what was billed as the largest
standing of liquid crystals, the best around 630,000 years ago. That volcano evacuation drill ever held
is yet to come. In fact, liquid crys- magma provides the heat that in the U.S.
tals are central to life itself. A spe- gives us Old Faithful and some Clearly, the home state of
cial kind of two-dimensional liquid 10,000 other hydrothermal fea- Mount St. Helens takes this seri-
crystal, closed up into sphere-like tures in the park. But for a variety ously. “Around here, volcanoes are
surfaces, forms the membranes that of sound geological reasons, Dr. part of the culture,” says Brian
define the boundaries of cells and of Poland and other scientists say Terbush, the volcano program co-
functional units within cells. These that the chances of a super-erup- ordinator for the state’s Emer-
crystals can selectively dissolve tion in our lifetimes, or even in the gency Management Division.
complex protein molecules, thus ac- next thousand years, are slim to Elsewhere, however, alerting
commodating cellular eating, diges- virtually nil. Even if an eruption the public to the volcano threat
tion, excretion and respiration. They did occur, it likely would be a lo- can be a tough sell. “It’s a little dif-
can also grow, bud and fission—ac- calized lava flow, not a world- Top, Hawaii’s Kilauea doesn’t mean that any particu- ficult in California, because there’s been no
tivities that are the soul of biologi- threatening super-explosion. volcano erupting lar volcano is going to erupt eruption here in living memory,” says USGS vol-
cal development and reproduction. There is a serious volcanic in June 2018. Above, next week, or next year, or even canologist Jessica Ball of the California Volcano
Human engineers haven’t caught threat in the contiguous U.S., but it Yellowstone Park’s within the next century. It sim- Observatory. (The last eruption in the state oc-
up to nature’s skill in this medium. isn’t in Wyoming. It lurks hun- Sapphire Pool sits ply means the effects of the curred at Lassen Peak in northern California a
Our machines don’t reproduce, de- dreds of miles to the west, inside atop hot magma. volcano erupting could be dev- hundred years ago.) Meanwhile, Californians
velop, heal or regulate intercourse the snow-capped, picture-postcard astating and that the volcano are already besieged by other, much more fre-
with their environment with any- peaks of Mount Rainier, Mount requires careful monitoring. quent natural disasters such as earthquakes,
thing approaching the sophistica- Shasta, Mount Hood and others. They might But there’s no doubt that another California-Ore- wildfires and mudslides. Still, Ball says, “We’ve
tion of biology. A major bottleneck look like ordinary mountains, but in fact they gon-Washington volcanic eruption will happen been trying to spread the word to make people
is that although we have good equa- are volcanoes—and potentially dangerous ones. sometime, with potentially catastrophic results. aware of the (volcanic) hazards they might have
tions for liquid crystals, we’re not In 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey released This isn’t hypothetical; we’ve already seen to deal with in the future.”
yet good at using those equations to an updated version of its “National Volcanic firsthand what kind of damage an explosive vol- Whether they realize it or not, for many
guide creative design. Threat Assessment,” which reviewed the vol- canic eruption can inflict on the western U.S. Americans the volcano threat is real. But we
This problem may be too compli- cano dangers in the U.S. based on the likelihood The 1980 eruption of Washington’s Mount St. shouldn’t pay attention to silly social media ru-
cated for unaided human brains. It of eruptions, potential destructiveness, nearby Helens was only a moderately violent explosion mors and scary “news” reports about volca-
seems likely that computer algo- population densities and other factors. The re- as volcanic eruptions go, but it killed 57 people, noes. The truth about our home-grown volca-
rithms, which learn by doing (or, port listed 161 volcanoes in a dozen U.S. states destroyed more than 200 square miles of forest noes is scary enough.
more accurately, by simulating), will and two overseas territories (American Samoa and covered much of the Northwest in a blan-
yield more successful designs than and the Northern Mariana Islands) and ranked ket of ash. Today Mount St. Helens still ranks Mr. Dillow is the author, most recently, of
conventional human logic. In this them in categories ranging from “very low No. 2 in the “very high threat” category. “Fire in the Sky: Cosmic Collisions, Killer As-
way, today’s magic will conjure up threat” to “very high threat.” The Mount St. Helens eruption reminded us teroids, and the Race to Defend Earth”
tomorrow’s. Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, which erupted last in the most dramatic way possible that Ameri- (Scribner)
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REVIEW
P.T. Barnum ASK ARIELY
BY ROBERT WILSON with Tom Thumb
DAN ARIELY
T
in 1850.
he three-ring circus as-
pect of modern life had
to start somewhere. All
Overwhelmed
the hustle and bustle
that fills our days—the
By Too Many
social-media imperative to create a Choices
persona and tirelessly promote it,
the confusing welter of information Dear Dan,
both legitimate and illegitimate to Does the fact that so
which we are exposed, the naked many Democrats are
power of advertising to create de- running for president in
sires in us we didn’t know we had— 2020 make it more dif-
cannot be traced to a single source. ficult for voters to choose among
But some people are more responsi- them? I’m especially interested in
ble than others. politics, and even I find it hard to
A good place to start is with the compare each candidate’s positions.
most famous promoter of the actual I wonder if many Democratic voters
three-ring circus, Phineas Taylor will simply give up on paying atten-
Barnum. Born in 1810, Barnum un- tion to the primaries. —Tracy
derstood from the age of 21, when he
started a newspaper in his native In behavioral science, we call this
Connecticut and put his name at the phenomenon “the paradox of
top of the front page, that making choice.” While many people report
his name a brand would greatly en- that they like having more choices,
hance his ability to influence the having too many options can end up
world around him. The paper lasted making it impossible to make a de-
only a few years, and one of the out- cision at all. For example, when
rageous charges he made in it landed people are given a lot of flavors of
him in jail. But even that supposed jam to choose from, they tend to
setback added to his celebrity and sample more flavors, but they are
his newspaper’s sales. less likely to actually buy one of
As Barnum set off for New York to them. In the case of the Democratic
turn himself into the world’s great- primaries, the number of candidates
est showman, he always remembered is certainly overwhelming, and I
the value of celebrity and the power think it is likely to decrease voter
of the press. When he started his turnout.
hugely successful museum on lower
Broadway, in the early 1840s, he
made sure to call it Barnum’s Ameri-
can Museum, and every one of the
The Man Who
Turned the U.S.
thousands of ads he would buy in
dozens of newspapers throughout
the years would include his name.
Barnum wrote for the newspapers as
well, sending them letters relating
the glamour of his travels in Europe.
He made sure to know all the editors
of his day, from Horace Greeley of
the New York Tribune to Walt Whit-
man of the Brooklyn Eagle.
Into a Circus
GWENDA KACZOR
As a showman, Barnum’s business
was to create events, and at first he P.T. Barnum pioneered the arts of celebrity, scandal and spectacle
courted controversy. He exhibited that continue to shape our culture today.
the highly improbable Fejee Mer-
maid—a monkey torso sewn onto a
fish—and made a morally indefensible spectacle legrino in Rome is a cafe that calls learned from Barnum’s tricks as Dear Dan,
of Joice Heth, an enslaved woman he promoted itself, without explanation, Barnum. well. Huey Long used rallies and the During a recent doctor visit, I was
as George Washington’s now-161-year-old Many things that Barnum did radio to get and keep power. And of asked to sign an agreement saying
nursemaid. Later he craved legitimacy, promot- seemed shameless and shocked the course there is our current presi- that if I missed a future appoint-
ing the angelic singer Jenny Lind—then the public, especially the keepers of dent, uncannily wielding Twitter, ment, I would have to pay a $50
most famous voice in the Western world—and public morality. But once he had television and the power of celeb- fee. I thought this was excessive and
staging inspiring melodramas at his museum. done them, they became a little less rity in his rise to power. refused to sign. Does this kind of
When he offered to bankroll Lind on an Ameri- shocking. In this way, he started us As it happens, when Barnum policy really get more people to
“
can tour, he calculated that it would be worth on the path to valuing celebrity grew older, he also sought to turn show up for medical appointments?
it to lose $50,000 to enhance his reputation. above all else and to believing that his name recognition into political —George
The power of proximity to fame was limit- anything goes in advertising and power. But it only worked for him
less in his mind. When he set off with Tom even in politics. when he ran for mayor of Bridge- Negative incentives—in other
Thumb, a dwarf who was a preternaturally tal- Generations of aspiring Americans Barnum’s port, where he served one term, and words, punishments—are more com-
ented singer and dancer, on a tour of Britain, he followed in Barnum’s footsteps, for Fairfield representative in the plex than they seem and can back-
put all his efforts into introducing Tom to learning to use the technology of
name Connecticut legislature, where he fire. One of my favorite studies on
Queen Victoria, betting (correctly) that doing so their time to turn our public life into became served four terms. this topic is by the economists Uri
UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP/GETTY IMAGES
would ignite the interest of her subjects. a spectacle. Think of D.W. Griffith, short- By this point in his life, Barnum Gneezy and Aldo Rustichini, who
Eventually, and long before his association who, when motion pictures were still had become a better person—an abo- showed that when a day-care insti-
with James Bailey’s famous circus began in in their infancy, created one of the hand for litionist and a philanthropist with a tuted a fine for late drop-offs, par-
1880, the name Barnum itself became short-
hand for both negative and positive qualities:
first full-length films, the racist epic
“The Birth of a Nation,” which stirred
audacity, clear moral center. Locals who knew
the man himself and not just his rep-
ents became even less likely to ar-
rive on time. Instead of viewing the
audacity, greed and humbug, but also excite- controversy and made big money. Or greed utation would vote for him. But he fine as a punishment, parents saw it
ment, entertainment and entrepreneurial gusto. Walt Disney, who helped develop ani- and was easily defeated when he ran for as a way to pay for the right to be
The Greatest Show on Earth, as the Barnum and mation and later built his own “won- Congress, and talk of running for the late, and they took advantage of
Bailey Circus described itself, long outlived its derful world” on television, fostering humbug. Senate and even for president went this service without guilt.
namesakes, going out of business only in 2017, in every American child the over- nowhere. Barnum could never escape In your case, I would expect to
when it could no longer compete with the cha- whelming need to visit one of his his glittering, outrageous past. see a similar result: Patients might
otic overabundance of entertainment that it had theme parks. Consider the careers of feel more entitled to miss appoint-
helped to spawn. Andy Warhol, Madonna and, inevita- Mr. Wilson is the editor of The ments if they know they can pay a
Even Barnum himself might have blushed at bly, Kim Kardashian West—all mas- American Scholar. His new book, fee for it. In addition, the system
the idea that his name would still persist in the ters of using the media to enhance “Barnum: An American Life,” was will probably make patients even
public imagination 13 decades after his death. the power of celebrity. published this week by Simon & more furious when doctors are inev-
Consider, for instance, that on the Via del Pel- In time, political candidates Schuster. itably late, since it implies that the
doctors think their own time is
more valuable than that of their pa-
tients.
REVIEW
Chuck Leavell
Rolling Stones called today,’” Mr. Leavell recalls. “I was
elated to get the gig,” but after his first tour with the
Stones, “there was a lengthy gap before we started re-
cording, during which I started learning about for-
estry, land use and wildlife management. That started
out of necessity, but it turned into a passion.”
Ever since, the pianist has divided his energy be-
The calm center of the Rolling Stones tween music and farming. Besides the Stones, he has
recorded or toured with Eric Clapton, David Gilmour,
the Black Crowes, John Mayer, George Harrison and
C
many others. Last year, Mr. Leavell released an album,
huck Leavell is the calm in the eye of the Rolling Stones’ practice time on his own. Within a few hours, the en- “Chuck Gets Big,” with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band.
crossfire hurricane. Throughout the band’s current 17- tire band arrives, and they play a soundcheck that He has also become a tree farmer of renown—he and
show “No Filter” tour of American stadiums, you’ll find doubles as a rehearsal—usually emphasizing a song his wife co-manage Charlane Plantation in Bullard,
the keyboardist center-stage, within eyeshot of every chosen for each performance from an online fan vote Ga.—and an outspoken advocate for environmentally
member of the 11-person group. He’s the guy they look to- ‘Mick and of four songs, picked by Mr. Leavell with approval friendly forestry, writing four books, co-founding the
ward to steady the ship if they feel a song wobbling or need a re- Keith are from Mr. Jagger. “About 60% of the set is consistent Mother Nature Network (an online hub for environ-
minder or a cue. getting along on the tour,” says Mr. Leavell. “We focus on the other mental news) and filming several episodes of the PBS
While the 76-year-old Mick Jagger rooster-struts across the giant famously, 40% at soundcheck.” series “America’s Forests With Chuck Leavell.”
stage, showing no signs of his recent heart surgery, Keith Richards and and it’s so The morning after a show, on off days, before the He says that his message of responsible forestry is
Ron Wood peel off the loud, raunchy guitar riffs that have defined the cool to watch band boards a private charter to its next destination, harder to get across in such polarized times, when
band’s music for 55 years, and Charlie Watts drums out the beat. Mr. all the little Mr. Leavell starts working on the next concert’s set some call for clear-cutting forests and others decry
Leavell sits behind an electric piano, grinning through his white beard. smiles list. He checks his database to see what the Stones any harvesting. “When people scream about killing
He says that he came by his current role of music director for arguably and glances played on their last visit to a city, no matter how long trees, I ask about their house—usually made of
the world’s greatest rock ’n’ roll band quite organically. between it has been, and tries to work in some curveballs. The wood—and their furniture and their books. All won-
“I took copious notes during rehearsals for the 1989 ‘Steel Wheels’ them.’ songs that fans vote on are all numbers the band has derful things made from trees, and we don’t have to
tour and continued to document every time we played,” Mr. Leavell says. prepared in rehearsal. rape and pillage the forests to get them.” Mr. Leavell
“I ended up with two encyclopedic books of notes and chord charts, “We do roughly three weeks of rehearsal before pauses, then adds, “Pianos are also made from trees.”
which made me the go-to guy for questions like, ‘What’s the bridge every tour, running through about 20 songs a day,”
again?’ Music director became an official title about five years ago, but says Mr. Leavell. “We mostly work on songs we don’t Mr. Paul is the co-author, with Andy Aledort, of
it’s been a de facto role for a long time.” play every night, but people are sometimes surprised “Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray
On tour, Mr. Leavell arrives at the venue as early as noon to get some to hear that we also rehearse tunes like ‘Jumpin’ Jack Vaughan,” out Aug. 13 from St. Martin’s Press.
ing marijuana to marketing it vestments in junk bonds. Think reers in public relations how to casso stoned out of his mind goal…would be the…well, you
more effectively. The Maryland of them as a joint offering. combat attempts to vilify mari- when he painted “Les Demoi- get the idea. It would proba-
master’s program will prepare But pot-oriented classes juana producers or users. selles d’Avignon?” How much bly be a big hit.
BOOKS
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READ ONLINE AT WSJ.COM/BOOKSHELF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. * * * * Saturday/Sunday, August 10 - 11, 2019 | C7
A
But Roosevelt was famous for not
N OLD Army adage says telling his lieutenants what he was
there is no such thing thinking or what direction he was
as an indispensable headed in. His military chiefs often
man. Arlington Ceme- found out what the boss wanted
tery, they say, is full through random visitors or casual con-
of them. versations with his friends. Rather
George Catlett Marshall (1880- than draw out the president on his po-
1959) stands out as one of America’s litical reasoning, Mr. Roll writes, “Mar-
few possible exceptions. Sworn in as shall took it upon himself to judge
Army chief of staff on the morning what the president’s objectives should
that Hitler’s panzers crossed the have been. . . . His mistake was to try
Polish frontier, the nation’s first five- to substitute his own view of the polit-
star general transformed an impover- ical objective that should have dictated
ished home-defense force into the the decision . . . for that of the presi-
most powerful war machine the world dent’s.” In the end, Marshall followed
had ever seen. He guided global strat- FDR’s orders, but he required a firm
egy in wars hot and cold and tended push from the commander in chief.
the fires that smelted the ore of
America’s golden age.
The quiet Pennsylvanian possessed He bent the wills of
a genius for balancing democracy’s
economic and political needs against
Roosevelt and Churchill.
the demands of global war. Refusing He had a gift for spotting
to embrace any political persuasion— talented leaders—
he claimed his party affiliation was
“Episcopalian”—Marshall won the including Eisenhower.
trust of Republicans and Democrats,
unionists and magnates, isolationists
and internationalists by forthright Mr. Roll, whose prior works
talk and an assumption that all sides covered political operators Harry
acted in good faith, with the nation’s Hopkins and Louis Johnson, wisely
best interests at heart. His credibility skips much of the Marshall back
persuaded Congress to pass legisla- story that weighs down other biogra-
tion that would prepare the country phies. Ancestors, hometown, the ups
for war on two sides of the globe. and downs of the late Gilded Age,
During World War II, Marshall hazing at Virginia Military Institute,
turned draftees into hardened vet- and other such matters are woven
erans and ran military logistics in into scattered passing pages as Mr.
the Pacific, Europe, China and the Roll jumps into the core of the story:
Mediterranean. Through logic and Marshall’s rise from an obscure lieu-
eloquence, he bent the wills of con- tenant posted to the Philippines in
gressional leaders, Franklin D. Roose- the early 1900s to the most influen-
velt, Winston Churchill, the com- tial soldier of the 20th century.
bined chiefs of staff, and Gen. Occasionally Mr. Roll offers a bit
Douglas MacArthur. He had a gift for more context than World War II fans
spotting talent—including Dwight might require. America’s slide into
Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, and World War I, Jim Crow oppression in
George Patton—and, with few misses, Columbus, Ga., and Gen. Mark Clark’s
brought out the best in generals he 1944 campaign for Rome consume a
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BOOKS
‘There’s never a flood goes shoreward now/But lifts a keel we manned;/There’s never an ebb goes seaward now/But drops our dead on the sand.’ —RUDYARD KIPLING
T
have cemented his place in history; all Marshall
HERE IS something had to do was ask. But “in that moment, in the
warmly nostalgic yet quintessential moment after the president asked
also chilling about him just what he wanted to do, Marshall was
shipwrecks. Proud utterly selfless,” Mr. Roll writes. He assured
vessels that sailed Roosevelt he would loyally serve in any role the
the seas lie hidden beneath the commander in chief ordered. To an Olympian
waves. Some wrecks squat in degree, Marshall had “learned to renounce fleeting
muddy waters a few meters deep; pleasures in order to enjoy more rewarding ones
other are entombed in icy depths later, such as the lasting inner contentment that
miles beneath the surface. The comes from earning the respect and admiration
ruins of warships hold a special of one’s peers or from serving a higher cause.”
fascination: Their underwater rest- Marshall’s wife,
ing places can amount to a map Katherine, emerges
of what occurred during battle, from the pages as a At war’s end, a
NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND
ogists, are preserved so well that the winter ice or be captured by upon in the outer harbor that Sun- wreck searches. Having written a
one can see the benches where the the enemy—and could be lifted up day morning. In 2002, the sub was highly readable survey of naval
rowers sat side by side, their oars and made seaworthy again. located with a hole in its conning warfare and technology, he clearly
passing through “leather sleeves Search technology, Mr. Delgado tower, validating the report of the has more stories to tell.
that served as watertight gaskets.” notes, has improved in recent years captain of the destroyer Ward. As
Across the globe, Chinese naval and led to many discoveries. Multi- for the Ward itself, it eventually Mr. Borneman is the author of
might ruled Asian waters in the beam sonar and ROVs (remotely participated in the Battle of Leyte “Brothers Down: Pearl Harbor
1400s and protected trade as far operated vehicles) have permitted in the Philippines, where it was and the Fate of the Many Brothers ROAD TO RECOVERY A German poster
west as the Ottoman Empire. An archaeologists to map not only sunk in December 1944. The wreck Aboard the USS Arizona.” promoting the Marshall Plan, ca. 1948.
ultimate punishment on those who got and then against the French police German was attacked anywhere in the about the courageous women and girls
Youth Who in its way. Mr. Rosbottom’s sources who collaborated with the German country, these hostages could be
tend to be memoirs, letters, diaries and Occupation. murdered. The idea was to make resis-
of the Resistance. It has many inspira-
tional tales to tell, like that of the
Fought the occasional historical novel. As in Guy Môquet was only 16 when he tance seem like a cruel act against
his earlier book, he proves to be a fine was jailed. Held against court orders French prisoners—for they would be
story-teller but doesn’t have much to by French police in a maximum the ones to pay the price. It didn’t
memoirist Maroussia Naïtchenko, who
as a teenager often put her life on the
line in friendship and solidarity with
To Be Free say about the traditional con-
cerns of historians regarding so-
work: Môquet became a martyr
for the Resistance in general and
other brave young communist French
patriots. Mr. Rosbottom avoids engag-
cial context or patterns of behav- for the communists in particular. ing in the intense debates that take
Sudden Courage ior that might shed light on the His memory is still invoked today place among historians as to whether
By Ronald C. Rosbottom actions of individuals. He is con- as an example of patriotic France should be cheered for saving
Custom House, 320 pages, $27.99 vinced that young people (some- précocité résistante. around 75% of its Jews, or condemned
times he means adolescents, Students made themselves for sending a quarter of them to their
BY MICHAEL S. ROTH sometimes people under 30) visible in public protests against deaths. Nor does he ask about the role
R
were the energetic core of the German authorities and their of young people in the épuration, the
ONALD ROSBOTTOM Resistance, but he provides no Vichy allies. On Nov. 11, 1940, violent prosecution of collaborators
has been teaching col- real evidence that this was the many demonstrated in the capi- in the aftermath of the Liberation, in
lege students for many case. He cites one contemporary tal, with communists being the which tens of thousands were pun-
years now, and his af- claim that 75% of the résistants most organized followed closely ished and several thousand executed
fection for and curiosity were under 30, but how do we by the equivalent of the boy outright. Were courageous youth on
about them must be very strong. He know this is accurate? Toward scouts. For some, Mr. Rosbottom both sides of this purge?
has also been studying French litera- the end of the book, Mr. Ros- acknowledges, this sort of activ- The author does wonder “how
ture and history for many years, devot- bottom mentions that young ity was “fun with frissons,” but many Frenchmen who assisted in the
ing much of the past decade to under- people were also engaged in en- for others it was deadly serious. punishment and murder of their own
standing how France responded to the forcing the cruel laws of Vichy. “Unlike many other résistants,” fellow citizens would live long lives
Nazi occupation during World War II. Were they the energetic core of he emphasizes, “Jewish resisters of guilt” and if they were ever afraid of
In 2014 he published “When Paris the Collaboration as well? This, would have no escape.” being denounced. Sudden courage
Went Dark,” an account of what it was he tells the reader in a rather odd After 1942, things got more and lifelong fear are hard to separate
like to live in the French capital during concluding chapter, is not his serious for all. The Nazis weren’t in the story of Vichy France and its
those awful years. Now he asks what it subject. winning speedy victories in the aftermath, but Mr. Rosbottom is
was like for students at that time. How No, Mr. Rosbottom’s subject, East anymore, and they drafted committed to staying on the sunny
did some of them, as young as those one which incites his sympathy young French people to replenish side of the street where heroic young
UIG/GETTY IMAGES
he teaches at Amherst College, make and admiration, is the young who factories in Germany. The danger people defy the odds and attempt
the leap from adolescent antics to risked everything to fight an op- for young Jews increased, as great things. That may not be history,
standing up against the German in- pressive regime, to stand up for French police rounded up fami- but theirs are lives worth remember-
vaders? Mr. Rosbottom touched on this what’s right, to protect the most lies to be deported to death ing—especially if, like the author, we
in his earlier book, and he probably vulnerable of their friends and RÉSISTANT Guy Môquet in an undated photo. camps. Mr. Rosbottom awk- still look to young people for idealism
had more interesting material than he neighbors. Early on in “Sudden wardly writes that “Gentile and inspiration.
could fit into that volume. Courage,” he gives an account of the security prison, he was executed French were appalled” by this, and
In “Sudden Courage: Youth in legendary Guy Môquet, whose father within a year, in retaliation for the certainly there were many who felt the Mr. Roth is the president of
France Confront the Germans, 1940- (a communist deputy to the National assassination by communists of a sting of conscience and who spoke out. Wesleyan University. Among his
1945” the author finds many points of Assembly) had been arrested after the German soldier. But the “Gentile” French police con- books are “Safe Enough Spaces:
light in young people who acted with Hitler-Stalin pact was signed. Guy The Nazis demanded that prisoners, tinued their dirty work. A Pragmatist’s Approach to Inclu-
bravery, passion and savvy in confront- worked tirelessly to free him, first especially Jews and communists, be “Sudden Courage” looks at the good sion, Free Speech, and Political
ing a brutal enemy willing to exact the protesting against the Third Republic considered hostages, and when a guys, with a chapter added at the end Correctness on College Campuses.”
For personal, non-commercial use only. Do not edit, alter or reproduce. For commercial reproduction or distribution, contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing at (800) 843-0008 or www.djreprints.com.
BOOKS
‘To remember / Is not to rehearse, but to hear what never / Has fallen silent.’ —W. S . MERWIN
BRENT STIRTON/GETTY IMAGES REPORTAGE
LAND OF THE MANGROVE View along the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea.
A
scholar in the field is an exercise in power, a point the real life of the people unfolds. His perform certain actions in the proper way the
S A YOUNG anthropologist, in tool of oppression. Such thinking regrettably goal is to learn not why a language dies but heavens will open and a world of abundance
1985, Don Kulick traveled to the provoked the “wave of recriminations,” as Mr. how it dies. Language death is not a natural will unfold. Bizarre as they appear, cargo cults
most remote reaches of Papua Kulick writes, “that paralyzed a whole genera- event. What, he asks, transpires in a commu- reflect, as Mr. Kulick writes, an undeniable
New Guinea to study how a tion of my younger colleagues and drove them nity that causes parents to stop teaching their truth, a “rock-hard realization that white people
language dies. Motivating his to stay at home and study only people like mother tongue? His task as an ethnographer is have too much stuff. And because they have so
quest was a haunting consensus then emerging themselves,” or even worse, ruminate inces- to see what lies beneath the surface of things, much, they have an obligation to share.”
among linguists that fully half of the world’s santly over the practice and fate of their disci- even as the people all around him are equally Before the colonial era, all socially valued
7,000 languages are teetering on the brink of pline. The entire purpose of anthropology, as knowledge was encoded in the traditional
extinction. As he made his way across the vast Ruth Benedict wrote, is to make the world safe language, Tayap. Tok Pisin, a pidgin spoken
mangrove lagoon at the mouth of the Sepik for human differences. At a time when the The first words uttered by a throughout PNG, arrived in Gapun in 1916.
River, wading through malarial swamps to voice of anthropology has never been more Associated with the power of the white colonial
reach a narrow slit in the jungle that would be essential, it has been rendered largely mute by
Gapun child, we learn, are not regime, and all things bountiful and desirable, it
his home for many months, he was acutely ideological contortions, self-flagellation and typically ‘mama’ and ‘papa’ was seen as the language of modernity, even as
aware that every fortnight, somewhere in the identity politics that academic institutions but some variation on the phrase traditional life was shattered by the arrival of
world, some elder carries into the grave the today indulge to their shame. Christian missionaries, the violence of war, the
last syllables of an ancient tongue, and another As an ethnographic fieldworker, Mr. Kulick ‘I’m sick of it, I’m leaving.’ growth of a plantation economy that lured men
language is lost. His destination was the village has no qualms about asking the Gapun people to the coast where Tok Pisin was the language
of Gapun, home to just 130 people, 90 of whom about their lives or expressing his interests in of choice. Parents over time unconsciously
were fluent in Tayap, one of 600 extant lan- their origin myths and folk tales, ritual prac- engaged in taking his measure. Within days, he favored Tok Pisin, even as they criticized their
guages kept alive by fewer than 100 speakers. tices abandoned in the time of their grand- is designated “Saraki,” the name of a founding children for not speaking their native tongue,
Papua New Guinea, a nation the size of parents, or the syntactic intricacies of Tayap, a ancestor, and told that he has returned from and then mocked them when they tried to do so.
California with a population of 8 million, has language they are in the process of abandon- death to open a road for them allowing their In 1985, when Mr. Kulick arrives in Gapun, no
more than a thousand distinct languages—not ing. His account of learning an unwritten lan- black skin to crack open like a crab’s shell that child under 10 speaks Tayap. By 1991, teenagers
dialects, but actual languages, 350 of which guage from scratch leaves the reader dazzled they might step out soft, white and rich, with switch from Tok Pisin to Tayap just for laughs.
have never been spoken by more than 500 by the wizardry of linguistic scholarship. Tayap immediate access to all the money and goods “A language dies,” Mr. Kulick concludes, “by
people. In a mountainous land of dense jungles turns out to be an elaborate synthetic language that white people have. A ceaseless cycle of contracting, by having its layers of complexity
where neighboring peoples share common combining different morphemes, words fused giving is the glue that ultimately binds him to peeled off like an onion skin, getting smaller and
myths and religious beliefs, agricultural prac- to words to create new words of extravagant the community. He provides rice and betel. smaller until there is finally nothing left.” Long
tices and hunting technologies, language alone complexity. Just finding someone in the village They ask for a submarine, even while telling of before Tayap began to wane, he writes, “the
allows for differentiation. Isolation is not a willing to sit with him for hours, tolerating his tunnels running beneath graveyards allowing twentieth century crushed the life out of every-
factor; the highest linguistic diversity in PNG is ignorance, sharing the names for objects that local people in death (and even in life) to travel thing that people in Gapun”—and most every-
found in areas where people readily get around any child would know, was a challenge. The to Rome and become white. where else in PNG—“had ever believed or
by river. Language permits people to self- language itself proved exceedingly difficult; Within days of arriving in Gapun, Mr. Kulick accomplished.” Languages, like cultures, are not
identify as distinct cultural entities. Thus the after 30 years of study Mr. Kulick could fully is swept into a millenarian fantasy of reciproc- destined to fade away, as if by natural law. In
study of language, as Mr. Kulick discovers, understand Tayap yet still failed to speak it be- ity and exchange that will color his every every instance they are driven out of existence
provides the ideal conduit to culture. yond a few stock phrases. That he even tried to experience in the village. When Europeans first by identifiable forces. This is, in fact, an opti-
Altogether, Mr. Kulick would spend three do so speaks of a reserve of personal discipline, penetrated New Guinea, they were as exotic as mistic observation, for if human beings are
years in the village, returning time and again commitment and courage that would be tested extraterrestrials, with clothes that locals took indeed the agents of cultural destruction, then
over nearly 30 years, his departures rivaled every day in the field. Writing with verve and to be skin, out of which they drew precious surely we can be the facilitators of cultural
only by his arrivals for pure drama, intrigue, simple elegance, without a hint of bravado, he objects, magical and rare. Who were these survival. It is upon this positive note that Mr.
danger and wonder. The result is perhaps the describes the ritual humiliations of fieldwork, creatures? Why have they come? What can Kulick concludes his astonishing account.
finest and most profound account of ethno- including a regular diet of grubs and palm they give us? They sought explanations in
graphic fieldwork and discovery that has ever starch the consistency of “gummy mucous.” myth, later finding correlations with biblical Mr. Davis is a professor of anthropology at the
entered the anthropological literature. To his (The first words uttered by a Gapun child, we accounts, creating portraits of a land where all University of British Columbia.
North Sea
bent forward, eyes on the ground, Songs,” accompanied by drawings by
stooping to pick up anything that Enrique Brinkmann that reminded me
stirs her curiosity and imagination. of rock-carvings; while I found the in-
She meets an array of generous char- formation contained in these “songs”
Time Song acters, such as Ray, a metal detector- fascinating, I failed to hear the music.
By Julia Blackburn ist in Covehithe, England, who stores “It is only the pathetic shortness of
GETTY IMAGES
ancient treasures in plastic ice-cream human life that gives each individual
Pantheon, 292 pages, $27.95
boxes in his garage and fixes Ms. a sense of the permanence of his
BY KARIN ALTENBERG Blackburn’s flat tire before sending background,” the British archeologist
F
her off with a few keepsakes, includ- SEAHENGE An ancient oak circle on the shore in Norfolk, a Bronze Age Jacquetta Hawkes wrote in 1951. “The
OR MORE than 100 ing an Anglo-Saxon belt buckle. In the site that Blackburn calls the last trace of the ‘Mesolithic forest bed.’ land we all walk upon has been under
years, the bones of Netherlands, she is introduced to the sea many times, and it will be
mammoths and other Klaas, an elegant Dutch fisherman time passing and yet not passing, of swan, brings a “prickling of tears” to submerged again.” Ms. Blackburn
extinct creatures—along from Urk who has a “bone depot” of the dead being absent and yet pres- Ms. Blackburn’s eyes. I was still very echoes this sentiment in the preface
with simple tools made mammoth skeletons and rhino skulls ent.” Mesolithic footprints, preserved young when I stood in front of the to her book: “I wonder now if it
of stone, wood and antler—have and supplies her with a map of the under the sand and silt of a lost estu- same burial in a Danish museum, but makes more sense to imagine infinity
been turning up in the nets of trawler- “North Sea and what is found where.” ary near Goldcliff, Wales, fix a mo- the image of the baby on the swan’s going backwards in time, rather than
men fishing in the waters between This is an extraordinary book ment in time. In a museum in Den- wing has lodged in my mind. The forwards. When you look at it that
Britain and Continental Europe. about time, absence and perception. mark, Ms. Blackburn finds herself 8,000-year-old baby’s bones looked way round, you no longer have the
Gradually, an awareness emerged of Ms. Blackburn’s quest is in part per- face-to-face with Tollund Man, who like pick-up sticks—but I saw some- vague dread of what the future holds,
a mysterious sunken world where sonal—her husband, the Dutch sculp- was executed and buried in a bog thing else. “Nothing is ever the same instead there is the intimation of the
animals and humans once inhabited tor Herman Makkink, died in 2013. almost 2,500 years ago and un- as they said it was,” the photographer enormity of everything that has gone
a vast, rich landscape. More recently, “And then he was gone,” she writes, covered in 1950 by peat cutters. His Diane Arbus once wrote. “It’s what before: a solemn procession of life in
both experts and enthusiasts have “and the balance was tipped, making “sad freedom,” imagined in a poem by I’ve never seen before that I recog- all its myriad forms moving steadily
turned their attention to this Atlan- his absence greater than his pres- Seamus Heaney, is reflected in nize.” In this way I saw—and rec- towards this present moment.”
tis of the North Sea. ence.” Through close observation and Tollund Man’s gently closed eyes and ognized—not the puzzle of bones, but The exploration of the past is an
Doggerland—which connected abstract ruminations, the vanished the stubble on his leathery chin; a the living ancient baby resting on the exercise in empathy, a way of becom-
Britain to mainland Europe—was land that once connected their two sleeping bog beauty, a reawakened white wing, as if asleep. ing conscious of what it is to be
above water and inhabited during countries starts to emerge both as a memory—with a link to Makkink’s Ms. Blackburn, too, sees in this human in another time and place.
the interglacial periods until about symbol of unity and a porous bound- fragility. In a prehistoric refuse heap way, writing, for instance, about a Through tracing this consciousness
8,000 years ago, when it was swal- ary between the living and the dead. on the western isle of Oronsay, Scot- deer “slipping between the trees and back to the people who left their im-
lowed by rising sea levels. Today, By trying to see through “the fact of land, the reassembled bones of a disappearing even while it was still print on Doggerland, Ms. Blackburn
archeologists and paleontologists absence,” the author becomes aware human hand had been placed on there.” Archeology is about exploring shows us that, in a time of flux and
are charting what is left of this of the continued presence of the those of a seal’s flipper. “There is no absence, about sifting through sedi- friction, the gathering of uncertainties
drowned country—its mountains, past—hoping perhaps that, in this way of knowing the meaning of such ment until meaning emerges into can bring greater awareness and a
rivers and plains—using depth-anal- way, her husband will remain close. a gesture,” Ms. Blackburn writes, “but the light. We reimagine the setting, sense of wholeness.
ysis graphs produced by the oil in- She travels to the Netherlands and that does not destroy its power.” looking for the imprint of human
dustry. Fossil hunters and fishermen Denmark and remembers an earlier The Mesolithic burial of a young life—that which was left behind, the Ms. Altenberg is the author of
aid in the mapping as they discover visit to the Australian Outback, al- woman with her newborn child, shadows of existence. But, as a writer, the novels “Island of Wings” and
new artifacts along the coasts of ways searching for these “images of placed at her side on the wing of a Ms. Blackburn can go beyond the “Breaking Light.”
For personal, non-commercial use only. Do not edit, alter or reproduce. For commercial reproduction or distribution, contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing at (800) 843-0008 or www.djreprints.com.
C10 | Saturday/Sunday, August 10 - 11, 2019 * *** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
BOOKS
‘You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, as lovely as Jerusalem . . . Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me.’ —T H E S O N G O F S O N G S 6 : 4 -5
A
bringing her story to the present,
T AGE 10, I found Ms. Pardes deftly demonstrates
myself learning to how the biblical past can furnish us ROLAND FORD, a private inves-
chant, by heart, a with a common storehouse of im- tigator in Southern California,
chapter of the Song ages, to be rediscovered or recast. returns in “The Last Good Guy”
of Songs from the She leads us toward the salutary (Putnam, 340 pages, $27), the
Hebrew Bible, which takes the form conclusion, as her former teacher latest entry in an engaging series
of a dialogue between two un- Robert Alter remarked, that the of novels by T. Jefferson Parker.
named lovers. In the chapter, he Bible is “not somehow apart from Ford has had an eventful life:
lavishes praise on her thighs and the Western literary tradition but a “I was once a cyclist, a surfer,
eyes and compares her breasts to generative force within it.” and a kayaker. Then a college kid,
twin fawns. She replies: “I belong In the 18th century, Protestants a Marine, a boxer, and a sheriff’s deputy. After
to my beloved, and his desire is for inaugurated what Ms. Pardes calls getting knocked out in my pro boxing debut, I
me.” Though the cadences of the “the radical endorsement of literal- had a long talk with myself and took up ballroom
Hebrew verses enthralled me, the ism that has persisted from the dancing.” And then, following his wife’s tragic
erotic poem traditionally attributed Enlightenment until today.” Ever death in a plane crash, he became a PI specializ-
to King Solomon was beyond my since, modern readers have secu- ing in locating missing persons: “I have enthusi-
young fathoming. Maybe that was larized the Song of Songs, liberat- asm for such work because I lost someone close
the point, in the synagogue in ing it from the grip of theological to me, who I know cannot be found.”
which I grew up, of assigning this allegory, and read it as poem not of When 28-year-old Penelope Rideout comes to
particular task to boys: The inno- divine love but of human love. For Roland’s office near San Diego and asks him to
cence of the recitation sheltered Herman Melville and Walt Whit- track down her 14-year-old sister, Daley, Roland
the sacredness of the words. man, the Song served “as a spring- gives her his full attention. The client says that
In “The Song of Songs: A Biog- board for a radical reimagining of she gained guardianship of her sister after the
DE AGOSTINI/GETTY IMAGES
raphy,” Ilana Pardes, a professor at American dreams,” Ms. Pardes deaths of their parents in a car accident, when
the Hebrew University of Jerusa- writes. She believes, for instance, Penelope was 18 and Daley 4. Their relationship
lem, gives a rewarding account of that Whitman’s “debt to the an- has often been fractious, she admits, because
the poem’s many reverberations cient love poem” is evident in his Daley has a “wild streak.”
over the millennia, from ancient “Song of Myself.” Ms. Pardes also Daley often hangs out
Israel (where it was compiled be- notes that modern-day feminists THIS WEEK with Nick Moreno, her 20-
tween the fifth and fourth centu- have been keen to adopt the one year-old boyfriend. At Nick’s
ries B.C.) to present-day America. BELOVED The Song of Songs, from volume I of the Bible of Borso biblical book in which female de- The Last apartment, Roland finds him
She opens by touching on its puz- d’Este, illuminated by Taddeo Crivelli, 15th century. sire resounds in a woman’s voice. Good Guy dead from a bullet wound.
zling canonical status: “Why was a Finally, Ms. Pardes traces the By T. Jefferson The upstairs neighbor says
daringly sensual poem of love with Gabirol, elaborated the allegorical in a letter to a mother who had significance of the Song of Songs in Parker he saw Daley leaving Nick’s
no reference whatsoever to God or without entirely impugning the lit- asked how to raise her daughter, the African-American community. building in the company of
national history included in the eral: The longing for the beloved “she might be harmed by not per- From the abolitionist rhetoric of two men in a silver SUV. Has
Bible?” Her answer follows two becomes the yearning for the mes- ceiving that it was the song of a Frederick Douglass to Toni Morri- the girl been kidnapped, or did she go with the
intertwining interpretive lines: the siah, and the beloved’s evasiveness spiritual wedding expressed in son’s novels “Song of Solomon” men of her own will? In any case, Roland reports
literal and the allegorical, the (Ms. Pardes calls it a “flirtatious fleshly language.” and “Beloved,” she writes, the Song the murder to a San Diego police detective—and
“plain sense” and the figurative. hide-and-seek”) becomes a symbol In medieval cloisters, no biblical has been cherished “as an antidote resolves to find out what happened to Daley.
The Song of Songs, as Ms. book was more frequently com- against racism.” Douglass seized on After speaking with Daley’s friends at her
Pardes makes clear, is an erotic mented upon. Monastic mystics a phrase from the song—“I am private school, Roland learns of her connection
text that owes its survival to being weaved still more layers of allegori- black but comely”—to say that it with an evangelical mega-church and its
read as something other than an
Why was a sensual love cal interpretation, often reading the was “as true now as it was in the charismatic minister. The two men last seen
erotic text. In the second century, poem with no literal Virgin Mary into the poem’s de- days of Solomon.” Incidentally, the with Daley, it seems, are employees of the
the sage Akiva justified the inclu- reference to God scriptions of the unblemished bride. 1989 New Authorized Version of secretive agency that handles security for the
sion of Solomon’s love lyric in the In the 12th century, Bernard of the Bible translates the phrase as “I ministry and that is also involved in covert
Scriptures: “All the Writings are included in the Bible? Clairvaux, the French abbot and am black and beautiful.” activities in the remote countryside. Roland
holy, but the Song of Songs is the heresy-hunter who regarded carnal One puts down this book, with its consults a sympathetic FBI agent for informa-
Holy of Holies.” Such a view rested sex with dread, wrote 86 sermons erudite exploration of the poem’s tion about this mysterious firm and whatever
not on an appreciation of literary of divine absence during the Jews’ on the Song of Songs. He seems to contested meanings, wondering schemes its people may be plotting. Meanwhile,
subtlety but on a strenuously alle- eras of exile. The Hebrew poetry of have believed that, since the poem whether Ms. Pardes’s protagonists— Roland receives technical and moral support
gorical reading of the poem. An medieval Andalusia, Ms. Pardes is either allegory or pornography, it interpreters of the most sensuous from the “Irregulars,” the eclectic group of
early rabbinic commentary on the writes, became “saturated with the must be the former. “When you book in Scripture—erred in assum- tenants that live with him in the estate-complex
phrase from the chapter I had language and themes of the Song.” think of these two lovers,” he cau- ing that allegory and literalism need he inherited when his wife died.
memorized—“Your breasts are like Christian exegetes, associating tioned, “remember always that not stay so far apart. Perhaps one of the But what’s to be made of Penelope? Whatever
two fawns”—declares: “This refers celibacy with the sacred, repur- a man and a woman are to be Song’s virtues is to remind us that Roland finds out, she always seems one step
to Moses and Aaron. Just as a posed the rabbinic mode of alle- thought of, but the Word.” A reader human love was long modeled on ahead of him. Though he begins to doubt that his
woman’s breasts are her glory and gory. In the third century, Origen immune to divine love, Bernard divine love; that the divine can client is telling him everything she knows, Roland
her ornament, so Moses and Aaron composed a 10-volume commen- added, would read the Song in vain, speak to us through “merely” erotic decides to keep at it. “I’ll plod into the truth on
are the glory and the ornament of tary on the Song of Songs in “for a cold heart cannot catch fire desire. In ruling out that possibility, my own time,” he tells her. “That’s just the way
Israel. . . . Just as a woman’s Greek, portraying the poem as a from its eloquence.” has the modern scripting of the I do things.”
breasts are full of milk, so Moses “marriage-hymn” between Christ In 16th-century Spain, Teresa of Song of Songs as a secular text All the good gals and guys in Mr. Parker’s
and Aaron are full of Torah.” Here and the church. Jerome, who a Ávila caught fire in just this way. come at too steep a price? winning story have the reader rooting for them,
the language of physical intimacy century later translated Origin’s The first woman to record her and of course they root for one another. “You’ll
has been pressed, by allegory, into homilies on the poem into Latin, reflections on the Song of Songs, Mr. Balint is the author of do the right thing,” one of the Irregulars tells
the service of national origins. advised that a woman shouldn’t Teresa understood the poem to be, “Kafka’s Last Trial” and co- Roland. “You always do. Doing the right thing is
Medieval poets in Spain, includ- study the book prematurely. If she as she put it, a description of the author, with Merav Mack, of your gift. And your curse.” And, just as often,
ing Yehuda HaLevi and Shlomo Ibn were to read it too early, he wrote “heavenly inebriation” of a soul “Jerusalem: City of the Book.” his blessing.
can fly, in the unshackled Technicolor (In this, too, she was not unlike
love story “Song of Solomon” (1977), Tolstoy.) “A Mercy” (2008), a brief,
BY SAM SACKS just as his enslaved ancestors were scythe-like novel set in the colonial
T
said to have revealed hidden wings period, is a work of startling force
ONI MORRISON liked and flown away from their owners. and empathy, whereas “Home” (2012)
to note, when importu- She portrays reality as it was felt to and “God Help the Child” (2015) are
nate interviewers won- be by those who lived it, a space in- thin reprisals of earlier themes. But
dered when she was formed equally by history and legend. the later novels were largely over-
going to write about Morrison had influences, naturally. shadowed by Morrison’s role as a
something other than the African- Joyce and Faulkner, two defiantly pro- wise and unsparing elder states-
American experience, that Tolstoy vincial writers whose modern mythol- woman patiently accepting honors
didn’t intend his books to be read by ogies teemed with symbols and wild, write it and what the stories ought to Like blues music, they offer succor to from a generation that felt in her
black girls from Ohio. Her point was bespoke language, are the most inter- do. If this sounds like hyperbole, think the suffering by giving voice to their debt. A penetrating nonfiction collec-
that notion of universalism is fraud- esting. But there really was no prece- about how few black female authors experiences. tion published earlier this year, “The
ulent. To be a writer of any worth dent for the sort of books she con- you can name who came before The path these novels tread from Source of Self-Regard,” gives a sense
one must be a regionalist. Tolstoy’s ceived. She was a single mother of two Morrison. Then consider the floodtide trauma to recovery has proven to be of the range of her thinking as well as
subject and audience was the 19th- and a full-time editor at Random who have followed in her wake. enormously compelling, and writers her calm, almost godlike authority.
century Russian gentry, and the House when she wrote her first novel, Her 1987 masterpiece, “Beloved,” from all backgrounds have discovered Even so, she never retired from the
truths he mined from that niche have “The Bluest Eye” (1970), about a black was the key work in the transfor- that it can be applied to virtually any job of writing novels, as did some of
ensured “Anna Karenina” a place in girl who judges herself by white stan- mation. Morrison launched the novel her celebrated contemporaries. (Her
every small-town library in the world. dards of beauty. She was moved to from a newspaper clipping about a publisher has confirmed that, at the
Morrison’s focus was on black Ameri- write it, she said, because the story runaway slave who killed her daugh- time of her death, she had a book in
cans, from their place in the founding interested her and nobody had told ter rather than risk her being sent APPRECIATION progress.) Her work is afflicted by the
colonies to the present day. When she it before. The same went for her into bondage. Morrison’s protagonist, past, haunted by it, enamored with it
died on Monday at the age of 88 she graceful, intimate second work, “Sula” Sethe, visited by the ghost of the Toni Morrison and inspired by it, but it wasn’t her
was the most globally celebrated
American writer since Ernest Hem-
(1973)—this reader’s favorite—about
a friendship between girls, a subject
child she killed, is a cracked vessel
of personal and intergenerational
(1931-2019) style to resign herself to living there.
“Me and you, we got more yesterday
ingway and her books had remade then so uncommon that the book was trauma, seemingly doomed to turn than anybody,” Sethe’s dogged suitor
the field of fiction. considered a curio. From the start, inward the habits of hatred and Paul D tells her in “Beloved.” “We need
Morrison’s celebrity makes it easy Morrison obliged readers to meet her violence inflicted on her and her subject, from large-scale historical some kind of tomorrow.” Perhaps Mor-
to forget that the grandeur of her on her own terms. “I’m gonna stay out ancestors. events to private domestic crises. rison’s greatest gift was her double-
novels springs from their grassroots here on the margin,” she told an inter- But if Sethe’s felt reality is a gro- When Morrison became the guiding sightedness, her capacity to look as
origins in African-American speech viewer, “and let the center look for me.” tesque, spiraling nightmare, it is also, spirit for Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club clearly at what was ahead of her as at
and folkways. She wrote, in her own It looked for her, and found her, stirringly, a place of hope and revival. in the late 1990s (four of her novels what lay behind. We haven’t fully reck-
words, “village literature.” The lan- and then made her its polestar. More For all their Grand Guignol horror, were selected for it), the template oned with what she hoped to show us,
guage she used was something than any other author of her era, Morrison’s novels insist on present- was commercialized, albeit in a far and writers will discover much more
wholly new, meticulously hand- Morrison re-centered the mainstream ing a vision of redemption, whether it less sophisticated fashion. Today yet to guide them into the future.
carved from the material of rural understanding of what fiction is comes through family, friendship or there is simply no escaping Morri-
black dialect. What critics mistook supposed to be, changing both the community. The books themselves son’s legacy. She is to some degree Mr. Sacks reviews fiction for the
for poetic flamboyance was often assumptions about who is allowed to are an unspoken part of this vision: the influence behind every book about Journal.
For personal, non-commercial use only. Do not edit, alter or reproduce. For commercial reproduction or distribution, contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing at (800) 843-0008 or www.djreprints.com.
BOOKS
‘Jazz is only possible in a culture of freedom.’ —A LBERT M URRAY
O
included John D. Rockefeller Jr., J.P.
N HIS FIRST trip to Morgan, George Foster Peabody and
New York, in 1835, Davy George H. Putnam. Its undercover
Crockett discovered in detectives would chat and imbibe,
the drinking cellars of even sing and stroke a barroom piano
the Five Points “such before heading upstairs.
fiddling and dancing nobody ever saw Some 1,200 establishments were
before in this world. I thought they thus inspected. Many were successfully
were the true ‘heaven-borns.’ Black and shut. As incriminating evidence of
white, white and black all hug-em-snug corruption and vice explicitly included
together, happy as lords and ladies.” racial intermingling, a “de facto color
Subsequent reporters, including line” was enforced. Marshall’s Hotel on
armies of undercover cops, docu- West 53rd Street was among the most
mented not only further racial inter- popular nightspots in town, “a vibrant
mingling in New York’s brothels and black and tan that was the epicenter of
backroom saloons but also nudity, New York’s black bourgeois life”; its
cross-dressing and “tough dancing”— clientele included James Weldon
and did so with a deadpan acumen Johnson, James Reese Europe, Paul
both thorough and hilarious. The high- Laurence Dunbar and W.E.B. Du Bois.
kicking can-can, appropriated from
Paris, was “extravagantly indecent”;
one 1885 incarnation, in an Eighth Ave- A lively cultural and
nue dive, degenerated into a “drunken
orgie.” While two women danced, their
musicological tour of
companions snatched at their clothes the brothels, saloons
until they “literally danced in nothing and dance halls of
except hats, shoes, and stockings.” A
1902 film shows “A Tough Dance at Old New York.
McGurk’s” in which Sailor Lil begins
whirling while her partner Kid Foley’s
hands slide down her backside, after Investigators reported that white
which both dancers toss themselves on women met their “colored lovers”
the floor and roll on top of each other. there. Marshall capitulated, newly sep-
As the music historian Dale Cockrell arating his patrons by color—a Jim
summarizes: “Few, if any, decades in Crow sea change. The tide of social
the history of American dance featured activism, Mr. Cockrell writes, changed
a wider array of wildly provocative the city’s “approaches to morality.”
dances than the 1910s.” In 1912 alone, Concurrently, its music changed. Rag-
investigators identified such species as time made way for jazz, purveyed by
the hoochie koochie, the grizzly bear, an army of displaced black and white
“skirt & muscle dancing” and an air- musicians who had lost access to a
borne “exhibition dance” in which a secure demimonde economy. “Music
female was twirled clinging to her as a public, big-space, segregated ex-
partner’s neck. perience” resulted.
That this world of sex, dance and A memorable epilogue to “Demons
music was interracial is crucial to Mr. NORTON of Disorder” reveals how Mr. Cockrell
Cockrell’s book “Everybody’s Doin’ It: came to chronicle all this in two linked
Sex, Music, and Dance in New York, books. He grew up in rural Kentucky,
1840-1917.” It makes the connection to where—stereotypes notwithstand-
his scholarly specialty and passion: ing—he acquired black friends and a
American popular music and its black notion of racial equality enforced by
vernacular roots. In an earlier, essen- his parents. Later, in the north, he
tial study, “Demons of Disorder: Early DANCING TOUGH ‘Old Coney Island’ by Henry ‘Hy’ Mayer, ca. 1904. encountered less comfortable racial
Blackface Minstrels and Their World” attitudes among whites more entitled
(1997), he brilliantly elaborates an In “Everybody’s Doin’ It,” this theme music and dance that gave it flesh. That lapped in audience and affect the bat- than he had been. In his 20s, he
unpopular truth—that, early on, black- returns newly embroidered and contex- music and dance . . . was an expression tered pianos, cracked cornets and rau- taught in Africa; later he joined the
face music-making was not necessarily tualized. Assessing the white minstrel of urban, lower-class, dance-hall and cous tambourines of red-hot “concert music faculty of Middlebury College.
racist. Rather, it could be about class: singer whose signature blackface song brothel culture. To the throngs on the saloon bands” down the street. And His personal odyssey turned him into
a means of empowering the little guy was “Zip Coon,” Mr. Cockrell calls stage of the Bowery Theatre, [the song] both inculcated an American popular a populist on the left—in today’s
in a world of capitalist snobs and George Washington Dixon (1801-61) ‘Jim Crow’ belonged to them. Who music that after World War I would America, an honorable endangered
prudes. And Mr. Cockrell, accordingly, “surely one of the most complex, enig- would have thought that lower-class sweep the world. An offspring of plan- species. Mr. Cockrell’s identification
is an eloquent advocate for the most matic, and colorful figures in American music and dance deserved a place on tation song, the blues “joined op- with his black and white childhood
gifted, most popular pertinent com- history.” He continues: “There is no the legitimate stage? . . . ‘Zip Coon’ pressed people together into a single peers informs his scholarship to this
poser: Stephen Foster, in whose songs question that the skeleton around belonged to them as well. The song was mind.” “Born in despondency,” it sang day. “Everybody’s Doin’ It” is a book
of loneliness and hardship (though which [the blackface minstrel show] of them, and once Dixon sang their “loudly of hope.” to read and ponder.
sung in exaggerated black make-up by was built was the denigration of black song . . . their point was made: our But by the time jazz invaded Paris
white performers) he finds an empa- people. . . . And—too often forgotten— music; we made it; we belong here.” and Berlin, New York’s brothels were Mr. Horowitz, the author of 10
thetic voice arising from Foster’s own there is no question that its enormous, In Mr. Cockrell’s account, minstrel in steep decline, their biracial music works of music history, is at work
marginality. century-long appeal was because of the extravaganzas at the Bowery over- and dance squelched and sanitized. A on “Dvořák’s Prophecy.”
C12 | Saturday/Sunday, August 10 - 11, 2019 * *** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
BOOKS
‘There are two kinds of Arctic problems, the imaginary and the real. Of the two, the imaginary are the more real.’ —V ILH JALMU R STEFAN SS O N
ChristopherP. Heuer
The author, most recently, of ‘Into the White:
The Renaissance Arctic and the End of the Image’
Dangerous Work
UIG/GETTY IMAGES
1
In 1880, a 20-year-old Edinburgh
University medical student
O
that, for on this side of the magic door sea itself, furtively finding his voice
NE OF the Grimms’ are the ghosts of Annaleigh’s dead as an author: “Calm as a fishpond,
lesser-known tales is sisters, trying to say what happened to water like quicksilver.” He recorded
“The Shoes That Were them. That fall from the cliff, that in minute detail the dangers and
Danced to Pieces.” apparent suicide: Was there someone mundanities of life aboard the Hope: BRAVING THE ELEMENTS Arthur Conan Doyle, third from left, during
Twelve beautiful prin- else involved? Are the deaths an blood-soaked decks and blubber, his arctic adventure of 1880.
cesses, the daughters of a stern king, attempt to clear the path for a new sailors’ hands crushed by winching
live in careful seclusion, but every dynasty? At which point another tradi- equipment, tobacco pouches crewmen murdering each other in a 24-person crew passed two winters
morning their shoes look as if they’ve tional fairy-tale theme creeps in, the fashioned from seal flippers. The lead-poisoned fog. Franklin’s crew of locked in ice. Albanov, his “nerves
been danced in all night long. Where wicked—but to complete the sentence diary, never intended for publication, 124 men vanished in 1847 near King [frayed] to the breaking point” by
have the princesses been, and who would be a spoiler. provides glimpses of Conan Doyle’s William Island, in the far north of his captain’s idiocy, finally leaves,
has taken them? If any- As for the other side later strategies. A handful of stories what is now Canada, but the North- accompanied by 13 fellows. After 90
one is set to watch over of the magic door, well, stemmed directly from these voyages, west Passage fiasco was merely the days of rough passage (and a minor
them—and many a king’s A tale about naturally, things are not including the haunting “Adventure final episode in the explorer’s strange mutiny by the other refugees, who
son tries to do so, on the as they seem. The answer of Black Peter,” wherein a man is life. Raised in backwater Lincolnshire, steal precious ship biscuits), Albanov
promise of the usual
12 dancing to Annaleigh’s questions murdered with a harpoon. England, Franklin joined the Royal reaches an abandoned settlement.
reward—he falls asleep, princesses may be there, as well as Navy at age 12. He was a teenage Startlingly introspective, “White
and in the morning his reimagined satisfaction for her inner volunteer alongside Horatio Nelson Death” eschews the heroic to detail the
head is struck off without desires, but in the realm An African in Greenland in 1801 at the horrific Battle of Copen- hellish domesticities of Arctic failure.
mercy, and without con- as a Gothic of the Weeping Woman, By Tété-Michel Kpomassie (1981) hagen, where the experience of war—
2
cern from the (one has to whodunit. enchantment changes as presented in Sten Nadolny’s
say) rather callous prin- easily to nightmare. Glam- Born in colonial Togo, Tété- dazzling, fictionalized biography— The Magnetic North
cesses. Until the tradi- our is seductive, and the Michel Kpomassie stumbled hardened in the young sailor a dis- By Sara Wheeler (2010)
5
tional brave little soldier, worst of it is, it appeals upon Greenland in a picture trust of all things rapid, unmeasured
helped by the traditional poor old to something innate within yourself. book during his youth. With and chaotic. After witnessing a The Trans-Alaska Pipeline
woman, breaks the enchantment and Those shoes don’t really dance them- charm, luck and linguistic genius, crewmate being decapitated by a snakes 800 miles south from
stays awake to solve the riddle. selves to pieces; their owners have to he worked his way over land to the cannonball, and then being forced to Prudhoe Bay to Prince William
In “House of Salt and Sorrows,” Erin long to dance in them. And nobody Arctic Circle and arrived in K’akortoq choke an enemy officer to death Sound. Hulking, silver and
Craig reimagines the fairy tale as a made them go through the magic door. (Julianehåb) in 1965. His book vividly (“John had never touched a person cosmically expensive, it follows a
gothic maritime romance. There are 12 All very Freudian, one might say, details Inuit customs crashing into for so long”), Mr. Nadolny’s Franklin zigzag pattern to resist earthquake
sisters again, daughters of the Duke of but unlike the Grimms’ princesses, modernity. A kayak hunt is followed embarks on a life devoted to cautious damage. The Haul Road, built to
the People of the Salt, but one after Annaleigh and her sisters don’t need by a dance with a Beatles cover band. thought, a “slowness” of outlook that service the pipeline, remains one of
another, four of them die, from disease, a brave little soldier to rescue them. Work at a modern fish-processing resists the frenzy of a rapidly indus- Earth’s only land routes to the Arctic
accident, drowning and suicide. And They figure things out for themselves, factory suddenly ceases when locals trializing Victorian world order. In Ocean. Such technological behemoths,
they die in order of seniority. “Had a and she figures out who’s doing it too. spot a herd of seals. He’s welcomed Mr. Nadolny’s book Franklin becomes and the human and other damage cap-
darkness branded itself on our family, It isn’t rocket science, and it isn’t all into house after house, and joins an antihero, one whose northern ital has wrought in the far north, are
taking us out one by one? Or was it magic either. But if the gender bias of walrus hunts and dayslong holiday quests—and the lavishly described two aspects of Sara Wheeler’s masterly
simply a series of terrible and unlucky the Grimms is exposed and rejected, feasts—but also discovers starvation, arctic landscape he hazards through— travelogue. “The Magnetic North”
coincidences?” wonders Annaleigh, the their class orientation toward brave neglect and rape. He encounters speak to the question of “waiting” in reports on the region’s modern coloni-
next but one in line to inherit. Pretty sailors rather than princes, and poor overt racism exactly once, when a the face of globalization’s speed. zation and the economic disasters that
soon, the problem for the survivors old women rather than duchesses, is drunken Dane shouts slurs at him loom as the Arctic warms. But it is
is that no young man dares to dance magnified and applauded. on the street. In James Kirkup’s neither a clean lament nor an apology.
with them at all. It’s a fairy tale, a young-adult ro- translation from the original French, In the Land of White Death The author embeds with geologists
Unless, that is, they go through the mance and a whodunit too. Erin Craig Mr. Kpomassie’s bracing prose shines By Valerian Albanov (1917) in the Yukon, rifle-toting biologists in
4
magic door. One big difference from the works them all together with the through to offer nothing less than an Svalbard and Sami herdsmen in Finn-
Grimms’ tale is that Annaleigh finds modern storyteller’s complex craft. The ethnographic thriller. Valerian Albanov’s breath- mark (“I was standing on the tundra
this escape for herself, a portal from Grimms provided the blueprint, one less tale of escape from the trying to lasso a reindeer”). She maps
the real world, with the assistance of might say, and a very good blueprint it Russian archipelago of Franz a north where Space Age and Stone
Cassius, a dashing and clearly magical is, but after two centuries of the realistic The Discovery of Slowness Josef Land is, in its dark Age technologies coexist and tells a
ship’s captain who seems to have novel, we need more than the sketch of By Sten Nadolny (1983) honesty, a departure from most arctic story that is unquestionably grim
3
power in both worlds. a fairy tale. We need personalities, we accounts. Rather than faulting God or (her chapter on the Russian Orthodox
This, however, creates another need individuals, we need to understand The boot-eating expeditions the weather for his disastrous jour- monastery-cum-gulag where prisoners
problem for Annaleigh: whom to trust the heroine’s interior life, all engagingly of John Franklin furnished ney, the sailor blames human folly. used corpses for mattresses is particu-
and whom to choose? Should it be presented in this charming remake. history with iconic images of He was second in command to the larly gruesome.) Darkly entertaining,
Cassius, who seems to be much more arctic desperation: toes ill-informed Capt. Brusilov on an ex- “The Magnetic North” gracefully
on her social level, but may not be Mr. Shippey regularly reviews science dropping off, sailors gnawing on the pedition tasked with opening a north- presents the Arctic as grandiose and
completely trustworthy? Or should it fiction and fantasy for the Journal. femurs of dead comrades, delirious east passage in the Kara Sea. Their terrifying, but also human.
Nonfiction E-Books Nonfiction Combined Fiction E-Books Fiction Combined Hardcover Business
TITLE THIS LAST TITLE THIS LAST TITLE THIS LAST TITLE THIS LAST TITLE THIS LAST
AUTHOR / PUBLISHER WEEK WEEK AUTHOR / PUBLISHER WEEK WEEK AUTHOR / PUBLISHER WEEK WEEK AUTHOR / PUBLISHER WEEK WEEK AUTHOR / PUBLISHER WEEK WEEK
Grant 1 8 Educated: A Memoir 1 1 Labyrinth 1 New Where the Crawdads Sing 1 2 StrengthsFinder 2.0 1 1
Ron Chernow/Penguin Press Tara Westover/Random House Catherine Coulter/Gallery Delia Owens/Putnam Tom Rath/Gallup
Educated: A Memoir 2 2 Everything...Ace American History 2 2 Where the Crawdads Sing 2 2 Labyrinth 2 New Dare to Lead 2 2
Tara Westover/Random House Workman Publishing/Workman Delia Owens/Putnam Catherine Coulter/Gallery Brené Brown/Random House
C.S. Lewis’ Little Book of Wisdom 3 — Three Women 3 6 Dark Age 3 New The Poison Jungle 3 New The Total Money Makeover 3 7
C.S. Lewis/Hampton Roads Lisa Taddeo/Avid Reader/Simon & Schuster Pierce Brown/Del Rey Tui T. Sutherland/Scholastic Dave Ramsey/Thomas Nelson
Three Women 4 5 Becoming 4 5 One Good Deed 4 1 One Good Deed 4 1 Principles: Life and Work 4 —
Lisa Taddeo/Avid Reader/Simon & Schuster Michelle Obama/Crown David Baldacci/Grand Central David Baldacci/Grand Central Ray Dalio/Simon & Schuster
Job Optional 5 — Big Preschool 5 3 The New Girl 5 3 Dark Age 5 New Extreme Ownership 5 3
Casey Weade/Brisance School Zone Publishing/School Zone Daniel Silva/Harper Pierce Brown/Del Rey Jocko Willink & Leif Babin/St. Martin’s
Becoming 6 9 Everything...Ace English Language Arts 6 9 Until December 6 New The New Girl 6 3 Atomic Habits 6 5
Michelle Obama/Crown Workman Publishing/Workman Aurora Rose Reynolds/Aurora Rose Reynolds Daniel Silva/Harper James Clear/Avery
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck 7 — The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck 7 8 Smokescreen 7 New The Nickel Boys 7 4 Emotional Intelligence 2.0 7 6
Mark Manson/Harper Mark Manson/Harper Iris Johansen/Hachette Colson Whitehead/Doubleday Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves/TalentSmart
The Moment of Lift 8 — Unfreedom of the Press 8 10 The Husband’s Secret 8 — We Don’t Eat Our Classmates 8 — The Coffee Bean 8 9
Melinda Gates/Flatiron Mark R. Levin/Threshold Liane Moriarty/Penguin Ryan T. Higgins/Disney-Hyperion Jon Gordon & Damon West/Wiley
I Am Hutterite 9 — StrengthsFinder 2.0 9 — Brazen and the Beast 9 New Willing to Die 9 New The Five Dysfunctions of a Team 9 8
Mary-Ann Kirkby/Thomas Nelson Tom Rath/Gallup Sarah MacLean/Avon Lisa Jackson/Zebra Patrick M. Lencioni/Jossey-Bass
A Father’s Betrayal 10 — Grant 10 — A Little Bit Country 10 — Summer of ’69 10 8 Good to Great 10 10
Gabriella Gillespie/Clink Street Ron Chernow/Penguin Debbie Macomber/Harlequin Elin Hilderbrand/Little, Brown Jim Collins/Harper Business
For personal, non-commercial use only. Do not edit, alter or reproduce. For commercial reproduction or distribution, contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing at (800) 843-0008 or www.djreprints.com.
PLAY
NEWS QUIZ DANIEL AKST From this week’s
Wall Street Journal
WSJ BRAIN GAMES Provided by Serhiy and Peter Grabarchuk (grabarchukpuzzles.com)
Answers are listed below the For previous weeks’ puzzles, and to discuss strategies with other solvers, go to WSJ.com/puzzle.
crossword solutions at right.
Answers to News Quiz: 1.A, 2.C, 3.B, 4.C, 5.A, 6.C, 7.D, 8.B, 9.D
C14 | Saturday/Sunday, August 10 - 11, 2019 * *** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
REVIEW
FROM TOP: RONNY HARTMANN/GETTY IMAGES; MARIANNE BRANDT/BAUHAUS-ARCHIV BERLIN/VG BILD-KUNST BONN
ICONS
is linked with Germany’s post-imperial, pre-Nazi ex- original Bauhaus school building, now a fiercely pro-
periment in democracy, the Weimar Republic. The tected landmark. Designed by Gropius, the gray-and-
Designing the Bauhaus was conceived by its founder, the German ar-
chitect Walter Gropius, as an interdisciplinary arts
academy, eventually offering courses in everything
from weaving and woodworking to architecture and
white, pinwheel-like complex, with its pioneering glass
walls and geometric facades, may be one of the 20th
century’s signature structures, but it wasn’t possible
to securely exhibit objects without altering the archi-
T
size corrective to the minimalist cliché. It will greet a thriving industrial city. In 1932, local Nazis forced
his year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the museumgoers with ballet costumes designed in the it to relocate again to Berlin. and it was disbanded
Bauhaus, post-World War I Germany’s wildly influential de- Top, the early the 1920s by Oskar Schlemmer, a German artist in 1933, sending many of its former teachers and
sign school. It is being celebrated across the globe, with com- soon-to-open who taught a theater workshop at the school. Sug- students into exile.
prehensive shows in Berlin and smaller events and exhibi- Bauhaus gesting a crazy, colorful cross between Dada and Sur- Today, the Bauhaus’s legacy is dispersed among the
tions in places as various as São Paulo, Rotterdam and Lagos. Museum realism, they now seem a world away from Marcel three cities that hosted it. Earlier this year, Weimar
Meanwhile, back in the school’s hometown, the Bauhaus Dessau Founda- Dessau. Breuer’s bare-bones Wassily chair, though it would be opened its own new Bauhaus museum, grounding the
tion—a research institution located in the school’s original 1926 building, Below, more correct to say they came from down the hall. school’s beginnings in the aestheticism of pre-World
in the eastern German city of Dessau—is celebrating the anniversary by a Bauhaus Over its short life, the Bauhaus was home to con- War I movements such as art nouveau. Berlin’s Bau-
opening a new museum on Sept. 8. icon: a tea trasting personalities. In the early 1920s, it was haus Archive, home to Gropius’s papers, is renovating
Designed by Barcelona’s Addenda Architects, the new Bauhaus Mu- infuser strongly marked by Johannes Itten, a Swiss artist and and expanding its own building, which is based on a
seum Dessau is a glass-enclosed black box that may not readily recall the by Marianne color theorist, whose student followers, in thrall to Gropius design. Bauhaus fans will have to wait until
austere whites and off-whites of Bauhaus-inspired architecture. But it will Brandt. their master, shaved their heads, ate a lot of garlic and 2022 to see what that renovation has in store, but
offer ideal conditions for displaying items drawn from the foundation’s trafficked in neo-Zoroastrian mysticism. By the late they can make do this fall with an enormous off-site
collection of nearly 50,000 objects, drawings and artifacts. 1920s, the Swiss architect Hannes show at the Berlinische Galerie exhibition space.
The centerpiece of the new museum is an orange-red bookcase, 10 Meyer, who succeeded Gropius as Running from Sept. 6 to Jan. 27, 2020, “Original
feet high and 160 feet long, that serves as a vast vit- director in 1928, was pushing Bauhaus” considers the school’s achievements by
rine. It will bring the original Bauhaus back to life hard-line communism, along looking at reproductions and other uses of iconic de-
by pairing esteemed Bauhaus teachers with their with functional riffs on red- signs and images—such as the famous 1920s photo-
remarkable students, dramatizing their lives and brick buildings. The new dis- graph of a short-skirted woman relaxing in a Breuer
careers with documents, designs and photographs. play will include a compact Wassily chair, wearing a sinister Schlemmer mask and
For instance, lithographs by Paul Klee created during wooden desk (circa 1929), de- looking like a flapper turned modernist warrior.
the school’s early years are presented alongside textile signed and made by German Weimar’s museum has a setting in a charming cul-
swatches by his student Gunta Stölzl, whose abstract style architect Wera Meyer-Waldeck, tural capital, and Berlin’s Bauhaus Archive has the
reflects Klee’s influence. then a student in the woodwork- largest collection of Bauhaus holdings, but Dessau can
The new museum will also present pieces like a 1926 dressing ing workshop. Equipped with distinctive still tempt visitors to its new museum with the jewel
table by Marcel Breuer, the Hungarian-born architect and designer, A-shaped legs, it was created for a trade-union in the crown—the restored school building itself,
who started out as a Bauhaus student and ended up as a teacher. His training facility that was designed by Meyer and which, according to Gropius’s recent biographer, Brit-
mid-1920s tubular-steel Wassily chair remains one of modernism’s best- his architecture students. ish writer Fiona MacCarthy, still embodies “all the as-
known pieces. Until now, the foundation was forced to show a pirations of modernity.” Dr. Perren regards it as “our
The Bauhaus was born in 1919 in Weimar, the small city whose name smattering of its holdings in makeshift quarters in the largest object.”
Bare
human being—a Books, she suggests,
person enmeshed aren’t divined from
in the reality of Mount Olympus, “but
Necessities
the world. are the work of suffering
human beings, and are
attached to grossly ma-
terial things, like health and money and the
houses we live in.” It’s an essential truth,
BY DANNY HEITMAN though one not often pressed, one gathers, on
aspiring authors in today’s MFA programs.
VIRGINIA WOOLF (1882-1941) is widely known Because she suffered from mental illness and
as a “woman’s writer,” a description that committed suicide, Woolf is often remembered
doesn’t do justice to her universal appeal. Cele- as a sad writer. But as “A Room of One’s Own”
brated Woolf novels such as “To the Light- amply demonstrates, she could often be wick-
house” and “Mrs. Dalloway” feature strong edly funny. “Women have served all these cen-
women, and Woolf was herself a compelling turies as looking-glasses possessing the magic
character in her many essays and reviews, gain- and delicious power of reflecting the figure of
ing an audience in a literary culture that was man at twice its natural size,” she writes.
strongly dominated by men. Those achieve- “Without that power probably the earth would
ments have made her a seminal figure in femi- still be swamp and jungle.”
nist thought, but like all successful literature, Woolf surely knew that the notion of a
her work speaks to that broader audience she writer sequestered in a locked chamber was an
would famously popularize as the “common ideal few artists ever reached. Hers was not a
reader.” cloistered life, but Woolf’s crucial point—that a
A good case in point is “A Room of One’s on the door,” the cherished “room of one’s Room of One’s Own.” measure of privacy and quiet is needed to pro-
Own,” Woolf’s extended essay, published as a own.” Lectures transcribed into book form might duce great art—resonates with renewed ur-
stand-alone book, that grew from her 1928 Woolf’s commentary obviously speaks most sound like dry stuff, but Woolf lends her re- gency as online culture makes true solitude in-
Cambridge lectures in her native England on directly to the petty biases that worked against marks narrative interest by framing them creasingly rare.
women in fiction. Her hosts had assigned her writing careers for women, but her ruminations within a stroll through “Oxbridge,” a portman- She hints that a good book can create a men-
the topic, which was general enough, she noted, on the nature of creative life offer useful in- teau of Oxford and Cambridge, by a lightly fic- tal space very much like a physical space—“not
to perhaps include a few polite remarks on sights for any aspiring writer. tionalized version of herself. Woolf, like her fa- made of sentences laid end to end, but of sen-
Fanny Burney, Jane Austen and the Brontës. She knew firsthand, of course, the limita- ther, was an avid walker, and she often used tences built, if an image helps, into arcades or
But Woolf decided to stir things up by ex- tions often imposed on women of her time. The peripatetic story lines, perhaps most notably in domes.”
ploring why there were so few good books writ- daughter of Leslie Stephen, a prominent British “Mrs. Dalloway” and one of her landmark es- That’s the real gift of Woolf’s lecture-turned-
ten by women. She pointed to centuries of sex- critic and historian, Woolf was taught mostly at says, “Street Haunting.” It was her favored literary-masterwork. It’s an immersive encoun-
ism that discounted what women had to say, home, although her brothers and half-brothers method of keeping ideas planted in the terra ter, rewarding the reader with a sense, as we
making them unlikely to become authors. Eco- got university educations. That slight pretty firma of lived experience, testing theory against turn the last page, that the book itself has
nomic power rested largely with men, too, and much forced her to learn what she could from practice. pleasantly enclosed us within its walls—giving
they also tended to get the best educations, perusing her father’s massive personal library, In this way, “A Room of One’s Own” endures us, if only for a time, a room of our own.
which better allowed them to have the skills, in- which might have been a blessing in disguise. as a reminder that writing, for all its elevated
come and space needed to thrive as writers. Perhaps her exclusion from campus life saved aura, is the physical act of a human body—a Mr. Heitman, a columnist for the Advocate
RYAN INZANA
More women would achieve literary success, Woolf from the arid abstractions of the acad- person who must be sustained by basic necessi- newspaper in Louisiana, is the author of “A
Woolf argued, if they had 500 pounds a year—a emy, pointing her instead toward the vivid par- ties. Woolf had little truck with the mystique of Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oak-
nice sum at the time—and “a room with a lock ticularity that informs prose works like “A the starving artist. “One cannot think well, love ley House” (LSU).
OFF DUTY
For personal, non-commercial use only. Do not edit, alter or reproduce. For commercial reproduction or distribution, contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing at (800) 843-0008 or www.djreprints.com.
Memory Lane
For your next road trip, why not rent a
vintage car that suits your destination?
To wheel around time-capsule towns in the
Midwest, Matthew Kronsberg sought
out a 1960s woody wagon
For $200 a
day, step into this
1966 Ford Country
ACKERMAN + GRUBER FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
I
’VE BEEN CALLED a lot of names in my usually for the wrong reason—a breakdown, an drive off the lot. You never see people this excited
life. More than once while I was behind accident, distressing aromas blowing from the at Hertz.
the wheel of a car. This, however, was a air conditioning or a ridiculous run-in like mine. The car I’d reserved, a 1966 Ford Country
first. The scene: my wife and I in a rental I spent the flight home wondering what it would Squire station wagon, had the heart of a muscle
with my son, paused at a stop sign in a be like to take a trip where the car comes to the car—a 390-cubic-inch V-8 engine—but the body of
mellow residential Santa Cruz, Calif., neighbor- fore for the right reasons, where it heightens a school bus, with seating for eight, including a
hood two blocks from the ocean. A guy on a bi- your experience, your connection to the land- pair of inward facing seats in the back. And as
cycle comes bombing up behind us, and as he scape and to those who live there. furtively formidable school buses go, it was
swerves past, lets fly a single-finger salute and a On a sunny Saturday morning a few weeks ago, mighty photogenic, with stacked headlights, a
battle cry of “F--- you, moneybags!” Moneybags. I ventured into an industrial park just outside solid-wood roof rack, rear windows covered in
Thanks to some combination of dumb luck and Minneapolis to find out. Morrie’s Heritage, a small vintage decals of U.S. state maps, and a perfectly
dumber inventory management, the car-rental division of a large family of car dealerships, rents preserved brownish red “Emberglo” paint job.
agency we’d visited two days before had upgraded out vintage vehicles—frequently for wedding get- Choosing a landscape for a car is like choos-
us to a silver BMW 430i convertible. It was a hoot aways but also for weekenders like me. Its soft-top ing a wine for a meal. The Country Squire—
on the highway but a mismatch for the endear- ’66 Ford Mustang was already gone when I ar- which, I discovered, handled with all the nimble-
ingly scruffy sensibilities of Santa Cruz. I found rived. Another customer was there with his ness of a riverboat—felt like a natural pairing
myself sinking low in my seat at stoplights, and nephew to rent a 1967 red Mustang fastback, in for the Mississippi River valley south of the
was a little relieved when I returned it. celebration of the latter’s high-school graduation. I Twin Cities. The curves would be gentle, and the
Most rental cars play bland supporting roles watched a young woman giddily examining the views sweeping: high bluffs on one side of the
on road trips. If one calls attention to itself, it’s black 1969 Pontiac Firebird convertible she’d soon Please turn to page D4
Inside
SHORN BEAUTIFUL SUMMER OF SPUDS IT STARTED WITH MILLENNIAL PINK... KEEP IT REEL
Or not so beautiful. Essayist Jia Tolentino How the pleasure of a baked potato can be ...and now a whole palette of dusky pastels Fishing vests are showing up on urban
on her ‘disgusting’ denim cutoffs D3 achieved via an outdoor grill D7 is transforming design D8 guys who covet a lot of pockets D2
For personal, non-commercial use only. Do not edit, alter or reproduce. For commercial reproduction or distribution, contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing at (800) 843-0008 or www.djreprints.com.
GETTY IMAGES (LEFT); F. MARTIN RAMIN/ THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, STYLING BY ANNE CARDENAS (VESTS)
hunting vest, in the city?
Really? Yes—here’s
why the adventurer’s
classic is trending
BY JACOB GALLAGHER
I
N “THE FAREWELL,” a
recently released film
about multiple generations
of a Chinese family, an
elderly character named
Mr. Li shuffles around his apart-
ment wearing a cropped, abun-
dantly pocketed fishing vest over
a polo shirt and khakis. The Satur-
day afternoon I saw the movie in
Brooklyn, I wore a nearly identical CA S’APPELLE ‘LE
vest over my T-shirt. FISHING’ A trendy
Mr. Li is on-screen for maybe adherent sports a vest
five minutes total so we never at Paris Fashion Week
learn what, if anything, he’s got
stuffed in those pockets, but I’d
like to believe that he and I up vests with prominent pouches. throw over camo-printed jackets. jects had worn Nikes. would rather slip on a vest to
could bond over the practicality of Los Angeles streetwear brands A fishing vest may feature a mesh Utility vests are part of the hold his camera, headphones and
such a thoroughly compartmental- like Stussy and John Elliott pocket for straining water or a wave of functional outdoorsy notebook than stuff his “pant
ized vest. For my trip to the the- market fishing-style vests with fuzzy patch on the chest for dry- trends that has infiltrated pockets to the brim.” He currently
ater, I’d stashed mine with a a breathable mesh lining or vin- ing flies; a hunting vest, mean- fashion, from hiking sneakers de- owns four vests—two modern
crossword puzzle, two pens, a tage-esque distressing. Even the while, may have a large game signed for traction to pouchy iterations from Japanese brands
camera, my phone, my wallet and elegant Australian tailoring spe- pocket, but generally the shapes cargo pants. Colin Smight, 27, a and two vintage pieces passed
a pack of pretzels to smuggle past cialist Patrick Johnson makes a are quite similar. graphic designer in Brooklyn, N.Y., down to him from his “avid out-
the attendant (concession prices natty all-navy version in a crisp The pockets on my own purchased one of these vests—in doorsman” grandfather.
being what they are). cotton blend. circa-1950s vest were no doubt de- his case, a black “cheaply made”
This summer, my vintage vest These designer vests are the af- signed for considerably more rug- number—for $14 in New York’s
has basically become a wearable fluent descendants of the humble ged contents than my pretzels. Chinatown after admiring the Having pocket room to
storage locker and it’s in good gilets that fly fishermen use for Wearing it, I rather feel like some- practical style on locals of that
company. Hoity labels like Gucci stockpiling lures and the cotton one Norman Rockwell would have neighborhood. “If you have a lot
spare is a luxury akin to
and Louis Vuitton offer pricey zip- canvas vests that deer hunters sought out to paint—if his sub- of stuff in your pockets it ends possessing a two-car
up pulling your [pants] down,” garage when you only
said Mr. Smight, who was so smit-
IT’S NOT POCKET SCIENCE / SOME OF OUR FAVORITE STASHERS, FROM STANDARD TO SUMPTUOUS ten with his vest that he’s since own one sedan.
purchased two more to wear with
shorts in the summer.
But does anyone need 10 or His woodsy vests do turn
12 or even 15 pockets running heads when he wears them in
up his sides? Probably not. I the city over a T-shirts and jeans.
rarely fill my own vest’s array of “Some of my closest friends
pockets beyond half capacity. The and complete strangers, they
main thing that David Gandionco, question me and really think I’m
39, a medical device engineer crazy,” he admitted.
in San Francisco, keeps in his Like me, San Francisco engineer
hunting-inspired vest from New Joseph O’Bryan, 23, views his
York label Engineered Garments is vest as an important ally when
his phone. He particularly likes it comes to sneaking snacks
how its chest pockets make the into a movie theater (“You can
device easily accessible, especially bring in the whole candy store”).
as smartphones continue to bloat, He wears Engineered Garments’s
expanding beyond the scope of brown utility vest in the city
pant pockets. over wide trousers and T-shirts.
Having pocket room to spare is “It makes you feel like you’re
a luxury akin to possessing a two- ready to go conquer the wilder-
car garage when you only own one ness,” he said, “when you
From left to right: Authentic Angler Vest, $85, orvis.com; Tailored Topper P. Johnson Vest, $285, pjt.com; Refined sedan. Will Bordewyk, 23, a finan- go pick up your prescription
Reeler Vest, $120, stussy.com; Pouchy Pocketeer Vest, about $615, nemen.it. cial analyst in Louisville, Ky., from CVS.”
THE LOW-KEY LOAFER THE DOWN-TO-EARTH THE ALL-STRAPPED-IN THE POSH PROGRESSIVE
COMPARISON SHOPPING PROFESSIONAL
G.H. Bass Carmina Shoemaker John Lobb
Loafer Deliberations ‘Larson Weejuns’
$110, ghbass.com
Allen Edmonds
‘Wooster Street’
‘Full Strap’
$475, carminashoemaker.us
Lightweight ‘Lopez’
$1,450, johnlobb.com
$395, allenedmonds.com
This brown leather classic is reliable, sleek, Back Story Bass Weejuns, Back Story Founded in 1866 Back Story This design was
the archetypal preppy loafers, Back Story These belong to a as a shoemaking workshop on created in 1950 for a bespoke
not too risky—but which one best suits you? debuted in 1936 as a nod to brand founded in 1922 in Bel- the Spanish island of Ma- customer, a Mr. Lopez, then
Norwegian farm shoes. They gium, Wis., with shoes still llorca, Carmina dates back absorbed into the brand’s
soon became a midcentury handcrafted mainly in the U.S. five generations within the ready-to-wear line.
DEPENDING ON YOUR PERSPECTIVE, the brown penny collegiate classic. same family.
loafer might seem like a too-safe, Connecticut-country- Surface Notes Smooth, pol- Surface Notes Calf leather
club standby—or an ideal everyday shoe that blends ca- Surface Notes Thick, waxy ished leather that develops a Surface Notes Matte, supple pretreated for an almost mar-
sual and refined. Let’s argue the case for the latter: Its leather with a shine almost welcome patina. rusticalf (a durable skin with bled look that obviates the
gentle mocha hue is less aggressive than city-black. The bright enough to glimpse your a natural grain). need for extra varnish.
shoe’s simple little front slot—which held actual coins in reflection in. Distinguishing Details These
the post-WWII era but now is mostly decorative—offers loafers’ soles—fabricated Distinguishing Details As the Distinguishing Details The
some charm. Its simple, slip-on shape means it goes with Distinguishing Details Beef- with cushy rubber, cork, foam name implies, this pair’s ele- new rubber lug sole gives
everything from weekend chinos to a lightweight suit. rolled stitching at the sides and leather composite lay- gant leather saddle straps en- them the comfort and “profile
And it’s pleasingly classic: You may fondly recall your dad gives these a substantial, ers—make them all-day walk- tirely traverse the shoe from of a classic walking sole,” ac-
or your grandpa wearing a version. preppy American feel. ing machines. side to side. cording to Ms. Gerbase.
Indeed, a well-made loafer can be “a cross-generational
item,” lasting long enough to pass down to children and
even grandchildren, argued Emilie Montagne, who works
on French brand J.M. Weston’s collections. Loafers made
with a Goodyear, two-level stitched welt—like all of the
shoes shown at right except for the G.H. Bass Weejuns—
F. MARTIN RAMIN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, STYLING BY ANNE CARDENAS
G
ROWING UP IN Texas, I attended drugs at the airport on her way back home
an evangelical private school from a music festival. Roughly speaking, this
whose thorough strictness was is not an aesthetic that an adult woman
expressed most clearly in the should either replicate or aspire to. And yet,
dress code. Boys wore slacks; when I think about my jean shorts, all other
girls wore pleated skirts in khaki and slate clothing starts to feel like gabardine and cha-
gabardine; for weekly chapel, everyone wore pel—like something you submit to, often be-
white oxford shirts and loafers. Summers, af- cause a code requires it, and that you run
ter so much starchy biblical confinement, from as soon as summer sets you free.
came as an all-consuming release. This was I hope, one day, to be able to measure my
Houston, and so it was mostly humid and hot life out in jean shorts. My elementary-school
to the point of unearthliness—three-digit pair was black, mid-thigh, frayed at the
temperatures were normal for months. But I edges. When I was a teenager, my jean
loved the heat, the burning dazzle during the shorts were medium-blue, whiskered, and
daytime, the way the grass stayed warm long low-rise in that terrifying early-aughts way.
into the night. On my suburban cul-de-sac, Now my most dearly beloved pair is a pale,
with its tiny pirate-ship playground and built- bleached-out color, and so short that the
LEETA HARDING FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (TOLENTINO); F. MARTIN RAMIN/ THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, STYLING BY ANNE CARDENAS (SHORTS)
JORTS FOR THE APOCALYPSE / BARELY ANYONE IS IMMUNE TO THE CHARMS OF EXTREME CASUALNESS. IF YOU STOOP TO THE JEAN SHORT, TRY THESE DECENT OPTIONS
THAT’S DEBATABLE
Paul Theroux
Author; his newest
travel memoir, ‘On the
Plain of Snakes: A Mexi-
can Journey’ comes out
in October
Machine
We asked three vintage-car
rental agencies to share their clists, one of whom promptly tum- still stops twice daily.
biggest sellers and the unsung bled from his bike. They were on a The next morning I found Rich-
favorites in their inventory mission, he explained, to stop at ard DeVoe, Zoe Malinchoc and their
Continued from page D1 every bar they passed in the small Fox Red Labrador retriever, Reveler,
car, water on the other. My family towns along the river; they seemed contemplating the Squire. “My
and I would pick up Highway 61 in to be doing exceedingly well. grandparents had one of these,”
St. Paul, hopscotching between it While we talked, another of the cy- said Zoe. “My mom was one of Alison Mosshart
and Wisconsin’s fantastically sce- clists snapped pictures of the car, eight kids, so it was pretty neces- Vocalist for bands the
nic Great River Road, exploring the and, grinning, said of me, “It’s sary.” They invited me to drop by Dead Weather and the
small waterfront towns along the Clark Griswold and the family their shop, Fair Trade Books. There, Kills; author of the just-
way. We’d stop for the first night truckster!” referring to the bum- Richard explained the store’s oper- released book ‘Car Ma’
in Red Wing, Minn., and the next bling dad played by Chevy Chase ating ethos: They give all first-time
in Alma, Wis., 98 miles downriver. in “National Lampoon’s Vacation” visitors a free book, after soliciting The Car 1970
Morrie’s Heritage, The car came with a 150-mile-a- and his hulking station wagon. their interests. I mentioned that we Dodge Challenger, re-
Golden Valley, Minn. day allowance, and a request that Definitely more fitting than “Mon- were exploring the river valley, and stored with a Hellcat
This eclectic fleet of 18 cars tilts we not venture farther than 100 eybags,” I thought. stopping that night in the town of engine, supercharged
toward the sporty and iconic— miles from Minneapolis, should The wagon’s retro charms were Alma, just two streets wide, estab- 6.2L 707 Hp.
the kinds of cars that make ap- anything happen. Adam Karon, the undeniable, whether they harked lished by Swiss immigrants in the The Drive Los Angeles
pearances at weddings and big- program manager, told me that back to 1966 or to 1983, when the mid-19th century. They sent me off to Louisiana
number birthdays. fewer than 3% of his rentals have Griswolds made their way to Walley with a copy of Alton Brown’s The Dream “I’m with my
had issues, and most of those are World. Our ability to enjoy those “Feasting on Asphalt: The River niece Goldy. She’s no lon-
Most Popular 1987 Porsche simple—a balky roof or a dead bat- charms was partly a matter of luck: Run,” in which Mr. Brown rides the ger 2 ½, but 19 years old.
911 Carrera tery. After a quick orientation of While its floor vents and open win- length of the Mississippi on his mo- We take the car out just
Staff Pick 1977 Mazda Rotary the Country Squire, Mr. Karon sent dows kept us plenty cool, if we’d set torcycle, and stops in Alma as well. as the sun goes down,
Pickup. “It shoots fireballs out me off to with a winking warning, out a day earlier when tempera- When we stopped in the town of bomb over a hill—now it’s
the back. It makes an unholy “It’ll take you 45 minutes to get tures were pushing 90 degrees, we Pepin, Wis., we parked next to the midnight and we’re on
racket, and it’s my favorite car gas in that thing. Everyone who might have cursed the car’s lack of studio of Dougie Padilla, one of the Ventura Blvd. and all the
in the building,” said manager sees that car will want to talk to air conditioning. Likewise, the rains godfathers of the Minneapolis art neon signs are shining,
Adam Karon. you about it.” that pummeled the area the day af- scene. His work has the primitivism going 123 mph in a
He was right, and then some. I and frenetic energy of Jean-Michel straight line, all green
hadn’t even left Morrie’s parking lot Basquiat’s paintings, shot through lights, no traffic, windows
when a customer arriving with his with Mexican iconography. His
family to pick up a birthday pres-
‘Everyone who sees that storefront is more workspace than
down, blasting ‘Roadrun-
ner’ by the Modern Lov-
ent—a day in a (reproduction) car will want to talk to you gallery, but Mr. Padilla welcomed us ers, and some pretty lady
Shelby Cobra—came sprinting over. about it.’ He was right. in (through October he’ll be open is making frozen margari-
“Oh my God, a Country Squire!” he the third Sunday of every month, tas at a little stand on
said, “I learned to drive in one of with the caveat that he’s “eccentric the side of the road like
these.” and unreliable”). There was the we’re no longer in Amer-
Slow Drive, Italy After picking up my wife and ter we returned our Squire would obligatory car conversation: Mr. Pa- ica. She says, ‘Welcome
This concern has nine locations son at the hotel, we set off. The have made for riskier driving owing dilla drove cross-country in a ’48 to Louisiana.’”
from Lake Garda to Florence, Country Squire was a one-car pa- to the wagon’s lack of traction con- DeSoto, but that was the least of his
and 73 vintage cars spread rade. People on the highway would trol and sash-style seat belts— stories. He was, in his telling, a Ze-
among them, ranging from a point, wave and snap pictures as safety features we take for granted lig of the counterculture. Tales of
1959 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spi- we drove. After an hour of driving now. Still, with auspicious weather, walking hand-in-hand with Ram
der to the Love Bug itself, a (and waving back), we stopped in and an AM radio that sounded re- Das, an ill-fated spell with a Chi-
1979 VW Maggiolone Herbie. Hager City, Wis., for a lunch of markably good thanks to the car’s cano underground militia in New
broasted chicken (prepared with a concert hall sized interior, the Mexico and a corporate gig creating
Most Popular 1959 Alfa Romeo pressure fryer) and fried cheese Country Squire made a quite com- designs for World Cup uniforms. He
Giulietta curds. In the parking lot, another fortable vessel for time travel. promised that at least half of what
Staff Pick 1997 Mini Cooper customer approached us, compli- The throwback theme was reaf- he told us was true. Had we been
British Open Sport-Pack. “It was mented the car, and spoke admir- firmed that evening during dinner driving a Hyundai Elantra, I doubt
the first car I drove when I ar- ingly of the state of the paint, tell- at Chef Shack, in Bay City, Wis., just we would have heard any of it. Andrew Feustel
rived at Slow Drive,” said Katy ing me about his work as a car across the river from Red Wing. It’s We walked a block down to the Astronaut and an ambas-
ACKERMAN + GRUBER FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (4); JAGUAR LAND ROVER NA ARCHIVES (JAQUAR E-TYPE, JAQUAR XJS)
Baciu, a booking agent. “It’s su- detailer. Repeatedly, in talking the kind of ambitious but low-key river where the Harbor View Cafe sador for RPM founda-
per loud and very fun to drive.” about the car, people would give restaurant travelers dream of stum- faces out onto the Mississippi tion, which supports au-
keyhole views into their lives. Out- bling across. Patrons sip champagne River’s widest navigable stretch, tomotive restoration and
side the National Eagle Center in cocktails while sitting on Adiron- Lake Pepin. Beyond its fare— preservation training
Wabasha, Minn., I chatted with a dack chairs in the garden, then duck hearty portions of sophisticated
Korean War vet who we found inside for grilled trout and baked comfort food—the restaurant is fa- The Car 1966 Lincoln
snapping pictures of the car for Alaska. When I told chef Carrie mous for its chalkboard menu over Continental convertible
Facebook. After a slice of straw- Summer about our adventure, she the bar, which was changed fre- The Drive Calgary to
berry lemonade pie at Stockholm immediately saw how an old car quently over the course of the eve- Vancouver
Pie & General Store in Stockholm, suited our journey. “There’s some- ning, with patrons watching it like The Dream “What
Wis., we connected with a young thing special about rural destina- a stock ticker. When we returned better car to be driving
Great Escape Cars, girl and her parents who pointed tions like this, where there’s very to our car, we found two chap- than one that has sofa
Redditch, England to the rear-window decals to indi- little going on. You go back in time.” books of Mr. Padilla’s poetry seats for the occupants,
This Jaguar specialist is per- cate all the places they’d been. Even time travelers need to tucked beneath a windshield wiper. both in the front and
fectly situated in the British Not long after lunch, we pulled sleep sometime, and the venerable The last leg of the trip led to the back? You could
Midlands for drives in the bu- into a turnout on the Great River St. James Hotel in Red Wing ably Alma, where we spent the night in a take the whole family
colic Cotswolds. rental apartment overlooking the and put a week’s worth
DESIGNER Big River Theater. The next morn- of stuff in the trunk. I’d
Most Popular Jaguar E-Types LABELS ing, after a hike up the bluff to want a restomod that
Staff Pick Jaguar XJS. ”They are The 1966 Ford Buena Vista Park for sweeping river had a modern fuel-injec-
so smooth and comfortable. Peo- Country Squire views, it was time to head back. tion system, slightly
ple drive E Types with high ex- station wagon When we parked behind Homemade modified suspension, de-
pectations, but they have no ex- from Morrie’s Cafe in Pepin for breakfast, owner cent, bigger radial tires
pectations of the XJS. Heritage Patty Wirth dashed out from the and a good AC system. I
Customers often want to buy comes adorned kitchen, ladle in hand. “Aw geez, would probably listen to
one after they’ve driven one,” with vintage would you look at that?” she said, classic rock stuff like
said company director Graham state decals. taking in our wood-paneled chariot. Thin Lizzy, Zeppelin, the
Eason. (Similar models pictured They don’t make ’em like that any Stones, and maybe
above.) more. Well, come on in. I’m glad you some Tragically Hip.”
stopped here.”
For personal, non-commercial use only. Do not edit, alter or reproduce. For commercial reproduction or distribution, contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing at (800) 843-0008 or www.djreprints.com.
SOUVENIR
Mumbai
Mementos
Where to scoop up
modern swag in the
Indian megalopolis
.
COAT CHECK
ly
The homegrown brand of Nico-
bar and its three breezy shops
in Mumbai embody a contem- on
porary, keenly Indian approach
to lifestyle. Think minimalist
linens and tableware with trop-
us l,
SHOE IN
Kolhapuri-style leather sandals
are a staple in every Indian
co Fo
n-
no
DRAWING ROOM
Indian-American Jas Charanjiva
co-founded Mumbai’s Kulture
Shop, an artists’ collective, in
2014. Nostalgists who still call
the city Bombay gravitate to
the vintage-inspired posters
from the Dallas Company’s
“Bombay Flashback” series.
Each one depicts iconic land-
marks like the Gateway of India
and Regal Cinema (rendering
of original above). Starting at
$14 each, kultureshop.in.
STARE QUALITY
For eye-popping baubles
glimpsed on Bollywood sets—
and a few Hollywood red car-
pets—head to Clove, a concept
shop near the Taj Mahal Pal-
ace Hotel. There, stock up on
the Valliyan label’s Evil Eye
Collection. Our pick: gold-
plated earrings encrusted in
Swarovski crystals. $108, clo-
vethestore.com —Sarah Khan
For personal, non-commercial use only. Do not edit, alter or reproduce. For commercial reproduction or distribution, contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing at (800) 843-0008 or www.djreprints.com.
Thirsty for
Unicorns
Novelist Stewart O’Nan knows better, yet when it
comes to bourbon, he can’t resist the thrill of the hunt
G
OD HELP ME, I’m a high-proof whiskeys in the Buffalo
bourbon nerd. Not by Trace Antique Collection from the
choice, believe me. I shelves and into the arms of collec-
was once like you. I tors and flippers, whose ranks had
used to walk into my exploded.
local packy, find the bottle I wanted Problem was, there were only so
on the shelf, go home and drink it many unicorns to go around. Seeing
while I watched the Sox, and I was the market, other producers rolled
happy. Now I lurk in subreddits and out pricey limited editions—older
drive twisting back roads through expressions, single barrels and
neighboring states, hunting down funky finished whiskeys. Among the
out-of-the-way places that might over-oaked and unbalanced concoc-
have a few dusties or maybe, just tions and barrels of dubious prove-
maybe, an elusive unicorn. nance bearing fanciful back stories
Smoked Trout and New Potato Salad With Beets and Bagnet Vert
IT BEGAN WITH an exciting ingredient—as smear of bagnet vert, the green sauce
do most of Caroline Glover’s dishes at An- from the Italian Piedmont made with stale
nette, just outside Denver. “These incredi- bread, anchovies, capers, herbs and vine-
ble new potatoes come in from a local gar. Rounds of quick-pickled beets, more
farm,” said the chef. “They’re so tender herbs and a tart drizzle of crème fraîche
and sweet you wouldn’t believe it.” complete the well-balanced composition.
In her second Slow Food Fast recipe, “I like acid to be the last thing you
The Chef freshly dug spuds share the plate with taste,” Ms. Glover said. “It makes you go
Caroline Glover flakes of smoked trout and a generous back for more.” —Kitty Greenwald
Her Restaurant
Annette in Aurora, Total Time 35 minutes Cover with aluminum foil it absorbs all liquid, at least
Colo. Serves 4 and roast until beets are 5 minutes. In a blender, com-
easily pierced with a sharp bine soaked bread, parsley, 1
What She’s Known 4 small beets knife, about 20 minutes. Fill cup cilantro, capers, anchovy,
For Bringing years 11/4 cups water a small pot with salted wa- 2 tablespoons vinegar and a
of experience on Kosher salt ter, add potatoes and bring pinch of salt. With motor
the farm to ingredi- 1 pound small new potatoes to a boil over high heat. Cook running, drizzle in 3/4 cup oil
1/
ent-focused cook- 2 cup plus 2 tablespoons potatoes until tender, about and continue blending until
ing. Rustic dishes Sherry vinegar 15 minutes, then strain. sauce is homogenous and
executed with a 2 cups torn stale sourdough 2. In a small pot, combine smooth, 1-2 minutes.
1/ 1
light touch. bread with crusts removed 2 cup vinegar, /2 cup water 4. Whisk together crème
1 cup parsley leaves and a generous pinch of salt. fraîche, a pinch of salt and 1
11/4 cup cilantro leaves Bring brine to a boil, then re- tablespoon oil. Slice beets
1 tablespoon capers move from heat. Use a into rounds and blot dry.
1 anchovy fillet kitchen towel to rub hot 5. Spread bagnet vert over a
3/
4 cup plus 2 tablespoons beets until skins slip off. In a platter. Crack boiled potatoes
olive oil small bowl, toss beets with into large bite-size pieces and
1/
2 pound smoked trout salt and pour hot brine over. distribute over sauce along
4 tablespoons crème fraîche Let beets marinate, tossing with sliced beets. Flake trout
often, until lightly pickled, at and scatter around. Drizzle
1. Preheat oven to 450 de- least 10 minutes. crème fraîche over every-
grees. Place beets in a small 3. Make bagnet vert: In a thing. Finish with cilantro, a
roasting dish with 1water and bowl, soak bread with 1/2 cup drizzle of beets’ pickling liq- GO FISH A single anchovy blended into the herbal sauce gives it a
a generous pinch of salt. water. Let bread soften until uid, remaining oil and salt. compelling, deep savory note.
For personal, non-commercial use only. Do not edit, alter or reproduce. For commercial reproduction or distribution, contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing at (800) 843-0008 or www.djreprints.com.
Invite Baked
Grilled
Sweet
Potatoes
With
TED + CHELSEA CAVANAUGH FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, FOOD STYLING BY SARAH KARNASIEWICZ, PROP STYLING BY CARLA GONZALEZ-HART
BY SARAH KARNASIEWICZ sweet flavor really shines
L
through when grilled, but I
IKE WOOLLY knew that, classically, the art
socks and puffy of topping potatoes involves
parkas, baked po- contrasting snappy, savory
tatoes are usually elements with cool and lus-
considered cold- cious ones. Think bacon and
weather comforts. This miffs blue cheese, or chives and
me, a cook who’d make pota- sour cream. The Romanos
toes my desert-island staple. needed a counterpoint, and I
So I was thrilled when I found one in London chef
flipped open “Charcoal,” a Yotam Ottolenghi’s most re-
new live-fire cookbook from cent cookbook, “Simple,”
Los Angeles chef Josiah Cit- wherein he dresses baked po-
rin, and found a recipe for tatoes with eggs and tonnato,
“loaded” potatoes with the creamy sauce of capers,
crème fraîche, aged Gouda tuna and herbs. Fresh and
and herbs. Charred and easy—the tonnato can be
crackling on the outside, ten- made in the blender days
der at the center, they’re ahead—this combo is now a
what Mr. Citrin calls his summer standby on my patio.
“fire-roasted take on the Another night, with a few
standard steakhouse po- girlfriends on their way over
tato”—and what I call the an- for supper, I parboiled a few
swer to my warm-weather sweet potatoes, fired up the
baked potato cravings. grill and surveyed my op-
tions: a mountain of ripe to-
matoes on the counter, a tub
Garlicky Grilled Potatoes With
The art of topping of whole-milk yogurt in the
Charred Beans, Egg and Tonnato
fridge. Then I remembered
involves contrasting that my friend, Sarah Cope-
snappy, savory land, featured a Moroccan-
elements with cool spiced tomato toast in her
beautiful new cookbook, “Ev-
and luscious ones. ery Day Is Saturday.” Surely I
could swap one starch for an- 1 tablespoon chili powder minutes. Transfer potatoes to you’re using a gas grill, use all Cook, turning halfway through,
other? I split the spuds and 1 tablespoon unsweetened a towel to drain. (This can be the burners to heat the grill to until potatoes are tender at
With a little attention to spooned on a sunset-colored cocoa powder done up to 1 day ahead.) high, then turn off one side of the center and easily pierced
temperature control, just mixture of silky tomatoes, 1 teaspoon ground cumin 3. Heat grill to high and pre- the burners before grilling. with a knife, 35-40 minutes.
about any grill can do double red pepper flakes, coriander 1 teaspoon ground allspice pare for indirect cooking. If 4. Brush potatoes with olive 5. To serve, split potatoes and
duty as an outdoor “oven”— and cumin, and finished with 1/
2 teaspoon ground cloves you’re using a charcoal grill, oil, season with salt and pep- fluff flesh with a fork. Spoon
and save you from toiling in a a drizzle of yogurt and honey. 1/
2 teaspoon cinnamon once the coals are white hot, per, and wrap tightly in alumi- 1/
2 cup chili sauce over each.
of many
liquid evaporates, about 5
enough, for perfectly even, Spicy Coney-Style Chili minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup tomato
tender, fluffable flesh, he sug- Spuds paste and cook 1 minute more.
gests parboiling the potatoes Total Time 11/4 hours Add beef broth, balsamic vine-
ahead of time, briefly, in Serves: 4 gar and Worcestershire sauce,
heavily salted water. “There’s
about a million ways to ap-
proach grilled baked pota-
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, finely
diced
and stir to combine. Simmer
over low heat until mixture is
thick and glossy but not com-
ideas.
toes, and they’re almost all 4 cloves garlic, minced pletely dry, 35-40 minutes.
great,” he said. 1 pound ground beef 2. Meanwhile, bring a large
A few days later, I was (preferably 85% lean/15% pot of salted water to a low
scanning the stalls at my lo- fat) boil. Add potatoes and simmer
cal farmers market when I 1 pound ground lamb until they almost cooked
spotted a pile of flat, fleshy Kosher salt and freshly through but still firm when
Romano beans. Their rich, ground black pepper pierced with a knife, 15-20
POWER TOOL
MAX, AGE 11, BOSTON
Not the
Same Old
Fire Drill
This mighty little
grill delivers pro-
level results, fast
THE OTTO GRILL is a paragon of instant minutes, a rib-eye sports a caramelized crust
gratification. The German-made gas-pow-
ered infrared-cooking machine can heat up
and a soft-as-butter center. The device also
doubles, quite adeptly, as a pizza oven. In 5 826NATIONAL.ORG
to its maximum temperature of 1500 degrees minutes, a Neapolitan-style pie comes out STUDENTS WRITE THE FUTURE.
in 3 minutes. A little larger than a toaster exactly as you want it: charred in spots and
VOLUNTEER. SUPPORT. BE INSPIRED.
MATTHEW COOK
oven, the compact grill was engineered with fluffy on the inside, with a pool of molten
steak in mind—specifically, to achieve a cheese on top. Very good things actually can
steakhouse-quality sear at home—and that come to those who don’t wait. $1,195,
it does, with astonishing results. In a few ottogrills.com —Gabriella Gershenson
For personal, non-commercial use only. Do not edit, alter or reproduce. For commercial reproduction or distribution, contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing at (800) 843-0008 or www.djreprints.com.
2
1
Behold What
Millennial Pink
Hath Wrought
13 Faucets, hoses, straws, all in a profusion of pastels not seen 4
since the 1950s. But these hues are strategically murky—neither
feminine nor masculine—to please a non-binary generation
P
ness water faucets coated in powdery pastels
INK WAS FEELING lonely. In from German manufacturer Dornbracht; an-
2014, India Mahdavi’s slightly drogynous-green blow dryers from celebrity
grayed-out blush design for Lon- hairstylist Harry Josh; garden hoses in Rusty
12 don’s Sketch restaurant fired a Rose and spades in Eucalyptus Leaf from Swe-
shot across the bow of traditional den’s Garden Glory.
neutrals like navy and tan. Since then, the Ms. Guido-Clark theorizes that the ongoing
muted hue has shown up in myriad interiors, global obsession with clean, understated Scan-
flattered skin tones across social media, and dinavian style has popularized the region’s
tinted products from vases to linens. It was in- penchant for slightly unsweet pastels. In 2017
evitable that a complementary color scheme American home- and office-furniture brand
would evolve around the millennial genera- Knoll acquired Denmark’s Muuto, which offers
tion’s It color, said Laura Guido-Clark, a Berke- lighting and furniture in such colors as taupe
ley, Calif. designer and color expert whose cli- and petroleum (a pale blue). Last fall Danish
ents include Samsung and Herman Miller. homewares brand HAY’s collaboration with
11 “Pink has come to represent an androgy- U.S. home-audio company Sonos yielded the
nous neutral,” she said, ideal for the genera- HAY Sonos One speakers in in millennial-woo-
tion born between 1981 and ’96, with its ing pink and yellow, among other colors. 5
F. MARTIN RAMIN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, STYLING BY ANNE CARDENAS (COFFEE, CHARGING PAD, SPICE GRINDER, STRAWS); CUTWORK STUDIOS (INTERIOR)
openness to gender fluidity. An entire pal- “There’s a deep respect for the way people in
ette of murky pastels, from a mellow mus- these cultures live purposefully, intentionally
tard yellow to moody-minty green, has fol- and holistically,” said Ms. Guido-Clark.
lowed suit, distinguished from the candy Charlotte Cosby, head of creative of British
colors of the 1980s (think the jackets on company Farrow & Ball—whose pursuit of his-
TV’s “Miami Vice”) and the shiny happy torically accurate shades led it to add worldly
hues of postwar 1950s by a muting touch of greys to pigments decades ago—noted that
gray and a matte finish. pastels bring a sense of calm. “These colors
Architecture and design firm Cutwork re- are optimistic yet gentle, making them great
cently completed Flatmates, a Paris co-living to both fall asleep and wake up to.”
10 space; tenants get their own bedrooms, but New York designer Kati Curtis sees the
share most other spaces. Modular sofas adhere trend as Generation Y’s reaction to their par-
to chalky blues and greens, ceilings a blanched ents’ beige Restoration Hardware tastes. She
orange. “Millennials have embraced power also pointed out the colors’ versatility. Work-
pastels because they bring people together ing well with woods from pale ash to rich wal-
rather than cause divisions,” said Cutwork co- nut, they also complement metals like rose
founder Antonin Yuji Maeno. “Pinks are no gold and silver, “making them easier to com-
longer feminine. Blues aren’t masculine.” mit to than a bright red dining-room table,”
Beyond velvet sofas, the dusky palette has she said. “These are easy colors to live with.” 6
To Fur,
With Love
How a historic brownstone—
including this once-formal
library—was redecorated as
an ode to the homeowner’s
patchwork fox-fur jacket
BY CATHERINE ROMANO
BOB O’CONNOR FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (INTERIOR); F. MARTIN RAMIN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (JACKET)
HE PERSON WHO wears this
jacket doesn’t live in this house as
it stands.” So concluded Liz Caan
and her associate Cooper Her-
rlinger when their client showed
them the multicolored pieced-fur jacket she
hoped would inspire the interiors of her his-
toric Boston brownstone. The house that
would be home to her, her husband and two
college-age children was “very stately and
dark and expected,” said Ms. Caan. Its library,
for example, originally held two hulking part-
ners’ desks at which no fan of a harlequin-
hued fox-fur jacket would willingly sit. The de-
signers paired a smaller-scale desk with a
comfily enveloping, dramatic chair—“the op-
posite of what we usually get in a library.” And
“because the coat is a little bit rock ’n’ roll,”
the designers further padded the chair with a
pillow that depicts the Rolling Stones’s
tongue-and-lips logo in leather and linen.
“The jacket gave us insight into who she is
and how she wanted her house to feel,” said
the designer, based in Newton, Mass. “This
person likes to have fun, and this house should
reflect that.” Here, the myriad ways the de-
signers translated the slightly irreverent coat
into an equally irreverent library. VERY FOXY In a Boston townhouse’s library, designer Liz Caan captured some of the irreverence of the homeowner’s harlequin-hued jacket in
the scale shift of the club chair’s upholstery. Grey-painted woodwork and brown herringbone wallpaper calm things down.
A Color Infusion—Up to a Point
The wing-backed desk chair is the only “This grouping helped us reinforce the little Steering clear of strict linear patterns for “heavily manipulated natural materials” such
truly multicolored element in the room. Its blobs of color that make up the jacket, and to the rug, the designers chose a faux woodgrain as the woven-raffia wall covering and the up-
upholstery, a Christopher Farr linen, fea- break up the red, orange and pink in the deco- number from Stark. “It’s a little out there,” holstery of the ottoman, from Lance Woven
tures stripes of fuchsia, yellow, pink, blue- rating.” said Ms. Caan. The black hair-on hide that an- Leather in Norwalk, Conn. The poof’s Italian
green and a purer green on a red back- To offset the fabrics’ exuberance and instill chors the seating by the fireplace not only al- leather has been cut into strips, died coral and
ground. “We realized we couldn’t pull into a bit of the seriousness a brownstone de- ludes to the animal fur of the coat, its amoe- bronze, and manipulated into a fine weave. “It
this space all the colors found in the jacket serves, the team painted the room’s woodwork boid shape adheres to the organic theme. is over the top, but you have to get close to
without turning it into a playroom,” said a deep gray and clad the walls in brown her- “This jacket is not overly uptight and it’s understand what it is.”
Ms. Caan. The team narrowed the palette to ringbone raffia from Schumacher. Ms. Caan not over-constructed, and neither is this The drapes, too, combine nature and arti-
toned-down shades of red, pink and orange. feels the overall message is: “We’re fun and a room,” said Ms. Caan. To wit: In front of a fice. They’re sewn from another Christopher
But only so much control was called for. To little crazy, but we’re not inappropriate.” painting, in the far right corner, stand two un- Farr fabric that began life as undyed linen
convey the jacket’s wilder side, they relied usually angled African vases. “There’s nothing then was theatricalized with a pattern of or-
on slightly jarring variations in scale when Honored: The Softness of Fur structured or straight to them. They have this ange, pink and lime green. “They’re like the
it came to patterns. A large, bold Manuel The coat’s untailored blobbiness and irregu- weird posture, like they’re dancing.” jacket: ‘I am a natural material, but I’ve got
Canovas print wraps the outside of the club lar patches of fluff informed Ms. Caan’s fur- these neon colors all over me,’” said Ms. Caan.
chairs, while a smaller pattern sits de- nishing choices. “Everything is soft,” she An Unnatural Take on Nature Of the sconces that flank the mirror—
murely inside. said. The ottoman as well as the club chairs, There’s nothing purely natural about this pared-down versions of hurricane lamps—Ms.
Ms. Caan flicked at the jacket’s blue with so frequently boxy and macho, preach the room. After all, the garment that shaped its Caan said, “They’re a modern take on a classic,
the azure-bound books shelved to the left of gospel of curves. Even the right-angled arms aesthetic is fox fur that’s been dyed, chopped which is what this is all about. Little fur jack-
the fireplace. “I usually corral books by color of the Restoration Hardware globed chande- up and sewn back together. Ms. Caan allows ets have been around forever, but they haven’t
to make them look more organized,” she said. lier are gently rounded. that she may have unconsciously gravitated to always been treated this way.”
MARCEL BREUER. CLUB CHAIR (MODEL B3). 1927-1928. CHROME-PLATED TUBULAR STEEL AND CANVAS. GIFT OF HERBERT BAYER. THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK
FAST FIVE
D10 | Saturday/Sunday, August 10 - 11, 2019 * *** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
MY TECH ESSENTIALS
Dale Earnhardt Jr. The greatest thing about cycling is the com-
munity. You can use smartphone apps like
Strava to keep track of rides and tons of peo-
ple will comment on them to support and en-
The Nascar analyst and Daytona 500 champ, who’s courage you. I use a Garmin Edge 1030 bike
returning to the racetrack this month, nerds out on computer, a heart-rate monitor, power meter
and a cadence meter to record all forms of
cycling data, ’70s-era autos and steering in VR data, from calories I burned to miles logged.
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