Johann Jakob Speiser

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Johann Jakob Speiser (1852)
Johann Jakob Speiser (1813–1856), textile merchant, banker, economic politician. With Geigy and Achilles Bischoff, he founded Switzerland in 1853. Centralbahn. Grave in the Wolfgottesacker cemetery, Basel. Marble tomb by Heinrich Rudolf Meili (1827–1882)
Johann Jakob Speiser's grave in the Wolfgottesacker cemetery
Grave of Heinrich Rudolf Meili
Memorial plaque in Olten train station

Johann Jakob Speiser (born February 27, 1813 in Basel ; † October 8, 1856 there ) was a Swiss textile merchant, banker and politician. He was entitled to live in Wintersingen and Basel. Speiser was involved in the coin reform of 1848, through which the Swiss franc was introduced, and in the founding of the Swiss Central Railway .

Professional career

education

Johann Jakob Speiser went through high school in his hometown of Basel. He then completed a commercial apprenticeship in Lausanne before joining the company of his father Johann Jacob Speiser. Further training followed at the workplace, in Mulhouse , Marseille , Bordeaux and Liverpool . In Bordeaux, he worked for the Mestrezat company , which was involved in the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Midi , and got to know the peculiarities of the financing of railway companies. In Liverpool he worked from 1836 to 1837 for the trading company of the Swiss Zwilchenbart brothers . Returning to Basel, he first represented English and French trading houses from 1839, including that of Zwilchenbarts. Speiser became known through his experience in world trade and world traffic as well as through his independently acquired knowledge of money and credit.

banker

In 1843 Speiser founded a new Basler bank as one of 17 members, the Gesellschaft der Giro- und Depositenbank in Basel with the task: «The bank should gradually become the most general and most appropriate defeat for freed, smaller and larger capital, until the has found the most appropriate use by its nature. " Speiser became director of the bank. With increased capital and business circle, the bank in Basel emerged in 1845 , when Speiser was again the first director. The business purpose of the bank was named: "Issuance of banknotes payable to the holder after sight", that is, that of a central bank , as already existed in Bern, Zurich and St. Gallen. In the economic crisis of 1848 Speiser initiated the establishment of a credit association for “all capitalists and merchants” in Basel, which was supposed to handle all liabilities with “joint liability” of the members. In fact, this led to a rapid calming of the financial situation in Basel. At the same time Speiser suggested increased cooperation between banks for the purpose of mutual redemption of banknotes. Such a contract was initially concluded between the bank in Basel and the bank in Zurich . In 1848 Speiser was a driving force behind the founding of the Basellandschaftliche Hypothekenbank .

Coin reform

In 1849 Speiser was elected by the Federal Council as a federal coin expert for the implementation of the coin reform . The aim was to abolish cantonal and other domestic currencies in order to standardize the currency of Switzerland. At that time, the coins in circulation in Switzerland amounted to around 115 million francs, of which 15 million were national money, which consisted of 860 types. The number of minters was 79, including 23 cantons and half-cantons, 16 cities, 21 ecclesiastical and 15 secular minters. In his expert report, Speiser advocated the introduction of the French franc footing (unit of francs equal to 5 grams of silver 9/10 fine, advantages of the decimal system and wide distribution), enforced this in a public discourse led by pamphlets and was also involved in the administrative implementation until 1852 involved. The Swiss franc introduced in this way is still the currency of Switzerland today.

Federal accounting

Also in 1849, Speiser was commissioned by the Federal Council with an expert opinion on the establishment of the federal administration's accounting system, which he submitted in the same year with precise proposals for the federal financial administration, most of which were implemented.

Swiss Central Railway

In 1852 he was a co-founder of the Swiss Central Railway Company . The expert report that Karl Geigy (1798–1861) prepared in 1852 on a Swiss railway network was based on Speiser's preliminary work. Speiser and Geigy were supporters of the concept of a state-run construction and operation of the railway. However, since the Swiss National Council decided against a state establishment, the financing was carried out by issuing files to private donors. Speiser took the initiative and gathered exponents from business and politics, which also dealt with Basel's interests in terms of route management and raising capital. In 1853, when the board of directors was elected, Speiser became its director and thus the "de facto head of the entire railway company". Speiser supported Geigy in negotiations about necessary refinancing, which resulted from the design of the Zentralbahn as a private company and the fall in share prices. Speiser consulted with Emanuel Zwilchenbart , 24 years his senior , for whom he had worked in Liverpool, on issues relating to financing, negotiating issues and clarifying technical issues . Speiser kept the function of the central railway director until his death in 1856. His successor was Karl Geigy.

politics

Speiser hardly participated in Basel or Swiss party politics, but in 1852 accepted an election to the Grand Council of Basel and the Finance College. He was one of the moderate conservatives of the middle party around Achilles Bischoff .

Personal

Speiser was the oldest of eight children of a Basel dealer in cloth, wallpaper and tableware, whose family came from the town of Wintersingen in the Basel area. In 1839 he married Dorothea Esther Hauser, daughter of an innkeeper.

In 1856 Speiser died at the age of 43 of complications from cancer.

According to the Basel lawyer Eduard His , Speiser was considered a homo novus among the leading Basel families , as he came from a middle-class family that could not look back on a long tradition of belonging to the patriciate in Basel. He convinced with adaptability, versatility and speed.

Political stations

  • Member of the Postal Commission in Basel from 1842
  • Member of the Civil Court of Basel from 1843
  • 1848–52 Federal Councilor Coin Expert; the federal coin reform fell during his term of office
  • Member of the Grand Council of the Canton of Basel-Stadt and the Finance College from 1852

Fonts

Speiser wrote numerous papers and articles on finance and economics. He published this in the weekly newspaper published by the Swiss Industry Association , in the national newspaper and the Neue Zürcher Zeitung . As an advocate of free trade and an opponent of protective tariffs, he advocated a liberal economic policy.

Honor

In Olten station is a plaque for Johann Jakob Speiser, also a street named after him in Olten and Basel St. Alban quarter.

literature

  • Patricia Zihlmann-Märki:  Speiser, Johann Jakob. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-428-11205-0 , p. 652 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Wilhelm Speiser:  Speiser, Johann Jacob . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 35, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1893, p. 98 f.
  • Hans Bauer: Johann Jakob Speiser (1813-1856). In: Association for Economic History Studies Zurich (ed.): Swiss pioneers of science and technology. Volume 18: Swiss and Basel entrepreneurship in the 19th century. Zurich 1967, pp. 103-130.
  • Eduard His: Joh. Jacob Speiser-Hauser. In: 19th century Basel merchants. Benno Schwabe & Co. Verlag, Basel 1929, pp. 101–116.
  • Fritz Mangold : Bank Director Johann Jakob Speiser. In: Basel biographies. Published by Friends of Patriotic History. Volume 2. Benno Schwabe Verlagbuchhandlung, Basel 1904, pp. 135–320.
  • Fritz Mangold: The bank in Basel 1844–1907 and the development of the concordat of the Swiss issuing banks. Basel 1909, pp. 1-94.
  • Doris Huggel: The Zwilchenbarts in Basel and Liverpool and the construction of the neo-Gothic church of Kilchberg, Baselland (1866–1868). A contribution to the economic, family and architectural history of the Basel area. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86568-669-5 , pp. 33-43. (Excursus: Emanuel Zwilchenbart, Johann Jakob Speiser and the Swiss Central Railway.)
  • René Thiessing: A century of Swiss railways 1847–1947: Jubilee work d. Federal Post u. Railway Department. Verlag Huber, Frauenfeld 1947, p. 49 ff.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eduard His: Joh. Jacob Speiser-Hauser. In: 19th century Basel merchants. Benno Schwabe & Co. Verlag, Basel 1929, p. 100.
  2. ↑ Doris Huggel: The Zwilchenbarts in Basel and Liverpool and the construction of the neo-Gothic church of Kilchberg, Basel Country (1866-1868). A contribution to the economic, family and architectural history of the Basel area. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86568-669-5 , pp. 33-34.
  3. ↑ Eduard His: Joh. Jacob Speiser-Hauser. In: 19th century Basel merchants. Benno Schwabe Verlag, Basel 1929, pp. 102-103.
  4. ^ Hans Bauer: Johann Jakob Speiser (1813-1856). In: Association for Economic History Studies Zurich (ed.): Swiss pioneers of science and technology. Volume 18: Swiss and Basel entrepreneurship in the 19th century. Zurich 1967, pp. 105-108
  5. ↑ Dr. FX Weissenrieder: 100 years of Swiss coinage. A cross-section through a century of federal coin history and monetary policy , Thur Verlag, Bazenheid 1950, pp. 7-16.
  6. ^ Hans Bauer: Johann Jakob Speiser (1813-1856). In: Association for Economic History Studies Zurich (ed.): Swiss pioneers of science and technology. Volume 18: Swiss and Basel entrepreneurship in the 19th century. Zurich 1967, p. 109
  7. ↑ Eduard His: Joh. Jacob Speiser-Hauser. In: 19th century Basel merchants. Benno Schwabe & Co. Verlag, Basel 1929, pp. 107–110.
  8. ^ Kurt Blaum: The monetary system of Switzerland since 1798. Inaugurial dissertation, Kaiser-Wilhelms-Universität Straßburg i. E., Verlag Karl J. Trübner, Strasbourg 1908.
  9. ↑ Eduard His: Joh. Jacob Speiser-Hauser. In: 19th century Basel merchants. Benno Schwabe & Co. Verlag, Basel 1929, p. 110.
  10. ↑ Bronze medallion for Johann Jakob Speiser Hagberg, Olten
  11. ↑ Eduard His: Joh. Jacob Speiser-Hauser. In: 19th century Basel merchants. Benno Schwabe & Co. Verlag, Basel 1929, pp. 110-113.
  12. ↑ Doris Huggel: The Zwilchenbarts in Basel and Liverpool and the construction of the neo-Gothic church of Kilchberg, Basel Country (1866-1868). A contribution to the economic, family and architectural history of the Basel area. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86568-669-5 , pp. 43-46.
  13. ↑ Eduard His: Joh. Jacob Speiser-Hauser. In: 19th century Basel merchants. Benno Schwabe & Co. Verlag, Basel 1929, p. 114.
  14. ↑ Eduard His: Joh. Jacob Speiser-Hauser. In: 19th century Basel merchants. Benno Schwabe & Co. Verlag, Basel 1929, pp. 101-103.
  15. ↑ Eduard His: Joh. Jacob Speiser-Hauser. In: 19th century Basel merchants. Benno Schwabe & Co. Verlag, Basel 1929, p. 113.
  16. ↑ Eduard His: Joh. Jacob Speiser-Hauser. In: 19th century Basel merchants. Benno Schwabe & Co. Verlag, Basel 1929, pp. 101-102.
  17. ↑ Eduard His: Joh. Jacob Speiser-Hauser. In: 19th century Basel merchants. Benno Schwabe & Co. Verlag, Basel 1929, pp. 106-107.
personal data
SURNAME Speiser, Johann Jakob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Speiser-Hauser, Johann Jakob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss textile merchant and manager
DATE OF BIRTH February 27, 1813
PLACE OF BIRTH Basel
DATE OF DEATH October 8, 1856
Place of death Basel