The House of Rothschild in Spain, 1812-1941

491 Pages·2013·9.019 MB·English

by  Miguel A. Lopez-morell, Stephen P. Hasler

The House of Rothschild in Spain,
1812–1941
Miguel A. López-Morell
The house of RoThschild in spain,
1812–1941
This page has been left blank intentionally
The house of
Rothschild in spain,
1812–1941
Miguel a. lópez-MoRell
Universidad de Murcia, Spain
Translated by
sTephen p. hasleR
© Miguel a. lópez-Morell 2013
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise
without the prior permission of the publisher.
Miguel a. lópez-Morell has asserted his right under the copyright, designs and patents act, 1988, to
be identified as the author of this work.
published by
ashgate publishing limited ashgate publishing company
Wey court east 110 cherry street
union Road suite 3-1
farnham Burlington, VT 05401-3818
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england
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
lopez-Morell, Miguel a.
The House of Rothschild in Spain, 1812-1941. -- (Studies in banking and financial history)
1. Rothschild family. 2. Capitalists and financiers--Spain--History--19th century.
3. Capitalists and financiers--Spain--History--20th century. 4. Finance--Spain--History--19th century.
5. finance--spain--history--20th century. 6. economic development--spain--history--19th century. 7.
economic development--spain--history--20th century. 8. spain--economic conditions--19th century.
9. spain--economic conditions--20th century.
i. Title ii. series
332.1'0922'46-dc23
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
lopez Morell, Miguel angel.
[casa Rothschild en espaqa. english]
The house of Rothschild in spain, 1812-1941 / Miguel a. lopez-Morell.
p. cm. -- (Studies in banking and financial history)
includes index.
ISBN 978-0-7546-6800-8 (hardcover) 1. Rothschild family. 2. Spain--Economic
conditions--19th century. 3. Spain--Economic conditions--20th century. 4. Banks and banking-
-spain--history. i. Title.
hg1552.R8l6713 2012
332.1092'246--dc23
2012006245
ISBN 9780754668008 (hbk)
ISBN 9781409451136 (ebk – PDF)
ISBN 9781472404244 (ebk – ePUB)
This work has been published with a subsidy from the Directorate General of Books, Archives and
libraries of the spanish Ministry of culture. The original spanish version was published by Marcial
pons historia.
IV
printed and bound in great Britain by
Mpg pRinTgRoup
Contents
List of Figures and Illustrations vii
List of Tables xi
Metric and Monetary Equivalents xiii
Abbreviations xv
Prologue to the English Edition xvii
Introduction 1
1 Early Contacts and Failed Attempts to Set Up in Spain, 1812–1833 7
2 Liberalism, Corruption and War Finances, 1833–1840 35
3 The Contradictions of Peace:
Financial Problems of the State and the First Moves towards
Modernity, 1840–1855 71
4 Financing the Railways 101
5 Years of Financial Euphoria and Crisis, 1856–1868 125
6 The Great Operations of the Sexenio 171
7 The Rothschilds’ Waning Importance in Public Finances,
1874–1900 191
8 The Industrial Investments, 1874–1913 213
9 The First Symptoms of the End of an Investment Model 257
10 The Slow Journey towards the
End of the Rothschild Investments in Spain 299
11 Fundamentals of the Rothschilds’ Activities in Spain 347
vi ThE hOUSE OF ROThSChILd In SPAIn, 1812–1941
12 The Consequences of the Rothschild Years, 1812–1941 383
Appendices 407
Bibliography 411
Index 437
List of Figures and Illustrations
Figures
1.1 Genealogy and structure of the House of Rothschild 17
1.2 Spanish tax revenue, 1788–1820 (in millions of reales) 20
2.1 Mercury prices in Seville (official prices) and Mexico
(maximum and minimum prices), 1825–1846,
in reales/Castilian quintals 38
3.1 Maximum, minimum and mean prices of the 3 per cent
consolidated in Madrid, as a percentage of the nominal value,
by semesters, 1841–1848 79
3.2 Foreign debt items, 1850–1861 (reales de vellón) 93
3.3 Annual amount involved in operations contracted by the
Rothschilds with various Spanish institutions, 1834–1860
(in millions of reales) 99
4.1 Quarterly evolution (in millions of reales) of the
Treasury’s floating debt from January 1850 to July 1857 106
4.2 The Spanish railway network in 1864 123
5.1 Evolution of public deficit, the Treasury’s floating debt and the
deposits of the Caja General de Depósitos (1850–1882),
millions of pesetas 129
5.2 Some significant economic variables, 1850–1864 (1850 = 100) 135
5.3 Annual incomes, losses and net profits of MZA and the
balance of its account with the House of Rothschild, 1857–1875
(in millions of pesetas) 151
7.1 Mean monthly public debt values on the Madrid Exchange,
1864–1874 (as percentage over the nominal value of the shares) 191
7.2 State debt in circulation, 1860–1889 202
7.3 Minting and monetary circulation in Spain, 1860–1900 207
8.1 Average income per kilometre of the MZA network, 1856–1881 215
8.2 Ownership of the Spanish railway network, 1875–1879 221
viii THE HOuSE OF ROTHSCHILD In SpAIn, 1812–1941
8.3 Goods and passenger transport in the MZA network 226
8.4 Integration of MZA lines, 1856–1900 227
8.5 Lead, silver and coal production of the SMMp, 1882–1914 237
8.6 Weekly evolution of copper prices and the value of
Rio Tinto shares from August 1887 to April 1889 243
8.7 Annual evolution of Rio Tinto sales profits, net profit and dividends
(as a percentage of the company share capital), 1873–1913 252
8.8 Net annual profits of Deutsch in Spain, 1880–1900 (in francs) 255
9.1 Distribution of profits from the sale of the Almaden mercury,
1870–1921, and annual repayments on the 1870 loan 277
9.2 Total income on products, operating costs and financial burden of
MZA, 1900–1919 284
10.1 Number of MZA bonds in circulation, by items, 1856–1933 306
10.2 Distribution of the MZA shares for shareholders’ general meetings,
1891–1935 (percentages) 307
10.3 Development of production of the principal non-ferrous and
coal mining sectors in Spain (1900 = 100) 310
10.4 Rio Tinto production and earnings, 1914–1936 331
10.5 Lead production and earnings of the SMMp, 1914–1930 340
11.1 Family relationship among the Rothschild Trieste and
Madrid Agencies 349
11.2 Members of SEMI, MZA and SMMP boards of directors
(1856–1936) 356
11.3 Interest rates on Rothschild loans to Spanish public institutions,
compared to other reference rates, 1860–1900 363
11.4 SMMp and Rio Tinto: ownership, production and
distribution integration in 1918 374
11.5 MZA capital, 1856–1917 (in millions of pesetas) 376
12.1 Estimate of the net profits that can be measured from the
Rothschilds’ activities in Spain, 1856–1936
(millions of pesetas, 1913) 384
12.2 Record of House of Rothschild stock market operations with
Rio Tinto shares, 1892–1914 385
12.3 Accumulated capital flows from the House of Rothschild to
Spanish public institutions and the relation with the deficit,
1830–1900 (millions of pesetas) 390
12.4 Bullion sales of the Rothschilds to the Treasury and to the
Bank of Spain in relation to the net mintings of coin and the
increase in the monetary supply, 1860–1875 (millions of pesetas) 391
LIST OF FIGuRES AnD ILLuSTRATIOnS ix
12.5 Percentage of the share held by Rothschild firms in each of the
subsectors of the Spanish economy, 1856–1936 393
12.6 Installations of the firms or subsidiaries under the control of the
Rothschilds in 1919–1920 394
12.7 Capital entries from abroad through investments generated by the
Rothschilds and their remuneration, 1856–1936
(millions of current pesetas) 396
12.8 Annual capital flows from abroad to Spanish public institutions
through Rothschild operations and their financial cost,
1856–1936 (millions of current pesetas) 397
12.9 percentage breakdown of the returns on Rothschild investments in
Spain, 1856–1936 398
12.10 Distribution of profits from the Almaden mercury sales,
1830–1921 403
Illustrations
1 nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777–1836)
2 New Court, Head Office of the N.M. Rothschild & Sons in London
(building from 1865–1962)
3 The Head Office of Rothschild Frères in Paris
(second half of the nineteenth century)
4 Alejandro María Aguado (1784–1842)
5 Lionel Rothschild (1808–1879)
6 Letter to the Banco de San Fernando dated 1855 for the signatures of the
new “Weisweiller y Bauer” company
7 Daniel Weisweiller Goldschmidt (1814–1892) in 1860
8 Ignacio Bauer Landauer (1827–1895), in 1859
9 Rothschild Agency headquarters in Madrid until 1931
10 James Rothschild (1792–1868)
11 Alphonse Rothschild (1827–1905)
12 Gustave Rothschild (1829–1911)
13 photograph of the Rio Tinto dock in the port of Huelva
(early twentieth century)
14 The Royal Mint Refinery, London. Gold refinery controlled by the
Rothschilds from 1852 to 1968. picture taken in 1930
15 A Bucyrus excavator in the Rio Tinto quarries (early twentieth century)
16 Gustavo Bauer Morpurgo (1865–1916)
17 Alfredo Bauer Landauer (1891–1956)
18 Construction of the Atocha train station in Madrid, 1888–1892
19 possible likeness of Manuel de Gaviria, marqués de Gaviria
20 Coded letter from Bauer, dated 7 December 1868
21 photograph of the meeting between Dato and the Rio Tinto Board