Percival Farqhuar
Encyclopedia
Percival Farquhar was an American
businessman, whose dealings in Latin America
are the subject of constant criticism.
Born to a wealthy Pennsylvania
n Quaker family, Farquhar studied engineering
at Yale University
.
He was vice-president of the Atlantic Coast Electric Railway Co. and the Staten Island Electric Railway Co., which controlled rail services in New York. He was also partner and director of the "Compañía de Electricidad de Cuba
" and partner and vice-president of the Guatemala Railway.
He developed businesses in Cuba
and Central America
. He owned railways and mines in Russia and dealt personally with Lenin.
.
Visionary, controversial, and audacious, Farquhar became the greatest private investor in Brazil between 1905 and 1918. According to the writer and former minister Ronaldo Costa Couto, his empire was comparable to those of Count Francisco Matarazzo and Irineu Evangelista de Souza, The Viscount of Mauá.
The writing on Farquhar is full of contradictions, making it very difficult to sort through the legend, hagiography, and libel found in his biographies
Professor Francisco Foot Hardman in an interview with the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo
, stated:
A book which exalts his deeds—with a few passages that border on hagiography - is The Last Titan - An American Entrepreneur in Latin America - a dissertation by Charles A. Gauld for Stanford University
, under the supervision of Professor Ronald Hilton .
The Brazilian magazine Exame , in a review of the book, said:
In contrast, the Brazilian historian Edgard Carone, in his book A República Velha (The Old Republic) says that Farquhar's businesses "lived off government favors".
In the book Chatô - O Rei do Brasil (Chatô - The King of Brazil) , the journalist Fernando Morais describes Farquhar as:
It is true that he built and directed numerous businesses in Latin America, many of them in Brazil. His activities were frequently related to governmental concessions and privileges - and to guarantees that governments would receive revenues from the capital invested - which he ably obtained from young and inexperienced local governments, frequently through personal bribery.
A bold and fearless financier, with great experience in the European capital markets, Farquhar considered himself "able to finance anything". According to Gauld, Farquhar "was hungrier for land than anyone in Latin American history since the time of the Incas" .
The beginning of the First World War in 1914, cut off his main source of resources and financing, and left Farquhar's already precarious empire - which had created the practicing of issuing debt based on debt - extremely indebted, causing it to crumble. His businesses reached bankruptcy by October 1914. His investors lost all of their capital, and Farquhar was ruined. Despite this setback, he would rise again after the war using the same tactics, to fail again after the 1929 stock market crash. After the revolution of 1930, the government of Getúlio Vargas
constrained the areas in which he could work, and Farquhar decided to leave Brazil.
Although the dimensions and scope of his economic activity are impressive due to the large sums of money involved and the fervor of his apparently charitable activities, a more detailed examination of Farquhar's businesses in Brazil shows that they frequently led to the deaths of thousands of native people, the ecological destruction of entire states , abandoned railways, bankruptcies, and even civil wars.
Charles A. Gauld writes:
An avid speculator, he bet especially strongly on his own corporate paper. At the beginning of 1913, Farquhar came to realize that he was bankrupt.
Farquhar had a great ability to get himself into trouble with governments and nationalist groups. But the dislike that he provoked was not totally baseless .
Determined and capable in the promotion of his own self image, he always made an effort to make the press portray his actions as "the example of a highly successful American capitalist, a true icon of American entrepreneurship", a fact which gained him a few admirers.
Among these were Assis Chateaubriand, King of Brasil, who became the owner of the country's largest journalism network. This friendship greatly contributed to favorable reactions to Farquhar's activities. (Chateaubriand later became bought O Jornal, in 1924, using funds provided by Farquhar, supposedly as legal fees.)
To fill these needs in Brazil at the beginning of the 20th century, Farquhar built in São Paulo
the elegant Rotisserie Sportsman and imported from the famous Elisée Palace Hotel in Paris
the chef Henri Galon, Fernando de Morais tells us in his book Chatô - O Rei do Brasil (Chatô - The King of Brazil) .
. Farquhar's new business was called Companhia Guarujá.
, São Paulo, 2006BROMBERGER, H. A. Les chemins de fer exotiques.... Paris, édition du Moniteur économique et financier, 1913CARONE, Edgar. A República Velha. Editora Bertrand Brasil: São Paulo, 1ª Edição.GASPARI, Hélio. Grande retrato do rei da privataria Folha de S. Paulo
: São Paulo, 9 de Agosto de 2006.GAULD, Charles. FARQUHAR - O Último Titã - Um Empreendedor Americano na América Latina. Editora de Cultura: São Paulo, 2006 HARDMAN, Francisco Foot é professor na Universidade Estadual de Campinas e autor do livro Trem Fantasma - Ferrovia Madeira-Mamoré e a modernidade na selva. Cia das Letras: São Paulo, 2004, 2ª Ed. HILTON, Ronald, Prof. é um Fellow do Hoover Institute na Universidade de Stanford e Chairman da World Association of International Studies.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
businessman, whose dealings in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
are the subject of constant criticism.
Born to a wealthy Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
n Quaker family, Farquhar studied engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
.
He was vice-president of the Atlantic Coast Electric Railway Co. and the Staten Island Electric Railway Co., which controlled rail services in New York. He was also partner and director of the "Compañía de Electricidad de Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
" and partner and vice-president of the Guatemala Railway.
He developed businesses in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
. He owned railways and mines in Russia and dealt personally with Lenin.
Visionary?
Farquhar's dream was to control all the railways of Latin America , in a version of Manifest DestinyManifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny was the 19th century American belief that the United States was destined to expand across the continent. It was used by Democrat-Republicans in the 1840s to justify the war with Mexico; the concept was denounced by Whigs, and fell into disuse after the mid-19th century.Advocates of...
.
Visionary, controversial, and audacious, Farquhar became the greatest private investor in Brazil between 1905 and 1918. According to the writer and former minister Ronaldo Costa Couto, his empire was comparable to those of Count Francisco Matarazzo and Irineu Evangelista de Souza, The Viscount of Mauá.
The writing on Farquhar is full of contradictions, making it very difficult to sort through the legend, hagiography, and libel found in his biographies
Professor Francisco Foot Hardman in an interview with the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo
O Estado de S. Paulo
O Estado de S. Paulo is a daily newspaper published in the Metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil, and distributed mainly nationally. It is owned by Grupo Estado, a holding company which publishes the Jornal da Tarde and owns the radios Rádio Eldorado AM and FM and the Agência Estado, largest...
, stated:
- One can't say that Farquhar was Satan, but we also cannot take an apologist stance, making him into a great icon of entrepreneurship. He was a typical example of old international capitalism..
A book which exalts his deeds—with a few passages that border on hagiography - is The Last Titan - An American Entrepreneur in Latin America - a dissertation by Charles A. Gauld for Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, under the supervision of Professor Ronald Hilton .
The Brazilian magazine Exame , in a review of the book, said:
- Although his admiration of this character is excessive, always treating him as an enlightened capitalist and full of good intentions, Charles Gauld drew from an extraordinary variety of documents and sources....
In contrast, the Brazilian historian Edgard Carone, in his book A República Velha (The Old Republic) says that Farquhar's businesses "lived off government favors".
In the book Chatô - O Rei do Brasil (Chatô - The King of Brazil) , the journalist Fernando Morais describes Farquhar as:
- king of the Rio Light, the Companhia Telefônica Brasileira and a large number of railways in Brazil, tracks in RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and coal mines in Central EuropeCentral EuropeCentral Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
, in addition to sugar mills in CubaCubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
.
It is true that he built and directed numerous businesses in Latin America, many of them in Brazil. His activities were frequently related to governmental concessions and privileges - and to guarantees that governments would receive revenues from the capital invested - which he ably obtained from young and inexperienced local governments, frequently through personal bribery.
A bold and fearless financier, with great experience in the European capital markets, Farquhar considered himself "able to finance anything". According to Gauld, Farquhar "was hungrier for land than anyone in Latin American history since the time of the Incas" .
The beginning of the First World War in 1914, cut off his main source of resources and financing, and left Farquhar's already precarious empire - which had created the practicing of issuing debt based on debt - extremely indebted, causing it to crumble. His businesses reached bankruptcy by October 1914. His investors lost all of their capital, and Farquhar was ruined. Despite this setback, he would rise again after the war using the same tactics, to fail again after the 1929 stock market crash. After the revolution of 1930, the government of Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas served as President of Brazil, first as dictator, from 1930 to 1945, and in a democratically elected term from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Vargas led Brazil for 18 years, the most for any President, and second in Brazilian history to Emperor Pedro II...
constrained the areas in which he could work, and Farquhar decided to leave Brazil.
Although the dimensions and scope of his economic activity are impressive due to the large sums of money involved and the fervor of his apparently charitable activities, a more detailed examination of Farquhar's businesses in Brazil shows that they frequently led to the deaths of thousands of native people, the ecological destruction of entire states , abandoned railways, bankruptcies, and even civil wars.
Charles A. Gauld writes:
- "The genius of Farquhar lay more in his vision and capacity to raise money to expand then in the efficient management or cost control in his 38 businesses." (p. 301)
An avid speculator, he bet especially strongly on his own corporate paper. At the beginning of 1913, Farquhar came to realize that he was bankrupt.
Farquhar had a great ability to get himself into trouble with governments and nationalist groups. But the dislike that he provoked was not totally baseless .
Determined and capable in the promotion of his own self image, he always made an effort to make the press portray his actions as "the example of a highly successful American capitalist, a true icon of American entrepreneurship", a fact which gained him a few admirers.
Among these were Assis Chateaubriand, King of Brasil, who became the owner of the country's largest journalism network. This friendship greatly contributed to favorable reactions to Farquhar's activities. (Chateaubriand later became bought O Jornal, in 1924, using funds provided by Farquhar, supposedly as legal fees.)
Progress yes, but with concessions
Percival Farquhar believed that no country in the world could become developed without good hotels and fine cuisine.To fill these needs in Brazil at the beginning of the 20th century, Farquhar built in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
the elegant Rotisserie Sportsman and imported from the famous Elisée Palace Hotel in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
the chef Henri Galon, Fernando de Morais tells us in his book Chatô - O Rei do Brasil (Chatô - The King of Brazil) .
Grand Hôtel de la Plage
In 1911, Farquhar purchased from the firm Prado, Chaves & Cia control over the Companhia Balneária de Santo Amaro, founded in 1892 which under the direction of Councillor Antonio Prado had been created to organize a tourist beach resort in the place that is today the center of GuarujáGuarujá
Guarujá is a municipality in the São Paulo state of Brazil. The population in 2006 was 305,171, the population density is 1,969.47/km² and the area is 143 km². This place name comes from the Tupi language, and mean "narrow path". The population is highly urbanized.-Geography:Guarujá is...
. Farquhar's new business was called Companhia Guarujá.
In the bibliography
ALVES Ivan. O Contestado. Estados, posseiros, companhias – todos brigam pela terra. Coleção Os grandes enigmas de nossa história. Otto Pierre Editores: Rio de Janeiro,1982ARAÚJO NETO, Adalberto Coutinho de. A experiência sindical dos ferroviários da E. F. Sorocabana nos anos 1930.Tese de Mestrado, Departamento de História da Faculdade de Letras, Filosofia e Ciências Humanas da USPUniversity of São Paulo
Universidade de São Paulo is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian university and one of the country's most prestigious...
, São Paulo, 2006BROMBERGER, H. A. Les chemins de fer exotiques.... Paris, édition du Moniteur économique et financier, 1913CARONE, Edgar. A República Velha. Editora Bertrand Brasil: São Paulo, 1ª Edição.GASPARI, Hélio. Grande retrato do rei da privataria Folha de S. Paulo
Folha de S. Paulo
Folha de S. Paulo, known simply as Folha , is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded and continuously published in São Paulo since 19 February 1921. Owned by the Frias de Oliveira family since 1962, it has Brazil's largest circulation since 1986. Alongside O Globo and O Estado de S...
: São Paulo, 9 de Agosto de 2006.GAULD, Charles. FARQUHAR - O Último Titã - Um Empreendedor Americano na América Latina. Editora de Cultura: São Paulo, 2006 HARDMAN, Francisco Foot é professor na Universidade Estadual de Campinas e autor do livro Trem Fantasma - Ferrovia Madeira-Mamoré e a modernidade na selva. Cia das Letras: São Paulo, 2004, 2ª Ed. HILTON, Ronald, Prof. é um Fellow do Hoover Institute na Universidade de Stanford e Chairman da World Association of International Studies.
- MACHADO, Paulo Pinheiro. Lideranças do Contestado. Editora Unicamp / FAPESPHIRST, Mônica. História da Diplomacia Brasileira - A Era Vargas, Ministério das Relações Exteriores.MOLINA, Matías M. O magnata que se tornou mito. Revista Exame, Editora Abril: São Paulo, 02.11.2006 MORAIS, Fernando. Chatô - O Rei do Brasil. Cia das Letras: São Paulo, 1994, 13ª ediçãoOs caçadores de concessões no Brasil e o fantasma de Percival Farquhar; Ceci Vieira Juruá TEICH, Daniel Hessel. Percival Farquhar, o internacionalista - Milionário americano negociava até com Lenin, o líder da Revolução Russa. in O Estado de S. PauloO Estado de S. PauloO Estado de S. Paulo is a daily newspaper published in the Metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil, and distributed mainly nationally. It is owned by Grupo Estado, a holding company which publishes the Jornal da Tarde and owns the radios Rádio Eldorado AM and FM and the Agência Estado, largest...
, Caderno de Economia p. B9, Três Barras - SC, 6 de Março de 2005. TEICH, Daniel Hessel. 50 Milhões de Árvores nos Vagões da ferrovia - Maior serraria da America do Sul derrubou grande parte da floresta de araucárias. in O Estado de S. PauloO Estado de S. PauloO Estado de S. Paulo is a daily newspaper published in the Metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil, and distributed mainly nationally. It is owned by Grupo Estado, a holding company which publishes the Jornal da Tarde and owns the radios Rádio Eldorado AM and FM and the Agência Estado, largest...
, Caderno de Economia p. B9, Três Barras - SC, 6 de Março de 2005.
External links
A Ferrovia do Contestado História de Santa CatarinaGoverno de Santa Catarina - Site Oficial do Município de Três BarrasEntre a Revolução e o CorporativismoExternal links
- http://www.linearclipping.com.br/rbrasil/detalhe.asp?codnot=82839Grande retrato do rei da privataria (Elio GaspariElio GaspariElio Gaspari is a Brazilian journalist and writer resident in São Paulo, Brazil. He came to Brazil while still an infant, and began his career in journalism not long thereafter...
) Folha de S. PauloFolha de S. PauloFolha de S. Paulo, known simply as Folha , is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded and continuously published in São Paulo since 19 February 1921. Owned by the Frias de Oliveira family since 1962, it has Brazil's largest circulation since 1986. Alongside O Globo and O Estado de S...
, 9 de Agosto de 2006] - http://www.cvrd.com.br/cvrd/cgi/cgilua.exe/sys/start.htm?sid=10A História da ValeCompanhia Vale do Rio DoceVale S.A. Vale S.A. Vale S.A. (BM&F Bovespa: / , / , / , / , is an Brazilian diversified mining multinational corporation and one of the largest logistics operators in Brazil. In addition to being the second-largest mining company in the world, Vale is also the largest producer of iron ore,...
]. - Biografia de Percival Farquhar
- O magnata que se tornou mito
- O Estado de S. Paulo - Edições Eletrônicas