What a wonderful 60 years! (60th anniversary of Financial Executive magazine) (Special Anniversary Section)

Whew! We made it -- 60 years old and Financial Executive (aka FE, aka The Controller) is alive and well. In celebration of our feat, we decided to take a look back at several of the many topics we've covered since our inaugural issue as The Controller, in February 1934. We found that through the decades the magazine has taken on the roles of teacher, forecaster, philosopher, comedian, even mother, as you'll read in the excerpts below.

We also asked several financial executives who are in practice today to prove how much the business world is changing -- or how much it's staying the same -- by updating a few articles that were written by financial executives from their companies years ago.

Here's our compilation from the yesteryears and our look toward tomorrow. We hope you enjoy it. (Oh, please forgive the sometimes sexist language. We're giving you the unedited versions of the earlier articles.)

'30s

* NOVEMBER 1934 -- "Business Men Called On to Stop Drift Into Communism or Fascism," by Dr. Charles W. Gerstenberg, chairman of Prentice-Hall.

I think that the wage earner by himself is not going to show us [how we ought t do things]. I had an experience last week that demonstrated that. We thought th time had come, now that the government was insisting upon a pension for the railroads, that we anticipate the government, and that our employees should not be in the position where they could say to us, "Well you had to come to it." So we have put in a pension system.

Most of you know how these pension systems run. They are worked in conjunction with an insurance company. The company puts up a certain amount based on the salary of the employee, the employee puts up a certain percentage and the company also puts up an additional amount representing the percentage that should have been put up by the company had the pension system started when the employee became an employee. So the amount of money put in by the company is a considerable amount.

We found out that some of our employees did not care to go into the pension system. I was intrigued. I finally came upon one young woman, who was honest enough to tell why. She said, "I intend to spend every cent I get, and when I get old and need a pension the government will look out for me. I am not lookin to this company to do it."

* NOVEMBER 1937 -- "Madden Sees Trend Away From Unsound Philosophies Born of Depression," by Dr. John T. Madden, dean of the School of Commerce, Accounts an Finance at New York University.

From the beginning of the New Deal era, Wall Street has been harassed by Washington. A certain amount of salutary correction was sadly needed. Wall Street, in spots, had gotten out of hand. But recent events have shown that Wal Street still influences our national psychology to a remarkable extent. The result is that when Wall Street gets a case of nerves, Washington develops delirium tremens. ... Whatever the causes for the gyrations of the current year it is evident that large investors are not encouraged to participate under present conditions. There is very definite evidence that the controls imposed b the new laws dampen national enthusiasm and that spirit of venturing which has been a characteristic of our people.

'40s

* AUGUST 1940 -- "Private Initiative Must Bear Burden of Stimulating Latin-American Trade," by Clifford G. Chester, controller, assistant general manager and vice president of the various Spanish subsidiaries of International Telephone & Telegraph Co.

Is the Latin-American trade worthwhile going after? Decidedly yes. The potentia field is enormous and the still untapped sources of wealth stagger the imagination. Here are new frontiers for economic expansion and the opportunitie for well-informed business men are boundless.

Over the past years, our Latin-American neighbors have, and it must be admitted with some degree of justification, come to regard every act of the United State with an initial attitude of "Yankee Imperialism." ... The reluctance of the Yankee to learn the language of others is demonstrated in many ways right here in his own country. ... One of the most important obstacles to increased sales in Latin America is our Yankee's refusal to grant the trade terms to which our southern neighbors are accustomed, and which they continue to receive from our competitors.

UPDATE -- In the global economy of the 1990s, companies can't afford this kind of outlook, says Don Smith, regional vice president, international operations division, for Latin America at AT&T. He offers some practical solutions to cultural obstacles.

It was a bright, sunny day in February 1985, and china-blue skies and white billowy clouds canopied downtown Buenos Aires. Except in the financial district where the sun was virtually obscured from view by thousands of telephone cables and wires, haphazardly strung between rooftops to provide business people with communications links. That was telecommunications in Latin America in the 1980s

Ironically, many Latin-American countries had been among the most developed nations in terms of gross domestic product in the first half of the century. Bu in the 1980s, these countries saw their numbers slide to the negative side of the column. Telecommunications was a luxury, with an average of four or five lines per 100 people in the 13 South American countries and Mexico, and two per 100 in the seven Central-American countries.

Today, Latin America's GDP is growing faster than any other region, except for Southern Asia and China. Every country in South and Central America now has a democratically elected government. Barriers are exploding, tariffs are tumbling and open trade will soon be the order of the day. Even the occasional unstable countries, monetary devaluation and political upheaval can't deter the region a it emerges from the depression of the 1980s.

AT&T first entered this complex market in 1986. Today, we have 18 offices and five manufacturing plants in the region. We have...