[c. May 1913]
My dear Albert,
it was with great sadness that I learned about the death of your brother2, because your grief couldn’t leave me indifferent. And then I understand the heartbreak of your poor parents only too well not to pity them from the bottom of my heart. Had I dared I would have sent them a word of sympathy. But in any case even if it was not said it is no less sincere and deep. I am so sorry that such a cruel fatality has been wreaked upon you and your parents who I do not know but for whom I can have nothing but profound sympathy. The possible backlash you mention concerning your financial interests is unfortunate since it prevents you from carrying out what you want to do; it is a principle of mine to wish success upon the ambitions of my friends, without asking myself too much whether they are wise. Although in this particular case I don’t know if it would be good for you. And besides you will encounter all the more difficulty when you come to a period of high interest rates. For my part I have just taken out a loan of more than five thousand francs from the Crédit Industriel and the interest rate (which I admit I can’t remember off the top of my head, but I could send you the papers if that would be useful to you) is very high. It is true that the situation is improving though. But as businesses are all going to need money and will be borrowing at very high rates, since other securities have fallen considerably and because of that are yielding a lot more, it will be particularly difficult to find money on good terms. Have you bought the Azote as I advised? At that time the shares were worth 230 or 240 francs, today they are worth something like 320. Perhaps there could be some falls. But if you have bought some I believe that it would be best for you not to worry about any of the falls and hold on until they are worth up to 400 francs at least. I think it is a serious business although still not popular. Perhaps there is an element of speculation in its current rise but that doesn’t affect the Company’s business, to a large extent it justifies it, and consequently even if any speculation slackens off and some downturn comes about, the profits won’t take long to bring the prices back up in a more stable way. I bought some at 224 and all in all I am currently gaining 100 france per share. Alas I have not had the same success with the rest of them. I don’t know if you were aware of my recent fiasco with the Kinta shares. But then if I run risks I would never recommend them. Whereas Azote is a serious business. Currently it is too expensive although I believe it is below its price. Once again I send you my most sincere condolences and my best wishes,
Marcel Proust.
1. Une lettre inédite de Marcel Proust à Albert Le Cuziat, Jacques
Letertre, Proustonomics, 25 March 2023.
2. Yves Le Cuziat, brother of Albert, died 20 January 1913.
Created 05.05.23