Historical Account: Jacob Schiff’s Loans to Japan (1904–1905) In April 1904 , Schiff, then senior partner at Kuhn, Loeb & Co., met with Takahashi Korekiyo (Deputy Governor of the Bank of Japan) in Paris. He agreed to underwrite approximately $200 million worth of Japanese government bonds —covering nearly half of Japan’s military expenditures during the Russo–Japanese War Mishpacha Magazine +2 SpringerLink +2 Berman Archive +5 Wikipedia +5 Mishpacha Magazine +5 . These were the first Japanese war bonds floated on Wall Street , and Schiff helped mobilize U.S. and German investors to participate in successive loan issuances throughout 1904 and 1905 totaling around £30 million at 4.5% interest , a major feat for its time CUHK Alumni +1 . Schiff's motivation was twofold: strategic financial support for Japan’s war effort and a moral statement against the Russian Empire’s anti‑Jewish pogroms—his loans were intended, at least in part, to weaken Russia and help the Jewish...