Boston in the 1930s is described by Russell Adams.

In The Boston Money Tree, he writes, “By the 1930s, Boston money had gone to sleep, sustained by a steady 4 percent return and dreams of days long past. . . . Once-bustling wharves and warehouses were rotting and falling into the harbor. Offices that had echoed to the springy stride of railroad builders and Canton sea captains now heard only the plodding of fiduciaries. . . Eventually, slowly, almost imperceptibly, something happened to Boston money, to its drive and daring. Fathers who doubted the mettle of their sons and heirs began tying up their fortunes in tightly drawn legacies, preserving them in the impenetrable amber of trusts.”