Henry Cutting

Who is Henry Cutting?

Henry 'H.C' Cutting was a California entrepreneur, engineer, school official and amateur economist. Initially attaining a mining degree in Nevada and serving several years as superintendent of the state's schools, he moved in 1903 to San Francisco, where he launched a mining company. In 1904, Cutting developed the inner harbor of Richmond, California, into a major commercial venture. He was able to secure federal appropriations for the harbor in 1914. Cutting spent his last decades focused on questions of monetary economics. He advocated various reforms, including the end of the gold standard and regulation of financial institutions. His 1921 book, The Strangle-Holdm received wide attention and the author Upton Sinclair referred to it as "the best book extant for an understanding of our banking system". Cutting ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination to represent Alameda county in Congress in 1922. Cutting Boulevard is a major thoroughfare in Richmond named after him.