Professional advice in Wall Street, as in legal affairs, is worth paying for, and costs far less in the end than the cheap “points” that are distributed profusely around the Street, thick as autumn leaves in Vallombrosa, and which only allure the innocent speculator to put his money where he is almost certain to lose it.
My advice to speculators who wish to make money in Wall Street, therefore, is to ignore the counsel of the barroom “tippers” and “tipplers,” turn their backs on “bucket shops,” and when they want “points” to purchase, let them go to those who have established a reputation for giving sound advice in such matters, and who have ample resources for furnishing correct information on financial topics, as well as a personal interest in making all the money they can for their clients.
There is no difficulty in finding out such reliable men and firms in the vicinity of Wall Street, if speculators will only read the newspapers, or make inquiry of the first messenger boy they may happen to meet.
CHAPTER IV.
IMPORTANCE OF BUSINESS TRAINING.
Sons of Independent Gentlemen make very bad Clerks.—They become Unpopular with the Other Boys, and must Eventually Go.—Night Dancing and Late Suppers don’t contribute to Business Success.—Give Merit its True Reward.—Keeping Worthless Pretense in its True Position.—Running Public Offices on Business Principles.—A Piece of Gratuitous Advice for the Administration.—A College Course not in general calculated to make a Good Business Man.—The Question of Adaptability Important.—Children should be Encouraged in the Occupation for which they show a Preference.—Thoughts on the Army and Navy.
I have usually found that the sons of independent gentlemen, who have great expectations, make very poor clerks and don’t develope into Good Wall Street men.
Their expectations seem to dwarf the ability that might develope under the more favorable auspices of being obliged to paddle their own canoe. Like the light under a bushel, referred to in the Good Book, their brilliant qualities are obscured and circumscribed by the paternal protection in prospect. They have not a sufficient incentive to work, because they know that all they require for their natural wants will fall easily into their laps. The motives, therefore, which usually develope the greatest mental qualities are absent and the qualities themselves lie dormant, and frequently decay like poppy seeds in their seed vessels, without being productive of the fruits which are the result of industrial habits and the desire for acquisition. Such young men, instead of being a help to an office into which they happen to be thrust, often through friendship and favoritism, are a great hindrance and a stumbling block in the path to promotion of other young men.
After many ineffectual attempts to reform and remodel them, they have generally to be discarded, as the drone bees are ejected from the rest of the industrious hive. And they usually become as unpopular with the other boys as the drone does with his comrades who make the honey and will not suffer the idle fellow to feast on the fruits of their labor.
Young men who have nothing but their own resources to depend upon will be found far more meritorious than this higher class. There are some eminent exceptions, but it takes a large amount of good sense to counteract the conceit instilled by the idea of financial independence by birth.