ar, while at the same time I
broke bread and slept with the every-day people who, with the industry
of the ant and the patience of the spider, toiled to pile in the
pennies, the nickels, and the dimes which have kept the "System's"
hopper full.

At my first meeting with the creators of Amalgamated it was clearly and
distinctly understood that under no circumstances would I enlist in that
"System's" interests other than for such special services as, after due
thought and investigation, I should decide to be such as I could in
fairness to myself and my clients work for; and when I give the details
of this first meeting in my narrative it will be evident to its readers
that in telling the story of Amalgamated I am violating no confidence,
nor in any way encroaching upon the niceties of that business code which
is, and should be, the foundation of all legitimate financial dealings,
nor in any way misusing knowledge which, if acquired under other
circumstances, might be sacred.

Amalgamated was one service the "System" asked of me. It was created
because of my work. It was largely because of my efforts that its
foundation was successfully laid. It was very largely because of what I
stood for and because of the public's confidence in the fulfilment of
the promises I made that the public invested its savings to an extent of
over $200,000,000; and it was almost wholly because of the broken
promises and trickery of the creators of the "System" that the public
lost the enormous sums it did.

My motives for writing the story of Amalgamated are manifold: I have
unwittingly been made the instrument by which thousands upon thousands
of investors in America and Europe have been plundered. I wish them to
know my position as to the past that they may acquit me of intentional
wrong-doing; as to the present that they may know that I am using all my
powers to right the wrongs that have been committed, and as to the
future that they may see how I propose to compel restitution.

My desire in writing the story of Amalgamated, while tinged perhaps with
hatred for and revenge against the "System" as a whole and some of its
votaries, is more truly pervaded with a strong conviction that the most
effective way to educate the public to realize the evils of which such
affairs as the Amalgamated are the direct result, is to expose before it
the brutal facts as to the conception, birth, and nursery-breeding of
this the foremost of all the unsavory