ll an investment. For these opportunities I charge you the
ridiculously small percentage of one-eighth of one per cent., and loan
you, besides, ninety per cent. of your investment. Could any man with
a proper regard for his wife and children do better by you? You own
whatever security you buy, and get its dividend. Your margin is your
equity in it. In property whose market value fluctuates so widely and
rapidly, I naturally require you to keep your margin at the per cent.
agreed upon. If, unfortunately, it becomes exhausted, I, as mortgagee,
foreclose at the best price obtainable. I shall be pleased to execute
all orders with which you may favor me on the above basis, in all
securities dealt in on the New York Stock Exchange, reserving to
myself, of course, the right to refuse to carry any security I do not
care to loan my capital on. Some are risky, some safe, some inactive.
All speculation implies risk.

"I beg you to remember my relation with you is only to execute your
orders. You must use your own judgment. I should advise you,
nevertheless, to keep in the active stocks. Opportunities for quick
and profitable turns in them are more frequent, and the broader the
market, the closer the trades, and the less the difficulty of
disposal. Union Pacific, just now, looks good for a rise. They tell
me, confidentially, that the Rockefellers are buying it, but I know
nothing about it. It acts all right. Mr. Jones, this is my partner,
Mr. Robinson. I've just been telling Mr. Jones, Robinson, that we hear
the Rockefellers are buying U. P. There it is, three-quarters, on the
board now----"

And the broker glances over the quotation board, grabs his hat, and
flies to the "floor," shaking his head and saying to himself: "I'll
give that fellow just six months to drop his wad."

Well, is it his fault? He has been honest with you, frank with you. Be
sure he will help you make money if he can.

"I did _my_ best for him--damn fool!" is the mental summary inclosed
along with many a closing-out statement.

To the visitor accustomed to regard Wall Street as a vast faro layout,
its very face should be a striking object-lesson.

Emerging from the lofty and beautiful hallway of the Empire Building,
those stupendous heights of stone and glass which confront him in
solid squares are evidently not the creations of the baccarat table
and the roulette wheel. The most dignified temples of chance are
designed to shelter pleasure and frivolity