Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1901-01-10
HOW TO MAKE AND
KEEP A FORTUNE.
Millionaire Charles 7. Yerkes in His
Own Life Story, Tells the Secret
Of Amassing Wealth.
BY Charles T. Yerkes. Mu1ti-Milltonaire

BY Charles T. Yerkes, Multi Millionaire
Any man who has health, good bus
2ness judgment, energy and ambition
should not speculate to make money.
He should pick out some good bus
iness for which he is adapted and
which he ike and stick to it.
That is what I have done all Of my
ME-.
I have made the bulk of my fortune
by a combination of good luck and
good Judgment. Some of it I did make
by speculation, but just as certain as
h sun rises aud sets, if I had contin-
Hed to speculate I would be broke to-
day.
I have said the man who specu1ates
Is an idiot, and I believe it. I have
said that I have never seen a "ticker
player who made any money and kept
it, and I mean by that the man who
goes to the ticker when it starts and
does not a it until it stops for the
day-I mean the man who ~speculates
2in securities that he knows nothing
About and acts upon he re-
5ceives at second, third or f1ftieth hand,
with no intention of ever actually
holding the stocks he puts up his mar
gins for.
Now, a man like Russell Sage I do
mot class as a speculatoc. He buys
Astocks for the stocks themselves or to
secure an interest in the corporation
for buiness purposes. I do not think
The ever s~peculates. His business is a
#lender Of money and an investor, and
bit is that which has made him a power
in Wall street.
There are big men in that street who
are spectators, pure and simple, but
the actual buying of stocks to hold and
occasionally selling them to an adVan-
Ftage as a business deal I do not call
speculation.
I was a Spectator when I was q
Rstock broker, and a heavy one.
I lost a fortune and made it again.
with a little more besides, out I formed
gthe opinion which I hav expressed
that the man who specu1ates is an
idiot.
{ Chen, too, I stopped.
I have not specialized since 1873. I
lost my money in the panic which was
caused by the Chicago fire in 1871 and
z made it again in the panic which
followed the Cooke failure in 1873. I
formed a partnership with John P. Bell
in Philadelphia after that, and the ex-
press terms of our agreement were hat
the firm should not speculate for itself.
we made a good deal Of our none
cut Of the spectators instead of spec
zllating ourselves. A good portion of
It, however, we made in business, trad
ing for business men.
I have been asked how I made my
money if I didn't speculate.
I didn't begin life as he typical bare
foo boy IN the towpath. I had some
money when I started-not a great deal
but some. I began as a note broker
I'm the days when Philadelphia mer-
chants used to receive notes from their
customers for goods they sold.
I did sweep out my own office for a
A4-o4 A1,% T u1o1 e11110ocFI,1 io WV I17ci
ness, and after a little time I arose to
the dignity of having a boy to do those
things. I made money dealing in pa
per and hen branched out as a stock
broker I became a member of the
Exchange both in Philadelphia and
New York, and it was not until after
I had plenty of money that I began
to speculate.
When I did go into it I went into it at
a considerable extent, and then when
the news of the burning of Chicago
came I a caught. I lost everything
I had made as a broker and was forced
to wait for two years for a chance to
receup. When I heard that Jay Cooke
had failed I went on the market as a
bear and made money rapidly. Then I
quit.
Since that day I have never specu-
lated.
People think I live solely to make
money. That isn't true at all. Money
means very little to me. I work be-
cause I like it.
You look back and around you ove
the men who have made fortunes for
themselves and you will find they are
men who enjoy their work.
I enjoy mine, and to that more than
anything else 1 attribute my success
I nave lots of fun at my work, and
that is the reason 1 stay at it and dc
not retire and buy a yacht or live ir
Europe, or DO ali or any Of the things
which l am constantly accused Of being
about to do. 1 like it better to stay
here.
The man who worries over his work
can't succeed.
The successful man must take his
work easy.
If he worries, he will break dowr
and be forced to retire.
He should have some hobby to occu-
py his mind after he leaves his desk
otherwise he will be morose and be
one Of those men who throw a pail owe
their homes when they come into thu
housewife sit alone in the library
while their wives tell the children they
must not make a noise. because father
is here"
I have had several hobbies in m!
time-nonsensical or otherwise.
Just now it is pictures. When I wa
younger, it was raising fish, and I hat
a complete hatchery fitted up in m.
house.
I repeat, I am all through with spec
ulation, although it must have beel
born in me, for the first business dea
+ ever made was a speculation pur
and simple.
THE FIRST VENTURE.
It was when I was Il boy at home
There was an auction store in the tow
and I used to go there sometimes an
listen to the auctioneer. One day
-aaoa = Ic+ Of coaD TT was the sam