East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-01-16

There are two branches in the stud,
OF riches-getting money and keepinl
1t from getting away. When a fellow
has saved a thousand dollars anC
every nickel represents a walk hom,
instead of ride on trolley, and every
dollar stands for cigars he didn't smoke
and for shows he didn't see, 1t natural
" seems as If that money. when its
invested, ought to declare dividends
every thirty days. But almost any
scheme which advertises that It will
make small investors rich quick is
IKE one Of these Yellowstone geysers
that spout up straight from hades
with boom and a roar; it's bound to
return to Its native birthstone sooner
or later, leaving nothing behind 1t but
a little smoke and a smell of burned
money-your money.
If fellow would stop to think he
would understand that when money
comes In 30 hard It isn't reasonable to
expect that 1t can go out and find more
easy. But the great trouble is that a
good many investors don't stop to
think or else let plausible strangers do
their thinking for them. That's why
most young men have tucked away
with their college diploma and the pic
ture Of their first girl an impressive
deed to a lot In Nowhere-on-the-N Moth
ingness, or a beautiful certificate of
stock in the Gushing Grille oil well
that has never gushed anything but
lies and promises.
Young men are told that the first
thousand dollars comes hard and that
after that It comes easier. So it does
just q thousand dollars plus interest
easier, and easier through all the In
creased efficiency that self denial and
self control have given you.
1t doesn't seem like much when you
take your savings bank book around
at the end Of the year and get little
$50 or $40 interest added or when you
cash in the coupon on the bond that
you've bought yet your bank book
and your bond are still true to you.
But If you'd had your thousand in one
Of these 80 per cent bleached blond
schemes 1t would have lit out long
ago with fellow whose ways were
more coaxing, leaving you the laugh
and a mighty small lock of peroxide
gold hair.
You can't too soon make it rule to
invest only on your own know and
never on somebody else's say so. You
may lose some profits by this policy,
but you're bound to miss a lot Of
losses. Often the best reason for keep
ing out of a thing is that everybody
else is going into it. A crowds al
ways dangerous; it first pushes prices
up beyond reason and then down be-
low common sense. The time to buy
is before the crowd comes in or after
It gets out. It'll always come back to
a good thing when it's been pushed
up again to the point where it's bad
thing.
It's better to go slow and lose a good
bargain occasionally than to 90 fast
and never get bargain. It's all right
to take a long chance now and then
when you've got long bank account,
but it's been my experience that most
Of the long chances are taken by the
fellows with short bank accounts.
You'll meet a lot Of men in Chicago
who'll point out the corner of State
and Madison and tell you that when
they first came TO the city they were
offered that lot for a hundred dollars
and that it's been the crowning regret
Of their lives that they didn't buy it.
But for every genuine case Of crownlng
regret because a fellow didn't buy
there are thousand because he did.
Don't let 1t make you feverish the next
time you see one of those won't you
come in quick and get rich sudden ads.
Freeze up and on to your thousand,
and by and by you'll get a chance to
which you're working and which you
know something about, or to take that
thousand and one or two more like 1t
and buy an interest in nice little busi-
ness Of the breed that you've been
grooming and currying for some other
fellow. But II your moneys tied up In
the sudden millionaire business you'll
have to keep right on clerking.
A mans fortune should grow like a
tree-in rings around the parent trunk.
tn be slow work at first, but every
ring will be little wider and little
thicker than the last one, and by and
by you'll be big enough and strong
enough to shed a few acorns within
easy reaching distance and 80 start a
nice little nursery of your own from
which you can saw wood some day.
Whenever you hear Of a mans jump
ing suddenly into prominence and for
tune look behind the popular explana-
ton Of lucky chance. You'll usually
ind that these men manufactured their
own luck right on the premises.