The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1908-04-28
TURNING VANITY INTO MONEY
BY JOIN X. THOMPSON,
Treasurer Cook County, Illinois.

Inc paper production in which
they were most concerned was that
upon which the handsome stock certifi-
Gates Of the company were printed.
lie Immediately turned his guns
upon wage workers of the printing
and paper trades.
By personal solicitation and nrinted
literature he piled the members of
enese trades with the argument:
Make this your own Industry Here
Is the opportunity for you to keep in
your own hands the thing which ia
gong 70 revolutionize the paper BUSH
ness Just as the typesetting machine
mas reyolutionized the printers craft
lou can, by coming in now, with a
small investment per man, place your.
selves in control of an industry which
will hold in it's grip a product of mil
nuns Oh collars a year-a product
upon which the whole paper and print
ing world depends for its existence"
Ihls was an argument which every
man In the mechanical department OF
newspaper or a commercial printing
establishment, and every paper mill
or paper company, could understand.
IL met him on his own ground and he
! began to see visions of himself as one
OF the powers" in the very industry
IN winch he was an obscure wage
worker. What turning of the tables
there would be when the world
awakened to the fact that this great
'reEolutionizing invention" was con-
lrolled by the men at the type case
and machines, the printing presses.
the stereotyping tables, the pulp watts
and the paper warerooms! Then the
last would become first. the uaper
industry would be ruled by the men
from the bottom of business; the
lourneyman would be the magnate
and would know the feeling of power
and authority
by scores and hundreds the wage
workers in these trades rallied to this
cry and the leaders among them were
taken care Of in a way which made
them feel that they had already come
into their own. These beIl-wethers
of the craft marshaled their follow
lngs with a sincere confidence that
they we're leading the way to a fnan-
claI Utopia and the promoters rubbed
their hands in satisfaction at the rate
at which their illuminated stock GER
tit1eates were demanded by the work
ers who wanted to become captains of
industry and manage for them
selves Certain subsidiary and
allied" companies were Organized
for the purpose of giving more of
InGCn off
tribute to a wider number the thrill
that comes from putting hand on the
pilot wheel of affairs"
The outcome of this revolution tn
place the trusting wage worker in the
control of an industry of his own is
fully covered by the suggestion thar
the farmer is still blowing under" the
dead cornstalks upon which the news
OF the world was to have been print
ed. Meantime hundreds of faithful
workers in the printing and paper
trades are finding it more difficult to
manage" their own personal finances
because of the deficit created by the
investment which was to make the
Industry their own"
The ambition of the wage Garner
and the man on salary to better his
condition, to make his surplus work
for him" to find a broader expression
for his individuality and abilities in a
business way is both natural and COM
mendable; but he will make a poor
start in the line of that ambition if he
rails to realize, at the outset, that
nnance is as much a technical trade
as that which the -typesetter, the ma
son, the carpenter, the machinist or
the plumber follows, and that it would
be no more absurd for the banker or
the man Of finance to attempt to set a
galley of type, lay a brick wall or
serve at machinist's lathe without a
technical training. an apprenticeship.
than for the journeyman In any of
these crafts to take a financial opera
ton, no matter how modest. into his
own hands, independent of the guild
ing council of the man who knows
the ropes of finance And the invest
ment in stock or a bond is a trans
action in finance" in the strict and
full sense of the term.
The man of small means, unschooled
IN the ways OF finance, might Just as
safely hand his pocket money or his
savings bank account over to an utter
stranger who promises to meet him at
certain place, at some future time.
and give him something valuable in
return, as to put his money into the
stocks and alleged securities which
are being foisted upon the public to-
lay by the beating of publicity drums
and the blare of promotion trumpets.
One OF these transactions does not re-
luire whit greater stretch of creduli-
y than the other.
Let the man who has an ambition
o manage his small savings keep
steadily in mind the fact that the
concern whose literature or solicitors
Ittempt to influence him against seek.
ng the advice of men familiar with
he ms aud outs of finance is
N enemy to his welfare and un-
BILE to stand the light of investiga-
ion. The man or the company hav-
ng something to sell which is sound
nd worthy has no need to make an