The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1908-03-14
TURNING VANITY INTO MONEY
By JOHN X. THOMPSON,
Treasurer Cook County, Illinois.

why - IL tndI tuOuSduQS VI lutelli-
gent men working for salaries or for
wages are investing their savings in
the stocks of wildcat companies
against the advice of friends compe-
tent to advise them and in the face
of their own better judgment?
The obvious answer is: Because
they expect to profit greatly by the in
vestment-to get rich quick" as the
common saying puts it. This is only
half the answer, and the other half
often the more powerful-is seldom
brought out.
II can be stated in one small word
Vanity.
This is not fattering to the invest
ors who have defied the sober counsel
of experienced men of affairs and who
have stifled their own natural fore
bodings and sense of caution, but the
fact remains that vanity has, in hun
dreds of thousands of cases, been the
one factor which has turped the tables
against reason, judgment and good
counsel and emptied the pockets of
the wage Garner and the salary worker
into the Golfers of the fake investment
shark
When the bait thrown out is equally
attractive to the cupidity and the van
ity of human nature the catch is al
most certain-and the clearness with
which the latter human weakness is
understood by the sharpers who lie
in wait for the surplus savings
Of those who do the worlds hand
work, is evidenced by the fact
that the literature sent out to lure
the unwary is full of phrases like this:
why not become an associate of
men who are doing things? We want
your influence in your community.
The men who are In this enterprise
are known in the business world and
they desire cooperation of others who
are capable of broad and independent
judgment, of men like yourself who
can see beyond the rim of silver dol
lar and appreciate large opportunities,
men of constructive abilities who are
ready TO take hand in the develop
ment of one of the greatest enter
prises of the present day. Your ad-
vice, influence and cooperation are
more valuable to us than your money"
When this appeal is put to a man
who has always worked under others,
who has never been consulted by a
business man, whose opinions on bust
ness matters have never been asked
by any person outside his own family
circle, the temptation to a new and
delightful feeling of selfimportance is
almost inevitable. There is not a
clerk bending over desk or a coun-
ter, mechanic working at his lathe
or bench, or laborer toiling in street
or field who has not at times felt that
ne has had ideas about some feature
of business worth considering, who
has not harbored a secret longing to
have place and standing among the
men who pull the wires which move
the machinery of business. When such
a man-and his kind is legion-re-
ceives one of these artful and insinu-
ating appeals to his vanity he is rare
ly poised and gifted with common
sense above his fellows If he does not
feel that at last he has come into his
own; that his abilities have finally
been appreciated and that the stran-
ger in the business world has under
stood him better than his associates,
his neighbors, his familiar friends and
those under whom he works The fiat.
terry of this appeal outweighs its shall.
low rawness and its obvious and cheap
insincerity But the real cunning OF
this attack upon his vanity is the fact
that it appeals to his independent
Judgment" and classes him among the
men who see things shrewdly and in
a big way and who scorn timidity. 1!
he listens to this argument-and gen
orally he does-he feels a new sense
of selfimportance and of independence
and a corresponding Discrimination to
listen to the advice of those whose
familiarity with business and finance
would enable him to steer clear Of the
rocks of disaster. His judgment is
pitted against theirs and he is aroused
to a determination to show them
that his opinion is better than theirs
This antagonism against the recep
ticn Of advice from men of experience
is the one thing which the investment
sharper most desires to awaken in the
prospective victim. for it will prevent
him not only from seeking sound ad
vice but from acting upon 1t when II
is put in his way.
The schemers who have learned
how irresistibly the argument of man
age for yourself appeals to the man
who has never had a chance to try
his hand at managing a business have
not stopped at this point; they have
also learned that men in the humber
walks OF life are clannish and inclined
to think and act together. Along with
this they have realized that it is
easier and cheaper to hunt their game
in fiocks and droves than singly. Wher