we have little faith in reflections. if a man cannot draw an inference for himself, it is little use anyone attempting to draw it for him. the reader of the preceding pages must have been taught, by example, how to get money. the art of money-making is a very simple one. if your income is twenty pounds, and you spend nineteen pounds, nineteen shillings, and elevenpence-three-farthings, you will never be troubled about money matters; and, in the course of years, may have a fortune commensurate with so modest an expenditure. having thus acquired a small amount of capital, you must not part with it to mining-brokers or stock-brokers, however plausible the tale they tell, and however friendly you may be with them. they are bound to do business, and for the sake of that, will help their nearest friend to an investment of the rottenest character. stock-brokers may have a sense of honour—may be gentlemen; but i question much whether a money-broker has any feeling for his clients, i have known little money made by outsiders speculating on the stock exchange or in mines. i have known many reduced to beggary and want by such means.
dr. smiles writes—“the successful merchant is not merely the man who is most fertile in commercial combinations, but the man who acts upon his judgment with the greatest promptitude.” mr. crampton, george moore’s partner, says—“i never knew him make a mistake in judgment.”
another fact to be observed is, that it is the country lads who, as a rule, are the most successful. at first they fail in accuracy, and quickness, and promptitude. they are slow compared with town-bred boys. “the city boy,” writes dr. smiles, “scarcely grows up; he is rushed up; he lives amid a constant succession of excitements, one obliterating another. it is very different with the country boy; he is much slower in arriving at his maturity than the town boy, but he is greater when he reaches it; he is hard and uncouth at first, whereas the town boy is worn smooth by perpetual friction, like the pebbles in a running stream. the country boy learns a great deal, though he may seem to be unlearned; he knows a good deal about nature, and a great deal about men. he has had time to grow. his brainpower is held in reserve; hence the curious fact, that, in course of time, the country-bred boy passes the city-bred boy, and rises to the highest positions in london life. look at all the great firms, and you will find that the greater number of the leading partners are those who originally were country-bred boys. the young man bred in the country never forgets his origin.” “there is,” says rochefoucauld, “a country accent, not in his speech only, but in his thought, conduct, character, and manner of existing, which never forsakes him.”
george moore had a brother. he was far apter than george; he had a better education; he had read extensively, and was well versed in literature; but he wanted that which his brother george had—intense perseverance. hence the failure of the one, and the success of the other. it is thus the determined, persevering man who succeeds. p. 181it was thus warren hastings won back the broad lands of his ancestors.
“in new york,” says an american writer, “fortunes are suddenly made, and suddenly lost. i can count over a dozen merchants who, at the time i began to write this book, a few months ago, were estimated to be worth not less than 250,000 dollars—some of them half a million—who are now utterly penniless. at the opening of this year (1868), a merchant, well-known in this city, had a surplus of 250,000 dollars in cash. he died suddenly in july. he made his will about three months before his death, and appointed his executors. by that will he divided 250,000 dollars. his executors contributed 1,000 dollars to save a portion of his furniture for his widow, and that was all that was left her out of that great estate. he did what thousands have done before him—what thousands are doing now, and will do to-morrow. he had money enough; but he wanted a little more. he was induced to go into a nice little speculation in wall street; he put in 50,000 dollars. to save it he put in 50,000 dollars more. the old story was repeated, with the same result.” i knew a gentleman who began the world as an advertising agent; he managed to get a share in a newspaper, which eventually became an immense commercial success. his share of the profits amounted to some thousands a-year; but this was not enough—he must have more. he turned money-lender, borrowing at 5 per cent., to lend money on bad security at a high rate of interest. he died in the prime of life, a bankrupt, and of a broken heart.
it is not every one who knows when to leave off money-making; but there is a time when a wise man will remain satisfied with what he has won. i knew a gentleman in the corn exchange, who was worth £80,000. that was not enough for him, though to many it would have been a fair fortune. he was determined to make one grand coup before finally retiring from business, and enjoying the fruits of his industry and enterprise. he did so against the entreaties of his friends. the grand coup was a failure, and he died as poor as job. such men are to be met in london every day.
a man who died very rich, was very poor when he was a boy. when asked how he got his riches, he replied—“my father taught me never to play till all my work for the day p. 182was finished, and never to spend money till i had earned it. if i had but half-an-hour’s work to do in a day, i must do that the first thing, and in half-an-hour. after this was done i was allowed to play. i early formed the habit of doing everything in its time, and it soon became perfectly easy to do so. it is to this habit that i owe my prosperity.”
sir titus salt, the millionaire, who made a fortune by the introduction of alpaca-wool-cloth into the country, was a very early riser. at bradford, where he first commenced business, before he had built his grand manufactory at saltaire, it used to be said—“there is titus salt; he has made a thousand pounds before other men were out of bed.”
it was industry that helped to make franklin a successful man of business. this industry was, he tells us, a source of credit. “particularly i was told, that mention being made of the new printing-office at the merchants’ every-night club, the general opinion was that it must fail, there being already two printers in the place—kermer and bradford. but dr. baird gave a contrary opinion: ‘for the industry of that franklin,’ he said, ‘is superior to anything i ever saw of the kind. i see him still at work when i go from the club, and he is at work again before the neighbours are out of bed. this struck the rest, and he soon after had offers from one of them to supply us with stationery; but as yet he did not choose to engage in shop business.’ i mention this,” adds franklin, “more particularly, and the more emphatically, though it seems to be talking in my own praise, that those of my posterity who shall read it, may know the use of that virtue (industry) when they see its effects in my favour throughout this relation.”
again, let us see how men lose money; for the art of keeping money is of greater importance to a man than that of making it. the great house of overend and gurney fell, and threw all london into a panic, because the house did not know how to keep money, but went into all sorts of ruinous speculations, which ultimately brought it to the ground. “in a little room in one of the by-streets of new york, up a narrow, dingy flight of stairs, may be seen a man,” says an american writer, “doing a little brokerage which his friends put into his hands. that man at one time inherited the name and fortune of a house which america p. 183delighted to honour. that house was founded by two lads who left their homes to seek their fortunes in a great city. they owned nothing but the clothes they wore, and a small bundle tied to a stick, and thrown over their shoulders. their clothes were home-spun, were woven under the parental roof, and cut and made by motherly skill and sisterly affection. they carried with them the rich boon of a mother’s blessing and a mother’s prayers. they were honest, industrious, truthful, and temperate. they did anything they found to do that was honest. they began a little trade, which increased in their hands, and extended till it reached all portions of the civilised world. they identified themselves with every good work. education, humanity, and religion blessed their munificence. the founders of the house died, leaving a colossal fortune, and a name without a stain. they left their business and their reputation to the man who occupies the little chamber that we have referred to. he abandoned the principles on which the fame and honour of the house had been built up. he stained the name that for fifty years had been untarnished. he fled from his home; he wandered about the country under an assumed name. widows and orphans who had left trust-money in their hands, lost their all. in his fall he dragged down the innocent, and spread consternation on all sides. a few years passed, and after skulking about in various cities abroad, he ventured back. men were too kind to harm him. those whom he had befriended in the days of his prosperity, helped him to a little brokerage to earn his bread, and so he lingered on, and died, poor and forgotten, and obscure;—a warning to the prosperous, not to forget that honesty is the best policy after all.”
a fast man in business, sooner or later, comes to grief. a young man in new york represented a new england house of great wealth and high standing. he was considered one of the smartest and most promising young men in the city. the balance in the bank, kept by the house, was very large, and the young man used to boast that he could draw his cheque any day for 200,000 dollars, and have it honoured. the new england house used a great deal of paper, and it could command the names of the best capitalists to any extent. he was accustomed to sign notes in blank and leave them with the concern, so much confidence had he p. 184in its soundness and integrity. yet, strange to say, these notes, with those of other wealthy men, with nearly the whole financial business of the house, were in the hands of the young manager in new york. in the meanwhile he took a turn at harry hill’s to relieve the pressure of business. low amusements, and the respectable company he found, suited him. from a spectator he became a dancer. from dancing he took to drinking. he then tried his hand at play, and was cleaned out every night, drinking deeply all the while. he became enamoured of a certain class of women, clothed them in silk, velvets, and jewels, drove them in dashing teams in the central park, secured them fine mansions, and paid the expenses of their costly establishments, all the while keeping the confidence of his business associates. in his jaded, wan, and dissipated look, men saw his attention to business. the new england manager of the house was the father of the young man. his reputation was without a stain, and confidence in his integrity was unlimited. in the midst of his business he dropped down dead. this brought things to a crisis, and an exposure immediately followed. the great house was bankrupt, and everybody ruined that had anything to do with it. those who supposed themselves well off, found themselves quite the reverse. widows and orphans lost their all. men suspended business on the right hand and the left. in gambling, drinking, and dissipation, this young fellow had squandered the enormous sum of 1,400,000 dollars. it is an old familiar moral to be learnt from the story of that man’s decline and fall.
but to return to money-making. “i find,” said a shrewd merchant, “i make most money when i am least anxious about it.”
the distinguished american, james halford, rose, step by step, up the ladder of fortune till he reached the top. some twenty years before he had stood at the bottom, and it was curious to hear what the world said.
“it is all luck,” cried one. “nothing but luck. why, sir, i have managed at times to get up a step or two, but have always fallen down ere long; and now i have given up striving, for luck is against me.”
“no, sir,” cried another, “it is not so much luck as scheming; the selfish schemer goes up, while more honest folk remain at the foot.”
p. 185“patronage does it all,” said a third. “you must have somebody to take you by the hand, and help you up, or you have no chance.”
james halford heard all these varied opinions of the world, but still persisted in looking upwards, for he had faith in himself. he rose from the lowest situation in a store till he became a trader for himself, and amassed a large fortune.
mr. freedley’s unvarying motto was—“self-reliance and self-dependence.” he said—“my observations through life satisfy me, that at least nine-tenths of those most successful in business start in life without any reliance except upon their own heads and hands—hoe their own row from the jump.”
nicholas longworth, the cincinnati millionaire, says—“i have always had these two things before me:—do what you undertake thoroughly. be faithful in all accepted trusts.”
stephen gerard’s motto was the well-worn one—“take care of the cents, the dollars will take care of themselves.”
mr. stuart, the merchant prince of new york, said—“no abilities, however splendid, can command success without intense labour and persevering application.”
david ricardo had his three golden rules when on the stock exchange. they were—“never refuse an option when you can get it.” “cut short your losses.” “let your profits run on.”
a man who had, by his own unaided exertions, become rich, was asked by his friend the secret of success. his reply was—“i accumulated about half my property by attending to my own business, and the other half by letting other people’s entirely alone.”
according to the great wedgewood, there was another—an eleventh commandment; and it was—“thou shalt not be idle.”
let us string together, in this collection, a few of poor richard’s maxims—
“i never saw an oft-removed tree,
nor yet an oft-removed family,
that throve as well as those that settled be.”
again, he wrote—
“he that by the plough would thrive,
himself must either hold or drive.”
here is another—
“many estates are spent in the getting,
since women for tea forsook spinning and knitting,
and men for punch forsook hewing and splitting.”
one must be recorded here for the benefit of the reader who would achieve commercial success—
“women and wine, game and deceit,
make the wealth small and the want great.”
again, poor richard writes—
“fond pride of dress is sure a curse;
ere fancy you consult—consult your purse.”
a truthful warning is contained in the following lines—
“vessels large may venture more,
but little boats should keep near shore.”
all should remember—
“for age and want save what you may,
no morning sun lasts a whole day.”
and this other—
“get what you can, and what you get hold,
’tis the stone that will turn all your lead to gold.”
one equally well worth remembering as any of poor richard’s, is—
“a penny saved is twopence clear,
a pin a day is a groat a year.”
franklin, in a letter, finished by saying—“in short, the way to wealth, if you desire it, is as plain as the market. it depends chiefly on two words—industry and frugality; that is, waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. without industry and frugality nothing will do, and with them everything. he that gets all he can honestly, and saves all he gets, necessary expenses excepted, will certainly become rich, if that being who governs the world, to whom all should look for a blessing on their honest endeavours, doth not, in his wise providence, determine otherwise.”
again, in a time of scarcity, as an infallible receipt for filling empty purses, franklin wrote—“first, let honesty and p. 187industry be thy constant companions; and, secondly, spend one penny less than thy clear gains.”
samuel budgett, well-known as the successful merchant, when about ten years of age, began, at coleford, to lay the foundation of his fame and fortune. he thus describes how he first got money—“i went,” he said, “to the mills of kilmersdon to school, a distance of three miles. one day, on my way, i picked up a horse-shoe, and carried it about three miles, and sold it to a blacksmith for a penny; that was the first penny i ever recollect possessing, and i kept it for some time. a few weeks after, the same man called my attention to a boy who was carrying off some dirt opposite his door, and offered, if i would beat the boy by doing it quicker, he being a bigger boy than myself, to give me a penny. i did so; he made a mark upon it, and promised me that if i would bring it to him that day fortnight he would give me another. i took it to him at the appointed time, when he fulfilled his promise, and i thus became possessed of threepence; since then i have never been without, except when i gave it all away.” “one,” writes his admiring biographer, the rev. w. budgett, “would not have imagined, in seeing the little schoolboy stop and look at the old horse-shoe, that the turning-point of his life had come; but so it was; he converts that horse-shoe into his first penny, and never more wants a penny. those men whom we see often without a penny, have all of them passed by the horse-shoe in their path when they were boys; and those other men who, from nothing, are rising rapidly, have all had the sense to pick up the horse-shoe, and turn it into the foundation of a fortune. paths vary; but every boy, if his eyes are open, will certainly find the horse-shoe in his path at one point or another.”
again we fall back on franklin. “remember,” he wrote, “that money is of a prolific generating nature. money can beget money, and its offspring can beget more, and so on. five shillings turned is six; turned again it is seven-and-threepence, and so on, till it becomes a hundred pounds. the more there is of it, the more it produces every turning, so that the profits rise quicker. he that kills a breeding sow, destroys all her offspring to the thousandth generation. he that murders a crown, destroys all that it might have produced, even scores of pounds.”
our last words must be of advice to young persons upon entering the world.
select the kind of business that suits your natural inclinations and temperament.
a business man must keep at the hold, and steer his own ship.
do not take too much advice.
if you prosper in business, do not make too much show.
work on positive facts. do not let hope predominate too much. don’t be visionary.
don’t put too much reliance on friends in business.
never accept a bill for a friend. you stand a chance of losing money and friend.
speak very little in business. pump others rather than be pumped yourself.
consult wisely, and resolve firmly.
hesitation in business is bad; resolution, after proper consideration, is omnipotent and healthy.
time, money, and judgment are three essential things for a speculation.
go with the tide.
consider everybody sharper than yourself in order to be yourself on your guard. take the meaning of people, not their words, as a guide in business. seek an interview rather than communication by letter, and observe the person’s expression by his eyes.
keep your books posted up systematically.
beware of little expenses. a small leak will sink the ship.
make the best of a bad bargain.
a policy of life assurance is the cheapest and safest mode of making provision for a man’s family.
finally, as matthew henry wrote—“hope the best, get ready for the worst, and then take what god sends.”
a spendthrift, who had nearly wasted all his patrimony, seeing an acquaintance in a coat not of the newest cut, told him he thought it had been his great-grandfather’s coat. “so it was,” said the gentleman; “and i have also my great-grandfather’s land, which is more than you can say.”
look carefully to your expenditures. no matter what comes in, if more goes out, you will always be poor. the art is not in making money, but in keeping it; little expenses, like mice in a barn, when they are many, make great waste. hair by hair heads get bald; straw by straw the thatch goes off the cottage; and drop by drop the rain comes in the chamber. a barrel is soon empty if the tap leaks but a drop a minute. when you mean to save, begin with your p. 190mouth; many thieves pass down the red lane. the ale-jug is a great waste. in all other things keep within compass. never stretch your legs farther than the blankets will reach, or you will soon take cold. in clothes, choose suitable and lasting stuff, and not tawdry fineries. to be warm is the main thing; never mind looks. a fool may make money, but it needs a wise man to spend it. remember, it is easier to build two chimneys than to keep one going. if you give all to back and board, there is nothing left for the savings-bank. fare hard and work hard when you are young, and you will have a chance to rest when you are old.
“a successful business man told me there were two things which he learned when he was eighteen, which were ever afterwards of great use to him—namely, ‘never to lose anything, and never to forget anything.’ an old lawyer sent him with an important paper, with certain instructions what to do with it. ‘but,’ inquired the young man, ‘suppose i lose it; what shall i do then?’ ‘you must not lose it!’ ‘i don’t mean to,’ said the young man; ‘but suppose i should happen to?’ ‘but i say you must not happen to; i shall make no provision for any such occurrence; you must not lose it!’
while we write, the great orator of the age has lectured the people of hawarden in particular, and of england in general, on the virtues of thrift. the subject is worthy of his genius. thrift lies at the foundation of all individual or national greatness. the times notes that mr. gladstone only harps on an old string when he says that englishmen are lacking in thrift. the failing is commonly admitted, and it is by no means confined to a single class. it pervades the whole community. we may be more industrious than our neighbours, but we certainly are more extravagant. we earn strenuously, but it is in order that we may spend freely. in our choice of food and its preparation, in our dwellings, in our comforts and luxuries, and in our recreations, we are lavish as compared with other nations. there is probably no single class in this country which does not, as a rule, live nearer to the margin of its income than the corresponding class in france. the french peasant is almost the slave of his land and his family, and labours unceasingly for the one while he saves ungrudgingly for the other. our own labourers work as hard no doubt, and probably harder, but they are much more extravagant in their habits. their food is far more solid and expensive, and it is dressed with far less thrift and skill. the case is not very different with the classes higher in the social scale. their industry and perseverance are unrivalled, but these virtues are too often made to do duty for prudence and economy as well. mr. gladstone is, no doubt, light in attributing to friendly societies an influence which tends in some degree to counteract the evil consequences of individual prodigality. they do not directly encourage a more frugal mode of life among the masses, but they develop a social feeling of common welfare which at least counteracts individual selfishness. thus, independently of their purely economical advantages, they are by no means despicable instruments of political and social education. but, after all, it is on the individual himself that it depends whether he shall be thrifty, and get on in the world, or shall be careless, and indolent, and extravagant, and finally sink down to the bottom, a burden to the rest of the community. “the way to wealth,” says an old writer, “is as plain as the way to market. it depends chiefly on two plain words—industry and frugality; that is, waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both.”
p. 192as we go to press, we find a meeting held at the mansion house, london (the earl of shaftesbury in the chair), to hear miss emily faithfull lecture against the extravagance of modern life. ladies (she said) were sometimes accused of being the direct means of wild expenditure; and what answer could be made to their accusers? they had only to walk in any fashionable resort to see a great deal of prodigal display in dress, which could be accounted for only by the explanation that many of its wearers were living beyond their means. this state of things arose because women were ranked by what they wore, and not by what they were. men and women seemed to have lost the faculty of enjoying inexpensive pleasures. the same extravagance was to be found among high and low, master and man. the reason of the outcry about bad servants was, because all those of the present day wished to be like their betters; fine-ladyism had descended from the drawing-room to the kitchen. of the various causes of this, one was the love of money, more deeply rooted in the minds of the people of england than in those of any other nation in the world. another was the modern fusion of classes—people finding themselves in a position in which they were compelled, by the tyranny of custom, to “make an appearance” beyond their legitimate means. one of the most crying evils of these times was the credit system, and its twin-brother debt, well described as the curse of the middle classes, and which, like drink, was carried on in a blind, stupid, reckless fashion. the meaning of the word “economy” was continually being falsely made to imply the saving of money, whereas it only meant the best possible administration of time, labour, and money.—mr. thomas hughes, q.c., said that the great dangers for this country were unthrift and intemperance; and unless we could make it sober and thrifty it would soon become insolvent.