this book is dedicated to j. pierpont morgan, a straight player of a crooked game, who, it is said, played his usual role in the wall street manipulations of the central railroad of georgia securities, which adroitly and legally absorbed the small savings and happiness of many unsophisticated investors—an action which, in my case at least, proved to be a blessing in disguise, for it made me suffer first and then made me think. hence the gratitude and consequent dedication to mr. morgan for starting the train of thought, which finally resulted in the invention of roadtown, a plan for side-stepping the crooked game as now played so that henceforth whosoever will may become a straight player of a straight game.