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enough for a man not to have to stick to one or two specialties.
I had begun to fear, as I told you, that I had lost the knack of
hitting it right. But it seems I hadn't. In three weeks' time I
had made a profit of one hundred and twelve thousand dollars out
of the twenty-five thousand that Dan Williamson lent me.
I went to him and said, "I've come to pay you back that
twenty-five thousand dollars."
"No, no!" he said and waved me away exactly as if I had
offered him a castor-oil cocktail. "No, no, my boy. Wait until
your account amounts to something. Don't think about it yet.
You've only got chicken feed there."
There is where I made the mistake that I have regretted
more than any other I ever made in my Wall Street career. It was
responsible for long and dreary years of suffering. I should
have insisted on his taking the money. I was on my way to a
bigger fortune than I had lost and walking pretty fast. For
three weeks my average profit was 150 per cent per week. From
then on my trading would be on a steadily increasing scale. But
instead of freeing myself from all obligation I let him have his
way and did not compel him to accept the twenty-five thousand
dollars. Of course, since he didn't draw out the twenty-five
thousand dollars he had advanced me I felt I could not very well
draw out my profit. I was very grateful to him, but I am so
constituted that I don't like to owe money or favours. I tan pay
the money back with money, but the favours and kindnesses I must
pay back in kind and you are apt to find these moral obligations
mighty high priced at times. Moreover there is no statute of
limitations.
I left the money undisturbed and resumed my trading. I was
getting on very nicely. I was recovering my poise and I was sure
it would not be very long before I should get back into my 1907
stride. Once I did that, all I'd ask for would be for the market
to hold out a little while and I'd more than make up my losses.
But making or not making the money was not bothering me much.
What made me happy was that I was losing the habit of being
wrong, of not being myself. It had played havoc with me for
months but I had learned my lesson.
Just about that time I turned bear and I began to sell
short several railroad stocks. Among them was Chesapeake &
Atlantic. I think I put out a short line in it; about eight
thousand shares.
One morning when I got downtown Dan Williamson called me
into his private office before the market opened and said to me:
"Larry, don't do anything in Chesapeake & Atlantic just now.
That was a bad play of yours, selling eight thousand short. I
covered it for you this morning in London and went long."
I was sure Chesapeake & Atlantic was going down. The tape
told it to me quite plainly; and besides I was bearish on the
whole market, not violently or insanely bearish, but enough to
feel comfortable with a moderate short line out. I said to
Williamson, "What did you do that for? I am bearish on the whole
market and they are all going lower."
But he just shook his head and said, "I did it because I
happen to know something about Chesapeake & Atlantic that you
couldn't know. My advice to you is not to sell that stock short
until I tell you it is safe to do so."
What could I do? That wasn't an asinine tip. It was advice
that came from the brother-in-law of the chairman of the board
of directors. Dan was not only Alvin Marquand's closest friend
but he had been kind and generous to me. He had shown his faith
in me and confidence in my word. I couldn't do less than to
thank him. And so my feelings again won over my judgment and I
gave in. To subordinate my judgment to his desires was the
undoing of me. Gratitude is something a decent man can't help
feeling, but it is for a fellow to keep it from completely tying
him up. The first thing I knew I not only had lost all my profit
but I owed the firm one hundred and fifty thousand dollars
besides. I felt pretty badly about it, but Dan told me not to
worry.
"I'll get you out of this hole," he promised. "I know I
will. But I can only do it if you let me. You will have to stop
doing business on your own hook. I can't be working for you and
then have you completely undo all my work in your behalf. Just
you lay off the market and give me a chance to make some money
for you. Won't you, Larry?"
Again I ask you: What could I do? I thought of his kindli-
ness and I could not do anything that might be construed as
lacking in appreciation. I had grown to like him. He was very
pleasant and friendly. I remember that all I got from him was
encouragement. He kept on assuring me that everything would come
out O.K. One day, perhaps six months later, he came to me with a
pleased smile and gave me some credit slips.
"I told you I would pull you out of that hole," he said,
"and I have." And then I discovered that not only had he wiped
out the debt entirely but I had a small credit balance besides.
I think I could have run that up without much trouble, for
the market was right, but he said to me, "I have bought you ten
thousand shares of Southern Atlantic." That was another road
controlled by his brother-in-law, Alvin Marquand, who also ruled
the market destinies of the stock.
When a man does for you what Dan Williamson did for me you
can't say anything but "Thank you" -- no matter what your market
views may be. You may be sure you're right, but as Pat Hearne
used to say: "You can't tell till you bet!" and Dan Williamson
had bet for me with his money.
Well, Southern Atlantic went down and stayed down and I
lost, I forget how much, on my ten thousand shares before Dan [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]