VOObyM

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
Well, after having failed for millions and having come back with more millions, Thomas
was cleaned out as the result of his deal in March cotton. There wasn't much time wasted
after he came to see me. He proposed that we form a working alliance. Whatever
information he got he would immediately turn over to me before passing it on to the
public. My part would be to do the actual trading, for which he said I had a special
genius and he hadn't.
That did not appeal to me for a number of reasons. I told him frankly that I did not think
I could run in double harness and wasn't keen about trying to learn. But he insisted that
it would be an ideal combination until I said flatly that I did not want to have anything to
do with influencing other people to trade.
"If I fool myself," I told him, "I alone suffer and I pay the bill at once. There are no
drawn-out payments or unexpected annoyances. I play a lone hand by choice and also
because it is the wisest and cheapest way to trade. I get my pleasure out of matching my
brains against the brains of other traders men whom I have never seen and never talked
to and never advised to buy or sell and never expect to meet or know. When I make
money I make it backing my own opinions. I don't sell them or capitalise them. If I made
money in any other way I would imagine I had not earned it. Your proposition does not
interest me because I am interested in the game only as I play it for myself and in my
own way."
He said he was sorry I felt the way I did, and tried to convince me that I was wrong in
rejecting his plan. But I stuck to my views. The rest was a pleasant talk. I told him I
knew he would "come back" and that I would consider it a privilege if he would allow
me to be of financial assistance to him. But he said he could not accept any loans from
me. Then he asked me about my July deal and I told him all about it; how I had gone
into it and how much cotton I bought and the price and other details. We chatted a little
more and then he went away.
When I said to you some time ago that a speculator has a host of enemies, many of
whom successfully bore from within, I had in mind my many mistakes. I have learned
that a man may possess an original mind and a lifelong habit of independent thinking
and withal be vulnerable to attacks by a persuasive personality. I am fairly immune from
the commoner speculative ailments, such as greed and fear and hope. But being an
ordinary man I find I can err with great ease.
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