"A reader writes this letter to Mr. Atwood, whom we employ to advise our readers how to make their money earn more money:

"'Why do you spend all your time in advising us about bonds, and farm mortgages and gilt edge preferred stocks? No man can get rich by investing his savings in gilt edge stuff. You know that one lucky investment is worth a lifetime of saving. Why don't you help us to find that one lucky investment?'

"We have decided to answer this question ourselves.

"In the first place, it is not the purpose of Mr. Atwood's department, nor of this magazine, to help readers get rich. The purpose of this magazine is to help its readers to be more useful men and women. And the most useful men and women in the world have not been the richest.

"Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence and added to our country the great area west of the Mississippi, was reduced to poverty in his old age.

"Lincoln, who saved the Union, had ten thousand when he was elected President, and said he hoped some day to have twenty thousand, which was 'all the money any man ought to want.'

"Agassiz, the great scientist, said: 'I have not time to get rich;' and most of the men who have rendered the largest service to the world have felt likewise.

"If you want to know the second reason why-Mr. Atwood advises you to save instead of speculate, read the inventory of the estate of the next rich man who dies.

"See how much junk is in his safe-deposit vault.

"Notice that the real money he has made has been made by hard work in some enterprise of real service to the world. The worthless stocks and bonds in his strong box, the junk, represent his occasional efforts to get rich quick through what our correspondent calls a 'lucky investment.'

"Insurance men state that most men at the age of forty have saved something; but nine out of every ten men who reach the age of sixty-five are dependent.

"Why?

"Partly because they have lost the savings which would have made them comfortable, in trying for lucky investments to make them rich.

"This is the reason why Mr. Atwood's articles are all in favor of solid investment instead of lucky investment.

"Follow his advice. Put your money away at six per cent. Your friend who puts his money into lucky investments may possibly strike a lucky one after years of trying. But the chances are all against him; even with good luck he will probably not have any more in the end than you have gained through saving and compound interest.

"And you will have peace of mind and good digestion long after he is eating toast and tea."

Seek expert advice. Many people lose money when they invest because they consult friends no better equipped than themselves, who know not a bit more of the science of the subject than they do. If they are ill they call in a responsible physician; if in legal entanglements, they without hesitation consult a reliable lawyer; but when it comes to employing all the money which good health and freedom from expensive litigation have perhaps enabled them to accumulate, they take the first "tip" from a passing acquaintance.

To me there is something almost uncanny, mysterious at least, about the free and easy way in which people invest on the say-so of any irresponsible acquaintance or newspaper paragraph. Perhaps it is because the expert is coldblooded, and looks at finance from the cold, scientific and impersonal point of view that the physician looks at disease. This manner repels people when they are in the investing mood. For then they have a sort of big, sentimental, warm feeling that they are going to make all the money there is lying around. They don't like the keen scrutinizing look of their banker when they tell him of the "good thing." Ed. Howe, who for many years was famous as the wise and witty editor of the Atchison, Kansas, Globe, was not considered a financial expert, but he had "horse sense" enough to write these pungent remarks about seeking expert financial advice:

"Every man has a bank-account; his banker will find safe investments for him. Bankers are men of financial experience, and ninety-nine per cent. of them are intelligent and honorable. There is no excuse for a busy man losing his savings. Many women, when they come into possession of money, lose it because they invest it in schemes bankers would not trust; or else the women loan their money to men who could not borrow money at a bank. Everything in life is simple and easy, if we would only accept experience and be careful of big and sentimental notions."

Learn from experience, but preferably from some one else's experience. Your banker is usually a safe guide in selecting investments, just as he can be trusted in selecting a broker. He has had experience in investing the funds of his depositors, his knowledge of pitfalls, his observance of money failures and successes qualify him to speak. Above all he has a coldblooded way of impersonally looking at money matters, which I repeat and insist, is a necessity in sound investment.

Always judge any bond or stock by the company it keeps. This rule knows no exception. Other things being equal bonds sold by honest reliable dealers are certain to be better than those sold by persons of another stripe. Of course, there are securities so well known and established that the fact that they are sold by brokers of doubtful reputation can not injure their standing. But, in this particular case, the joker to look out for is that the broker delivers the bond at all, or, if he does, beware lest he charge you too much. In other words, be sure first of all that the game is being played according to honest rules, which means by an honest man. How to find an honest broker is described in detail in the previous chapter.