He is now serving a term in State’s prison and is, the writer believes, sincerely repentant and determined to make a man of himself upon his release.  For present purposes let him be called John Smith.  He was born in New York City, in surroundings rather better than the average.  His family were persons of good education and his home was a comfortable and happy one.  From childhood he received thorough religious instruction and was always a straightforward, honest and obedient boy.  His father, having concluded from observation that the shortest route to success lay in financial enterprise, secured a place in a broker’s office for his son after the latter’s graduation from the high school.  John began at the bottom and gradually worked up to the position of assistant loan clerk in a big trust company.  This took fifteen years of hard work.

From the day that he started in filling inkwells and cleaning out ticker baskets, he saw fortunes made and lost in a twinkling.  He learned that the chief business of a broker is acting as go-between for persons who are trying to sell what they do not own to others who have not the money to pay for what they buy.  And he saw hundreds of such persons grow rich on these fictitious transactions.  He also saw others “wiped out,” but they cheerfully went through bankruptcy and began again, many of them achieving wealth on their second or third attempt.  He was earning five dollars a week and getting his lunch at a “vegetarian health restaurant” for fifteen cents.  The broker, for whom he ran errands, gave away thirty-five-cent cigars to his customers and had an elaborate luncheon served in the office daily to a dozen or more of the elect.  John knew one boy of about his own age, who, having made a successful turn, began as a trader and cleaned up a hundred thousand dollars in a rising market the first year.  That was better than the cleaning up John was used to.  But he was a sensible boy and had made up his mind to succeed in a legitimate fashion.  Gradually he saved a few hundred dollars and, acting on the knowledge he had gained in his business, bought two or three shares in a security which quickly advanced in value and almost doubled his money.  The next time as well fortune favored him, and he soon had a comfortable nest-egg—­enough to warrant his feeling reasonably secure in the event of accident or sickness.

He had worked faithfully, had given great satisfaction to his employers, and presently had a clerical position in a prominent trust company offered to him.  It seemed an advance.  The salary was larger, even if absurdly small, and he gladly accepted the place.

Shortly after this he had his first experience in real finance.  The president of the company sent for him—­the reader will remember that this is a true story—­and the boy entered his private office and came into the august presence of the magnate.  This man is to-day what is commonly known as a “power” in Wall Street.