Perhaps every living man in the Dominion of Canada and the United States who betrays the least pretensions to having any money in his possession has heard a harangue of this kind many times in his life, and it is just as certain that the first time he heard it he was stung.  Now, Simon was no exception to the rule, which proves that we are not all swordfish.  He felt himself being hypnotized, magnetized, charmed.  He pictured himself as personal owner of lots, houses, acres—­a joint owner of vast tracts of land along the G.T.P. or C.N.R.; and the shark showed him a facsimile of the certificates that would be issued to him when his shares were paid up in full.  They were very neat and legal-like, and a man should be proud to own one of them.

“You see,” said the magnate, as he realized that he had the victim falling into his trap, “we do not require to sell any more shares; we are doing well enough now, and some say we should leave well enough alone.  But, a corporation of the nature of ours cannot rest on its oars; we must reach out for greater and better things, and to accomplish this we must have more capital.  The fact is, a proposition has just been put to us, the nature of which I am not just now at liberty to divulge, but it is a sure winner.  But it takes capital, as I said before, and we are compelled to sell some more stock.  And, after all, it will be you and I who will benefit, and a hundred or more favored ones who have small savings which are netting them nothing at present, and the principal of which is rusting in the bank at three per cent.

“Now, to come down to business.  Will you join us?  Now, I am not going to press you.  There are hundreds too willing; but remember, you will regret it if you lose this chance of a lifetime.  Opportunity is knocking at your door; seize it by the fore-lock.

“The proposition I have to put before you is this:  We are selling shares at one hundred dollars each, but if you have not the cash now, we will allow you six, twelve and eighteen months on the balance with a payment of five hundred dollars down if you buy twenty shares.  The reason we are able to make such liberal offers is that we receive the same terms in buying up debentures.”

Simon was completely victimized.  His tormentor might just as well have addressed him in Latin, for he knew so little about debentures, joint stock funds and the intricacies of high finance that he could not follow the promoter and was completely dazzled with the obscurity and eloquence of the language.  And then the magnate spoke so rapidly that only lightning could keep up with him.  The result was that Simon fell into the trap and was pinched.  He not only gave away all his rainy day money, but he burdened himself with a debt, which, to a working man, was a mountain, and more than he could carry.  He sold his house to meet the next two payments, and just as the third payment came due the company went into liquidation, and it consumed all their available assets to discover that there was nothing left for the shareholders.  And Simple Simon began life over again.