at long and encouraging figures, "those
are assets and these are our liabilities; and besides we have a million
dollar Government endorsement. Now, the fact of the matter is this. You
have a few dollars. I have a few dollars; Tom, Dick and Harry have a few
dollars, and so have Jessie and Josie. Now, those little private funds
which we all cherish and fondle, and hug to our bosoms, and jingle in
our pockets, are of no use to us. They are dead. Of course they are
earning three per cent, at the B.N.A. or the Northern Crown--what bank
do you deposit with?--of course, it does not matter; there is no
competition among them; they pay you three per cent. and charge you ten
per cent. Now, we are very much different. We give you all your money
will make--if it is ten, twenty, thirty, fifty, or one hundred per cent.
See?

"Now, the fact of the matter is this: as I said before, those small
individual fortunes are of no use to us individually; they have no
earning power; they will not buy anything. But, put them all
together--ah! the result is magical. You see, it is the aggregate that
counts. Now with this theory in view, our company gets to work and
canvasses the country and it gathers together thousands of little,
useless, insignificant, unproductive funds like yours and mine and joins
them together into one vast, giant aggregate which we call a trust fund.
I see it is appealing to you. It could not be otherwise. Now, with this
aggregate, you, and I, and everyone can own vast estates, buy forty-year
debentures, lend money on approved security, buy real estate, the
unearned increment of which will net in some cases two or three hundred
per cent. interest, besides an increased valuation on the original sum
invested."

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 pro