BUSINESS OR GAMBLING 83 



thousand at each eighth advance, making forty 

 thousand at an advance of nine-sixteenths, the 

 whole forty thousand would be sold at an advance 

 of one per cent, an extra profit of $175. 



Of course on every decline of one per cent I 

 accumulated forty thousand gold which tem- 

 porarily showed a loss of two hundred dollars, 

 while a ten per cent decline would leave me with 

 $400,000 gold on hand, showing at the market 

 price a loss of $20,000. But the turns of a fort- 

 night would pay this loss, which was really nom- 

 inal as it was never made, for the gold was held 

 till the loss disappeared, while the profits of turns 

 rolled up in our banks. 



The profits of a year were so great that begin- 

 ning the deal at fifty per cent premium there 

 would have been a fortune left over after paying 

 the loss on a decline to par or an advance to one 

 hundred per cent premium. No other business 

 of its magnitude was so easy to carry on. With 

 every extended advance we became short of gold 

 and were compelled to borrow it by millions to 

 make good our contracts to deliver. For not 



