" The wisdom touching negotiation, or business, hath not been hitherto collected into writing, to the great derogation of learning and the professors of learning. *** For if books were written of this, as the other, I doubt not but learned men, with mean experience, would far excel men of long experience without learning, and outshoot them in their own bow.** — Bacon'sAdvancement of Learning.
It needs no long experience, I think, to convince any one that men engaged in active business need ail the information they can get to manage their concerns with success; nor does it require a world-wide observation to discover that not a few purchase their knowledge at the price of their fortune and reputation. Impressed with this conviction, I determined, some four months ago, to take advantage of the leisure accidentally afforded me to see what land-marks had been set up, and to know what could be learned respecting a matter so important as business, by means less costly and more pleasant than the severe teachings of experience. On looking through the records within my reach, I found a good deal that considered valuable, and which I was satisfied that all who are engaged in business do not know, though doubtless many know the whole of it and much more. It seemed to me that, by separating that which was useful and practical from the mass of irrelevant matter with which it was mixed up, and arranging it in an interesting and instructive shape, with the addition of some facts entirely within my own possession, I could do some service to those for whom I entertain a higher respect than for any other class of men in the world— I mean the active, intelligent business men of the country — and especially to those who are fitting themselves for business pursuits. Whether the attempt is a happy one, I cannot say. It is a hazardous undertaking for an unpractised hand to attempt authorship at any time ; and on subjects like this, it is doubly hazardous.
My claims to the indulgent consideration of those whose attention I necessarily solicit by the act of publication, rest mainly on the fact that the number of books on the principles of money-making is few— none to serve as models — and that more are wanted ; and upon the fact that I honestly entertain the opinion, however mistaken it may be, that those who favour this humble treatise with a candid and unprejudiced perusal will not find that their time and money have been totally thrown away. The value of books of this kind does not consist solely in what they state, but also in what they may suggest, so that a wide-awake man stands a chance of having an idea suddenly darted into his mind by which he may materially and essentially improve his fortune, or increase his happiness.
" In the outset, then, we apprise the reader," to use the language (which is especially true of this work) of the author of the chapter on Speculation, "that, inasmuch as one man's wisdom or experience would be a very insufficient guide in this great search for truth, which has a big bag of money at the end, we have not undertaken to rely on our own acquired skill in money-making, but have made free with the Knowledge of others. The principles, the facts, the maxims, and the Judgments we design to set forth are partly original and partly compiled. Few men have written books without saying something wise on the subject of money-getting, and what we have learned from divers sources respecting this matter may be found in the following dages. This work embraces, besides that is original, numerous extracts and interesting letters to the author from Hon. John Freedley, Hon. Horace Greely, P. T. Barnum, and others ; an excellent original essay, The True man of Business, by Hon. Horace Greely, written for this work ; and How to Get Rich by Speculation, by a merchant of Boston, originally written for the Boston Courier ; and other valuable matter from various sources.
Hoping that this treatise, though humble, contains some hints that will be of value to those for whom it has been prepared, and that those of its friends who believe that it will do good notwithstanding its faults, will take some interest in its circulation, I leave it in the hands of a generous public.
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