“You can have it. There is one sure mark of the coming partner, the
future millionaire; his revenues always exceed his expenditures. He
begins to save early, almost as soon as he begins to earn. I should
say to young men, no matter how little it may be possible to save,
save that little. Invest it securely, not necessarily in bonds, but in
anything which you have good reason to believe will be profitable; but
no gambling with it, remember. A rare chance will soon present itself
for investment. The little you have saved will prove the basis for
an amount of credit utterly surprising to you. Capitalists trust the
saving young man: For, every hundred dollars you can produce as the
result of hard-won savings, Midas, in search of a partner, will lend
or credit a thousand; for every thousand, fifty thousand. It is not
capital that your seniors require, it is the man who has proved that
he has the business habits which create capital. So it is the first
hundred dollars saved that tells.”
“What,” I asked Mr. Carnegie, “was the next enterprise with which you
identified yourself?”