THE HABIT OF SAVINGwas having a good time, and with no thought of the future. This
man is now one of the vice presidents of one of New York's
greatest financial institutions, and is reported to be worth many
millions of dollars.
I should have taken his advice.
In the fall of I908, after my disastrous experience of six
months in another line of business following my resignation
from the Hearst organization, I resumed newspaper work as
advertising manager of the New York Evening Mail. I had known
Henry L. Stoddard, editor and owner, back in the Philadelphia
days, when he was political correspondent for the Press.
Despite the fact that I was bothered by debts, I did the best
work of my life on the Evening Mail, and made more money
during the five years I was associated with it than I had ever
made before. Moreover, Mr. Stoddard gave me the privilege
of syndicating advertising talks, which ran in his paper for one
thousand consecutive publication days, and earned for me more
than fifty-five thousand dollars.
Mr. Stoddard was very generous in many other ways, and
frequently paid me special sums of money for doing what he
considered unusual things in the way of developing business.
During this period, I was so deeply in debt that, in order to keep
things moving as smoothly as possible, but without retrenching
in the slightest way in my expenses, I borrowed money from
Peter to pay Paul and from Paul to pay Peter. That item of fifty-
five thousand dollars earned from syndicating advertising talks
would have more than paid all my debts and left a nice nest egg
besides. But all of it was spent as easily as though I hadn't a care
in the world.
In 19 I 5 I went on my own in the advertising business.
From that time until the spring of 1922 my fees ran into very
big figures. I was still making more money than I ever did, and
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