304 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-MASTERY
The men who started the EI Producto Cigar business had but
little capital, and what they did have was money they had saved from
their small earnings as cigar makers. They had a good idea and knew
how to make a good cigar, but the idea would have died before it could
be carried out had they not saved a little money. With their meager
savings they launched the cigar, and a few years later they sold out
their business to the American Tobacco Company for $8,000,000.
Behind practically every great fortune one may find, as its begin-
ning, a well-developed habit of saving money.
John D. Rockefeller was an ordinary bookkeeper when he con-
ceived the idea of developing the oil business, which was then not
even considered a business. He needed capital, and because he had
developed the Habit of Saving, and had thereby proved that he could
conserve the funds of other people, he had no difficulty in borrowing
the money he needed. It may be truthfully stated that the real basis of
the Rockefeller fortune is the habit of saving money that Mr. Rockefeller
developed while working as a bookkeeper at a salary of $40 a month.
James J. Hill was a poor young man, working as a telegrapher at a
salary of $30 a month. He conceived the idea of the Great Northern
Railway System, but his idea was out of proportion to his ability to
finance. However, he had formed the habit of saving money, and on
the meager salary of $30 a month had saved enough to enable him to
pay his expenses on a trip to Chicago, where he interested capitalists in
financing his plan. The fact that he, himsel£ had saved money on a
small salary was considered good evidence that he would be a safe man
to trust with other people's money.
Most people in business will not trust another person with their
money unless that person has demonstrated an ability to take care of
their own and use it wisely. The test, while it is often embarrassing to
those who have not formed the Habit of Saving, is a very practical one.
A young man who worked in a printing plant in the city of Chicago
wanted to open a small print shop and go into business for himsel£ He