I suppose Prentiss shares the delusion of thousands of outsiders who think a manipulator can do anything. He can’t. The biggest thing Keene did was his manipulation of U.S. Steel common and preferred in the spring of 1901. He succeeded not because he was clever and resourceful and not because he had a syndicate of the richest men in the country back of him. He succeeded partly because of those reasons but chiefly because the general market was right and the public’s state of mind was right. It isn’t good business for a man to act against the teachings of experience and against common sense. But the suckers in Wall Street are not all outsiders. Prentiss’ grievance against me is what I have just told you. He feels sore because I did my manipulation not as I wanted to but as he asked me to. There isn’t anything mysterious or underhanded or crooked about manipulation designed to sell a stock in bulk provided such operations are not accompanied by deliberate misrepresentations. Sound manipulation must be based on sound trading principles. People lay great stress on old-time practices, such as wash sales. But I can assure you that the mere mechanics of deception count for very little. The difference between stock-market manipulation and the over-the-counter sale of stocks and bonds is in the character of the clientele rather than in the character of the appeal. J. P. Morgan & Co. sell an issue of bonds to the public--that is, to investors. A manipulator disposes of a block of stock to the public--that is, to speculators. An investor looks for safety, for permanence of the interest return on the capital he invests. The speculator looks for a quick profit. The manipulator necessarily finds his primary market among speculators--who are willing to run a greater than normal business risk so long as they have a reasonable chance to get a big return on their capital. I myself never have believed in blind gambling. I may plunge or I may buy one hundred shares. But in either case I must have a reason for what I do. I distinctly remember how I got into the game of manipulation--that is, in the marketing of stocks for others. It gives me pleasure to recall it because it shows so beautifully the professional Wall Street attitude toward stock-market operations. It happened after I had “come back”--that is, after my Bethlehem Steel trade in 1915 started me on the road to financial recovery.