The first step in the education of the speculator should be to clear away the illusions which have grown rank through ignorance, and flourished through prejudice. We have heard, and continue to hear, a great deal of ethical talk on this subject, most of which emanates from people who are not authorities, and who have little real conception of the subject. It would be pretty safe to assume that a majority of these same instructors speculate themselves. They place an arbitrary construction on the word however, and draw a dividing line between stock or cereal operations, and other forms of speculation, although the basic principle is the same in all cases, i.e.: to buy what is cheap and re-sell at a profit. One of the most ridiculous forms which this pedantry assumes is the warning and preaching against speculation by very rich men who made their own money speculating and could not possibly have acquired it in any other way. Such expressions of opinion are born largely of an exaggerated ego. The trouble with these critics and advisers is that they seldom approach the subject in the right way. With a full knowledge of the fact that speculation is an inherent part of human nature, and that a majority of human beings are bound to indulge in it in spite of everything, these sophists simply rail against the practice indiscriminately instead of attempting to point out what is foolish and fallacious. If we attack the practice in a general way little will be accomplished. If we say, “do not speculate,” our audience will perchance give us a respectful hearing,--and go on speculating. If, however, we point out what is dangerous and unreasonable, confine ourselves to attacking the evils and explaining the delusions, some good may be done in an educational way. We may, if we show by simple logic that the education and qualifications necessary to success are too difficult to acquire, actually deter many people from speculating in certain lines at all, a thing which could not possibly be accomplished by mere blanket warnings against the practice. One of the most serious blunders in the world is the common one of under-estimating other people’s intelligence. People are ready and willing to learn, and that they do learn is shown by the decreasing crop of lambs. It is not nearly so easy for the dishonest promoters and manipulators to market poor securities at high prices today as it was a few years ago. And in this regard it may be pointed out that the press has actually, although in many instances unconsciously, accomplished a great deal on exactly the lines suggested above. Magazines and newspapers have, in recent years, taken on an educational character. Periodicals once devoted to fiction or history now deal largely with business and social economics, and with the exposure of bad methods in high places, the ruthless uncovering of false or misleading statistics, and the simplification of questions hitherto involved; the public has