《股票作手回忆录·第十二章·棉花惨败·被专家说服》第9节
“A set of Walter Scott to J. P. Morgan, who not only has some fine editions but probably the original manuscripts of some of the novels as well?” “Well, here’s his John Hancock.” And he promptly flashed on me a contract signed by J. P. Morgan himself. It might not have been Mr. Morgan’s signature, but it did not occur to me to doubt it at the time. Didn’t he have mine in his pocket? All I felt was curiosity. So I asked him, “How did you get past the librarian?” “I didn’t see any librarian. I saw the Old Man himself. In the office.” “That’s too much!” I said. Everybody knew that it was much harder to get into Mr. Morgan’s private office empty handed than into the White House with a parcel that ticked like an alarm clock. But he declared, “I did.” “But how did you get into his office?” “How did I get into yours?” he retorted. “I don’t know. You tell me,” I said. “Well, the way I got into Morgan’s office and the way I got into yours are the same. I just talked to the fellow at the door whose business it was not to let me in. And the way I got Morgan to sign was the same way I got you to sign. You weren’t signing a contract for a set of books. You just took the fountain pen I gave you and did what I asked you to do with it. No difference. Same as you.”
注释摘要
在这一段情节里，利弗莫尔搬出了当时美国金融界真正意义上的“皇帝”——约翰·皮尔庞特·摩根（J. P. Morgan），来测试那个推销员胆量的极限。在1907年恐慌前后的华尔街，摩根根本不是普通的银行家，他是整个美国金融体系的非官方最后贷款人。就在本书故事发生的时间线附近，正是摩根凭借个人权威，在自己的书房里把几十家信托公司的总裁锁到半夜，强迫他们分摊救市资…