Singers and Storytellers Page: 87
v, 298 p. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
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THE OIL PROMOTER AS TRICKSTER
day to day. I determined, however, that I would give nobody advice in
the matter. If I should give the advice and our stockholders made a
thousand per cent on the investment, they would think I was a great
man; but if I gave the advice, and there was nothing made out of the
investment, they would lay the failure in the realization of their fast
profits, to my account. I shall accumulate no such liabilities as these.
I have unbounded faith in the oil fields there, and I believe they are
going to supply the fuel and the illumination for the world; but I don't
advise anybody either one way or the other. I can only say this: If any
readers... are going to buy oil stock, our oil stock is as good as any oil
stock in the market and far better than ninety per cent that is being sold.20
If you cannot afford to take a chance to lose $10 to $25, do not go
into this scheme because oil investments are uncertain. Admittedly it is
a 'long shot." The backers of the company have such a firm belief in it,
based on the best geological information obtainable, that they have put
their own money into it.21
In our exaltation of the hero we have sometimes without
the warrant of fact made every discovery somebody's folly.
There was Columbus' folly, Fulton's folly, Morse's folly, and
in oil Drake's folly and Higgins' folly, and if we may trust a
newspaper advertisement, Carruth's folly. One of his ads ran:
Hog Creek Carruth: The name that will live throughout the ages as the
name of the man who toiled singlehanded for seven long years to prove
up his belief and attain his goal-who traced an oil structure 20 miles
across the ranges from Strawn to Desdemona-who conceived and
organized the famous Hog Creek Oil Co.-who drilled the discovery well
of the great Desdemona field at one time called the richest spot on earth-
who transformed a desert into a fountain of liquid gold-who built a city
of 30,000 souls from a village of 200 people and who paid every person
who held shares of stock in his renowned Hog Creek Co. $10,133 for
every $100 invested.22
Thus were the doubting Thomases confounded.
One very successful copy writer found the folksy style
effective:
Now, folks, I'm going to tell you a lot of things in this ad that will be
good for your souls. I'm not a promoter and I'm not an ad writer-I'm just
plain old Harry Bleam. All I can do is just sit down and tell you this
stuff the way I know it to be. Most everybody knows about Harry87
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Singers and Storytellers (Book)
Collection of popular folklore of Texas, including personal anecdotes about storytellers and singers, as well as folk songs, myths, and ghost stories. The index begins on page 295.
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Boatright, Mody C. Singers and Storytellers, book, 1961; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67655/m1/93/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.