M: The reason we called it that was that we had an opportunity to become
 participants in oil leases in Columbia, South America. We obtained two
 drilling rigs and actually had drilling operations in Columbia for about a year.

P: Why did the firm become insolvent?

M: Because things we were doing like this did not bring in enough income. It
 cost money to keep trying to get into new ventures, and we just never hit
 something that made money.

P: You did not have the cash flow that was needed?

M: That is right.

P: Had you bitten off more than you could chew?

M: We were not making it in the mortgage banking business. We originally
 thought we were going to be able to go in and get one or more servicing
 contracts that would have taken care of the overhead, and then we could go
 into other forms of activities. But we were never able to get any servicing
 contracts.

P: How did the company terminate? Did it dissolve? Did it go into bankruptcy?

M: It just became insolvent.

P: And that left you, then, without a job.

M: That is right. This occurred at the same time that I came down with hepatitis
 that I had picked up in South America.

P: Did you have a family?

M: I had a family with one child and a pregnant wife at that point. She had
 about $200 a month of inherited income, and we lived on that while I was
 looking around. I was walking down the street one day, and one of the
 partners in the accounting firm I had been in saw me and hollered at me.
 He said that the senior partner who had broken away from the firm before
 to form his own firm wanted to talk to me. He wanted me to do what is
 now called management services work. In other words, he was not auditing
 but being a business consultant to people. He enjoyed that. I remember
 how shocked I was the first time that I reported in to him back in 1947, and
 he said, "Do not worry about trying to find a few pennies. We are trying to
 help our clients to make money, and we are not going to worry about a few
 pennies." Well, all through school I had been taught that you kept going


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