American novelist and journalist Edgar Watson Howe (1853-1937) wrote as one of his “Country Town Sayings” in 1911:
 
“When a man says money can do anything, that settles it: He hasn’t any.”
 
The saying has been included in many books on financial quotations.
 
   
Wikipedia: E. W. Howe
Edgar Watson Howe (May 3, 1853 – October 3, 1937), sometimes referred to as E. W. Howe, was an American novelist and newspaper and magazine editor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was perhaps best known for his magazine, E.W. Howe’s Monthly. Howe was well traveled and known for his sharp wit in his editorials.
 
3 July 1911, Belleville (IL) News-Democrat, “Country Town Sayings” by “Ed ” Howe, pg. 4, col. 4:
When a man says money can do anything, that settles it; he hasn’t any.
 
Chronicling America
11 July 1911, Bisbee (AZ) Daily Review, “Country Town Sayings” by “Ed ” Howe, pg. 2, col. 2:
When a man says money can do anything, that settles it: He hasn’t any.
 
Google Books
March 1952, Changing Times (The Kiplinger Magazine), pg. 19, col. 2:
It’s still pretty generally true, as a smart man said 30 years ago, that “When a man says money can do anything, that settles it — he hasn’t any.”
 
Google Books
New Treasury of Stories for Every Speaking and Writing Occasion
By Jacob Morton Braude
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
1959
Pg. 242:
When a man says money can do anything, that settles it: he hasn’t any. — ED HOWE
 
Google Books
The Wit and Wisdom of Wall Street
By Bill Adler
Homewood, IL: Dow Jones-Irwin
1985
Pg. 81:
When a man says money can do anything, that settles it: he hasn’t any.
W. E. Howe
 
Google Books
Money and Wealth:
A Book of Quotations
Edited by Joslyn Pine
Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc.
2013
Pg. 99:
When a man says money can do anything, that settles it. He hasn’t any.
Edgar Watson Howe (1853-1937), American novelist and journalist