New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1880-08-25
WHOLE NUMBER 139
To Amateur Spectators.

The revival in business brings out
from the cellars and garrets all sorts of
stocks; and from the brains of visionary
men all sorts Of enterprises. Some dc
funct works are really worth reviving;
some imagined enterprises are really
worth attempting; q great many moro
are improbable: To discriminate be-
tween the sound and the unsubstantial.
the real aud the false, tho practicable
and the impracticable, requires special
knowledge and good Judgment. Some
men possessing these qualities will 90
into Wall street and will realize hand
somely from rise in stocks; some will
be merely lucky, they will happen to
hit on the genuine without knowing
why; great many moro will attempt
to trade on the wisdom of others and
will suffer; for one of the notices of
Wall street is that all is fair in trade
and war, and the wise make their money
out OF the fools; and still more will
think they know enough to speculate
who know nothing at all, and will only
succeed in learning that pride goeth
before fall. Our advice to country
readers, inclined to buy Wall street
stocks for q rise. is, "dOn't." You
might better attempt to steer a boat
from New York to Albany without ever
having handled 4 rudder, than to steer
through the shifting shoals of Wall
street without previous apprenticeship
and not come to shipwrcck.
But it is = foregone conclusion that
many of our readers will try their hand
ut speculation, in spite of counsel. They
will do well to bear in mind these facts
and principles:
"A man may put money into his bust
ness, he may marry it to his industry,
and it may give him ten, fifteen, twenty
five, fifty per cent. But any Investment
which promises return of over six per
cebs. to mere capital is hazardous. And
generally the hazard is in the exact pro-
portion of the amount of interest prom
lsed. The more seductive the more
hazardous. The safest investment is
Government bonds They pay four per
cent, and arc as nearly absolutely safe
as anything can be in this world. Next
are first mortgages on good real estate.
They pay six per cent. in this State,
and, if the property be not ovcrvalucd,
are relatively safe. Next come railroad
bonds and stocks; last of all, mining
stocks, which make the largest promises
OF all and are the most likely to pay
neither principal nor interest. You arc
offered a stock at thirty cents on tho
dollar; you are assured that it is certain
to go up to fifty cents on the dollar in
the course of a year. Now, before
you buy, consider what these facts
indicate. There is always plenty of
capital in New York City anxious for
safe investment at good rates of inter-
est. This capital is owned by men
who arc familiar with the market, and
who make it a daily study. Tho fact
that the stock of the - mine is sold
for thirty cents on the dollar indicates
that msn who have better opportuni.
ties than you to know think there is
about one chance in three that it will
come to anything. Buy the stock ut
thirty cents, if you choose; but do so
with your eyes open. Understand that
you are riskimg your money, and do
not be astonishcd if the risk goes
against you. Distinguish between in
vcstment and speculation; and put this
down rs q cardinal principle in all pur-
chascs: tho greater the promise tho
greater the risk.
And therefore make it an absolutely
inviolablc rule, / will risk no more
money than l can afford to lose. If
you are alone in life this is n rule of
prudence; if You have wife and chill
drcn dependent upon you this is rule
of honor. You have no right to stake
your wife's home and your children's
education on the chances of the street.
But the best rule Of all is: Don't
Christian Union.