The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-03-09
IN III RILXI.

There seems to be in these days no
end of opportunities for investors. On
every hand inviting and alluring
chances are proffered. There are safe
| investments and others not so cafe, and
still others that are absolutely unsafe.
There,are still as many golden opportu-
mites for making a fortune rapidly as
ever there were-in fact, more. There
is also multitude of opportunities for
losing money. The standard railroads
of the United States have become in
the last few years tolerably safe for the
investor to touch. Ten, fifteen and
twenty years ago this was not the case.
Then new railroad lines were being laid
out and built in all directions with great
profit to the syndicates through stock
watering in not a few cases Now the
era of railroad building has passed to a
great extent and given place to the
building up of the properties in the in
terest of the stockholders Great rail-
road systems which were overloaded
with securities have been through the
bankruptcy mill and emerged with fixed
charges so much reduced that regular
dividends on the stock are tolerably well
assured on the thoroughly reorganized
properties The securities of the old
he hnd
without recourse to reorganization, and
which were able to continue paying
dividends through thick and thin, have
become what is termed gilt edged" Sc
curities Railroad directors have be-
come more and more conscious that
public sentiment and their security
holders expect honest, conservative and
able management of the trusts confided
to their care. The courts also have in
to prevent unnecessary paral-
lelng of railroads, after several giaring
examples of the ruin such unnecessary
work-done usually for the benefit of
speculators-has entailed. |
The railroad boards of directors, more
over, have come to that commendable |
point where reports that can be consid |
cred reliable are made to their stock
holders. All this is very encouraging to
the investor. The next step will be for |
public sentiment to arise in Its might |
and demand equally faithful and ex-
plicit reports from the great trusts and
other like corporations. Witness the
lrop in Sugar stock and the late uncer-
ainty over the dividend question.
No power has yet been found strong
enough to compel the Sugar trust to
make complete and explicit reports of
It's doings. Take the case of the i'm
nue. traction stock. Here is glazing
case where a corporation supposed to
De gilt edged had accumulated an i'm
nense floating debt and has been put
nto the hands of receiver. There are
,ther cases before the public eye at the
present time of trusts which were float
ID at an inausplcious time and which
nave become either bankrupt or nearly
10, while thousands suffer thereby For
hose who knowingly play with fire for
peculative purposes there is little SYM
THY if they do get burnt, but there are
many usually careful investors who.
ured by glowing statements, have ven
ured in and lost their little all. The
of the times is to require honest
nd explicit statements from corpora
ions, and there will ere long no doubt
e great Improvement in this respect.
HAPPY NEW YORK.