Omaha daily bee., 1905-08-06
nit any exact criticism at the present
Invertors Are Wary.

time.
Investors Are wary.
This sluggish auctuating market has
made investors extremely cautious. Crops
must prove very favorable. and the general
situation must improve very largely before
confidence can be ro-Cstuhlished. Every
one seems 20 realize that our federal
treasury, for once, is not IN a position TO
come behind our money lenders. Then
again. stockholders are finally coming 70
the realization that they and not the offi-
GERS and directors who have hitherto had
absolute sway, by reason Of painfully neg
lected elections. are really the owners OF
the properties in which they are share
holders.
There was a time, a few years ago when
anything that looked like stock GER
uhcate sold very readily to the public:
The preferred system was then inaugurated
and the legal preference given this class
Of securities found great favor through
GuI tnS o"v tho
other was as good as It looked. The coun-
try investor became careful-his experience
began to tell. When clever promoters
found that the sentiment Of the country
was changing and that the preference OF
the investors seemed to favor bond issues
no time was lost TO devise system
whereby bonds might be sold very freely,
while the corporation assumed little or no
Today the Investing public is buying these
bonds as freely and with as much careless
ness as it did the green and gold stock
Gel NAilNtiNts VI N'i ,ol NA's. MINUS SNNh
as "debenturcs,' which pay interest when
the interest is earned; collateral trusts"
which are kind of lien on the corpora;
tons securities, but not on the railroad
property itself. "convcrtlhlcs" which are
merely an option on the shares at slip
essentially no different from the shares
themselves: all OF these are examples OF
our present day high finance. None OF
these are first or second mortgages. Most
people who buy bonds Of this character
believe they are all first mortgages.
Investments that Pay.
Among the smaller organizations such
and colossal ambitions have not yet taken
root There are several manufacturing
corporations in Chicago and other cities
whose securities have been closely invest-
gated. and whose management has re-
malned honest and sincere even In this
age Of trickery and, deceit. very rare
making good investments. l am OF the
firm belief that the sentiment of the en-
tire country is about to change, and that
smaller, but honest and meritorious, bust
ness enterprises, which have not been re-
ceiving their share of public financial sup
port, are going to benefit by existing con-
ditions among the huge combinations which
have been so largely over capitalized that
little or no Opportunity presents itself for
hetterment until they are gone through
the throes Of honest reorganization.
After carefully observing the tendency OF
that ' much Of the country's money, which
formerly went into listed securities, Is
being devoted to the smaller and less
gigantic enterprises. In other words, the
trickeries and high finance methods OF
some Of our Wall street giants have re-
suited in awakening the country investor
to the existing conditions.
As a matter of fact, there is as much
safety and greater honesty to be found
among the smaller corporations, which are
doing a straightforward, clean, legitimate
business free from the greed and avarice
OF the big promoters l have looked into
the affairs of several of these companies
and | was agreeably surprised by the COM
parative Cleanness Of the business methods
and by the high standard of commercial
ethics employed. II Is to be hoped that
these institutions will receive the sup
port of the public which their merit and
commercial integrity deserves,
f. c. DRUINDING.