The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1908-02-06
TRAPS FOR THE TRUSTING
Greater Skill Employed in Fishing for Investment suck
ers" Than Ever Was Used by an Angler in
Entrapping the Willy Trout.
BY HON. WILLIAM sARRET RIDGELY,
ConnntroIIer Of the currencv

the Currency.
)ut cost to yourself, the highest mar.
aet price for your holdings" This
'nnnds very assuring; it carries with
It a protective and almost paternal at.
mosphere and seldom fails to inspire
in the trusting investor the feeling
that there is a strong hand ready to
take the investment off his shoulders
the moment it threatens to become q
burden.
This particular phrase is especially
fortunate and typical, by way of illus.
tration, for the reason that it couples
with the word guarantee" another
term which is a warm favorite with
the word artists of the get-rich-quicK
studies. l refer to the phrase high.
est market value"
Wherever either Of these clever sig.
nails to credulity is displayed the pos.
sible investor should invariably re.
member these points:
First. A guarantee is never stronger
than the guarantor.
Second. A security only has mar.
ket value" in the fair and true sense
of the term where large demand for
1t meets a large supply; there, and
there only, exists an active market
and a genuine market value"
Let these two propositions which
any reputable banker or broker will
tell you are axiomatic) be considered
separately: There is no virtue in the
word guarantee" If this simple fact
could have been firmly fixed i'll the
minds of the small investors Of this
country they would have been saved
the loss of millions of dollars since
cur present period of wonderful pros.
perity began. In these days of highly
perfected business organization the
process of finding out the real re.
Sponsibllity of any financial or busi-
ness concern has been reduced TO an
exact science and made available to
all. Is it reasonable to suppose, un-
der these conditions, that any com.
pany or corporation which cannot
stand on it's own feet can get any re.
sponsible concern to guarantee its
bonds or other so-called securities
Never! Such supposition is absurd
on the face of it and an instance
where it has been done Is not, so far
as | know, to be found in actual prac
tice. Dig down under the guarantee"
of the company which asks you TO in
vest your savings and what do you
find? That if you do invest you and
your fellow victims are really your
own guarantors; that the financial
strength of the concern is really the
money which you and your associates
pour into it; that its only financial life
blood comes from the purses of the
small investors and that when the
stream of vitality from this source be-
gins to dry up the services of the
financial undertaken are in near and
inevitable demand. Reduced to its last
analysis, the black-type declaration of
a guarantee" in the literature Of the
"get-rich-quick" concern simply means
that it has something to sell you Gen.
orally it is also an invitation to you to
pay in advance for the flowers to
adorp your own financial funeral.
AS to the other pet phrase: High
est market value"-or market value
of any kind for that matter-a very
few words will suggest the situation:
Excepting where a very large de-
mand meets a very large supply In a
free, open and comparatively UT
manipulated market, where sales are
regularly made of record and thos
records command the respect and con-
fidence of the legitimate financial pub.
lie, there is no market value" save
that which is arbitrarily made by the
broker He Is the market; he makes
the price by the simple process of
thumbs up or thumbs down."
The man who is on the Sucker" list
of a wildcat concern receives an an
nouncement that "all indications point
to the conclusion that next week the
stock OF the Honor Bright company
will sell at not less than five points in
advance of the present price" Next
week he gets notice that the predic
tion of an advance has proven true. If
he is unsophisticated enough he re-
ceives the announcement with solemn
credulity and credits the author of the
promotion literature with great acu-
men and shrewd prophetic powers. He
figures up the profits he would have
made on the advance and condemns
himself for not needing the advice of
the confidential" advice to buy
quick"
What he does not consider is the
fact that he is dealing with fictitious
market where the seller simply makes
up his mind how much he will ad-
vance the stock in question and then,
when the time comes, marks it up and
makes the announcement of the
SHARP advance" This trick is turned
not only for the purpose of getting
larger price per share, but mainly to
tickle the cupidity of hesitating in.
vestors and making sales which other
wise could not have been made.
Copyright. by Joseph B. Bowles)
Uses Glass for Bread Board.