The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1908-02-07

Did you ever observe the hne craft
with which the experienced angler
picks the fly for his trout hook? The
nice discrimination with which he
chooses between several daintiiy
fcathered bats which. to the ordinary
angler, would appear to offer to the
shy and fckle trout about equal posi-
bilities of temptation? And the more
,imid and backward the trout happen
to be at that particular place and sea
son the greater the care with which
the follower OF Walton will weigh the
merits of one fly against those OF an
other, placing theory and hearsay
| evidence on one side and his W per
sonal experience on the other.
All the cunning and discrimination
which the expert angler throws Into
| the choice of the feathers which are TO
disguise the hook and tempt the trout,
the clever investment schemer puts
| into the picking Of phrases with which
to feather his appeals to the credulity
of the small investors of the country.
Angling for trout and fishing for In
yestment suckers have many points
of similarity and the most obvious of
these Is the art with which the bait
Is chosen and arranged. In the one
case the materials employed are feath.
ers of varied c%olors; in the other the
skill OF the workman Is demonstrated
by the cunning with which he handles
words and phrases which experience
proves to be sure In their appeal to
the curiosity, the interest and the
c~erdulity of men and women who
have saved a few dollars and wish to
make them productive.
In all the p%hraseology Of tricky
finance there Is no word so over
worked as guarantee" And this
means that experience has proved 1t
to be highly effective in the hooking
Of suckers" Depend upon 1t that
no word or phrase achieves marked
popularity in the literature Of the
small investment appeal which has
not demonstrated It's rare effective
ness as an agency of deception:
If the small investors of this coun.
try could reach anything like a fair
knowledge of Just how much and how
little there Is in each of these appeal
ing catch words" in each phrase, the
plauslbility of which has been scien.
tifcally tested, they would be well on
the way towards being able to protect
themselves against the cleyerest and
most convincing Of these appeals.
Perhaps the writer can do the public
more service in Analysing a few OF
these star phrases" than by any
amount of denunciation Of the Wild
cat schemes and scbemers which de-
serve as harsh O characterization as
any man can frame. But, to return
TO the word guarantee" which has
attained first rank in the t~erminology
of the investment trickster, there is
scarcely a circular, folder or adver'
tisement or any other piece OF litera'
ture put out by the pot hunters OF
small savings which does not display
the word guarantee in big type and
with reiterated emphasis. II the insti
tuition chances to be OF a financial
character itself rather than a mining,
oil or Industrial concern, the word
guarantee" or It's twin, security
will be found incorporated into the
name of the company. Get a list OF
100 wildcat investment schemes
which are dead beyond hope OF resur
rectlon and 1t Ia a safe prediction that
one.half the names will contain the
words guarantee" or Security
These two words are as common tc
the y In the graveyard Of fake In
vestment schemes as arc those oi
Smith, Jones or Brown In any country
cemetery; they adorn practically
every other tombstone in the last rest
ing place OF defunct financial frauds.
The question of the value Of either
Of these words in the title Of a cor
poration or concern is disposed Of by
the statement that there Is 20 legal
restriction In the choice OF names o,
companies; the organizers are as free
to name their flimsy creation THE
Rock OF Gibraltar Guaranty Security
Company" as the parent Is to saddle 9
weak understood male child with the
name of Samson. And, as a rule
there is as much license or propriety
in giving the name Of the mighty enc
my " the Philistines to a stunted boy
AS there is for applying the name
guaranty" OF security" to a com
pany which goes out after the savings
OF the Small investor" Why? Be
cause the companies which are really
warranted In making either OF these
words a part Of their corporate name
do not have to 90 into the Highways
and hedges and beat the bushes fol-
their business; IT comes to them b.
force Of their financial strength. TheJ
have no need to drum it up.
However, scores of oil, mining ant
investment companies which do no
use either Of these clever catchwordI
In their corporate titles cannot b.
charged with Undertaking. the pull
ing power Of such phrases; la thei
literature this kind OF bait js EN-
ployed with the greatest skill AM
p~lausibility.
One Of the most common ways II
which this idea Is dressed Is this
I'VE guarantee you under all condl
tlons and at all times to get you, with