The Washington herald., 1914-09-26
THE SILVER LINING
In THE WAR CLOUD
(Copyrisht. lsl4, b. c. NJ. K.ysI


| In October an estate is TO be wound up
/ in New York City and distributed to the
benefciaries in the form OF cash. The
| liquidation Of the estate took place about
three years ago, and the proceeds have
been lying in bank tied up by a legal
; question for the Intervening three years
! One OF the beneflciaries of the estate, who
! will receive about $4,000. is at the pres
! eni time figuring upon the Investment OF
that ,fum OF money some time in the
month ~ October.
| 1t would be hard thing to find moro
apt Illustration of the old adags that "it
is an i'll wind that blows nobody good
for not only. by chance, was this estate
turned into cash at relatively high prices
quite ers'IvtiIe~sgo but the interference
with the liquidation OF the estate, which
was considered a great nuisance at the
time, has resulted in bringing this money
into the market for investment at time
when the whole world is hquidating Sc
Curties and when prices are al their
lowest ebb in many years and possibly
also for a good many years 70 come
From an investors point of view. then.
the silver lining in the war cloud consists
OF an opportunity given to those who
happen TO be the holders Of free funds
during the next year or so to buy the best
American securities at the best prices
that have been obtained in years. There
are. OF course, many other features that
are not at all dark about this situation.
One OF them. upon which little emphasis
so far has been laid. but upon which
much more emphasis will he laid as trad
ing opens up. is the fact that purely local
American securities. representing indus
tries living upon local consumption or do
msstiC trade. or representing the use of
domestic raw material in manufacturing,
or representing the supply Of the neCessi-
ties OF life. such as water. light and heaj.
to the American public are not on the
firing line and are no: likely to be af-
fected to anything like the same extent
as securities representing International
corporations or corporations whose seCu-
rites are held heavily in foreign coun-
tries.
OF course, it is true that If these quiet
domestic securities have to be sold the
market for them is low and is likely to
continue low. because the security mar
ket. like every other market, is a COM /
petitive market and every class OF Sc /
curity competcs with every other class /
IT, however. one had his money split /
up and divided amongst a large number ,
OF securities representing good local do !
mestic corporations of similar grade the
of war will not hit him
very hard. He will simply be obliged /
to hold his investments intact, and it is I
unlikely that his revenue will be greatly |
cut down. or that his peace OF mind will .
be greatly disturbed by disastrous cpl
sodes II the strain were to C"0tir"-
long. doubtless a great many such cor
porations would paw th-T uI &c
scrip. instead OF in cash. during the
money stringenCy, but even in that case
il would not represent total loss Of rev
enue, or. in fact. any loss whatever.
unless the holder were totally dependent J
upon that revenue. II
The hopeful aspect of the situation,
from an investors point
therefor. two sides, the first applying
to the man or woman who has rlun,y /
to invest. and the second applying to the
man or woman who has money safely 4
Invested in American securities. To the i
needed TO reap such benefit as can be
reaped from a worldwide disaster is the
to igO ahead. The averac- in
Sestor. at a time like this, is too apt
10 feel that money in hand must ue
and kept rather than used
and, therefore, the tendency of the in
cestOr is to place such funds In the
banks or even in the safe deposit boxes
md leave them lie idle until the return
If normal times. Such n neglect of op-
brings no loss of principal.
out it does entail a perpetual loss Of inv!
'ome, for by the time conditions are nor
nal enough to soothe the affairs Of such
IN investor the amount Of income that
AN be bought by the investment Of that
,apital would probably be very much
smaller than the amount that could be
bought in time Of crisis
Good judgment of course Is essential
n making investments in serious times
ike these. One would naturally avoid
he securities OF corporations whose in
rinsic strength has been sapped AMI
whose earning power has been perman-
.ntly impaired by the war. or by the
Wholesale destruction Of European capital
Ind of commercial activities in Europe
)ne would naturally avoid also putting
90 much capital in one place: for the
var market has proved anew the wisdom
II wide diversity in investment. A cou-
'le of years ago almost any investor or
ritic would not have hesitated TO put
III Of any fund into securities that have
N international market: but the shock y
4 events during the past couple Of
months will probably lay emphasis for
he future upon this new phase Of the