Arizona republican., 1917-01-08

retire it is case the company or au- thority is unable to repay the loan upon it's maturity. Actually these suppositions are generally very far from being correct. FeH investors in bonds study the condition of the com panies or authorities issuing the se- curities they ouy. The investors either have a blind faith in the companies or authorities or they blindly accept the recommendations of the bond brokers
 It IS tEe investors who buy bonds during hard times who are the most important purchasers for public au- thorities to consider. At such times the orderly. unchecked prosecution of public works gives employment to many people who would otherwise be at loss where to obtain the neces- sites of life. Funds for such work can he obtained by the sale of bonds. provided the bonds can pass the scrunity of the careful investor, but not otherwise. It is only necessary 70 recall the difficulties of cities, | counties and states in raising money in the winter of 1913-14 to see what difference exists between the bond markets of good times like today and those of hard times.
 The careful investor insists that
 
 property worth in hard times some what more money than the amount i of his loan. In the case of county ] bonds this security is the property Of | the taxpayers of the county, estma ted ] at it's assessed valuation If tpe i county is bonded to it's legal limit, that fact is considered by some in- : vestors to indicate tendency toward i extravaganza; whether this is cor s. tt..,. l1 Lstt ft 1 exists The character of the admins l tration Of public affairs is also con- | sidered hv the investor: where men of good standing take m active part in | local government. the community is likely to have good credit, and where | public affairs are left to 8 few poi- 1 ticians, and community spirit is low the investor is not attracted by that 1 comm lnity's bonds.
 1 These considerations are just be- | ~inning to have their effect on road bonds Such bonds are comparatively | new and little understood by investors. 1 hut they have been readily sold. | largely because about everybody with i money to buy bonds owns an automo- | hile and wishes to travel on good roads But when hard times come, road bonds, like ali other securities. will not be sold so easily as they are ! today. Those counties which main - tain properly the roads built with the l proceeds of bond issues. as is re- i quired bv law in Mississippi will he able 10 dispose Of such securities more i readily than counties which build more miles of road than their finan- cial condition will permit them to | maintain and are consequently forced 'o allow more discriminating than he has been in the past He will go into Dartnership with only. those communi- . | ties which will look after hissinves' O ment with the same foresight and skill that the industrial and railway com
 panies exercise in safeguarding his
 money used by them. He will insist
 that the roads he helps build shall be properly located constructed and
 maintained, and ne will insist eventu- ally that the roads shall he of real
 n-'hlic utility, just as he insists that
 railroads. water works and electric 1 rla nts shall be of real utility. These features are neglected in times ol
 universal prosperity. although the,
 shoald receive the most careful at
 tcntion in order that tEe money spent
 on roads. when money is raised easil, may procure the greatest possibl-
 good during those lean years when the
 community reaps it's maximum return l rom it's earlier expenditures for pub
 iic works.