The St. Mary banner., 1918-02-02
Profits of Stockholders in Mail.
Order Houses Stagger the
Imagination.
CUST0hIERS SUPPLY CAPITAL
One Man Makes More Than $3.50 900
on $25, 900 Investment in Nine
Years-hundreds Like
Him,
(Copyright.)

| ue:iiln% With the mail-Order houses but
it isn't by buying goods from them.
The man who thinks he is making
money by buying his goods from mall
order houses has only to read of the
amazing profits made by some OF these
big corporations to realize that all the
money is being made by the man on
the other end Of the deal.
The stockholdor in a big moil-ortler
concern tolls not an! neither does he
spin. but he piles Up his money so fast
that it makes the ordinary mans head
swim to read about it, Here is the
experience Of the stakeholder in one
of the large mail-or1er concerns, as
told by & reliable financial journal. It
gives a glimpse into the inside work
ings Of the laai!order business that
should be Of interest to those whe
aave made such things possible.
How the Game Works.
In 1908 this man bought GOO shares
Of stock in the mail-order corporation
in question when the stock was selling
costing him little less than $4,000.
In 1911 the company declared a stock
dividend of 33 1-3 per cent. In other
words the company after paying cash
dividends regularly, had accumulated
q surplus profit Of One-third of the
amount of capital invested in the
business; but instead of distributing
this profit among the stockholders the
company kept the money in the busi-
ness and issued stock for that amount
TO the Stockholders. BY this action
200 more shares Of stock were issued
TO the man VINO had originally bought |
COG. increasing his holdings to 500 |
shares. without his having put any
more money into the business.
Another stock dividend Of so DER
cent w:s declared in 1915 and this
added 400 shares more to his holdings,
giving him LOO shares in all. A third
stock dividend of 25 per cent was paid
early in 1917. bringing this mans
stock holdings up to 1900 shares, st;u
without his having paid in any more
money. On this 1900 shares of stock,
cash dividends of IS 4 share are now
being paid. THiS investor therefore
is Row receiving $4,000 a year from
ais original investment Of about S25.-
'hfH. and as the stock is row worth
around SlGO 4 share, the present mar
llet value of his Stccl, is S24O.OOO. Civ
ing him Il profit of S215OOO. in addi-
ton to cash dividends which he re-
celved during nine years. amounting
to many more thousands Of dollars.
Only One CT Hundreds. ;
This is the story of Just one small I
'tockholler in one mail-ordcr concern.
A profit of more than S215,OOO made
W one snla!! stakeholder in nine years
m an investment of less than $4,000,
t reads like fiction but it is financial
history. There are hundreds of other
stockholders in this and other mail :
rider corporations, some of whom
lave made millions while this man
made thousands. Add the profits of
III these stockholders together and the
esult is Il sum that StagSers the imag- {
nation.
Small wonder that the men who own
he stock of the big mail-or,ler houses
an 1--we in palaces, ride in the highest
riced automobiles. own palatial pri-
ate yachts and buy 100000 paint
1gS. But who has furnished the s
loney to pay for the palaces and the
utoao'll"s and the yachts and the
iVo,ooo paintings? The people in the +
puntry and the small towns who have
ept an endless stream of money flow
lg into the Golfers of the mail-or,ier
ouses have made all this possible. -
heir millions of dollars have gone to
he big cities to build up these great
)ncernS. Their millions Of dollars
ave provided the automobiles and 4
lchts and other Injuries for the l"
ockholdcrs in these corporations.
Present From MaiI-order Buyers.
These men who have piled up such
e fortunes in the mail-order bust
ass have not even had To pay for
uch OF the stock from which they are z
NV drawing princely dividends. The
'or'e in the country aud the Smal!
WIS. generous souls. have bought il +,
+ them This is shown in the case ~
the stockho!der just mentioned. who
fginally invested. The generous
buyers have made him a I
esent of $4,000 worth of stock and
has not Iaa to turn his hand over
ucf Il IL L... 49,. =. ...--.