New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-04-04
Seeks Greater Peace Of Mind

ouestion-As a reader Of your investment
information. which I admire very much. rs
II strikes the nail on the head, I would like
your advice on some stocks that ! at present
hoid. l would like TO transfer some OF them
70 preferred stocks. those you think arc
classified as AN investment issue. My reason
principally for seeking your advice Is that
you favor preferred stocks. As a rule. pre-
TERED stocks do not f~uctuate very much,
and by having some of those l at present
hold transferred into preferred issues with
out a great loss ! think I would enjoy
greater peace OF mind. Those you think l
them drop much lower than they are Mt
present and / expected they would come
back. AS most Of them are railroad stocks
and they have had a jump from the low Of
1870. I think now would be the time to get
rid Of them and switch into preferred is
sues. The stocks ! at present hold and the
prices paid are as follows: Five shares
Union Pacific. ia; ten shares Union Pa
ciac, 1922: ten Norfolk & Western. 1903: ten
Northern Pacific. 81 ten Great Northern.
g. ten Southern Pacific. Jos ten New York
Central 70: ten Atcbison preferred. Sc ten
Consolidated Gas, 100. and ten American
Smelling and Refining. Is, All of these ply
dividends. The following which l carry have
NOT paid dividends for some time: Ten shares
Chicago. Milwaukee 6 St. Paul preferred,
Booth Fisheries. 20. I nave been thinking of
switchina from Chicago, Milwaukee & st.
Paui preferred to Inspiration Copper, which
pays a dividend 1t can carry itself. The
reason | seek your advice on such Il number
OF issues or what you think Of them II be-
cause your answers are so satisfactory. They
satisfy me. although I subscribe for two
magazines claiming to assist in the selection
OF securities, From you ] set facts. | know
so. because l follow up the reports closely.
1 recently have bought a home and carry a
mortgage on the same. All the interest I
secure goes into a separate fund to pay off
that mortgage. l work every day-in fact.
overt Ypa-tO frV md no+ olopr On ,1,, 200
cannot take many speculative chances. I
have four children. ranging from six to four
teen years. so any advice sou feel like giving
would be highly appreciated--E. L..
Answer--All your dividend paying
stocks are good of their kind. They
are. however, with the exception Of
Atchison preferred, more or less specu-
roads there is still the uncertainty as
to what earnings will be under the new
operating conditions, and therefore no
assurance that present dividends will
be maintained. To eliminate s~pecula-
tive features as far as possible, we sug-
gest converting all of these stocks into
high grade preferred issues, the income
on which is likely to be stable. The
st. Paul preferred stock. National Con-
duit and Cable and Booth Fisheries are
even more speculative than the others,
We all like to see our securities ad-
vance in price. but speculative securi-
ties are very likely to decline. Inspira-
ton Copper is very speculative. 1t re-
turns good yield, but we do not recon-
mend it for your purposes. 1t seems to
us that the following list should offer
suggestions for YOUR investments. They
surely would afford greater peace Of
mind: American Tobacco preferred.
Standard Oil Of New Jersey preferred,
Atlantic Refining preferred, United
States Steel preferred, Central Leather
preferred, National Biscuit preferred,
National Lead preferred, Bethlehem
States Rubber preferred. All Of these
issues are sound at present and the re-
turns are from over 6 per cent to over
7 per cent.