New-York tribune., 1921-10-11
Some Sound Investments


never taken advantage of the privilege al
your auVicc. am young man with a
s0od income and good prospects, I have
trled to diversity my Investments and at
tne same time place my funds recently so
that might reasonably expect an increase
OF principal over few years as we'll as
secure good yield in dividends NV
holdings arc follows: Bonds-Am.r,can
IeIephone and Telegraph 6s. ST ofO; Atchi-
srn sDn' popeha taa - q santa Fe 4s, s7S5, North
sIh =, Faclhc-Grea Northern toint 0i5a,
$Lol1.25. total S2SOG.25. StoctsY1-aIn,
shares southern Pacific common. $500 five
shares Consolidated Gas common $40 90
thrce shares American Car ana r-n,,td,- ~,
>1Sl three shares American robaooo cnn'
non, $7'o ooi grand total, s4,S03.25 In
aGaiilon have about $500 to invest.
" ould You advise Eve shares United states
steel preferred at lO0ls aud three sraras
or or General Electric? Your suggestions or
thought on my list would be appreciated.Y -
T.. ". NJ w
Answer-We wish to congratulafe
you upon the sound character Of vonr
investments. We are a.ways cautious
ABOUT advising people to buy or to hold
stocks, but we can be cautious in YOUR
case ana stlll advise you TO hold yours.
You nave three excellent bonds and
TOUR OF the soundest common stocks in
the market. All common stocks have
q speculative flavor about them, but we
thlnk that you have a perfect right ia
that much uncertainty, for Won have
CHOSEN stocks of the very highest rat
ing. we say the same about General
Electric. United States Steel preferred
IS sound Investment we think.
Qnandary Over New Haven
a, Quegtion--i have held $4,000 worth
@ new york. New Haven o Hartford Rail
roao per cent convertible bonds for ten
years. and am now advised by one friend
snae the road VIII probably go into the
nalaa nent vx o. receiver, or will ba sold our
Sase VIII Dc wiped out Another friend
denies this. and says tho government, hav-
ing suarsnteed these securities during tho
war, couid not let them be wiped out
wthout mourning a lawsuit and that /
nao peter hold on to them. They have
s{bead'iy sea- declined since ! bought them and
,ney arc now down 60 bs. 1 would be
very srateful to you II you would give me
your opinion on the following questions:
recognize shat no one foretell the
by your readers. Of whom am one DO
you think receivershlp or sale OF the
road Is ikely2 In such event, what Is
nAely 10 be the position OF the bondholder.
such as II If you were in my position
ah1 al,fi did not have 10 sell. but would be
20 go lower. what would you do, sell or
mold on' In the event of . receivership
or gale OF the road, are these bonds likely
worthless eecurities7 \ will greatly ap-
preciate any expression of opinion or In
AoiInau uon that you may give.-Mrs A. ?.
Answer-We think some form Of
financial adjustment Of the New York.
New Haven & Hartford is likely. On the
other hand, we do not think that there
Is remote chance of your bonds be-
ing wiped out entirely. They are Sc
cured equally with the other debcn-
equally with the bonds that were is
sued to the government to pay the
government for advances made during
the period Of Federal control. II there
should be receivership, we think
that probably new company would be
formed and eventually some new Sc
curltles OF this company would be is
sued in place of the bonds that YOU
now hold. Since you are not forced
to sell at this time, the question be-
comes one purely OF whether the
chances are in favor of eventually get
ting security that Is worth more
than the present type of your securi-
ties, or of getting one worth less
Something, IN our opinion, will have
to be done to remedy the New England
railroad situation. u cannot 90 on
Indefinitely as it Is now. There ia a
high overhead investment in New Eng
land railroads. and yet the roads un-
der present rates and divisions of
rates are not able to earn their in
terest charges on the investment. and
at times not even their operating ex-
penses. If you feel like speculating
In the New Haven situation, you can
hold on to your bonds. If YOU pre-
fer to put yourself in sound invest
ment position and not 20 through the
worries Of a possible financial reor-
eanization, we suggest that you sell
your bonds now and invest in some
other OF the bonds that we recommend
as high grade in the columns Of The
Tribune