The Washington times., 1921-12-29

That shareholders do not work; that
they belong to the idle rich; that to
penalize men who hold shares or stock
In Industrial companies is to curb
millionaires and reduce large fortunes;
that shareholders or stockholders are
useless agents of Wall Street: that they
ere parasites. non-producers. dead
weights on industry. production and
the welfare of the people.
In one way or another this idea
finds Its way open into banks and
brokerage offices. 1t In as false an
idea as ever hurt prosperity; unless
killed II will poison Industrial life.
What is a stakeholder or a share
holder? A man who has money to
spare and for one reason or another
wishes to invest 1t In industry and
enterprise. OF course. he might in
vest It in real estate or let It lie idle
in a bank, or even hide 1t In a mat
tress. But he wants to draw q fair
amount of interest and he wishes to
be able to sell quickly In case ne sud
denly needs funds. Neither real estate.
mattress, nor bank deposit will serve
10th these purposes, so he places his
money in securities. Does that mean
that he Is an idler. a parasite, a mil
lionaire? Not at all.
Many Buy Securities.
Any man who saves money out of
bis wages or salary or his business in
come IL likely to become a shareholder
or a stakeholder. Nearly every man
who saves money does buy a few
fecurities. Any stock broker can give
that information. How many times
does one hear in a Wall Street or La
SaIle Street office that the invest
ment buyers or "small lot pur-
chasers" are giving a good tone to the
market.
Now these buyers Of stocks-who
are they? Nearly always men who
have earned and saved their money In
other occupations than the business In
which they buy stocks. They are
workers. Otherwise they would not
have the money TO buy with. To say
that a man who buys ten shares OF
United States Steel or fifteen shares
Of Texas Oil is an idler is plain fool
ishness. To argue that Gary steel
worker or q Mexican well driver Is
the only one who can make the In
vestment without proving himself a
parasite" is simple fdiocy.
When the latest available figures
were taken there were 37,000,O 900 men
and boys over ten years OF age In the
United States. OF these. S0,000.000
boys were between ten and sixteen
years old, and on account OF their
youth were either being trained Tor
future work or were waiting to come
to working age. II to these we add the
men and boys in college and technical
schools, the sick, the crippled, the
inmates of public institutions, ETC., we
find that virtually all men in the
United States are workers of one sort
or another.
Millions Of Stockholders.
The idle, whether rich or poor. are
merely a handful. They are not one
in a thousand Of the male population
Of the country.
Yet the stockholders Of the United
States are counted by the million.
The young men just beginning bu5i:
ness who have saved $500 or $1,000
each are one group. They are very
numerous; the writer knows many
such. A young man Of this group has
not enough money to buy a house, 10
he Is required to keep his funds In
LIQUID condition, and he wants more
interest than the savings banks pay.
The middle class business men, who do
not wish to put all their profits back
into their enterprises, are another class
Of stockholders. The farmers are an