New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-07-02

hered only by the victims and bv tho
complers of manuals of obsolete Sc
curities
wen and women without a backlog
OF secure investments should avoid
PROMOTION stocks with the same vital
lty dlspiayed in keeping away from
rattIesnakes. On the other hand. the
,holVloual Of large resources with
large proportion of substantial invest
ments can afford to indulge his specu-
IatlVe impulses. The test always is,
can the security purchaser afford to
lose ana the ethical consideration al
ways should be, does he know that he
IS accepting large risks in the hone of
unCSuai prohts, or is he being misled
INTO assuming that a speculative Sc
curlty Is safe investment.
Whether you should seek to recoun
your potential losses resulting from
what you imply you consider lost op-
portunlties by purchasing securities of
tne Manhattan Piggy Wiggly Corpora
tlon involves speculative question on
whlch we cannot undertake to pass
Neither we nor your brokers ought to
De asked TO assume speculative risks
on your behalf. We can state the facts
and 1t is your economic function as a
Spectator to make a decision. The
Manhattan Piggly Wiggly Corporation
depends to very large degree on
whether James w. Elliott, writer of
!nspirational "Man Messages" and ven
dor OF speculative stocks on mass scale
can succeed conspicuously in his new
role as groceryman in competition
with such we'll established chain store
systems as those of James Butler. An
drew Davies, Great Atlantic and Pa
enc Tea Company, Park & Tilford,
Acker Merrill & Condit, ct al. The
Plggly Wiggly system of self-service
grocery shops has apparently found
favor IN certain sections of the South
and West: It's introduction in the
asst is still in the experimental stage,
Mr.. Elliott, head of James Elliott's
Business Builders, Inc, and president
and chairman of the board of directors
OF the Manhattan Piggy Wiggly Cor
Poratlon, recently informed us that he
hopes to open 1000 stores in the East
and that he had already started thirty
| two.
AS we have already indicated. the
uslness Builders are not yet ready to
take the general public into their con-
hdence regarding the actual earnings
OF these thirty-two store that represent
the pioneer stage, asserting that until
3
opened the operating expenses result
ing from training an organization, ETC.,
VIII be dlsproportionately large, but will
decline as additional units are started.
IT Mr.. Elllott's five hundred statesmen
can keep selling the securities, we be-
lleve the promotion will turn out prof
itaby for him, since he is head of
the Manhattan Pigg y Wiggly organiza-
ton and Is also chief of the Business
Builders, which, we are informed. re-
celves 20 per cent commission for sell
Ing the securities and also gets 100000
of the 100000 shares of the common
stock AS q unit of the general public,
you are offered the privilege of buying
for $106 in cash three to five year
lnterest-t earring certificate, which must
at the end of five years be converted
INTO $lo0 par value preferred stock and
one snare of common stock of no par
value We have no reliable method of
forecasting the earnings of stores
whose locations have not yet been Sc
lected, and therefore cannot foretell
whether the earnings will, in the rea-
sonably near future, be large enough
to pay dividends on the outstanding
capital liza ton. which has been so con
spicuously watered by the high cost of
distributing the securities. Thus far
the other miscellaneous securities
which Mr.. Elliott's organization has
sold. with the exception of Daniels
Motor preferred, are paying no return
to stockholders. The financial set-up
of the Manhattan Piggy Wiggly Cor
poration will make it possible for the
corporation to pay interest on the GER
tifcates which are being sold even
though the company shows a deficit
from operations. This may seem super
ficially advantageous to you, but we
consider it fundamentally unsound |
financing. whether INDUCED in by the
Business Builders or by houses With
correct Wall Street addresses.
AS you say, nothing is absolutely
safe. S. S. Kresge has thus far turned |
out exceedingly we'll We have no data
which would justify us in predicting
that the Manhattan Piggy Wiggly |
Corporation will duplicate its success.
We do not recommend Manhattan Pig |
gly Wiggly securities as an investment
for any one. If persons who can afford !
it want to take more than "a little"
speculative risk by buying these secur-
tiles, that is their business.