The Washington times., 1922-05-05
FINANCE. n
RUsiNEss. M
By y. G. FORBES.

a little bit inclined to fight shy Of
the person who hasn't a cent to his
name? We have the feeling-bred
by experience-that at any moment
no 10 likely to try to mako q
touch"
We don't have this same attitude.
this same feeling. toward the per-
son We know has handled his money
prudently and has succeeded in &C.
cumulating a respectable reserve
against a rainy day. do we?
There isn't one Of US, Is there. who
doesn't believe in the value of saw
ing money? You have never known
anyone, have you, who regretted
having saved money!
In short, saving 10 universally re.
garded as a virtue.
We all agree 30 far. don't we'
All right.
What happens to savings? What
should happen to savings? What Is
the best thing to do with savings?
I think we can all agree on this
point also: Savings should be put TO
use, shouldn't they? They should be
deposited in tho savings bank or IN
bonds or mortgages or stocks or
some other security, shouldn't they?
At least we all agree that the thing
not to do 10 to hide the savings
around the house or anywhere else
where they lie idle and useless and
unproductive.
Now, where money 10 deposited In
tho savings bank or invested directly
in securities. the saver OF the money,
the owner OF tho money becomes. in
reality. a security owner. Neither
savings banks nor any other finsn.
cial institution can pay interest on
deposits by leaving these deposits
lying locked up in their safes or de-
posit vaults. In order to earn inter
est or dividends. money must be put
| to work. must be rented Out, must be
invested.
This is still beyond dispute. ism,
Il?
But now a strange thing happens
While everybody spplauds saving
and the useful employment OF saw.
inGs, a great many people, not q
few politicians, some newspapers.
and numerous orators damn the
savers when they, by employing
their savings, become bondholders or
stockholders. Saving is a virtue, but
TO put these savings to work, 80 that
they can earn interest or dividends,
becomes q questionable. even a con-
demnable, procedure. Tho saver Is
an angel: the investor a sort OF crook.
a target TO be shot at.
Queer. isn't It? Yet we all know
that II il SO.
Let us 20 one step further and
ask where We would De II there were
not any "unproductive stockhold-
ers," as Henry Ford sneertngly de
scribes security holders-other critics
sometimes call them idle stockhod
ers." 'reapers who do not SOW, and
50 forth.
who made Henry Fords own au
tomobile company possihle' Tho
stockholders who originally advanced
nlorey 10 him. Who makes IL pos
sibls for you and me TO be carried
20 and from business by train or
street car? Stockholders. Who made
IL possible for farmers 10 obtain
reapers and binders and tractors to
relieve them OF the hardest work OF
the farm? Stockholders. Who made
our vast telephone and telegraph
service possible? Stockholders. Who
makes II possible for US to buy
ready nade clothing. shoes, watches
and a thousand other things, al
relatively low cost? Stockholders
who has made II possible for US &c
press a button and flood our home.
with light? Stockholder.
All material progress spring. from
The saving Of money by some one. A
nations resources cannot be devel
oped without capital. The stock
holder IL the one who supplies the
capital for practically every great
enterprise in this country. One-man
organizations Of magnitude ere now
the exception rather than the rule.
We are indebted to stockholders for