Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub
[graphic]

even in speech. Perhaps, after all, Tennessee is a land of light and leading. What is a mere anti-evolution complex compared to this?

MANCHURIA: A SURVEY. By Adachi Kinnosuke. Robert M. McBride & Co., New York. . $5.

This fat volume contains some information about the history and present political status of a region which is, on sundry grounds, one of the most interesting in the world, and a great deal of information about its climate and geography, its population, its agricultural, forestal, mineral, and other resources, its industrial and commercial development; all presented lucidly and in a sprightly style which smacks of American journalese. The numerous photographic illustrations add much to the attractiveness of the book, while excellent maps and an appendix giving the texts of treaties and other agreements relating to Manchuria increase its usefulness. A valuable and agreeable book.

[blocks in formation]

renown

When a comedian takes up his pen, he does not usually abandon his rôle as a mirth-provoker, but feels it incumbent upon him to live up to his reputation as a funny man. He is apt to forget that the methods by which laughter is provoked across the footlights are very different from those by which a man wins In as a humorous writer. "Twenty Years on Broadway" Mr. George M. Cohan, one of the very best of our footlight entertainers, feels that the eading public will look to him for Fun ist as his audiences have, and he does a great deal of his space to anecotes, o always funny, of himself and his family. We often hear that actors are inclined to take themselves too seriously, but this is not the case when they write their recollections. Mr. Cohan's career as a public entertainer has been sufficiently noteworthy to render him worthy of serious consideration. Born of a family schooled in the old-fashioned variety stage, he has acted in countless farces, written variety sketches, four-act plays, and many songs that have caught the public fancy. It is a pity that he does not regard his achievements as do persons familiar with the stage and with his remarkable career.

A very small boy when he first appeared on the stage with his parents and sister Josephine, he soon developed, according to his own account, amazing industry, great conceit, and a quarrelsome disposition. Much that he has to say about his early struggles and the conditions under which young variety ac

If You Want Some One

Especially Nice

for that position, remember that The Outlook has columns devoted to Help Wanted and Situations Wanted. The nicer sort of people, who want the nicer sort of help or positions, use these columns-and get results.

Which one meets your requirements?

Rates-10c per word; 25c for use of Outlook box number. Send your order to

The Department of Classified Advertising The Outlook, 120 East 16th Street, New York

WHY THROW AWAY YOUR RAZOR BLADES?

[graphic]

above advertisere please mention The Outlook.

ROBT. H. INGERSOLL, to whom the world owes the Dollar Watch, is now bringing before the public another article of great economic value, an ingenious invention for resharpening all makes of safety razor blades. Makes every blade good for 100 to 300 perfect shaves.

INGERSOLL

DOLLAR STROPPER

is an automatic device which brings the edge of the blade in contact with the leather strop at the proper angle, thus insuring a keen cutting edge. It can be used by anyone without skill or practice. An Ingersoll invention that is meeting with nation-wide approval.

Ten Days FREE TRIAL Prove the Ingersoll Stropper is all we claim. Send $1 00 for complete outfit, including patent Stropper (blade holder) and fine leather Strop. Use it 10 days. Your money back at once, if not completely satisfied. Write at once, mentioning make of razor you use.

AGENTS: Write for proposition.

ROBERT H. INGERSOLL, Pres. New Era Mfg. Co., Dept. 529, 476 Broadway, N.Y.C.

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

tors of the Tony Pastor period rose to fame is well worth reading. It was hard sledding in those days for the Cohan family, but the way was not long, and both Josephine and her brother were still young when they first tasted the joys of success. One of George's earliest hits was in the title rôle of "Peck's Bad Boy," and at the same time Josephine was winning favor as a dancer, and eventually landed with Weber and Fields. Many of the young man's songs proved very popular, such as "Give My Regards to Broadway," some ragtime ditties, and, most important of all, his really thrilling war song "Over There," which elicited from President Wilson an autographed photograph as a mark of his appreciation.

The chief trouble with Mr. Cohan's book is his habit of talking about himself and, in a lesser degree, about his kin. His profession brought him in contact with innumerable men and women of distinction in his own and other callings, yet he has very little to say about them, so engrossed was he in self-contemplation. He took part in the remarkable trip made by a group of distinguished American players in aid of the Red Cross, and he might have devoted an entire chapter to an account of the journey. Yet he has scarcely anything to say about it. In short, Mr. Cohan might have made a really valuable contribution to theatrical history had he considered the large and not unimportant world that lies outside of the Four Cohans.

Notes on New Books

A FRIEND OF CESAR. By William Stearns Davis. The Macmillan Company, New York. $2.50.

A reprint after twenty-five years of a well-liked historical novel.

THE CRISIS OF EUROPEAN DEMOCRACY. By Dr. Moritz Julius Bonn. The Yale University Press, New Haven. $1.25.

Addresses at the Williamstown Institute of Politics by a German scholar. INTRAMURAL ATHLETICS. By Elmer D. Mitchell. A. S. Barnes & Co., New York. $2. Outdoor and indoor games played for their own sake against one's own school or college mates. Described by the director of these sports at the University of Michi

[graphic]

gan.

INDIVIDUAL AND MASS ATHLETICS. By S. C. Staley. A. S. Barnes & Co., New York. $3. Handbook by the Assistant Professor of Physical Education at the University of Illinois.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT CAREER. By Edward D. Toland. D. Appleton & Co., New York. $1.50.

Advice to young men about future occupation.

LILITH. By George Macdonald. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. $2.50.

A romance by the Victorian novelist. CHARMEUSE. By E. Temple Thurston. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. $2.

A novel by the author of "The City of Beautiful Nonsense."

DREAMING SPIRES. By Diana Patrick. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. $2.

A novel about an English girl in the years after the war.

to the above advertisere please mention The Outlook

Financial Department

Conducted by WILLIAM LEAVITT STODDARD

The Financial Department is prepared to furnish information regarding standard investment securities, but cannot undertake to advise the purchase of any specific security. It will give to inquirers facts of record or information resulting from expert investigation, and a nominal charge of one dollar per inquiry will be made for this special service. The Financial Editor regrets that he cannot undertake the discussion of more than five issues of stocks or bonds in reply to any one inquirer. All letters should be addressed to THE OUTLOOK FINANCIAL DEPARTMENT, 120 East 16th Street, New York, N. Y.

[blocks in formation]

M

When to Sell

ARVELOUS stories are told of people who have doggedly, through thick and thin, held on to investments which have seemed about to vanish into the atmosphere, only to recover and achieve amazing success. A financial paper the other day printed an item about an old couple who, several years ago, purchased for $450 a share in some Florida lands. To-day their portion is worth $37,000, and on hearing the news, they literally wept with joy.

Original investors in General Electric, American Telephone, and other now prosperous corporations are cited to illustrate the virtue of sticking to a good thing.

On the other side, one can find authentic instances of people who have added materially to their capital by selling when fair profits are revealed in a rising market, and reinvesting again when prices are down.

The investor-even the conservative investor-is continually meeting this problem: Shall I hold or sell? In support of both policies there are catch phrases which at the moment seem to comprise all wisdom, such as, "Always take a rofit;" "Never sell what you would buy" "Content yourself with a

• rezane on sound security;" and the be And tempting all of us is the rainow hope of making money easily in quantity.

As these paragraphs are being written the stock market is dropping. By the time they are printed the market may have dropped still further or it may have snapped back. In the interim thousands of people will have sold securities, in alarm that the peak of prices has been reached and that something will occur which will make them valueless to keep. At the same time thousands of persons will have bought these same securities, confident that exactly the opposite is bound to happen. One man's loss is thus another man's gain.

A very attractive basic investment theory, which we have more than once set forth in these columns, is this: Regard your investments at all times as so much cash, and decide whether to sell or hold at any given time in accordance

with your judgment as to what you can best do with your funds. For example, you own a bond for which you paid $957.50. It bears a 6 per cent coupon, but now sells for 104, so that the current return on your money is less than 6 per cent. You have a capital gain of $82.50. Should you take your profit and reinvest, or should you hold?

Without attempting to advise the best course to pursue in this instance, let me point out how to go about making a decision on the basis of the theory just referred to. Your bond now represents cash to the total of $1,040. If you hold it to maturity, it will be only $1,000 cash. It will, of course, continue to bring in $60 a year as long as the corporation remains prosperous. This is under a 6 per cent current return, but as you bought the bond at a trifle over 95, and as we will assume that it matures in twenty-one years, the yield will be a little over 61/3 per cent. Your question can now be simmered down to this: Can I invest $1,040 for twenty-one years to yield me more than 6 1/3 per cent, safety and marketability remaining the same? If you can, there is no reason why you should not do so.

Proceeding on this theory, or on any other theory, there are, of course, a great many factors that enter, or should enter, into any decision. First and foremost of these is knowledge of the company whose security you own. This is fundamental both to investment success and to peace of mind. If you have assured yourself that the organization, management, and financial structure of a company is unimpeachable; if you have, further, studied closely its annual or quarterly reports; if you, in short, have come to know all that is available about the concern whose shares you have purchased, or whose obligations you hold, you need not worry particularly if current stock market conditions, or temporary political conditions, or fluctuations in interest rates, bring about variations in the market price. With the information you have gathered, you will readily see that some at least of the market price variation is due to nothing in

Find Out

whether your bond holdings are well balanced

HE

ERETOFORE it has been difficult for an investor to analyze, for himself, the structure of his bond holdings. Now it can be done easily by filling out a chart we have prepared. There are complete instructions on the chart and you can readily see what information should be entered and where.

Use of this chart will show you how well your bond holdings are diversified as to type and geographical location-also how maturities are distributed.

Working out your bond holdings on this chart will show you the need of an underlying plan to be followed in the selection of bonds. It is not enough merely to be satisfied that bonds you buy are sound; they should fit-one with another-to make a structure reinforced by diversification and suited to your financial

[blocks in formation]

Rough Sledding or Worry-free Income which will you leave Your family?

PROMINENT Southern banker in speaking upon

A the subject of estates said:

"Through years of planning and devotion to their business, men accumulate estates. They look upon these accumulations as their families' means of support in the event of their death. . . . . . However, if we men do not properly arrange our affairs, we are going to leave some rough sledding for our widows and dependents."

Men every day are realizing this. They are taking precautions to protect their dependents against "rough sledding" in the future.

You can look forward to the future with confidence, knowing that your wife and family will be provided for, through your thoughtfulness, if you have made your will and appointed a competent executor and

trustee.

Estate administration is a business which the modern trust company is especially equipped to handle. Its experience, knowledge, and responsibility are important safeguards that assure protection both to your estate and to your beneficiaries.

The trust officer of your local trust company will explain to you what executorship involves and how his company can help you. You may also secure information upon this subject by writing to the undersigned for a booklet giving important information about estates and trusts.

TRUST COMPANY DIVISION AMERICAN BANKERS ASSOCIATION 110 EAST 42nd STREET, NEW YORK

the world but supply and demand, and supply and demand, in relation to any particular security, may have nothing in the world to do with real values.

For example, a certain well-known common stock went from a low of 136 in 1922 to a high of 190-a variation of 54 points. The next year the same stock fluctuated between 202 and 167, or over a range of some 35 points. In 1924 the low was 193 and the high was not far from 300. The issue referred to is the common stock of the General Electric Company. In the light of recent events, it can easily be seen that there was just as much real value there when the ticker registered 193 as when it registered 293. The difference is not to be explained in a word, but it is fair to say that it represents market judgment rather than a judgment based on the status of the business of the company.

Many investors who sold this stock last summer because they could make a profit have regretted their action. It would be possible to invest the cash received from such sale so as to secure an equal return; it is possible to invest it to better advantage. But, considering the condition of "G. E.," its ownership of other prosperous organizations, and its position in the electrical industry, it would be difficult to duplicate an investment in its shares. In other words, if what I am assuming here is accurate, the fact of a large profit per share should not be the deciding factor in making a sale. The deciding factor should be the real worth of the stock, as compared with the real worth of the proposed reinvestment, not the judgment of that portion of the public engaged in trading in the shares from hour to hour.

Not long ago in this department discussed financial statements of conorations. To them the investor should constantly turn. "What," a friend inquired recently, "do you think of the preferred stock of the Blank corporation?"

Our answer was to point to the 1924 statement. This showed a profit of $18,000,000 after deducting cost of merchandise, plus expenses and taxes, from total income. Out of this a million and a half were set aside for plant depreciation and $2,000,000 for the employees' benefit fund, which provides accident, sickness, and disability payments, as well as pensions. This left $14,500,000. Bond interest took little over $4,000,000, and after 7 per cent was paid on the preferred stock and $5,000,000 on the common, there were $3,400,000 left. This went "to common stock account."

"You can form your own opinion of the preferred stock," we added. "You will note that to pay dividends of $1,

[graphic]

In writing to the above advertiser, please mention The Outlook

700,000 there were available, after liberal charges to depreciation, about $8,400,000, which is another way of saying that the preferred dividend was earned about five times."

"I never knew that," replied the stockholder. "I guess I never really read

[ocr errors]

the annual report. I will make a reso. His money travels 10,000 miles

lution now never to buy or sell anything

till I really know what I am dealing in." Not long ago an investment service

sent out a confidential

bulletin

advising to build his independent income

its clients to sell at once all their industrial stocks. It is a fact that some of them followed this advice. They were to sell, irrespective of the dividend record, regardless of the present status of the companies, and without any consideration for the probable future. It was advice of a panic nature, and in several instances it produced miniature panics. In many cases those who followed it made money and were able to buy back the same securities at lower figures later on. It was advice, in short, designed to make traders of investors and speculators of otherwise cautious traders. It was not advice, however correct it may have been in some details, which should be generally adopted by the real, the conservative, investor.

There is no easy formula for determining when to buy and when to sell. There is no perfect formula. A reasonable and workable formula is the cash theory which has been the subject of the preceding paragraphs. But it cannot be followed blindly, and it cannot be put into effect without work. We offer it to the readers of these pages as an hypothesis, which is not original with us by any means, and which is far from new. We offes it a plan of procedure which,

onerly arried into effect, promises reret from the anxiety of watching market fuctuations too closely and the peace of mind that comes from knowing that your money is in substantial values which, except when extraordinary things happen, cannot change radically overnight.

[graphic]

W. L. S.

[blocks in formation]

7%

No matter where you live, you can invest at 7% with the proven safety of Smith Bonds

SMITH BONDS

SMITH BONDS are First

Mortgage Bonds, strongly secured by improved, incomeproducing city property, and protected by safeguards which have made possible our record of no loss to any investor in 52 years. Current offerings of Smith Bonds will pay you 7% for any period from 2 years to 15 years. And you may buy these bonds in any amount, in denominations of $100, $500 and $1,000, either outright or under our Investment Savings Plan.

This plan gives you 10 months to complete your purchase on any terms convenient to you, and pays the full rate of bond interest on every payment.

ISTANCE is no barrier to investing in Smith

sider yourself a small investor. Through the medium of the mails, and the convenience of our Investment Savings Plan, thousands of men and women have put their money into these time-tested investments. Smith Bonds are owned now by investors in 48 States and 30 foreign lands.

Here is a letter that comes to us from a satisfied investor at the other side of the globe, in a mission post in Yung Chun, China:

"Your partial payment plan of investment appeals to me as being about the ideal method of safe and care-free investment of such few funds as we can spare for this purpose. Your long history of safety and of honorable dealing with your clients gives one a feeling of assurance that is not at all diminished by the ten thousand miles intervening between your office and my domicile.

"We go our way about our tasks with a feeling that our few invested dollars are industriously at work providing future food and shelter against the time. of retirement."

You may use our Investment Savings Plan to buy a single $100, $500 or $1,000 Smith Bond by payments extended over 10 months, or to create an independent income by systematic investment at compound bond interest over a period of years. Every payment earns the full rate of bond interest -now 7%.

Our booklet, "How To Build an Independent Income," tells how anyone whose savings average $10, $20, $50 or more a month can use this plan with safety, convenience and profit. Send your name and address for a copy of this booklet today.

The F. H. Smith Company

[blocks in formation]

In writing to the above advertiser, please mention The Outlook

6-Y

« PredošláPokračovať »