intolerance for unwise legislative restrictions.

Another evidence of the greatly widened distribution of securities is furnished by the transactions of the New York Stock Exchange. Dealings on the Exchange disclose that the small investor is a big customer for securities. When we realize that there were upwards of 300,000,000 shares of stock and almost $4,000,000,000 worth of bonds sold on the Exchange in 1924, and that a substantial part of this daily business of the Exchange originates in orders for small lots of stock-"odd lots" they are called. in the language of the market—we will fully appreciate the importance of the smaller purchases.

The Odd Lot Market

T is essential that "odd lot" transac

IT

tions be understood by the public. Although the total volume of "odd lot" business indicates a growing appreciation of the value of the Exchange by smaller investors, the Exchange figures in the popular mind chiefly as the market-place for the big investor. The public must come to realize that the Exchange is not a financial octopus, but a financial center whose functions they have never thoroughly understood.

Business of every description gravitates to a center. In any large city you will find a center of retail shopping and a center of wholesale business where the great bulk of the city's trade is conducted. These centers are built up by natural processes. They exist because from the earliest periods of history mankind has found it most convenient to transact business at established market-places.

What applies to the business of a city applies on a larger scale to the business. of a country and to the business of the whole world. Chicago has become the National center of the automobile industry and New York the principal financial market of the country, all by an evolutionary process. Were the Chicago grain and foodstuffs market suddenly obliterated by some catastrophe, it would be necessary to re-establish it, there or else where, and with the utmost speed, too, in order to continue its clearing-house facilities, which are vital to the conduct of that business. These great National market-places are indispensable, and are established by the necessities of business at locations determined solely by convenience and force of circumstances.

Thus the New York Stock Exchange has become the central market-place for the securities of the Nation's business enterprises. It exists as a great reservoir from which industries draw the capital

necessary to finance their undertakings. It has rules and regulations which are strictly enforced for the protection of those who invest in the securities admitted to its list. Particularly does it strive to facilitate the purchase of small amounts of shares, to protect the small investor and to place him on exactly the same plane as the large investor. Every one of the protective rules of the Stock Exchange applies as well to the purchase of 10 shares of stock as to the purchase of 10,000 shares.

The unit of trading in stocks on the New York Stock Exchange is 100 shares. An "odd lot" is any number of shares less than 100. In order to make possible purchases of small amounts of stock "odd lot" dealers operate on the Exchange. They are either partners or representatives of firms that make a business of trading exclusively in "odd lots."

Suppose an investor desires to buy 10 shares of a certain stock listed on the Exchange. He places his order with a Stock Exchange firm or with one of its representatives throughout the country. The firm receiving the order places it in turn with an "odd lot" firm, which executes the order, making, of course, a small charge for the service. This charge is in most cases 18 point above the price at which the next full 100 shares of the stock are sold after the "odd lot" dealer accepts the order. But in the case of some less active stocks the charge is 4 point.

But

The "odd lot" dealer may own the 10 shares he furnishes, but if he does not, he must buy 100 shares in order to furnish the small lot. He may, however, receive other small orders for the same stock and eventually will be able to dispose of the 100 shares he buys. But there is an element of risk when he purchases 100 shares, due to the fact that his "small lot" order for that stock may not be sufficient to enable him to dispose of the full 100 shares speedily. On account of risk due to price changes, he is entitled to make the charge of % or 4 point. He also requires more clerical help in his operations than firms dealing in full lots, which adds to his expense of doing business.

This is not the complete picture of the technicalities entering into "odd lot" transactions, but it illustrates in the main how a small investor is enabled to buy limited amounts of Stock Exchange securities through reliable brokerage houses.

The tragedy of the small investor is that often he does not know that Stock Exchange securities can be bought in small lots from reputable firms. All too

frequently he listens to the beguiling tal of slick peddlers of catchpenny certifi cates and parts with his money for batch of highly decorated but otherwis worthless "stocks" or "bonds."

In the same measure that investmen by the small "capitalists" proves to be public benefit, speculation by the sam class of persons proves to be a publi detriment. Speculation by large inves ors serves a useful purpose in keeping th securities market at levels warranted b business conditions. But men of mo erate means, with small, and to them in portant, sums of money, cannot affor the risks of speculation. Loss is to the a calamity, and they must be protecte against inviting calamity to overtal them.

I

Defeating the Bucket-Shop

HAVE often been asked what positio a Stock Exchange house should tak toward a man with a small amount money-$100 or $200-who wishes speculate. My advice is that he shou either put his money into a bank or el buy outright a share or two of god stock. If he wishes to buy stock, Stock Exchange firm should refuse to cure it for him, even in the amount one share. Only in this way can d honest dealers and the bucket-sh crowd be circumvented.

Because the Stock Exchange is market-place in which hundreds of the sands of shares, often a million or m shares, are bought and sold daily, it p forms yet another function in safegua ing the small investor: it provides h with securities which are readily mark able. The small investor must not allowed to buy little-known bonds or listed securities, even though these m have real value, which he cannot disp of at will. He must invest only in secu ties which have, in case of emergency free and open market.

The New York Stock Exchange is t free and open market. Its "odd l transactions provide the means where small investors may obtain, through gitimate brokerage firms, the same sect ties that millionaires purchase, with assurance that these securities have recognized market value and a rea market in which they can be sold agai

The continued growth of our count the greater distribution of purchas power among our working people, a the development of the saving habit co bine to make the small investor a fac of increasing financial importance. Ev effort to direct his investing power i safe and legitimate channels deman the utmost support.

EXT to "playing the stock market," the biggest sucker trap in the United States is the Patent Office at Washington, with its lure of false hope and its guaranties that protect nobody. Ever since its establishment in 1795 it has been fooling the ingenious and packing the pockets of

lawyers. The patents it issues represent nothing beyond an opinion given by some examiner. They have no value until tested by the courts. Uncle Sam is not on the square, and never has been since he proclaimed the right of man to life, liberty, and (the pursuit of) happiness. I bracket the reservation cunningly inserted by the old cuss, because it is usually overlooked by the unthinking, who believe he insured happiness. He did not-any more than he insured life and liberty. You insure yourself and liberty has become the property of the Anti-Saloon League.

Only two patents were granted in 1795. One of these begot direful consequences and was a source of no profit to its inventor, Eli Whitney, an ingenious Inhabitant of Connecticut, who had observed that the glutinous seed of cotton adhered so closely to the fiber as to make it difficult to separate the two, thus rendering the value of the product negligible. His device mechanically cleaned the floss thoroughly and rapidly. It

brought about a world revolution in the textile industry, and, above all, in American agriculture, with the effect of reviving African slavery in the South, where it was on its way out as unprofitable; it cost the Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles-the "Five Civilized Tribes"-their lands, bred the

automobile factory. There is no patent on a Tin Lizzie. Any one who thinks he can make the machine cheaper or better than Henry is welcome to try. Some have done so, but without making a dent in the invincible industrialist of Dearborn.

The idea was simple and easily copied. This was widely done. Whitney received but small reward for his pains, and took to manufacturing firearms near New Haven. Whitneyville, Connecticut, perpetuates his name, and one of his grandson's died lately, leaving $1,250,000, increment from the gun factory. The family got a handsome return making rifles in 1861-5 that were used to shoot the descendants of the planters who had pirated Eli's invention.

It was one of the ideas of Henry George that George that no patents should be granted. He held that thus to hamper the adoption of a utility was wrong from the standpoint of public interest, and of little real value to the inventor. I should say that he was sound in both instances. He was right in a number of his theories, some of which are in practice to-day.

The largest industry operated by an individual in the world is Henry Ford's

patent litigation is not possible. A study of cases and delays, of brazen thefts and wrongs to inventors, proves the point made at the beginning. The inventor is not protected, nor is the public served. Take the case of the Selden patents, so vital to motor-makers. Long litigation, great legal outlays, a verdict for millions set aside. That is the full story. Selden should have outfooted Ford had he been given his rights.

Henry George's notion was that no man had a right to establish a monopoly merely because he invented something that saved him work. I have always believed that laziness and greed, not necessity, was the mother of invention. There is such a prejudice against laziness that the world refuses to do justice to its merits, and these are many.

James Watt saw how tiresome it was to pump out a mine by hand, and invented the steam-engine. James Hargreaves, a weaver, who worked fast at his hand loom, had difficulty in keeping him

burned his fingers repeatedly on the hot burned his fingers repeatedly on the hot handle of the old-fashioned iron teakettle that was part of his housekeeping equipment. Having a rude notion of the heatretaining qualities of metal, he substituted a wire coil for the solid handle, and ceased to blister his digits. Somebody paid him fifty dollars for the idea. The coil handle came into universal use. Millions of them were made. Stephen

and he did not propose spending anoth cent on it until the money came bac It came about fivefold, before the do ble matrix case was added to its merit Then it was my device, and not th screw! Something like fifteen years ha passed before the arrival of this mi lennium. I had no standing in the Pater Office or anywhere else.

power loom, and from its use built up what was the greatest of eighteenthcentury fortunes, £500,000 sterling. He also perfected wage-and-mill slavery at the same time. The hand spinners and weavers were at least their own masters. They now became the property of others, and so remain.

Toilsome work with eye and needle were done away with when Joseph Marie Jacquard invented the silk loom. Again

the hand worker went out, and with her the rich embroideries, to make room for figured silks.

Elias Howe redeemed women from retail slavery with the needle and made it wholesale with his sewing-machine, from which capitalists made all the money, while the sweat-shop in due season replaced the home-worker.

Supplementing laziness and greed in their perfect work came the Patent Office, with its parasite lawyers to urge "inventing" as a means to wealth. It was no longer left to lazy folks to fill its files or crowd its shelves. The first great wave of effort back in the forties was the delusion that a "perpetual motion" device could be perfected. Hardly a rural village escaped some genius who was sure he could solve the problem. My greatMy greatgrandfather lost a neat pot of money backing a chap out in Melmore, Ohio. This "inventor" was ably assisted by his wife. As my grandmother once put it, "The machine ran all right until the woman quit turning it."

T

HE flood has never ceased. I believe washing-machines lead the procession. None was successful until electric power became handy. Prohibition has probably stopped the pressure to provide a non-refillable bottle, for which a rich reward was promised from the distillers of popular brands. Yankee ingenuity has manifested itself in about a half-million ways. Marvelous conceptions have been created, all vying to outdo that most wonderful of all machines, the human hand. Simplicities, rather than complications, have, however, been the big win

ners.

Down in Norway, Maine, where I lived as a boy, Stephen Cummings, a local character who kept bachelor's hall,

stable. On the other hand, a Brooklyn inan conceived the notion of attaching a small sphere of wood to a few inches of rubber elastic. It became a pet plaything with the children as the "return ball." He made $500,000 out of it, and would have piled up' more had not a stepson, to whom he behaved harshly, killed him.

THE just grievance of the inventor

against the practices of the Patent Office is that when a patent is issued it becomes a liability instead of an asset. It must usually be defended from the start. Men were allowed to file "claims," which always turned up if an idea proved worth anything. The late Robert Hoe, press builder, had reams of these stowed away to baffle any man who tried to improve upon his rotary printing machines. I recall that George Smith, an intelligent pressman in the "World" office, perfected a tension pulley that doubled the friction. surface on the .control of a roll of paper. His "patent" was ready to issue when Hoe filed a notice of interference. The attorneys asked $1,200 to fight the claim. Smith did not have it. Then Hoe refunded the fees Smith had paid the "Scientific American" Bureau and took over the clamp. He put it into regular use on all his presses. Smith never received a cent.

Something of the sort happened to me. In the early stage of the Mergenthaler typesetter it became necessary to change all the matrix holders late at night to substitute an agate face for nonpareil. It occurred to me that there might be a double case built that would shift with a lever and do away with handling. The drawings were made, and again as the patent was ready to issue notice of "interference" was received and a demand for $1,200 to fight it. The linotype company was the complainant. I interviewed Philip T. Dodge, its president. He produced a drawing showing an elevator worked by a clumsy screw that involved more waste of time than the hand method. Mine was instantaneous, so I could not see the "interference."

Mr. Dodge was quite plain about it. He said $3,000,000 had been spent putting the Mergenthaler on the market,

printing during the last decade h been that of machine-printed photog vure. This was developed in the Unit States by Charles W. Saalburg, under series of patents granted by the Unit States. He has been utterly unable defend his rights against invasion fro Germany, and at least forty America infringers of these are active and pro perous. The United States, after prop search, gave him a certificate of priori that brought the inventor nothing b lawsuits. The burden of proof is up him, as in all other cases, and not up the Government.

There should be a radical change the patent laws. They should be ma to mean something. They should honest. When the Patent Office puts seal to a patent, that should be the end not the beginning of a long and cost journey through the courts. Certain with its vast information and plentif resources, the Patent Office should able to decide definitely whether or an inventor has really invented son thing. Either we should have lett patent that are firm and behind whi there can be no doubts, or we sho come to Henry George's theory and iss none at all.

Inventions would not cease, but m of them would probably be operated secret. There are hundreds of these n guarded, whose wise owners prefer not to trust their ideas to all outdoo Can secrets be kept? The world has y to learn how "Russian" leather a "Russian" iron are made.

We hear so much about "responsibl government, yet nothing is so irrespor ble, especially in the United States. I Government cannot be sued, it cannot made to keep its currency at par or p serve the value of its bonds against da fluctuations, and its patents are not go until proven so in court. Claims again it have to be urged in a court of its o choosing that may settle them in a c tury or two, but not often enough establish a precedent.

This is not a proud position for strongest and richest nation in the wo to place itself in. Uncle Sam should form. The best place for him to be is in the Patent Office.

HOSE who have experienced the good fortune of visiting the San Bernardino National National Forest, t of Los Angeles, will recall the matic grandeur of the lofty peaks of the Bernardino Range, which lie in a theasterly direction from the forest per. At the extreme western end of range lies one of the highest peaks in thern California, Mount San GorgoThis bleak and barren peak towers 464 feet above sea-level, dwarfing the panions about it. Against this alpine nt an occasional cloud wave breaks, ging to the white pinnacles or dropg down the valleys on the other side the mountain.

On beyond to the southeast lies an onishing array of huge lavender-gray intain peaks, streaked and splashed dazzling snow, thrust into the clear e of the California sky. The visitor nds entranced with the scenery. re are beautiful streams tumbling n from the snow-capped peaks, windtheir way under huge snowdrifts and

through picturesque alpine lakes of icecold water. You will find no softening shadows under the warm noonday sun, no diffusing veils of haze to press the great peaks back into the distance, as you will find in the sister ranges of northern Washington and Oregon. There they stand, San Bernardino piercing the sky at 11,600 feet and Mount Jepson but a trifle less lofty. Clean-cut in the peculiarly clear atmosphere of this section, brilliant, startling in their apparent proximity, they seem to encircle the traveler on all sides.

A movement is on foot to convert this wonder region into a National monument, thus forever preserving it for the public, to be known as the Junipero Serra National Monument. In order to acquaint public-spirited men and women with exactly what this beautiful mountain country possesses a complete survey of the entire district has been made. Innumerable good roads lead to within easy hiking distance of San Gorgonio, and each year more motorists will be

making the trips to these unfrequented beauty spots. It is only a question of time until auto roads with easy grades will be established to bring the automobile almost to the top of the lofty peaks in this range.

This proposed National monument will embrace 7,000 acres of practically virgin mountain country, the like of which is found nowhere else in southern California. All along the range are numerous points that tower in excess of 10,000 feet above sea-level. Viewed from the south and north, this ridge appears as a massive wall, with San Gorgonio, barren and rocky, a landmark that can be descried for hundreds of miles away.

The landscape is a white expanse at the foot of these lofty peaks. The mountains seem to reveal something of their structure in lines of white and brown. The trees are absolutely motionless, each carrying its veil of fleecy ermine. The forest vistas of the foothill country here seem to invite the explorer into th recesses. The rivers and lake

"Beautiful streams tumble down from the snow-capped peaks, winding their way under the tree-covered cliffs "

the winter highways for the wild folk show bare spaces of glare ice, swept clea

of snow by winds. About the lakes t tree-lined shores in their dry, cold silen suggest innumerable camping spots.

The bright sun sweeps the mountai side with amber light that prints the tr shadows in definite grayish purple on t white snow, but the abundant radian is up here a hollow mockery; it is mere formal, nominal, like the glow of pho phorus in rotten wood of a deep, da forest. It does not warm the air appr ciably. The air has the edge of ke steel.

This alpine region supports a wei and austere forest of lodge-pole pine twisted and gnarled and storm-shattere along the straggling timber-line. wander through this grotesque fore is like visiting a strange world. Nowhe else in southern California can the boast of such a timber-line forest. E perimenters in the survey party cut small branch from a prostrate limbe pine, and with the aid of a lens endea ored to determine the approximate a of the tree by the annual rings. Th small branch, though less than one-ha inch in diameter, boasted no less tha sixty-eight distinct rings. The visit notes the wrinkled, prematurely ag tree life of this extreme elevation. He is a gnarled and twisted stump of a tr with scant green on a few scatteri limbs. It has bowed down under bu dens of snow these many centuries, a has an anguished look that is truly p thetic. The very snow about its feet vitreous in the spectral glimmer, and of seems to be in a ghost world.

Farther down the mountainside of enters a quiet wood near the lake shor Here giant pines, sheltered from the co blasts of the peaks, have grown almo luxuriant. One feels the quiet of th woods most deeply when snow lies heavy layers on the evergreens, bendin the slender branches of the young bushes to the ground. Then the silend speaks almost with an audible word, e hancing the mystery and deepening th wonder into awesome silence. Here i these high altitudes winter does his fine work. Here the snow enhances th architecture of intricate boughs by del cate accents and darkened shadows bringing to view many a subtlety of love liness that would otherwise remain unra garded.

Mount San Gorgonio boasts the farth est south extension of alpine flora belong ing to the Northern Hemisphere of Nort America.

The leeward side of the San Bernar dino Range in this region is perpetually covered with snow under favorable com