Page:Hints About Investments (1926).pdf/191

 beyond his $10,000 for subscribing to additional stock if offered by his companies, and therefore had to sell his "rights" on these occasions at the average price that they would have fetched during the first thirty days in which they were quoted; and for the same reason he was forced to sell any fractional shares that might come to him by way of stock dividend; the proceeds of these sales were added to current income. Whole shares received by way of stock dividend were retained and increased the value of his capital holding and the amount of his income in after years. As he has no funds out of which to meet "assessments," the American term for further capital demanded from stockholders, in the event of reconstructions, he has to sell out whenever these unfortunate experiences occur, and he naturally does so at considerable losses. Otherwise he makes no change in his holding of common stocks during the periods which range from seventeen to twenty-two years; when his bonds are paid off he has to reinvest, but he leaves his shares alone and they are only changed by consolidations and amalgamations.

The remarkable result of these tests is that in every case out of the twelve tests given the investor would have had a higher income from common shares than from bonds; in every case except one the advantage is on the side of the