Page:Hints About Investments (1926).pdf/260



so," as Bottom the weaver says, "grow on to a point." What are the practical conclusions reached, for the guidance of the investor, in the chapters that have gone before?

We have seen that it is difficult, to the point of impossibility, for the ordinary citizen, with no financial experience and education, to judge for himself concerning the merits of securities. The solvency of Governments and other public bodies depends on factors that he cannot measure, and their financial position is set forth, if at all, in statements that he cannot understand. The balance-sheets of industrial companies—using "industrial" to cover all kinds of enterprise, agricultural, mining, manufacturing, transport, commercial and retail—are composed largely, on the assets side, of figures that are most unlikely to be correct as an indication of the real value of the company's property, because they depend on opinions; when directors are honest and prudent and able these doubtful assets are