Page:Hints About Investments (1926).pdf/35

 ship up to the point at which he is secured against the chance of penury; and only then be advised to seek the ampler joys that are provided, through a holding of ordinary shares, by ownership? Why should he not go straight to ordinary shares and ownership if probability of increase is involved by their possession?

All these questions are answered if we look back at the sentence on page 14, where the conditions of probability are set forth. It was there stated that the chance of increase is a probability in the case of concerns that are well established, well financed and successfully conducted on the business side. The industrial risk is always there, and can only be met by unceasing energy and vigilance in management and adaptability to every change in conditions that may be brought by the progress of scientific discovery or the variations of demand. Industry of all kinds is necessarily a venture, and the strictest observation of sound finance and the policy of ever-expanding reseryes cannot protect an industrial concern from the consequences of loss in profit-earning due to competition by rivals who are better equipped on the technical side. It will help by placing at the disposal of the management ample funds for making the necessary adjustments, but