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 ments to debentures and other first-charge investments. If he is careful enough, he may for all practical purposes eliminate all risk from his investments, and so secure himself complete economic freedom, subject always to any violent change in the constitution of the economic society which might deprive him of all his property, and of all claim upon the industry which he has helped to create. Apart from this risk, we may say that the capitalist who is really cautious and careful in his selection of investments in industry from the point of view of security alone, and gives up all thought of any share in any extra prosperity in the business, may come as near as possible to securing economic freedom. But this freedom would only be attained by earning a comparatively low rate of interest on his capital, and he would still be liable to considerable variations in the actual buying-power of his income, owing to changes that might happen to the general level of prices owing to currency arrangements or failures in production. In fact, the experience of the War has shown how great is the risk to which even the "gilt-edged" investor is exposed. For it is those who had to live on fixed incomes, who have suffered most severely from the rise in