Page:Hints About Investments (1926).pdf/187

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

as we have seen, is favoured by the reserve fund policy, which continually expands the earning power of any business to which it is consistently and successfully applied.

There is thus a good deal to be said for the view that, if one goes into industrial investments at all, the greater risk plus possible expansion carried by the ordinary share is a sounder business proposition, if adequate skill and knowledge can be applied to selection, than the smaller risk plus limit on income carried by the debenture and preference.

This view has been supported by the striking results of investigations lately carried out in America and referred to on page 14 of Chapter I. It is time to examine them more closely.