as safe as, or perhaps even safer than, if he held gilt-edged Government debt, or be quaking on the quicksands of an investment in an untried patent or a mine that is still searching for its reef.
But the point which distinguishes the income of the ordinary shareholder—the proprietor—from that of the debt holder—the creditor—is that it may grow, and, with it, the value of the holding. This power of growth necessarily carries with it the power of diminution even to the point of being wiped out. But this power to grow less is also inherent in the income from all forms of debt; in the case of some of them the risk of decrease is negligible; but even the impossible happens sometimes. Ten years ago a German holder of Prussian bonds or of a Hamburg municipal loan would have laughed to scorn the suggestion that in any circumstances the interest would not be met. And he would have been right, but there came a time when, owing to the manner in which Germany multiplied her currency, the interest was paid in money the value of which had been divided by so many millions that it was not worth while to cash the coupons.
Creditor and proprietor thus both face the risk of diminution to the point of extinction in their income and consequently in the selling
