[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—The article by Warren Postbridge, " Stocks and Shares and Morals," in your issue of March 24th, merits serious study by all your readers. In conjunction therewith I would recom- mend a perusal of the C.O.P.E.C. Commission Report, Vol. IX., " Industry and Property," published by Longmans, Green and Co. in 1924 ; especially Chapter iii., which deals with finance, investment, joint stock enterprise. The Commission state that they were mainly indebted for this chapter to a special committee consisting of a banker, an accountant, a merchant, a stockbroker, and a Civil servant. Within its brief compass it discusses much that is obviously in the mind of your contributor, and its study may beget in the mind of the reader a healthier attitude towards investment in general.
In these days of widespread investment and speculation, it is well to stop and consider the morality of this modern method of making money by the sale and purchase of stocks and shares. A shareholder to-day and not to-morrow is the expe- rience of many who habitually buy and sell for appreciation of capital. There can, therefore, be little sense of responsi- bility for the uses to which the money so invested is put or for the domestic concerns of the company whose shares are bought. Your contributor is to be commended for his care in investing in those directions that tend to benefit his fellow- citizens. The average investor has little sentiment and is out for gain. The more attractive a public issue is, the more likely it is to be immediately over-subscribed, and there is of course nothing extraordinary in this. " Stagging is now being discouraged, and the genuine investor stands a better chance of an allotment.
On the subject of investment, it is good to note the enormous, amount (over ninety millions sterling, I believe) invested in co-operative societies, belonging to millions of workers. Money, is a power. Allied to brains it starts and keeps going the machinery of industry, but there is undoubtedly a responsi- bility cast upon the investor to see—so far as is possible— that his or her money is used only for those purposes that will benefit the State and the individual citizen. For example, housing schemes need much money at a low rate of interest;' and in providing this the good citizen has an opportunity of, displaying a public spirit and some self-denial.—I am, Sir, &c.,'
W. J. BAKHURST.
7 Holtzehites Hill, Enfield, Middlesex.
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