An Investor's Notes on American Railroads. By John Swann, M.A.
(G. P. Patnam's Sons.)—Mr. Swann thinks that, in view of the present state of affairs in England, there M likely daring the next few years to be a considerable transference of investments to America. Accordingly, he deems it a good opportunity to give some advice to possible investors in railways, always an easy and attractive form. Nothing mild be more scrupulously fair than his attitude. He is not by any means disposed to shirk his countrymen's faults. On the contrary, he points out where the foreign investor has been deceived or has blundered with unflinching fairness, and shows him how he should protect himself. He humorously quotes what is not the most humane of the Mosaic, precepts, "Ye shall
not eat of anything that dieth of itself thou mayeat sell it unto an alien ;" and finds an application of it to the way in which "dead or moribund concerns" have been "unloaded" in Europe. As the enlightened settler in Eden remarked, "They have drawed up a lot of British capital" in that way, and the thanks of investors on this side of the water are due to a disinterested adviser who. puts them on their guard against possible deceptions in the future.
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