Show t. t Worthless J Worthless Stocks r COME I SOME OME weeks ago a man walked into the f I office of a concern in Missouri and killed I I t ii of tI the e partners rs in the fir firm which had had 1 ne broke It appears th that t the thi the assailant had 1 rim ested his life life lifesavings savings savings' in the business and rf ris' ris Vas not disposed to look upon his losses ly S' S the logical logic l outcome of an unfortunate inI in- in I He undoubtedly will be tried for l X murder and may face the death penalty for r his act The C case se is interesting only in so far faras j as it serves to direct attention to wildcat fY business activities y Blue sky commissions have been stab stab- Ii in many states with the hope of pro- pro i- i uninformed investors from worthless projects s. s Similarly the federal government I by exercising a close supervision over the mails has endeavored to protect the investing investing invest invest- ing public But in spite of all this many questionable enterprises seem to thrive on the money they can gather from these people It lt seems that the state cannot establish a guaranteed protection Always it appears appears ap ap- ap- ap pears the investor himself must accept the final responsibility for his investments The state cannot underwrite his stock purchases guaranteeing him hini against loss He must make his Ills own decisions and he must accept responSibility responsibility responsibility for them Unfortunately this is easier said than done for projects that appear safe turn out to be little better than confidence dence games The state does attempt to set up tam tain requirements which are designed to protect protect protect pro pro- the public These These- however do do- donot not stand tand as a guarantee and frequently this very supervision aids the promotion of questionable question- question able enterprises Unscrupulous salesmen a are e ab able abe e to use this supervision to sell their p prospects converting it to an indorsement k r which does not exist People who lose their f f life savings in in worthless stock promotions x even even when the final responsibility rests upon j them cannot accept their losses graciously In view of the widespread activities activities' which prevail it is surprising that there are not 1 more killings like the one in Missouri for it ir r is apparent that the victims of these schemes are without recourse They cannot get their m money ney back and seldom is it possible for them to secure punishment for those who t i ha have ve deceived them t. t a There be should some criminal responsibilities responsibilities responsibilities for those who sell stock of one kind 4 or another There should be som sonic some way of i distinguishing between the good and the bad i P Perhaps rigorous investigations of defunct tY concerns and vigorous prosecutions of criminal criminal crimi crimi- nal nal misrepresentations would help to draw J a line between honest business endeavor and Tt 4 wildcat promotions Meanwhile the investor v y should remember that he himself and not riot L' L we me state nor the salesman nor the company corn com pany is responsible for the future of his savings sa It is the best protection he has J |