DOWNWARD SWING. EXTREME | A long period of backing HIGHEST. | and filling; public getting 100 | tired and insiders selling. 90 | Insiders selling. Much bull | talk, dividend increases, etc. | Some averaging by people | who loaded up at the top. 80 | More bull talk. More averaging. | Insiders still selling. NORMAL | Many weak accounts forced out. VALUE. | A temporary halt and probably 65 | a big rally. 45 | Insiders pretty well out. | The wise speculative element | consider this the bottom and | load up. 30 | General blueness and pessimism. 20 | A dull market. Insiders EXTREME | accept all offerings. LOWEST. | --From Thomas Gibson’s Market Letter, May 11th, 1907. _The Factor of Safety._ “There remains but one point to which, in view of the conditions roughly sketched above, the writer would call especial attention. That is, that the investor should look well, always, to the factor of safety. Before he puts his money into any road, no matter if it be on the recommendation of the greatest banker in the United States, let him consider how far that company is prepared to weather a storm. Few roads ever prospered under receivership, no matter how honest or how able. The receivership itself is a handicap. No matter how high the yield, no investor whose primary regard should be the safety of his money will put it into a road whose fixed charges, after ample charges for maintenance, consume much more than 50% of the total net income available for interest, dividends and improvements--that is, save in exceptional cases like the New York Central--and until he has satisfied himself thoroughly that the property is sound. “For the convenience of those not well acquainted, the following list of the principal roads is given, with the percentage of total net income consumed by fixed charges in the highly prosperous fiscal year of 1905: TABLE OF FIXED CHARGES.