Worse than that, without a Stock Exchange to create standards and define the difference between good and bad investments, very many simple people would be at the mercy of an army of dishonest promoters and bucket-shops, for the modern invention of securities has brought with it dangers and pitfalls. The United States once swarmed with these bandits--they are now rapidly being driven to cover--but they still ply their trade in other countries, where they flourish as “banks” or “investment” companies. These chaps, to quote the editor of the _Economist_ (London), “have bought a lot of rubbish, usually called ‘bonds,’ from shaky industrial concerns or from half bankrupt states and municipalities of South America. They have bought, let us say, the 6 per cent. bonds of the Yoko Silk Company in Japan at 60, which they sell you at 90, the 5 per cent. bonds of the Brazilian Province of ---- at 55, which they sell you at 75, and a few other similar bargains. They tell you that if you spread your risks scientifically over different countries you will be perfectly safe. You perhaps do not realize that none of these securities which you are advised to buy are quoted in the London Stock Exchange. If they were the game would be impossible.” Which is only another way of saying that if there were no Stock Exchanges to uphold worthy enterprises and discourage bad ones, there would be no limit to the frauds practised upon gullible investors. And if this is true of a tight little island like England, how doubly true it is in a great country like ours where investors are so widely scattered. The foregoing pages will serve to show the inquirer that what is happening in commerce, is happening in the securities which represent that commerce. Because commerce goes on expanding, securities must necessarily keep pace and the Stock Exchange must perforce grow in importance. That much maligned individual, the speculator, now regards the whole world as his field and is eager to enter foreign markets wherever there are opportunities. In 1910 more than three billion dollars of British capital were invested in American railways alone, returning one hundred and twenty-five millions annually in interest and dividends, to say nothing of the English millions in our lands, mines, and industrial enterprises. We too are large holders of foreign securities, and the list of such holdings increases yearly. But it may be accepted as a fact that this enormous mass of corporate securities would not have found ownership had there been no Stock Exchange to market them, and standardize them, and establish daily prices for them, and give them the certificate of character that makes them ideal collateral for obtaining credit. Dr. W. Lexis, of Gottingen, like all other economists, recognizes the fact that Stock Exchanges are economic necessities. Here are his opinions: