88

decide  whether  he  chieliy  aims  at  permanent
stability  of  capital  value  or  at  the  enhancement
of  the  realisable  value  of  his  capital.  In
the  previous  chapter  we  have  explained
how  Geographical  Distribution  will  assist  in
the  enhancement  of  the  value  of  capital  invested, ­
  and  if  this  is  the  object  chiefly  desired,
then  stocks  of  great  width  of  fluctuation
should  be  chosen.  If,  however,  Capital  Stability
is  all  that  the  investor  aims  at,  then  stocks
with  the  minimum  width  of  fluctuation,  in
fact,  stocks  which  but  rarely  change  hands
and  do  not  possess  a  free  market,  are
preferable.
Any  yield  up  to  6  per  cent,  is  usually
obtainable,  and,  as  will  be  seen  from  the
two  specimen  charts  here  interleaved,  it  is
possible,  with  the  aid  of  Geographical  Distribution, ­
  to  select  stocks  which  scarcely  fluctuate
in  their  combined  realisable  value.  The
lower  the  yield  of  income  obtainable  from
an  investment  scheme,  the  smaller  will  be  its
variations  in  total  realisable  value.  Thus,
the  4  per  cent,  scheme  illustrated  in  the
chart  starts  with  a  capital  value  of  £10,185,
and  during  ten  years  its  extreme  variation
was  a  fall  of  £323  in  the  year  1904,  whilst
the  7  per  cent,  chart  starts  with  a  capital
value  of  £10,660,  and  displayed  its  extreme