101

Manage  Capital  a  detailed  description  of  the
way  in  which  this  can  best  be  carried  out,  and
will,  therefore,  here  state  briefly  that  the
investor  .should  commence  this  task  by  first  of
all  ascertaining  his  real  investment  position.
There  is  nothing  which  will  make  this  easier
for  him  than  a  tabular  statement  showing,
firstly,  how  liis  own  investments  are  split  up
over  the  ten  main  Geographical  Divisions
which  we  have  explained  in  the  last  chapter,
and,  secondly,  in  what  proportion  his  capital
is  divided  among  the  various  securities  held.
We  have  demonstrated  in  the  previous
chapters  that  a  proper  distribution  of  risks  is
the  only  way  in  which  successful  investment
can  be  arrived  at.  This  distribution  of  risks
entirely  depends  upon  the  number  of  different
Trade  Influences  which  are  represented  in  a  list
of  investments.  We  have  also  demonstrated
that  capital,  to  be  safe,  must  be  equally  divided
amongst  a  number  of  stocks  of  similar  quality.
It  is  only  by  means  of  such  a  tabular
statement  that  the  true  existing  investment
position  can  be  revealed.  In  this  way  alone
can  it  be  shown  how  many  separate  trade
influences  are  covered  by  existing  investments,
how  much  capital  is  placed  in  each  one  of
them,  and  how  far  an  equal  division  of  capital
among  all  stocks  held  has  been  effected.