E

47

the  price-movements  of  a  number  of  investments, ­
  every  one  of  which  belongs  to  a  different
country  and  is  subject  to  a  different  trade
influence.  A  very  cursory  glance  at  this  chart
will  immediately  establish  the  practical  benefits
which  an  investor  derives  from  a  wide  geographical ­
  distribution  of  investment  risks.
In  this  chart  the  horizontal  straight  lines
denote  the  intervals  in  the  price  levels  of
stocks,  and  the  vertical  straight  lines  mark
off  the  yearly  periods  ;  the  zig-zag  lines  are
a  faithful  pictorial  presentment  of  the  price
movements  of  individual  stocks.
For  the  sake  of  convenience  the  respective
quantities  of  the  stocks  have  been  adjusted,
where  necessary,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  keep
the  size  of  the  chart  within  reasonable  limits.
This  variation  in  the  quantities  of  the  stocks,
however,  does  not  alter  the  relative  positions
of  the  price  lines  to  each  other.
In  order  to  make  the  picture  as  little  tiring
to  the  eye  as  possible  and  to  keep  the  zigzag
lines  at  reasonable  intervals  apart,  we  have
also  so  arranged  the  quantities  of  the  stocks
that  the  price  lines  commence  at  fairly  regular
intervals  between  £875  and  £1,190.  Beyond
this,  the  chart  has  been  left  to  tell  its  own
story  ;  and  the  reader  who  scans  the  names  of
the  geographical  divisions  represented  and