16 
BONDS AND STOCKS 
investing his first thousand dollars, the small in 
vestor should go to his bank for aid. Although 
it may not necessarily be wise to buy what the bank 
recommends, yet one should never buy what the 
bank disapproves. 
Let us assume that a young man in St. Louis has 
saved three thousand dollars, of which one thousand 
is deposited in a national bank and two thousand in 
a trust company, which latter amount draws inter 
est. The young man, however, is convinced that 
he can obtain a higher rate of interest—say five 
per cent—by purchasing some one of the many 
bonds which he sees advertised in the papers and 
magazines. 
He has sense enough, however, to know that not 
all which are advertised are safe, and he is anxious 
to know how to select the best bond for his pur 
pose. If the young man has no bank accounts and 
especially has not acquired the friendship and 
good will of a commercial bank through a check 
ing account, it is difficult to realize how he can 
avoid losing money when attempting to invest. 
One might say at first thought, that he could go to 
a good bond house and leave it with them; but 
how does the average investor know a reliable bond 
house from an unreliable one? Certainly a firm 
is not reliable because it advertises largely, or 
because it has beautiful offices and a large force of 
salesmen! Therefore, the best way for the investor 
to obtain honest, intelligent information as to 
investments is either through some bank in which 
he has an account of sufficient size to cause said