Safeguarding Invested Capital. 33 
Innumerable investments were then, and are now, on 
offer; but of these only a limited number proved 
thoroughly suitable and remunerative, and, naturally 
enough, such highly desirable investments were firmly 
held, and not procurable on favourable terms or in suffi 
cient quantities. Moreover, it became apparent that by- 
concentrating the combined holdings of customers in a 
limited number of very desirable securities, the 
Registry’s clientele could command a power that 
could be wielded most advantageously in their own 
interests. 
So long as the clients’ capital was diffused over a 
large number of securities, neither the Registry nor the 
clients could exercise any real control over the manage 
ment of the undertakings in whose securities they were 
interested. Facilities for obtaining special and 
detailed information from the managers of such con 
cerns could not be insisted upon. Whenever it was 
deemed desirable to add to the data afforded by the 
reports and balance-sheets officially published, the 
additional information was difficult to obtain, because 
the combined holding of the Registry’s customers was 
not large enough to command attention. Where bearer 
securities were concerned it was impossible to ascertain 
whether the stock was so well held and dispersed 
among private investors that no danger could arise 
through large quantities of it being suddenly offered for 
sale, unduly depressing the selling price. 
In some instances, again, it was found that the 
officially published reports and balance-sheets concealed 
F