114 THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE 
in exactly the same form as when he received them. He is at 
liberty to sell them again at any time he wishes, and very often 
he does so. Thus, after being held for years by an investor, a 
given security certificate may readily be sold by him through 
the Stock Exchange to some speculator, and thereby added to 
‘he floating supply. In consequence, it is one thing to sell listed 
securities to investors, and another to keep them sold to 
investors. 
Of course, some securities disappear in the course of time, 
either through the dissolution of the issuing corporation or 
through being paid off or converted into other securities. 
Nevertheless, there are bonds listed on the Stock Exchange 
which will not mature until after 2000 A.D., while stocks repre- 
sent shares in corporations which in theory at least are death- 
less and perpetual. Furthermore, every year sees new and 
unseasoned securities created and listed on the Exchange. Thus 
speculation in any average security must be both extensive and 
of long duration, and distribution of securities necessarily 
demands considerable financing through the collateral loan 
market.?® Funds thus employed perform in general the same 
economic service as funds employed by speculative dealers in 
effecting the distribution of any commodity or article to the 
consumer. 
Professor H. C. Emery has epitomized this whole season- 
ing process experienced by listed securities in the following 
words: 
Each new enterprise must stand the test of criticism, and unless 
unusually sound will be the subject of active speculation. Its ups and 
downs follow the changes of opinions, until gradually a continuous 
flow of dividends of moderate amount show the stability of real value 
(or lack of dividends shows the valuelessness) of the security and 
speculation ceases. The particular investment has been put through 
the ordeal and come out whole. It then becomes a field for the private 
investor. Many of the more active stocks of today may run their 
course and fall into the honorable obscurity of certainty. 
28 See Chapter XI.