Miss Smith received from her lawyer, we will
presume that they represent safe investments of
various kinds. It will be prudent, however, to
ask her banker to examine them to see if any,
in his judgment, might be sold with advantage
(either on account of doubtful character or ex-
ceptionally high price), and the money invested
elsewhere. This business the bank will transact
for her; and in the matter of investment, in
addition to using her own common sense as to
the nature of the securities in which she should
place her money, she should seek the advice
of her banker, and rely very much upon his
opinion.

The undertakings in which the public are in-
vited to invest their money are so numerous,
and the prospects of success so speciously
asserted, in good and bad alike, that it is necessary
to be extremely cautious in accepting any state-
ments of the kind without rigid examination and
proof of their being true and genuine. Other-
wise the investment or purchase becomes a
speculation, and, more than likely, will only end
in disaster.

The term "securities" applies both to the
concerns in which investments are made and to
the deeds and documents which represent the
investments. Thus a mortgage or a mortgage