desired to bolster up or to foist upon the public.
This is done in such a way that the reader is
expected to believe that it is the genuine ex-
pression of a truthful opinion by the editor, who
has obtained his information from unimpeach-
able sources. Of course, this peculiar kind of
advertisement has to be paid for, but it has its
advantages to the advertiser, for it can (for a
consideration) be quoted by the country papers
as unbiassed news, and attention called to it in
a money article or leaderette. The pamphlets
issued by the advertising outside broker are
sometimes amusingly artless in the endeavour
to sell shares and attract custom. On the first
page will be found some paragraphs setting
forth the merits and prospects of certain named
companies, and advising the reader to buy
shares in them without a day's delay, as a con-
siderable and speedy rise in value is assured.
One may be permitted to wonder why the
broker and all his friends do not rush in and
secure every share that is to be had. At the
end of the paper the reason will be discovered;
in every one of the concerns referred to shares
are offered for sale, which cannot be got rid of
in the regular market. It must be inferred that
some credulous persons are taken in by this
transparent artifice, or it would not be so con-
stantly practised. The object of these publica-
tions is chiefly to puff up doubtful securities, in