Even if the stockholder should know how to make such a cross-index properly, there are very few stockholders who would be willing to give the time and the mental effort requisite to make a tabulated comparison of the kind necessary.

The absorption of good securities by the public has increased in the last ten years at a tremendous rate. The Wall Street Journal has compiled statistics of the stockliolders of the larger railway and industrial corporations showing that the numbers have grown as follows :

1901 227,000

1906 431,000

1911 865,000

1913 1,250,000

Mr. Samuel Rea, the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, recently stated that there are nearly 100,000 stockliolders in the Pennsylvania Railroad and its affiliated companies, and that the number of its bondholders probably exceeded 200,000. Therefore, if there are 1,250,000 stockholders of the railways and industrial corporations, there are doubtless considerably more than 2,000,000 bondholders. Though there are many duplications in these figures, the fact remains that the prosperity of probably 3,000,000 investors is largely dependent upon the success of these corporations.

CORPORATION FINANCIAL REPORTS 309

While the number of stockholders has been increasing, the average holdings of each stockholder have been steadily decreasing, and now average ninety-eight shares. The stocks of the United States Steel Corporation are great favorites among small investors. Taking the stockholders' list, it was found that among one hundred people, chosen at random, only nine own one hundred shares, or over, of both preferred and common stock, while forty-seven have less than ten shares each.