They have no use for, or patience with, such quack stimulants as 'inside information.' Modern investment demands and receives, both from the Stock Exchange and from the corporations whose securities are listed there, a disclosure which leaves the once powerful insider, so called, little better off than the man intelligent enough to understand an itemized annual report or a quarterly statement. It is true that there is always an element in any financial community which instinctively opposes change. It is usually comfortably fixed in the matter of wealth, but is of dull intelligence. Changes have come about so gradually that its opposition has not been effective. It will be clearer to call it obstructive rather than conservative, and I can recall presidents and governors of the Stock Exchange who were well within that class. This is a revolution. Information about the real position of a corporation, even twenty years ago, was, with few exceptions, regarded as a perquisite of the higher officers and especially of the banking house which did the company's financing. Registration requirements by the states granting the original charter offered little or no real protection to the investor. Charters are granted by forty-eight different state legislatures of varying degrees of intelligence, and still more varied conceptions of corporate honesty. London has the enormous advantage of a homogeneous registration, but it may truthfully be said that twenty-five years ago, or even up to the passing of the Companies (Consolidation) Act of 1908, the conditions in the London market, as regards the information of the investor, were not greatly different from those in Wall Street. In some ways we have the advantage to-day, for Professor Ripley of Harvard or ex-President Hadley of Yale would readily agree with me in saying that the information furnished by American railroads is clearer, more prompt, and more complete than that published by the four unified railroad systems of Great Britain. And yet under the English system of registration at Somerset House, London, the investor has been successfully protected. He can obtain the essential information about the company in which he proposes to invest, or has invested, with the objects of the enterprise, the amounts paid for the property acquired, tangible and intangible, the earnings and disbursements and other essential matters, for the nominal fee of one shilling. There is still a high degree of financial freedom in Britain, and the law does not pretend to protect the investor from himself, from his own rashness or neglect. The common law rule of 'caveat emptor' about represents the attitude of the courts. It is to be noted that this remarkable change has come about in America without the assistance of 'blue-sky' laws, and even in spite of them. It has not been a matter of agitation in Congress or at Albany. It is not based, in any considerable degree, on the recommendations of voluntary or appointed committees of inquiry. The credit for the revolution can be widely distributed. The investor himself deserves a part of it, and the conscientious newspapers must not be forgotten. The Stock Exchange itself has done much. The result is highly encouraging to those of us who still believe that we are a people really capable of selfgovernment. A Message to Business Men THEN you need money to carry on the legitimate W development of your business, your local bank helps you. It is their business to lend you money. But with growth there usually comes a time when you need the advice and co-operation of an investment banker, one who has had experience in underwriting and distributing securities. Our services are always at the disposal of executives Address your communications to our Over 37,000 persons have invested in Associated securities, of whom 23,000 are customers and employees. This represents a growth from less than 1,000 shareholders in 1919 to the present number. Customer-ownership, fostered and developed by public utilities, has grown to such proportions that it has given a new meaning to “public” in public utility. Public Utility Management Has Two Responsibilities Not only do the utilities serve the public but they are in a large measure owned by it. This ir turn has added a new responsibility to management. It must provide Adequate service to its customers Sound securities to its investors Customer-ownership is helping slowly to revolutionize the investing and savings habits a thousands of persons. It offers sound securities with good yields which customers may purchase on a partial payment plan. The management of the Associated Gas and Electric Company is fully aware of this double responsibility to its public in providing dependable service and sound securities. SSOCIATE GAS & ELECTRICO 1852 SYSTEM Associated Gas and Electric Company Incorporated in 1906 Write for our Illustrated Year Book Associated Gas and Electric Securities Company pon a Friend That Loved the 'Odyssey'. . DOROTHY MARGARET STUART 629 olfers of Two Countries HE NEW WORLD Rise of the Chinese Nationalists. A Personal Chronicle. . . . NORA WALN 677 The New Zion. The Irish Experiment. A Record of Accomplishment ontributors' Club: Chloe-Water-Daily Reminders - The Cynic's Testament. THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. Publication Office, 10 FERRY STREET, CONCORD, N. H. Editorial and Ge Offices, 8 Arlington Street, Boston 17, Mass, 40c a copy, $4.00 a year; foreign postage $1.00. Entered at Post Offices at Con Otta N. H., and Ottawa, Canada, as second-class matter. Copyright 1927, by The Atlantic Monthly Company, Best, M LITERATURE! Not Just Books VERYTHING bound between two covers is not literature. There are thousands of books published each ar which are meant to be read in a few minutes d forgotten. As things are organized, these have be put out in the same form and bought at the ne price as really good books. It is the purpose the Literary Guild of America to have nothing do with that kind of book. It is the aim of the Guild to choose only books permanant literary value, books which you will id when you get them, which will be important hen they come out, but which you will read again six months, in a year, which will be a permant part of your life, which will be the classics of e future. To understand exactly what we mean, imagine urself living in the time of Hawthorne, and agine that there was such a thing as the Literary ild in existence then. In that day you would ve gone into a bookstore and as the result of much Ik bought a book by Mary Jane Holmes. You ould have had something printed on paper, someing of little real worth, something of no permant power. But if the Guild had been in existence, u would have received instead a copy of "The arlet Letter," which your descendants would have en reading today. That is what the Guild is trying to do. For the itors of the Guild, passing fads do not exist. Its oks will be permanently important, either in ntent or in literary value.. Look over the list of itors of the Guild. They are sufficient promise of hat you will get. They are sufficient promise that oks you might have missed will reach you. SEVEN PRIVILEGES TO MEMBERS 1. Discrimination Your books are chosen for you by a distinguished 2. Width of Choice The books are chosen-not from books already 3. Special Guild Edition The Literary Guild makes for its members a special store. 4. Convenience Once a month the postman will hand you a book 5. Promptness You do not receive your copy three or four months 6. The Low Price Instead of twelve sales a year the Guild makes only The Literary Guild makes only one sale to you... 7. The Present Low Price Experimental. If subscriptions come in fast Meantime for you THE LITERARY GUILD OF AMERICA, Inc. 55 Fifth Avenue, New York I apply for enrollment in The Literary Guild of America for one year. Enclosed is $1.00 initial fee. I will pay you $3.00 a month for 6 months only. During the last six months of the year I pay nothing. In return you will send me one new book each month for one year-12 new outstanding books in all-selected by your Editorial Committee. I will reIceive this book on the same day of its appearance in the bookstores. I may cancel this subscription by giving one month's notice, you to charge me the retail value of the books I have received, and refund the unused balance. Name. Address... 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