Changing Investments and the Anti-Trust Laws

• DOI: 10.1177/000271623014700114
• Published date: 01 January 1930
• Date: 01 January 1930
• Subject Matter: Articles

103

Changing

Investments

and

the

Anti-Trust

Laws

By

EDWARD

W.

CARTER

Wharton

School

of

Finance

and

Commerce,

University

of

Pennsylvania,

Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania

T HERE

can

be

little

doubt

of

the

fact

that

there

is

today

in

this

country

an

unprecedentedly

wide-

spread

distribution

of

stocks

among

all

classes

of

people,

and

that

there

has

developed

a

marked

tendency

in

one

direction

with

regard

to

this

particular

condition.

However,

the

effects

of

this

tendency

and

its

relation

to

the

specific

problem

of

this

paper

can,

at

best,

be

but

the

personal

estimate

and

opinion

of

the

writer.

Needless

to

say,

on

a

matter

so

recent,

the

data

are

still

incomplete.

Is

it

true

that

types

of

investment

are

undergoing

a

revolutionary

change?

It

is

but

a

comparatively

short

time

since

considerations

of

investment

were

primarily

along

the

lines

of

real

estate.

The

largest

proportion

of

the

wealth

of

the

nation

was

in real

property.

As

long

as

the

majority

of

our

population

lived

in

the

country,

they

thought

of

investment

in

terms

of

the

purchase and

sale

of

land.

It

was

during

this

period

that

the

anti-trust

laws

were

enacted.

Some

idea

of

the

extent

of

this

change

may

be

gained

from

the

following

table.

From

this

table

it

may

be

seen

that,

although

the

value

of

real

estate

has

greatly

increased,

the

proportion

of

the

value

of

real

estate

to

the

total

wealth

of

the

United

States

has

just

as

steadily

decreased.

Real

estate

has

become

of

relatively

less

importance,

and

other

forms

of

wealth

of

comparatively

greater

importance.

A

decline

in

real

estate

means

a

pro-

portional

increase

in

the

value

of

some

other

factor.

If

we

turn

to

figures

of

stocks,

bonds

and

notes,

for

approxi-

mately

the

same

period,

we

may

see

the

source

of

this

increase.

From

data

published

by

the

United

States

Department

of

Commerce.

Since

1907,

the

number

of

stock-

holders

in

the

United

States

has

in-

creased

to

the

proportions

of

a

sizable

army.

It

would

seem

that

many

of

those

who

formerly

invested

in

real

estate

are

now

trading

in

stocks

and

bonds.

At

any

rate,

the

trend

in

real

estate

has

been

downward,

while

the

Based

on

data

published

by

the

United

States

Department

of

Commerce.