“Again I question if any man could have foreseen the
severity of this depression. Both stocks and commodity prices are back to 1899
level. Those men who were wise enough to sell during the boom and then keep
their funds liquid in the form of government bonds, etc. were not far-sighted
or patient enough to wait almost three years to re-invest. Most of them
reinvested a year or more ago and now find stock prices have sagged to 1/3 of
what they were when they thought they were buying bargains. Of course they will
come out ahead if they can hold on long enough and—most important of all just
now—if a receivership does not intervene. Patience, rather than boldness, seems
to be required just now.”
