(_Subject to Revision after the Vacation_)
_Question._ What is meant by the promotion of a company?
_Answer._ The process of separating capital from its possessor.
_Q._ How is this end accomplished?
_A._ By the preparation and publication of a prospectus.
_Q._ Of what does a prospectus consist?
_A._ A front page and a statement of facts.
_Q._ Define a front page.
_A._ The bait covering the hook, the lane leading to the pitfall, the
lath concealing the quagmire--occasionally.
_Q._ Of what is a front page composed?
_A._ Titles, and other suggestions of respectability.
_Q._ How are these suggestions obtained?
_A._ In the customary fashion.
_Q._ Can a banking account be put to any particular service in the
promotion of a company?
_A._ Certainly; it eases the wheels in all directions.
_Q._ Can it obtain the good-will of the Press?
_A._ Only of questionable and usually short-lived periodicals.
_Q._ But the destination of the cash scarcely affects the promoter?
_A._ No; for he loses in any case.
_Q._ How much of his profits does he sometimes have to disgorge?
_A._ According to circumstances, from three-fifths to
nineteen-twentieths of his easily-secured takings.
_Q._ And what does promotion do for the promoter?
_A._ It usually bestows upon him temporary prosperity.
_Q._ Why do you say "temporary"?
_A._ Because a pleasant present is frequently followed by a disastrous
future.
_Q._ You mean, then, that this prosperity is like the companies
promoted, "limited"?
_A._ Yes, by the Court of Bankruptcy.
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[Illustration: "ON 'CHANGE"
_Brown._ "Mornin'. Fresh mornin', ain't it?"
_Smith._ "'Course it is. Every morning's a fresh morning! By-bye!"
[_Brown's temper all day is quite unbearable._
]
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[Illustration: _Sympathetic Passer-by._ "But if he's badly hurt, why
doesn't he go to the hospital?" _British Workman._ "Wot! In 'is
dinner-time!!"]
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