IN THE hundreds of investors' letters which this magazine answers each month there is evidence that some readers did not see, or heed, the warnings printed on these pages during the days of low bond prices of 1920 and 1921 against the purchase of callable bonds bearing high interest rates. Nearly every day requests now come for suggestions of securities in which to invest funds that have come back to people through the retirement of 6, 6, 7, and 8 per cent. bonds long before their maturity dates.

In the first two months of this year nearly a quarter of a million of bonds were thus retired. They had practically all been sold within the last few yearsand those who bought them had undoubtedly looked at their distant maturity dates and thought, or hoped, that they were going to get the high interest rates they bore for many years to come. They paid little or no attention to their callable features at a time when they might have made more certain of a high return for a longer period.

Unfortunately, some of these investors, and others too, now want to get as high a return on their money as they got before bond prices advanced from their post-war depression. If such people would but stop to realize that Liberty bonds, now selling to yield less than 4 per cent., could then be bought to yield 6 per cent., they would have some measure of conception of the great change that has taken place in the investment market and possibly some realization of the danger they would be running if they attempted to get as high a return on their money to-day as they got in 1920 and 1921.

But there is another point in connection with the callable feature that has a wider application and that seems to have

escaped the attention of many more investors. In many of the investment lists sent to the WORLD'S WORK for criticism there are still high interest rate bonds that are now selling at or near the prices at which they can be called by the issuing companies for redemption. If a mistake was made in buying these bonds in the first place, there is no reason why it should be multiplied by holding on to them.

The investor answers that as high a return cannot be secured by selling these bonds to-day and investing in some other equally good security. But if that be true, then it follows that it would be profitable for the issuing companies to sell lower interest rate bonds and retire these issues; therefore the investor is not likely to get the higher return for long. Callable bonds do not advance in the market much above their callable prices, and why should not investors switch at once from securities that are selling near their callable prices into securities that will continue to advance if long term interest rates keep on declining?

In the case of a Chicago investor who sent in his list of forty-three high grade bonds in the government, public utility, railroad, and industrial fields, the only suggestion made to him was that he switch from such issues as Duquesne Light 6s due 1949, selling at 105, callable at 105, and Shawinigan Water & Power 6s due 1950, callable at 105, selling at that price, into bonds that are either noncallable or are selling several points below their callable prices. This same line of reasoning should still be applied in the purchase of new securities to avoid the "heads I win, tails you lose" callable features of the issuing companies, in the event that interest rates continue downward.

would have been most welcome, but, unfortunately, it did not arrive. The forms were held open for him until the last minute, and the last word was that Sir Philip was in the south of France, which is, if we have our French correctly, a playground, not a workshop.

Rollin Lynde Hartt's work is always so vital that it calls forth many letters from our readers, and his articles on "Prohibition As It Is" form no exception to this rule. It may be pointed out, however, that recent statements from official sources have proved many of Mr. Hartt's statements.

Mr. Hartt has succeeded, as always, in reporting the facts impartially and in an unbiased and unprejudiced manner. His aim, and the aim of this magazine, is not to build a case for one side or the other, but merely to state the facts as they are. A fifth and last article of the series will appear. next month.

The letters on Mr. Hartt's articles have been both in praise and in criticism. One letter of praise was from an Episcopal clergyman in New England, who wrote:

Sir: I am grateful to you for the courageous honesty with which you have reported in the WORLD'S WORK the conditions in this country under strict prohibition. My experience as a pastor confirms the truth of your articles. The repeal of the Volstead Act is necessary if sobriety is to advance further amongst us. I find to my surprise that most ministers disagree with me but I feel sure it is simply because they see only what they wish to see. You have rendered the public a real service. J. MALCOLM SMITH

A criticism was made by a reader in New York City, who wrote in part:

It is not that I object to the presentation of the opposing side of prohibition, but it is the patent unfairness of this particular presentation to which I take exception. The selfstyled "investigator" doesn't "make some observations." He deliberately does sleuth work to substantiate his prejudices. At Buffalo, for example, he confines himself to ignoring any existing dry possibilities and establishes his case from "a hint or two" taken

from a chance acquaintance, a man who is discountenanced by the prohibition element, a drinker himself in a hypocritical way, who, despite Mr. Hartt's assertion, by no means "perfectly represents the type who votes dry and acts wet."

No better article has ever been written for booze. Every argument against prohibition has been introduced in a most subtle and engaging way-not one has escaped him. Every argument for prohibition has served his purpose as a man of straw to be knocked down, at least to his satisfaction, and he has not veiled his delight in so doing.

And what ardent anti-prohibitionist could wish for a more representative group of cities upon which to base his findings: Hoboken, Buffalo, Detroit-the most accessible to our foreign friends who, unrestricted and unrebuked, are doing their part like Mr. Hartt to make a case against prohibition.

Your "investigator" has demonstrated his ability as a detective for the case against prohibition and in this capacity he has my hearty approbation. He has used the methods of a detective. I maintain that investigation interpolates less personal opinion into one's findings, less smoking-car and scullery gossip, and more visits to places other than back alleys and illicit saloons.

In justice to Mr. Hartt, it may be pointed out that he sought and obtained facts and observations from Anti-Saloon League officials and other "drys," as well as from those who were "neutral" or "wet."

Since Captain Raymond Recouly wrote his article on "Can Caillaux Return to Power?" for this magazine, the campaign for his return to power has taken great strides. He was the guest of honor at a dinner at Paris, which was attended by some of the high officials of the Herriot Government. Indeed, with French finances in their present state it is not at all unlikely that Caillaux, who is regarded in France and elsewhere as a great financier, may return to power. It may be inferred, however, that Captain Recouly will not be among those cheering when he does return, for Recouly was an intimate friend and editorial associate of Gaston Calmette, whom

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The existence of Martin Johnson and his wife is as paradisical as the name of their jungle demesne. Besides their house, photographs of which appear in this issue, they have built themselves a laboratory in which they pursue their photographic experiments, and both this and the house, though simple and unassuming in appearance, are most modern and convenient in appointment. Their days are spent in the work that is the most congenial in the world for them, studying and photographing the many kinds of animals that also make their residence near Paradise Lake.

Mr. Johnson uses the Akeley moving picture camera invented by that gifted and versatile individual, Carl Akeley, who, by the way, in addition to being one of the most distinguished of living American sculptors, is also perhaps the most notable Africa-enthusiast of them all. He is just at present depressed about that continent. "Cook's Tours," he thinks, are making it impossible for

honest men who are genuine in their love for splendid and virgin country.

Who, when elephants are the goal, wishes to be harried by the sight of neatly clad people in funny hats who babble about lion tracks where none exist and write long and egregious articles about their impressions and illustrate them with the work of New York photographers? Who, indeed! With a view to avoiding these Pullman explorers Martin Johnson does not reveal the actual location of his lake. We agree with him and Mr. Akeley. Some distinction must be made between Africa and the Bronx Zoo. os 50

There has been, in various parts of the country where the WORLD'S WORK has penetrated, a certain amount of astonished ornithological interest in our eagles. A gentleman in Fresno wrote us quite a long letter to the effect that although he had never seen an eagle he knew extremely well that they weren't red. This statement he qualified with a popular adjective. adjective. Apparently there was something about the color that he didn't like. He added in a pithy postscript that even if we weren't the organ of the Red factions in this country our magazine looked as if it was. This statement, too, was qualified. And, too, the same adjective was used.

Now, we wish to free our eagles from an unjust suspicion. They themselves are delightfully and absolutely fictitious and are, therefore, guiltless of any political leanings. They are slightly idiosyncratic, possibly a trifle vain, hence their rubescent plumage, but that is the entire and innocent extent of this color's dominion in them.