Attach

When property is taken or held by process of law in order to satisfy a claim, it is said to have been " attached." Attest. To sign as a witness.

Average Maturity

See last part of "Net Return upon the Investment."

Ayrshires

Used in London to designate the ordinary stock of the Glasgow & South Western Rwy.

Balance Sheet

A statement showing in condensed form the assets and liabilities, intelligently grouped, as well as the profits (excess of assets over liabilities) or losses (excess of liabilities over assets) of an undertaking, business or corporation; a condensed statement that should show the true financial condition.

To put it in more exact language, the assets are shown on one side of the account; the liabilities, capital invested, i. e. proprietorship, are shown on the other side of the account. The two sides should balance - equal each other by including a profit and loss account which is usually called surplus or deficit.

Basis

As used in connection with the income yield of securities it indicates the average annual percentage return upon the money invested. (See "Net Return upon the Investment.")

Bays

Used in London to designate the ordinary shares of the Hudson Bay Co.

Bear Account

(First read "Bear.") All those who are interested on the bear side of a particular security, or of the market in general.

Bearer

Anything is "payable to bearer" when ownership of it may pass from hand to hand without endorsement, such as a ten-dollar bill.

Bearer Certificates

A "bearer certificate " represents the ownership in a corporation the same as the ordinary "stock certificate " (to which subject refer), but is not made out in any specific name. It is negotiable; that is, may pass from hand to hand without endorsement, the same as a dollar bill or a

Addenda coupon bond. They are often issued as an evidence of ownership in stock which, in turn, has been deposited in some trust company. A case in point is that of 200,000 shares of stock in the Philadelphia Company, which, when listed upon the official department of the Paris Bourse, were deposited in the form of ordinary stock certificates with the New York Trust Company, in that city, and against this stock were issued negotiable " bearer certificates." This was the class of security that was dealt in upon the Paris Bourse and not the real stock of the Company.

Bearer Scrip

See "Bearer Securities."

Bearer Securities

In England, any security, such as stocks, bonds, etc., which may be passed from hand to hand in the same manner as a "bearer certificate," described under that subject, is termed a "bearer security," and, in this connection, it is well to read "registered stock." The holders of "bearer securities" are not enrolled upon any list of the companies, therefore a "bearer security" is proof of ownership. Dividends are only paid on presentation of coupons - which Englishmen sometimes term "cuttings" - detached from the securities themselves. We have but few examples in America of stocks upon which dividends are collectible in this way. Perhaps the most notable was that of the Southern Pacific R. R. Co. Formerly its stock certificates carried coupons which had to be cut off and presented for collection in the same manner as interest is collected upon ordinary coupon bonds.