THE CALL OF THE LAND 



tion and adventures on margins. 3. Assuage 

 the unfortunate public hostility toward 

 large corporations and trusts. 4. Multiply 

 the number and lower the price of safe in- 

 vestments, bringing such within the reach of 

 a greater number of citizens. 5. Increase 

 the rate of return on moneys safely invested, 

 producing among other benign results, a 

 lowering of insurance rates and a rise in 

 those paid by institutions for savings* 



Coming back at last to the question 

 whether the promoter is a tare in the indus- 

 trial field, to be rooted up and cast into the 

 fire, or a useful plant to be cherished and 

 cultivated, we find the answer to a consider- 

 able extent anticipated by the discussion 

 which has preceded. 



There are corrupt promoters who ought 

 to be in prison, and there are valuable pro- 

 moters some of whose doings will not bear 

 scrutiny in details. The essential function 

 of promoting is, however, a valid, impor- 

 tant, vital, and, in modern industry, indis- 

 pensable one, which the majority of 



* Meade, 358. 



270 



