I have just finished reading your articles .regarding publicly owned real estate companies, which were most interesting and perceptive. This is a story that needed to be told.
我刚刚读完你关于公众持股的不动产公司的文章，内容非常有趣且见解深刻。这是一个确实需要被讲出来的故事。
An item fully as important as the lack of quantitative coverage of dividends may well turn out to be the dubious quality of the income of many of these companies. Whereas it is somewhat difficult in many cases to determine this quality, there are certain known instances which literally shout for disclosure, and I think there is reason to believe that continued probing would develop still more instances.
与对股息缺乏量化覆盖同等重要的，极有可能是这些公司中许多家收入质量的可疑性。尽管在不少情形下评估这种质量颇为困难，但某些已知的实例简直在大声要求披露；而且我认为，有理由相信继续深挖还会发现更多这样的案例。
To give you an example of the sort of thing I have in mind, let me cite two instances, to which, you referred, from the Kratter Corp. prospectus of 1961, prepared in connection with the debenture issue which never materialized:
为说明我所指的情况，让我引用两个你提到过的实例，均来自Kratter Corp. 1961年的招股说明书，该说明书是为一笔最终未能成行的债券发行所准备：
1.On page 50 of the “red herring” prospectus, reference is made to 140,000 containers under lease to F. & M. Schafer Brewing Co. These containers were purchased by a joint venture in August 1958, for $2,800,000 and immediately net leased back to the brewery for five years at $710,000 annually. What this really amounted to, of course, was a financing transaction for the brewing company. However, the impression the public stockholder gets is that this $710,- 000, comingled with other operating income from real estate, has the same quality and expected longevity that might be expected from a first-class office building. Therefore, if the casual stockholder takes the $710,- 000 and capitalizes it at 9%, he immediately attributes a value of almost $8 million to something which initially only had a value of $2,800,- 000 and whose value is declining at an extreme rate. Various brokerage offices have issued reports involving just this sort of valuation. This would appear to be trading upon the lower level of intelligence in Wall Street.
在这份“red herring”招股说明书的第50页，提到有140,000个容器租赁给F. & M. Schafer Brewing Co.。这些容器由一家合资企业于1958年8月以$2,800,000购入，随即以净租赁方式回租给这家酿酒厂，为期五年，每年租金$710,000。当然，这实质上是为这家酿酒公司提供的一笔融资交易。然而，公众股东得到的印象却是，这笔与其他不动产经营收入混在一起的$710,000，具备与一座一流写字楼相同的质量和可预期的持久性。因此，如果一个漫不经心的股东把这$710,000按9%的资本化率估值，他会立刻给某个最初只值$2,800,000，而且其价值正以极快速度下降的东西赋予接近$8,000,000的价值。多家券商已发布涉及这种估值方式的报告。这看起来就是在利用Wall Street较低层次的智力水平进行交易。
2.On the same page in the “red herring,” reference is made to various machines acquired from Dashew Business Machines and under lease either to Standard Oil of California or Dashew, itself. There are two arrangements here, but suffice to say that the eight machines leased to Dashew were purchased for $660,000 in August 1960 and leased back for five years for $153,000 per annum with the subsequent five years available to Dashew at $9,900 per annum. Anyone assuming that the $153,000, which is contributing just that much to the current operating income of Kratter, has the aspect of long-term prime real estate income is due for a real shock when the renewal period comes up.
同一页的“red herring”还提到，从Dashew Business Machines购入的各类机器，随后租给Standard Oil of California或Dashew本身。这里有两种安排，但简而言之，租给Dashew的八台机器是在1960年8月以$660,000购入，并以每年$153,000的价格回租五年；随后五年，Dashew可按每年$9,900续租。任何把这每年$153,000（目前正等额计入Kratter的经营收入）当成长期优质不动产租金的人，在续租期到来时都将大吃一惊。
This sort of transaction is very similar to buying a royalty on a short-lived oil well. If the gross receipts are spent each year, one soon finds out that the capital is not self-replacing. To ignore the concept of amortization or depreciation on such transactions is dubious, if not fraudulent.
这种交易与购买一口寿命短暂的油井的特许权分成非常相似。如果每年都把毛收入口袋，很快就会发现资本并不会自我补偿。在这类交易上无视摊销或折旧的概念，至多是可疑，甚至可以说近乎欺诈。
I think you have done a real public service in taking a good, hard look at the “advanced accounting techniques” of this new industry. It has many of the aspects of a chain letter scheme or a “Ponzi” operation, and the sooner articles such as yours are given wide circulation, the less likelihood of serious harm to the public.
我认为，你对这个新兴行业所谓“advanced accounting techniques”的认真审视，确实是在为公众提供一项真正的服务。它的许多做法带有连锁信件（chain letter）式计划或“Ponzi”式操作的特征；像你这样的文章越早广为传播，公众遭受严重伤害的可能性就越小。