On the Increase of Capital.
89
Foreign investments.important point, however, to be borne in mind is that a much smaller portion of the wealth which is saved will be invested as capital in our own country, when the rate of interest is low. England, far more than any other country, offers a striking example of the vast amount of capital which the people are ready to invest, if a favourable opportunity presents itself. When the government requires a loan, many millions are at once subscribed, without encroaching in the slightest degree upon either the circulating or fixed capital of the country. The loan is not altogether supplied from capital which was previously unemployed, but England has vast sums invested in almost every civilised country. Magnificent as are the tokens of England's wealth which surround us on every side, yet our manufactories, our railroads, our mercantile marine will not give us an adequate idea of England's riches, unless we remember that there are few countries either in the new or the old world that are not our debtors. Russia, Turkey, India, Australia, Canada, the United States, the Republics of South America, all have satisfied their state necessities, by loans supplied from English capital. But it is not only foreign governments who borrow from us; a vast number of foreign speculations have been supported by English capital. A considerable number of railroads throughout the world have been made by English capital; the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada has absorbed 15,000,000l. of English capital. The railways, irrigation works, and roads of India have been constructed by English capital, and some of the richest mines in South America have been worked by English companies. Consequently only a portion of the wealth which is annually accumulated in England is retained to be invested in this country. If, therefore, England requires a greater amount of capital to extend any branch of trade or to carry out any public work, she can supply an amount which is practically unlimited. If, for instance, there were such an expansion in our cotton manufacture, that 100,000,000l. of additional capital was required, it would be readily obtained, by placing a check upon the investments of English capital abroad. The amount of capital, therefore, which is applied to the
