Page:Manual of Political Economy.djvu/139

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Manual of Political Economy.

production of wealth in this country, does not depend so much upon the amount which is saved, as upon the proportion retained by the country itself of all the wealth which is saved. The relative amount of English capital which is invested at home and abroad is regulated by many considerations, the chief of which is the rate of interest which can be obtained at home compared to that which can be obtained in foreign countries. Economical condition of foreign countries as to the requisites of production.We have explained that the English government may raise large loans without diminishing the capital invested in English industry, the loans being chiefly derived from capital which would otherwise have been embarked in foreign investments. Yet it must be borne in mind that this remark does not apply to countries from which little capital is exported. France was congratulated at the close of her war with Germany upon the ease with which she raised successive loans, amounting to many hundred millions of pounds, to defray the expenses of the war and to pay the German indemnity. A portion of these vast loans was probably supplied from money which had been hoarded; but a great portion of them was no doubt obtained from capital which would otherwise have been re-employed in the production of wealth. The war had caused, over a great part of France, an almost entire cessation of production. Hence, as the war proceeded and as trade declined, there was a large amount of capital which had previously been employed in productive industry ready at hand to be lent to the government to be consumed in war. Even after the war was concluded, the indemnity of 200,000,000l. which she had to pay to Germany withdrew a large amount of capital from France which might have been employed in reviving the various branches of industry which had suffered so much during the war.

India has abundance of land and labour, but little capital.It is important to bear in mind that, with regard to the conditions on which depend the increased production of wealth, England, in many respects, offers a direct antithesis to other countries; thus, she possesses an almost unlimited capital, but has very little fertile land at the present time uncultivated. In India the chief requisite for the increased production of wealth is increase of capital; whereas in newly settled countries