Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-04-14
How Capital Creates Trade.
European Surplus Money Has osveoped All the Now Nations Of the
World BY Investing In All Sorts of Commercial. Industrial and
Public Enterprises.
:. NJ. Keys. in the Worlds Work.

G. NJ. Keys, in the Worlds Work.
These foreign investments of Great Brit
ain a~ggregating $l3. Age, OO0, COO. carry a COM
prehensive idea of the worldwide charac-
ter of European investment. That Great
Britain is not alone in making great in
vestmcnts of this worldwide character
may be demonstrated quite easily. 1t is
enough. for the purpose of this article.
to state the total foreign investments of
Germany and France. In 1909. according
to the Statist. France. held investments
in foreign lands to the extent of about
8.GW.O00,N0. They were scattered over q
countries. Germany. in 1913, according to
DIR. Karl Helfferich, of the Deutsche
bank, had similar investments amounting
to about S.. 600. 000, 900. There is no definite
authority for the current estimate that
Belgium has a total capital abroad
amounting to s2,0oO. 0O0. 600. but the esti-
mate would seem low rather than high.
These four countries. then. have total
foreign investments today of about $780,
0o,0o0.W0 They tend to increase at an
average rate of nearly if not quite S per
cent g. year.
No man today may speculate with n
large degree of sense upon he effect of
the European war upon this stream of
capital that has done SO much to open
up the world to and to civil1Za-
WI vi beiSluHl III is possible 10 MAKE
a falr estimate for the answer is written
over the face of the country. The world
may think no more. in our day. OF Bel
GUM capital as n thing to count upon.
Go then. to eNtremities. Consider the
worst that might happen. Picture Eu-
rope, after a long and deadly war. pros
trate. France, Germany, Western Russia.
England, and perhaps Holland have been
drained by the terrible havoc OF war.
Northern and Central FRI moo tho Rhine
valley, the fiat lands of Holland. and the
rich plains of Sjlesia have met the fate
of Belgium, let us say.
No Prospect For FREQ CAPITAL.
How much free capital. one may we'll
ask, will Britain, France, Germany. or
Holland pour out into the wildernesses of
the world. If one grant the sad pre-
mise. the reply is obvious enough. Not in
many years will any of the new coun-
tries be able to call upon the older lands
for help.
1t is the habit of the day to look with
selfish eyes upon the strange and almost
u~nthinkable catastrophe in which so much
of the world is involved. Much talk there
IL of grand new opportunities opening up
in South America, Russia. China, South
Africa, and many other lands because the
hands of Germany, England. France, and
Belgium are bathed in one another's
blood. Directly of these matters of trade
this article need not treat. Yet, it would
seem to be of them that it is written,
for there would seem to be a somewhat
close and dangerous connection between
the trade of these far lands and the finan
cling of these same lands. Upon that phase
of the matter 1t is we'll to pause.
Some years ago, Sir George Paish. by
most men considered one of the most
brilliant n the soundest of writer's up.
on British financial matters, wrote. in
the course of a short but comprehensive
article on the foreign investments of Grea,
Britain, these illuminating sentences:
Borrowers Buy From Lenders.
"The investment of about G2.5OO. 900, ON
of British capital has occurred simultan.
eously with a vast growth of British trade
and prosperity. and in my opinion the
growth of our trade and prosperity is
largely the result of our investment OF
capital in other countries. BY building