INTERNATIONAL FINANCE 73 



A large part of the capital subscribed in recent years has been for new railway 

 construction in Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Russia, and the completed mileage of 

 new railways in the decade ended in 1915 will reach a greater total than 

 has been attained since the eighties and will be nearly twice as great as 

 completed in the nineties. This railway construction is opening up to 

 settlement vast areas of virgin land, and, in conjunction with the renewed profitableness 

 of the farming industry throughout the world, is the main cause of the great volume of 

 emigration from the old to the new countries. The number of immigrants into the 

 United States, Canada, Argentina and Brazil in the last four years has been unpre- 

 cedented, and all the preliminary preparations have been made for bringing into cul- 

 tivation the additional land upon which to produce the food and raw material needed 

 by a population growing in numbers, in wealth and in consuming power. Among the 

 great reproductive and costly works now almost completed are the Panama Canal 

 and the Canadian Transcontinental Railway. The prosperity of Australia in con- 

 sequence of good seasons and the high prices of wool and of mutton has caused immi- 

 gration to be resumed on a large scale after practical suspension for over 15 years, and 

 is causing preparations for opening up the whole of the continent from north to south 

 and east to west by great transcontinental systems of railways. 



Indeed, from one end of the world to the other there has been movement, progress 

 and prosperity, and production and consumption have been unprecedented both 

 actually and in proportion to population. In this movement the East 

 ^ as participated in common with the West. Probably the greatest single 

 event of the period has been the revolution in China in 1911, which caused 

 the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty and the conversion of the country to a modern 

 system of Government and to Western ideas of education and of progress. This event 

 is as yet too recent for its real influence to be appreciated or felt. But the re-awakening 

 of China, following upon that of Japan, is expected to modify profoundly the course of 

 history both politically and economically. One of its .first effects has been the willing- 

 ness of foreign nations in general and of Great Britain in particular to supply China 

 with the capital needed for her development. Throughout 1912 negotiations were 

 in progress for a loan of 60,000,000 to China by the Six Powers especially interested 

 in the country politically or commercially, and at the close of the year arrangements 

 were practically concluded for a loan of 25,000,000. During the negotiations a loan 

 of 10,000,000 was placed in London with the firm of Birch Crisp & Co., by China, 

 against the wish of the British Government, which was only partially carried out. 



The prosperity of India, in consequence of good crops, favourable prices of commo- 

 dities, and a high state of credit, also calls for notice, especially as this prosperity has 

 brought about a great expansion both in the export and import trade 

 iad? S " f tne country and caused the import of no less than 27,000,000 of gold 

 in the 12 months to March 31, 1912. The amount of gold absorbed 

 by India since 1909 is, indeed, so remarkable and of such wide economic importance 

 that the annual figures (years ending March 3ist) are worth setting out in detail, together 

 with those for the total world's gold production. In 1909-10, the world's gold- 

 production being 93,000,000, the net value of gold imported and produced in India was 

 17,000,000; in 1910-11 the corresponding figures were, world 96,000,000, India 

 18,000,000; in 1911-12 world 97,000,000, India 27,000,000; 1912 (six months), 

 world 50,000,000, India 13,000,000. The total for 3^ years comes to, world produc- 

 tion 336,000,000, India consumption 75,000,000. :. 



But for this great absorption of gold by India, representing 27 per cent of the 

 world's gold production in the 18 months up to September 1912, trade would probably 

 have become even more active and prices of commodities would have risen to still 

 higher levels. The prosperity of India has brought about a great demand for silver 

 rupees, and after an interval of five years the India Government has again had to 

 purchase a large quantity of silver for coinage. 1 Up to middle of December 1912 these 

 1 The secrecy with which this operation had to be conducted, to avoid a rise in the price 



