52 THE EMPLOYMENT OF CAPITAL 



the capital taken abroad by British subjects, 

 who travel for amusement and instruction, is 

 balanced — perhaps over-balanced — by capital 

 brought into the country by foreign travellers. 



The bulk of capital going abroad does so in 

 the form of exports in exchange for imports. 

 But Great Britain can get in no other way some 

 part of the food she requires and much of her 

 raw material. This therefore is ordinary trade. 

 But it is not ordinary trade that sends abroad 

 the savings of foreign workmen, for this is an 

 abstraction of capital without return in imports. 

 It often happens that loans are issued by foreign 

 countries, or by foreign undertakings, such as 

 railways or rubber companies. A glance at the 

 Stock Exchange lists of securities shows how 

 enormous must have been, for years past, the 

 amount of British capital sent abroad in response 

 to such issues. In such cases there is, however, 

 usually, though by no means always, an immediate 

 return of capital, in the form of interest or divi- 

 dend ; and there is, or ought to be, always an 

 ultimate return of the sum originally lent, by the 

 operation of sinking funds. 



Such amounts, both interest and principal, 

 come back in the form of imports, including gold, 

 which is itself sometimes an import, and some- 

 times an export. 



Sometimes savings, or the balances of income 

 over expenditure, are sent abroad. It might be 

 shown, by following out a long sequence of 

 buyings and sellings of stocks and shares, that 

 though, when any one seljs a horne security an^ 



