FOREIGN BUSINESS 161 
difficulty (in many cases insurmountable) in finding out what 
was being done with this money; but since hostilities ended 
matters can be cleared up. Cases are on record where the 
reserve, or part of it, was commandeered for the purpose of 
enemy war loans; a proceeding which though undoubtedly 
most irritating is not without its humorous side. 
The Near East’ (Turkey, the Levant, Egypt, and Asia 
Minor) was a field considerably worked by some British Com- 
panies prior to the war; but here, as no deposits or local 
valuations were required, it is not possible to give figures. 
One of the most interesting experiences of the Companies 
m connexion with their foreign business was the light war 
mortality ; and this applies to allied and enemy nations alike. 
At first sight it seems surprising, but on consideration that 
feeling is modified. Countries in which conscription prevails 
have a rigid system of classification as regards the kind of 
service exacted. There are carefully graded classes. One set 
of men, young and of recent enrolment, are liable without 
question for immediate use on the battle-field ; classes follow 
in seniority of age and service for whom this demand grows less 
and less exigent, and ‘home defence’ takes a greater place. 
It is true that in a great and prolonged war, and at desperate 
stages, some modification of this may be necessary; but it is 
substantially adhered to as far as possible. Bearing this in 
mind, we see that in the case we are considering there is a 
threefold process of selection. Only a section of the men in 
a foreign conscript army are liable to go into the firing line ; 
only a section of these have their lives assured at all; only 
a section of that section will have their lives assured with 
British Companies. When all this is taken into account it 
will be realized that the area of risk is very largely limited. 
The war mortality as a whole was great and terrible ; but this 
is not one of the directions in which its force was severely felt. 
The most interesting and important questions affecting the 
foreign business of the Companies are concerned not so much 
with the war as with the peace and what followed it. 
When the Treaty of Versailles was in its germinative stage, 
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