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governments, and are geographically situated 
widely apart, will nearly always differ in 
activity at any given moment. 
Lastly, we have shown that the trade of the 
world, considered as a whole, is constantly 
increasing, and that a decline in the trade of 
any one country simply means the transfer of 
it to another country, and not a loss of trade. 
These three facts taken conjointly and 
utilised as the basis upon which the fluctuations 
of investment values should he averaged, con 
stitute the practical means of freeing the act of 
investment from the taint of speculation. Their 
application resolves itself into the Geographical 
Distribution of Capital. Let us take the 
important points of this system of invest 
ment seriatim, and explain their individual 
importance :— 
1.—The Speculative Element Reduced to a 
Minimum.—Although it is impossible to 
predict the future of any single invest 
ment, it is possible to predict the result 
of distributing invested capital amongst 
a number of different investments which 
embrace the world’s area. We have 
already seen that the value of all sound 
investments is dominated by the trade 
of the country to which they belong, and 
similarly the total value of a number of