37 
Railway is geographically Asiatic, but its 
guaranteed stock, being a British Trustee 
investment, moves solely in sympathy with 
British trading and financial conditions. 
Where different countries are equally large 
holders of particular stocks, as, for example, 
in the case of certain South American issues, 
the geographical position of the security itself 
becomes of greater importance. The purchases 
of such stock caused by surplus profits derived 
from the good trade of one of the interested 
countries may be neutralised by the sales 
caused by the bad trade of another ; so that 
the purchases or sales of the issuing country 
itself exercise a greater influence than might 
otherwise be the case. Moreover, as a country 
develops and increases in wealth, it is bound 
to exercise a greater control over its own stocks 
wherever they are held. For not only does the 
resultant increased security appeal to the 
foreign holder, but the investing public of that 
country is itself in a position to extend the 
purchases of its own stocks. 
We have now explained how the course of 
trade dominates the values of investments and 
how this otherwise all-powerful influence can 
be nullified by the special conditions of a 
stock’s ownership. The natural exceptions to 
the rule are rare, and so great is the financial