50

The  whole  appearance  of  the  International
Chart,  in  fact,  cleaily  demonstrates  that  as  the
trade  prosperity  of  each  country  differs  from
that  of  all  other  countries,  so  the  price  movements ­
  of  the  stocks  in  each  country  differ  from
those  of  all  other  countries.
The  secondary  point  which  at  the  outset
of  this  chapter  we  proposed  to  establish  was
that  in  consequence  of  the  perpetual  growth
of  the  world’s  population  there  was  a  correspondingly ­
  perpetual  expansion  of  the  world’s
trade.  Now,  we  have  already  shown  that
Trade  Prosperity  has  a  very  great  influence  on
Stock  Exchange  values,  so  it  follows  that,  if
the  world’s  trade  does  expand  as  we  have
maintained  that  it  does,  then  the  realisable
value  of  an  International  Investment  List  will
also,  at  reasonable  intervals,  show  a  tendency
towards  expansion.  The  expansion  of  realisable ­
  value  in  the  list  of  securities  given  in  our
example  is  to  be  found  in  the  several  annual
totals  at  the  foot  of  the  chart.  In  1893  the
realisable  value  was  £10,160,  and  it  gradually
rose  to  £12,405  in  1906.
In  Chapter  II.  we  have  shown  that  all  the
representative  stocks  of  one  country  constitute
the  same  investment  risk,  and  that,  therefore,
an  Investment  List  entirely  composed  of  stocks
of  any  one  country  is  unsafe.  We  have  now,