So much being granted, the moment has come to present the problem: of the 22 million pounds required to pay the interest on loans, the sinking-fund charges for their redemption, and the dividends of hundreds of companies, what is the proportion which each year leaves the Argentine to become spent or invested abroad, assuring the owners of bonds and shares the best part of the revenue of a distant country, a country endowed with a fertile soil, in which industry has a great future awaiting it? And what proportion of this total remains in the country? To solve this problem, it would be necessary to follow the track of each of the shares or bonds issued, in order to discover the destination of each; and this is what we shall attempt to do, with the help of the principal banking houses and the great commercial houses in financial relations with the outer world. Although all estimates on such a subject must rest upon the slightest foundations, and cannot be accepted as precise statistics, we do not hesitate to give a few figures as an indication worthy of credence, being drawn from the best possible sources. To proceed with due method, let us begin with the most important division of the foreign capital invested in the Argentine, namely, English capital, which was the first to come from abroad to stimulate the progress of the country. According to an inventory made by the banking house of Tornquist & Co., which has willingly given us the information we required, the capital imported from England and invested in Argentine securities amounts to more than £290,000,000, distributed as follows:—— _English Capital Invested in the Argentine._ Capital. Interest. Loans——Governmental, Provincial, Municipal £63,854,643·8 £3,046,598·2 Railways 166,360,683·2 8,049,431·8 Banks 7,862,400·0 705,096·0 Agricultural Loans and Mortgages 6,847,216·6 259,732·2 Tramways 20,284,705·6 875,603·8 Electricity 5,152,590·4 287,685·2 Agriculture and stock-raising 4,018,997·8 248,204·8 Various investments 14,729,708·8 785,986·4 -------------- ------------- £291,110,946·0 £14,258,338·4 ============== ============= Thus this sum of £291,110,946 sterling represents an annual revenue of £14,258,338.