Now, if we place side by side the Debit and Credit of the nation’s economic balance account, we shall find that in the year 1908 there was a favourable balance of not less than £3,000,000. It is undeniable that this favourable balance has in fact been obtained, not only in 1908 but also in previous years, for there exist two irrefragable proofs of the fact: the rates of international exchange, always favourable to the Argentine, and the uninterrupted stream of metallic currency which flows towards the Rio de la Plata. “The state of exchange,” as Goschen has said in his work on the subject, “offers us the means of ascertaining not only the state of the commercial atmosphere, by indicating the proximity of disturbing currents, but it also indicates them in such a manner that by interpreting them carefully, we may choose the line of conduct to be followed in order to steer clear of danger, and to avoid the precipitate results of panic.”[116] [Footnote 116: C. I. Goschen, _Theory of Foreign Exchanges_.] “The attentive observation of exchanges,” says the economist Foville, confirming by these words the assertion of the expert just cited, “suffices to indicate to the minds of those competent whether the monetary stock of a country is in process of increasing, or whether, on the contrary, there is an escape of currency towards the outer world. Exchange tells us in which direction bullion is being attracted, at a given moment, just as the weathercock tells us the direction of the wind.”[117] [Footnote 117: See in the _Bulletin de l’Institut International de Statistique_, Vol. XV., 1906, p. 200: _Les Eléments de la balance économique des peuples_, by A. de Foville.] Now if we examine the table showing the international variations of exchange during the last five years we shall find that the latter are on the whole high above par; in December 1906 and January 1907 especially they attained considerable figures which have never since been surpassed.