Wealth Of Three Nations

The reported valuation of all property in the United States by thé1 census of 1890 was $65,037,091,197, or $1,036 per capita for the entire population. This enumeration, however, dealt with property located in the United States, and did not go into the question where it was owned. If the estímate of Mr. Robert Giffen is correct, that $5,000,000,000 in foreign capital was invested in this country in 1880, probably an even ïarger amount is so invested at the present time. Deduction should also be made for the high value put upon waste public lands in the census, with the net result that the per capita valuation of the United States would be reduced to about $950, or $4,750 for a family of five. Estimates made by careful economists, who come pretty near agreement among themselves, put the valuation of Great Brltain about nine years ago at $50,000,000,000, and that of. France at $40,000,000,000. This would afford a per capita valuation of $1,338 for Great Britain and $1,081 for France, making the valuation for a family of five $6,690 in Great Britain, and $5,405 in France. The figures of France are placed somewhat higher by some authors, and the total in both countries include careful estimates of the large holdings of foreign securities, some of them covering property located In the United States. The great holdings of foreign securities, estimated to amount in Great Britain i about $8,000,000,000, explain to a large extent the adverse balance of foreign trade constantly shown by the British statistics. Great Britain would long ago have been denuded of her gold and become bankrupt if the excess of imports over exports shown by her trade statistics were a true measure of her financial condition. The fact that over $400,000,000 is due her annually in interest charges upon British capital abroad explalns how she can afford to import several hundred million pounds sterling of foreign merchandise which she exports. France is estimated to hold $4,000,000,000 of foreign securities, largely Italian and Spanish, and she also has been able to show a large balance of imports during the last two decades, while piling' up in the vaults of the Bank of France and distributing through her monetary circulation a larger mass of coin than any other commercial country.