CHAPTER IV
Government Debts—The Prestige of British Government Securities—What is behind it?—The Limits on Taxation—What we Know or Think about British Credit—The Varieties of Securities Offered—Saving Certificates—Victory Bonds—Conversion Loan—The Qualities Desirable in Creditor Securities—Terms of Redemption—Sinking Fund—Municipal Debts—The System of Local Taxation—Its Defects and Dangers—The Assets behind Municipal Debts.
CHAPTER V
The Investment Powers of Trustees—Confined to Consols before 1889—The Extensions of the 1893 Act—The Colonial Stock Act, 1900—Other Additions—A Delusion concerning Trustee Securities—No Guarantee of Safety—Revision Desirable—Restriction to British Government Securities—The Advantages to be Secured.
CHAPTER VI
Difficulty of Estimating Taxable Capacity—The War Risk—Tangible Assets—Bad Borrowing and Lending—Why Governments Borrow—For War—For Public Purposes—Foreign Money an Expensive Luxury—Borrowing to meet Deficits—High Credit and Low Foreign Debt—Points to be Examined in considering Oversea Debt Investments—Impression and Instinct—The Question of Exchange—Liens and Pledges—State Debts—Municipal Debts Abroad.
