Among Creditor Securities the best known and most popular are the debts of Governments, States and municipalities, the first named of which enjoy a prestige that has only been slightly dimmed by experience of the political risk attached to them, as proved by the war. In some countries, among which England stands pre-eminent, it may be doubted whether the prestige of Government stocks has been dimmed at all. The pre-war holder of Consols who has seen about 45 per cent. knocked off the capital value of his holding and the real value of his income divided by something like two, may still feel sore and surprised, but he is none the less convinced that he cannot be wrong if he buys British Government securities to-day, for safety of capital and certainty of income. The determined rapidity with which England teturned to the task of redeeming debt and meeting expenditure out of revenue, at a time
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Chapter IV
Public Debts
