This increase does not arise exclusively from the new shares issued by companies created during the last two years; a large proportion is due to existing companies, which have at last decided to furnish the information demanded in view of this new inventory. But a certain number of companies still remain outside the inventory, whose stock would increase the total by 5 or 6 million pounds.
Here is the list of the stock in circulation on the 31st December 1908:
Summary of Securities in Circulation on 31st December 1908, and their Subscribed Capital.
| Shares, Securities etc. | Shares. | Debentures. | Bonds. | Totals. |
| External National Debt (approximate values) | — | — | £62,892,428 | £62,892,428 |
| Internal National Debt | — | — | 16,839,341 | 16,839,341 |
| External Debt of the Province of Buenos Ayres | — | — | 11,289,600 | 11,289,600 |
| Internal Debt of the Province of Buenos Ayres | — | — | 5,369,760 | 5,369,760 |
| Internal Debt of the Province of Santa Fé | — | — | 1,109,074 | 1,109,074 |
| Internal Debt of the Province of Entre Rios | — | — | 345,351 | 345,351 |
| Internal Debt of the Province of Tucuman | — | — | 195,765 | 195,765 |
| Municipal Debt of the City of Buenos Ayres | — | — | 5,078,900 | 5,078,900 |
| Municipal Debt of the City of Rosario | — | — | 1,850,000 | 1,850,000 |
| Municipal Debt of the City of Córdoba | — | — | 780,000 | 780,000 |
| Municipal Debt of the City of Santa Fé | — | — | 236,000 | 236,000 |
| Municipal Debt of the City of Bahia Blanca | — | — | 110,000 | 110,000 |
| National Mortgage Cedulas | — | — | 14,779,805 | 14,779,805 |
| Bank of the Argentine Nation | — | — | 9,697,947 | 9,697,947 |
| State Railways | — | — | 20,000,000 | 20,000,000 |
| Private Railway Companies | £101,587,932 | £76,735,107 | — | 178,323,039 |
| Tramway Companies | 14,158,644 | 7,230,981 | — | 21,388,625 |
| National Bank of the Capital | 16,145,653 | 289,044 | — | 16,434,697 |
| Mortgage and Agricultural Loan Companies | 8,865,866 | 7,788,378 | — | 16,654,244 |
| Gas and Electric Lighting Companies | 8,122,166 | 3,455,199 | — | 11,577,365 |
| Harbours, Docks and Quays | 5,276,358 | 5,096,521 | — | 10,372,879 |
| Anglo-Saxon Banks of the Capital | 6,332,400 | — | — | 6,332,400 |
| Agricultural and Stock-raising Companies | 8,282,978 | 443,058 | — | 8,726,036 |
| Savings Banks, Building Societies, Annuity Companies | 7,016,067 | 88,000 | — | 7,104,067 |
| Forestal Exploitation | 5,550,880 | 597,900 | — | 6,148,780 |
| Mining Exploitation | 3,958,663 | 138,354 | — | 4,097,017 |
| Refrigerator Companies | 3,290,135 | 703,780 | — | 3,993,915 |
| Telegraph Companies (wireless included), Telephones, etc. | 2,431,004 | 302,400 | — | 2,773,404 |
| National Insurance Companies | 2,723,191 | — | — | 2,723,191 |
| Breweries | 1,780,972 | 352,800 | — | 2,133,772 |
| Transport Companies (Land and Sea) | 2,061,187 | — | — | 2,061,187 |
| Local Provincial Banks | 1,832,133 | — | — | 1,832,133 |
| Sugar Refineries | 1,198,456 | 588,368 | — | 1,786,824 |
| Markets | 1,197,820 | 423,360 | — | 1,621,180 |
| Dairy Companies | 696,784 | 16,360 | — | 713,144 |
| Hotels, Theatres, Clubs, etc. | 610,381 | — | — | 610,381 |
| Metallurgical Companies | 577,100 | — | — | 577,100 |
| Flour Mills | 425,340 | 45,158 | — | 470,498 |
| Various Industrial Companies | 7,555,232 | 60,000 | — | 7,610,232 |
| Various Commercial Companies | 3,793,891 | — | — | — |
| Official Totals | £219,513,639 | £104,502,123 | £150,381,572 | £474,396,935 |
The largest group of investments is constituted by the capital represented by the private railway companies, which amounts to £178,000,000, against £111,600,000 in 1904. This capital increases daily, and considering the development of the network of railways all over the country, it is not fantastic to prophesy that in a short time this sum will reach the figure of perhaps £200,000,000.
The second large group consists of the securities representing the External National Debt, which on the 31st December 1908 stood at £62,900,000, or £7,400,000 lower than that of the debt in circulation on 1st July 1905. This diminution arises from the redemption of bonds by means of the 6 per cent. Funding Loan, of which the total was £5,600,000.
If to the amount of this debt we add the sums represented by the external debt of certain cities, the internal debt of the nation, and the internal debt of some of the Provinces, we find that the entire Argentine National Debt forms a total of £130,000,000. We need not examine at greater lengths the composition and value of these two groups of securities, as we have already dealt with them in special chapters.
As for the insurance companies and foreign banks, any estimate of their capital is difficult; but it is otherwise in the case of the mortgage companies. The capital which these companies have invested in the Argentine is now of a nominal value of more than £16,500,000. But this is only a small portion of the foreign capital invested in mortgages in the Argentine; for the high interest earned by this class of investment, which a short time back rose to 10 per cent., has attracted large sums of foreign money which have been invested privately. Señor Tornquist estimates the foreign capital thus put out in mortgages at £9,000,000.
We must call attention to the interesting fact that the amount of foreign capital invested in the agricultural and other rural undertakings of the Argentine increases day by day. At the end of 1908 this capital amounted to £8,726,037, of which the greater part was the property of British subjects, who first devoted their energies to agriculture and stock-raising in the Argentine a comparatively long time ago. It is the English who have been the most active