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ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL CONDITIONS IN CHINA 37reverse of those for 1915, as imports will be encouraged andexports discouraged by the higher relative value of silver.Although ships are coming back on the Pacific trade andthere is soon likely to be sufficient space for all tonnageoffered, with prospects of lower rates, yetit is unfortunatethat these, advantages will be offered to the import ratherthan the export tr^ide. China s foreign trade shelves areapproaching a condition of emptiness, but to fill them sheneeds to be able to dispose of her native products.Rai fwaThe European War has also reflected onConstruction China s internal developments. At the timeof the outbreak of the War, China ha:l enteredinto agreements with foreign capitalists which called for theconstruction of nearly ten thousand miles of railways. Theseroads are badly needed. Furthermore, their constructionwould involve the employment of large sums of foreignmoney in developments in China which would have addedgreatly to the prosperity of the country. The outbreak ofthe war forced the postponement of the construction of theserailways in most cases. The railway between Hankow andChangsha, being constructed under the Hukuang Agreement,has, however, been continued and it is expected will be completed by April, 1917. It is the opinion of many that Europewill not have much capital for enterprises in China for someyears following the conclusion of the War. China willprobably have to look to the United States for financialassistance in industrial developments, and Europe will alsobe bidding for American capital after the War. Prior tothe outbreak of the War, the Quintuple Loan Group wereconsidering a loan to China for the reformation of hercurrency. This very important question, it appears, isdestined to wait some years longer before an effective remedywillbe in augur itecl.TTThe fact that China has not been able. TInternal Loansto secure money trom abroad since the outbreak of the War has fortunately resulted in forcing thecountry to look to its own resources for financial assistance.An internal loan of $24,000,000 was successfully floated,in fact, over-subscribed, during 1914 and 1915. A secondloan was successfully floated. The revenues from the Salt