When a country is shipping more goods in the form of things than she is receiving, it is said that the balance of trade is favorable. The term “balance of trade” is apt to be misleading. It is a convenient phrase relating to commodity shipments alone as they appear on the record of outgoing and navy ships, which are always subject to Government inspection and from which a definite and accurate compilation can be made and is made. If such “balance of trade” runs against a place the actual balance of commodity indebtedness must be made up by shipments of gold, securities or transfer of credits. Outside of commodities which appear in making up the balance of trade there are a number of invisible factors, not of statistical public record, which go to determine the extent to which the natives of one country may be indebted to those of another, and by which the international debts are actually settled. These elements are not absolutely available in the form of statistics.