From this review of the present conditions and recent changes in the foreign trade of the United States, we may conclude that Europe, especially the North Sea regions, has been and still is our most active market both for buying and selling. But in proportion to the number of people and to the rapidity with which our trade with them increases, the countries close to us in North America and the West Indies are fast assuming a position which may make them rival Europe in some respects. Australia and the southern parts of South America are also very important to us in proportion to their population. The rest of South America, on the other hand, and still more the continent of Africa, stand surprisingly low when one considers their total trade, their trade per capita, and especially the rate at which their trade increases. Eastern Asia, on the other hand, seems to promise to be one of the great trade regions of the future. Its per capita trade is indeed small, but the vast number of its people, their relatively high capacities if rightly led, and especially the rate at which trade has recently increased, seem to put Japan, China, and the neighboring islands and peninsulas of southeastern Asia in a position of great im portance to the business of America.
It seems clear that the degree of activity of commerce between this country and other parts of the world depends on a combination of causes. Mere distance, or more exactly the degree of difficulty in
reaching a region no matter whether it is far or near, is very important. Nevertheless, it can be easily overcome as in the case of 'Australia, Switzerland, and the Philippines. Australia and Switzerland both illustrate the fact that the degree of progress in a country is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of all factors in causing active trade. The Philippines show that governmental control is likewise a factor of the first importance, while Mexico illustrates how effectively a poor government can lessen foreign commerce. The presence of products which one country needs and another can supply, as in the case of the sugar imported from Cuba to the United States, is likewise a great stimulator of trade. Other factors such as language, customs, and established habits also play a large share in determining where trade shall be active. Yet on the whole, the great determining factors seem to be the character of the people, the diversity of products, the distance from country to country or the ease with which products can be brought from one to the other, and the degree to which trade is helped or hindered by the conditions of government.