The table showing the imports and exports of the countries forming each continent and therefore the aggregate of the international commerce of the world shows for the or 1913, the latest normal year, $21,400,000, of imports and but $19,550,000,000 of exports, and indicates that the stated value of the world imports therefore exceeded that of exports by $1,850,000,C00. When we reflect that all the exports necessarily become imports in some other part of the world (except any part which may have been lost en routc) we might expect that the stated value of the imports would about equal that of the same articles when exported from the country of their pro duction. But it is a fact that the stated total of imports is in most instances greater than the stated value of the same merchandise when ex ported. It is not unusual for the grand totals of world imports to exceed the grand total of exports by about 10 per cent. This discrepancy between the stated value of the merchandise when exported and again imported is account ed for in part by the value added by cost of transportation, and in part by the fact that the countries importing the merchandise are likely to give it a slightly-higher valuation than did the countries from which it was originally ex ported, by reason of the fact' that much of the merchandise when imported pays an ad valorem rate of duty, and the authorities are on the alert to give to it as high a valuation as cir cumstances will justify, while as few countries have an export tax the merc:handise when ex ported is not subjected to so close scrutiny. in determining its full value. The suggestion tliat the cost of transportation is added to the valuation of the merchandise when imported, does not however apply to the Umted States, which, by law, accepts as the value of its imports the valuation declared before the United States consul when it is sent to the United States.
It will be seen from the above discussion of the valuation of the merchandise when leaving the country of exportation and again on enter ing the country of importation that the value of the merchandise is stated both when it leaves the country of origin and again when imported, and that the real value of the mer chandise forming the international commerce of the world is therefore but about one-half of the usual figures of (world commerce" Records of world international trade are fonned by aggregating the imports and exports of all countries of the world, and while we can only determine the value of the trade of any given country by aggregating its imports and exports, it must be remembered that the aggregation of the imports and exports of all the countries of the world necessarily counts the merchandise twice,. once when it leaves the country of production as an export, and again when it enters some other country as an im port, and that when we say that the interna tional commerce of the world in 1913 was $40,000,000,000 we therefore mean that the value of the merchanslise forming that trade was but about one-half that sum, or say $20,000,000,000, since its value was counted twice, once as it left the country of production as an export and again when it entered the country of its destination as an import.
The inter-continental trade of the world is much less than is usually supposed. Much of the trade of the various countries occurs with adjacent or neighboring countries, on the same continent. The trade of the United States with Canada, for example, which now amounts to oyer a billion dollars a year, is properly con sidered international commerce, yet none of it leaves the continent, and our trade with all of the North American countries in 1917 was nearly $2,000,000,000. In fact, only 64 per cent of the imports of all the North American ' countries. in .1913, the latest year of normal commercial interchanges, was drawn from other continents, and only 67 per cent went to other continents. Thus about one-third of the international trade of the North American countries in 1913 was intra-continental, or trade within the continent, while about two-thirds was inter-continental, or trade with other con tinents. During the war period, 1914 to 1918, with the lack of inter-continental transporta tion, the proportion of the intra-continental trade increased. In the case of Europe the intra-eontinental trade formed in normal years a larger share of the total than was the case With our own continent. Of the total imports by all the European countries in 1913, the latest year for which complete figures are avail able, only 44 per cent were drawn from other continents, and of their exports only 36 per cent was sent to other continents, the remain der in each case being intra-continental, or trade between the countries of Europe. Of the total international trade of the countries form ing the continent of Europe, aggregating in 1913 in round terms $25,000,000,000, only $10,000,000,000 was with other continents, the other $15,000,000,000 being exchanges among the countries forming that continent. In the case of Asia the share of the international commerce which was intra-continental, or trade among the countries of that continent, was about 45 per cent and the share which was inter-continental was about 55 per cent. In South America, Africa and Oceania, where manufactures are the chief import and food and raw material the chief export, about 90 per cent of the trade is with other continents. Of the entire commerce of the world in 1913, the latest normal year, only 55 per cent oc curred between the continents, the remaining 45 per cent being intra-continental, or trade between the countries of the continent of which they respectively formed a part, or iii other words only a little more than one-half of the merchandise entering international trade leaves the continent in which it was produced. In the years of the great European War, in which ocean transportation was difficult and costly the share of the world trade occurring between continents was below normal.