What have the respective geographic divisions to offer to the other parts of the world, and what do they respectively talce in exchange? Europe has a population of 465,0013,000 and an average of 120 persons per square mile; Asia, 80 per square mile; North America, 16 per square mile; Africa, 12 per square mile; South America, 7 per square mile, and Australia, 5 per square mile. Not only is the population of Europe much more dense titan that of any other continent, but its people are much larger con sumers per capita than those of certain other continents, notably Asia and Africa. So, it is quite apparent that Europe, densely populated as she is and having a population with a large consuming power, must draw large quantities of food from other parts of the world. That continent is also the largest manufacturer of the world, and with its dense population and closely occupied acres must draw much of its manufacturing materials from the other grand divisions. Europe as a whole produces in nonnal years about $45,000,000,000 worth of manufactures per annum out of a world total of about $80,000,000,000 of fac tory products, and supplies about $7,000, 000,000 out of the $8,000,000,000 worth of manufactures entering international trade. For the food and manufacturing material which she requires, she draws chiefly upon North and South America, Australia and South Africa, and pays in manufactures and in the earnings of her ships and invested capital. North Amer ica, with a population of but 16 per square mile, has more of food and certain classes of manufacturing material than she requires; and although the United States is a large manu facturer and supplies nearly a half billion dol lars worth of manufactures to her neighbors, the continent as a whole takes nearly a billion dollars worth of manufactures from Europe. South America, with a population of but seven per square mile, has a billion dollars worth of food and manufacturing material to spare an nually, and Europe gladly takes most of it and pays for it with a half billion dollars worth of manufactures and the remainder in the serv ices of her shipping and the earnings of her invested capital in that continent. This does not mean that all of the merchandise of South America goes to Europe, for parts of its wool and rubber and coffee go to North America, especially the United States. In Asia, with a
population of 80 per square mile, the exportable surplus is small, and consists chiefly of silk, fibres, rubber, tea, coffee, tin, and certain other minerals, and for these she takes manufactures, chiefly from Europe, but in smaller quantities from the United States. In Africa and Oceania, the chief surplus is in tropical products and precious metals, though Australia and New Zealand supply large quantities of wool, meats and wheat, and all of Africa and Oceania take manufactures chiefly from Europe in exchange for the natural products above noted.
The tropical and sub-tropical world, while not a continent or grand division in the ordi nary sense of the term, is in fact, a climatic division broad belt stretching around the world between the 30th parallel of north and south latitude already described. It supplies to the world about $3,500,000,000 worth of its prod ucts per annum, chiefly fibres, hides, rubber, coffee, tea, sugar and fruits, and takes manu factures in exchange, chiefly from Europe, but in limited quantities from the United States. Practically all of the surplus of the tropics is consumed in the temperate zone—chiefly in the United States and the manufacturing countries of Europe. The imports of tropical and sub tropical products by the United States, includ ing those from island possessions, increased from $335,000,000 in 1900 to over $1,000,000,000 in 1916.
While it is not practicable to indicate in the limits of a discussion of this charucter the exact commercial relation of the various countries of the world to the various geographical sections, the broad extent of distribution, especially by the great industrial countries, is illustrated by the fact that the United States draws certain of its imports, -especially manufacturing ma terials, from more than 75 different geographi cal or political divisions of the globe—con tinents, islands or countries and colonies,— and sends certain of its products to more than 100 geographical and political divisions, extending to every part of the world.