VENEZUELA AND AFTER 355 



gate the English-speaking world presents only 

 the American Republic. Its population, nearly 

 100,000,000, includes probably three-fifths of 

 the English-speaking people of the earth, fifty 

 per cent more than inhabit the British Empire. 

 Geographically the United States presents the 

 most striking contrast with that empire the 

 one territorially continuous, the other a series 

 of widely scattered areas. Socially, econom 

 ically, and politically the contrasts, while 

 apparently great, shrink remarkably on close 

 examination. Institutions that characterize the 

 old, wealthy, and highly developed society of 

 England have appeared, at least in rudimen 

 tary form, in many of the first-settled, richer, 

 and more prosperous States of the American 

 Union. The institutions, on the other hand, 

 that are typical of the sparse and primitive 

 communities of Canada, Australia, and South 

 Africa have their perfect counterpart on the 

 plains and arid plateaus in the western half of 

 the United States. Between the American 

 people and the people of the British Empire as 

 a whole there are the political and cultural 

 conditions of a complete understanding and 

 sympathy. History and traditions, when prop 

 erly interpreted, must contribute to the same 



