148 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Commerce 



and other states of the West, where the 

 irrigation expert is succeeding- the rail- 

 way-builder as a developer." This is in- 

 deed true, and if the government of 

 Egypt can afford to go to the expense of 

 constructing a , work of such magnitude 

 cannot this country, at a cost that is 

 trifling in comparison, build reservoirs 

 and dams, which will reclaim her desert 

 wastes? 

 The The story of the foreign corn- 



merce O f igQS is now complete. 



Its exports are the largest in 

 our history, its imports the smallest since 

 1885, although the consuming population 

 is now 33 per cent, greater than at that 

 time. And as if to emphasize the great 

 work of this greatest year the month of 

 December made for itself the highest 

 record of exports ever made by any month 

 in our history. The total exports of De- 

 cember were $137,647,448 and of the full 

 calendar year $1,254,925,169. More than 

 $850,000,000 worth of the year's exports 

 were the products of the farm breadstuff s, 

 cotton, provisions live animals, tobacco 

 and fruit, given in the order of their 

 value. Great Britain was the largest for- 

 eign customer. 



Colonial "The Colonies Protectorates, 

 Possessions. and Dependencies of the 

 World, their Area, Population. Revenues 

 and Commerce, and the Share of the 

 Mother Country in their Commerce" is the 

 title of a publication just issued by the 

 Treasury Bureau of Statistics. Through 

 the courtesy of A. P. Austin, Chief of the 

 Bureau, we are able to give the following 

 facts regarding it: 



The colonies, protectorates and depen- 

 dencies of the world number 126. They 

 occupy two-fifths of the land surface of 

 the globe and their population is one- 

 third of the entire people of the earth. 

 Their total imports average $1,500,000,000 

 worth of goods annually, and of this vast 

 sum more than 40 per cent, is purchased 

 from the mother country. Of their ex- 

 ports, which considerably exceed their 

 imports, 40 per cent, goes to the mother 

 country. 



Commerce between the successful col- 

 onies and their mother countries is in 

 nearly all cases placed upon practically 

 the same basis as that with other coun- 

 tries, goods from the home countries re- 

 ceiving in the vast majority of cases no 

 advantages over those from other coun- 

 tries in import duties and other exactions 

 of this character. In the more prosperous 

 and progressive colonies the percentage 

 of importations from the mother countries 

 grows somewhat less as the business and 

 prosperity increase. 



Large sums are annually expended in 

 the construction of roads, canals, railways, 

 telegraph, postal service, etc., but in 

 most cases the present annual expendi- 

 tures are produced by local revenues or 

 are represented by local obligations. 



Great Britain owns two-fifths of the 126 

 colonies, protectorates, dependencies and 

 ''spheres of influence" or 11,290,412 miles 

 of colonial territory, while the United 

 States will own (if the treaty now pending 

 is ratified) 168,287 square miles. 



