Trade and the Flag 1 3 



chiefly through a better knowledge of the people and their wants, 

 England and Germany are far ahead of us in their trade with 

 South America. In 1906 we bought twenty per cent of all the 

 merchandise which South America exported, but we sold to her 

 only twelve per cent of what she imported." 36 



Since the citizens of a country are more apt to have an intelli- 

 gent knowledge of their own colonial possessions than they would 

 have of the same teritory if it were controlled by another country, 

 another factor which favors trade following the flag, appears. 

 Commercial agents are sent from the mother country to the 

 colony to get a first-hand view of the situation; the newspapers 

 and magazines abound with articles concerning the home colonies ; 

 and book agents find plenty of well-illustrated books ready to 

 meet their demands. Within recent years an extensive literature 

 on colonial questions has come into existence and has found many 

 readers. 37 The owners of the various African colonies and de- 

 pendencies have carried on most extensive explorations and in- 

 vestigations in their territories. The result is that Africa, with 

 few exceptions, is better mapped than South America. The 

 French in their possession, and the Germans in Kamerun, have 

 kept many surveyors busy. The German maps are marvellously 

 detailed, showing all variations in the surface, the plateaus, 

 savannahs, water courses, and the native villages and their con- 

 necting paths. In 1903 they issued a map showing the distribu- 

 tion of metals and other minerals in the vast region of German 

 East Africa. Austro-Hungary has recently published a colossal 

 official report on Bosnia and Herzegovina which contains much 

 valuable information. 38 The various colonial institutes of Europe 

 are also invaluable for acquainting the people of the mother 

 country with conditions in their colonies. The universities, more- 



36 Van Cleave, " What Americans must do to make an Export Business," 

 in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 29: 31. 



"Among the later books Stokes' Mines and Minerals of the British 

 Empire is an excellent example of carefully prepared and detailed infor- 

 mation regarding colonial conditions. 



33 Cf. Thompson, " A Ride through Bosnia and the Hercegovina," in 

 Nineteenth Century. 61 : 696. 



189 



