17 2 The National Geographic Magazine 



the problems growing out of such a 

 prodigious congestion of humanity as 

 this ; and these illustrations of great 

 density of population are given here 

 only to show one aspect of our enor- 

 mous territory. China is not half so 

 large as our country and its natural re- 

 sources, area for area, are no greater 

 than our own ; so the 408,000,000 souls 

 in China proper at least give emphasis 

 to the thought that we have as yet 

 scarcely began to scratch the surface of 

 the capacity of this country to support 

 many times its present number of in- 

 habitants. 



OUR DIVERSITY OF CLIMATE AND 

 PRODUCTS 



Another influence of our vast area is 

 permanent, far-reaching and most sig- 

 nificant. The United States extending 

 from ocean to ocean reaching far into 

 the north and far into the south, with 

 vast areas only 1,000 feet or less above 

 the sea and others of high altitude, has 

 great variety of climatic conditions and 

 therefore great diversity of products ; 

 so that we grow nearly all the commodi- 

 ties of the temperate and subtropical 

 zones, and not a few products of the 

 tropical zone. We raise the citrus fruits 

 of the Mediterranean, the figs of Smyrna 

 and the dates of the Persian Gulf. We 

 find that we can grow the famous Su- 

 matra tobacco which we still import to 

 the amount of millions of dollars every 

 year ; that we can produce Egyptian 

 cotton, and Egypt does not raise all that 

 the world would like to consume of that 

 unique and superior fiber. This di- 

 versity of products and our large mineral 

 resources make the country practically 

 self-sufficient. No nation can become 

 self-sufficient unless it reaches across a 

 continent and embraces a wide latitude 

 like the Russian Empire, Australia and 

 the United States. We really need to 

 import very little except certain raw 

 materials from the tropics which our 

 own colonial possessions may some day 

 supply. 



SOME ADVANTAGES OF OUR GEO- 

 GRAPHIC POSITION 



We may properly treat not only the 

 vast extent of our country, but also its 

 situation with respect to other nations 

 as among the geographic elements that 

 have helped our material development, 

 which is the topic assigned to me. It 

 is to our advantage that we are on the 

 same side of the tropics with the nations 

 that are the greatest buyers of the bread 

 and meat stuffs and other commodities 

 we have to sell. It is a great disad- 

 vantage to be compelled to carry perish- 

 able commodities across the tropics. 

 India raises large quantities of wheat 

 and Europe would have been glad, many 

 years ago, to buy Indian wheat ; but 

 before the Suez Canal was built India 

 could not export this breadstuff to 

 Europe. Steamers could not carry the 

 wheat because, to double the south end 

 of Africa, they had to recoal at St. 

 Helena or Cape Town and coal was very 

 dear for it was brought from Europe 

 5,000 or 6,000 miles away; the cost of 

 the trip was very high and wheat being 

 a cheap and heavy commodity can never 

 be transported far at high freight rates. 

 Wheat often sells for sixty cents a bushel 

 in Chicago, and unless rates are cheap 

 it cannot be moved. Neither could sail- 

 ing vessels carry the Indian crop because 

 they moved slowly through the hot lati- 

 tudes both of the Indian and Atlantic 

 Oceans and by the time the long journey 

 was over the deterioration of the grain 

 rendered it almost unsuitable for flour. 

 But when the Suez Canal was opened 

 India could send her wheat to Europe 

 by steam and the problem was solved. 



Before the da3 7 s of refrigeration meat 

 could not be sent to markets across the 

 tropics ; but even with refrigeration it 

 is a great disadvantage to be compelled 

 to freeze meats solidly in order to insure 

 their good condition upon reaching the 

 consumer. There is much prejudice 

 against frozen meats in some parts of 

 Europe, particularly in Germany, but 

 consumers there are willing to buv enor- 



