OUR FOREIGN TRADE 21 



follows " The River in Flood." in which the relation between 

 precipitation (including the fall and melting of snow) in every 

 part of the basin and the ensuing floods is discussed quantita- 

 tively. The fourth section deals with the " Spring Flood of 

 1897, ^ and applies the principles and relations developed in 

 the more general discussion. The text is amply illustrated 

 by means of charts and diagrams. The discussions are brief, 

 deductive in character, and limited to exposition of the facts 

 recorded ; they do not (perhaps unfortunately) extend to the 

 consideration of the levee problem, or to that gradual increase 

 in the frequency and height of floods indicated by the figures — 

 especially those of table xviii, pages 34-37 — and undoubtedly 

 attending the heightening of the levees, whether as cause, as 

 effect, or fortuitously — indeed hardly a word appears in the 

 report concerning that association of levees and floods which 

 constitutes one of the important American problems of the day. 

 The carefully drawn flood-map (plate 2) is especially inter- 

 esting in view of the disasters still in the minds of patrons of 

 the press; and it is interesting to geographers as giving a bird's- 

 eye view of features recording stages in the development of the 

 region. Among these may be noted the linear arrangement of 

 alluvial belts, especially in the upper third of the embayment, 

 an arrangement strongly suggesting the initiation of mountain 

 corrugation; also the lifted area about New Madrid, which was 

 heaved some twenty feet above the general level of the bottom 

 during the earthquake of 1811— '13 ; and, too, the diversion of the 

 flood from the course of the river in large districts. 



OUR FOREIGN TRADE 



Every nation, just as every individual, finds it necessary to 

 sell some of its own products and to purchase others from for- 

 eign nations. Some nations find it necessary to purchase more 

 than others, since some produce only a few articles, while others 

 produce almost everything they require. Thus Australia pro- 

 duces mainly mutton and wool, and finds it necessary therefore 

 to exchange these for other necessities of life. On the other hand, 

 the United States, which has a wide range of climate, produces 

 most of the commodities which her people require, and her for- 

 eign trade is therefore by no means as great in proportion to her 

 population as that of many other countries. 



