i74 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



comparatively limited supply of British coal, about two thirds as great 

 as the amount available in Illinois alone. Unless some substitute power 

 can be found as the coal is exhausted, this basis of exchange will no 

 longer exist, and Britain must look forward to a future in which her 

 population will be limited to the number which her small area can 

 feed, clothe and shelter by direct return from her own soil. Making 

 generous estimate of the possibilities of Britain in these respects, it 

 does not appear that more than 75 per cent, of the area, or less than 

 sixty million acres, are capable of any kind of profitable agricultural 

 development. 



At present Italy is practically maintaining a population equal to 

 three fourth that of Great Britain from an area of about fifty million 

 cultivated acres. Italy, however, has superior climatic advantages in 

 her favor and the standard of living of her population would, on the 

 whole, probably seem to the Englishman to be inferior to his own. 

 Hence it appears safe to conclude that the area of Britain, without the 

 equivalent of her present mechanical power, could not at best maintain 

 any more than the existing population. Consequently, as other na- 

 tions, more richly endowed, continue to increase in numbers and in 

 power, the relative decline of Britain would become inevitable, through 

 the changing value of the physical forces which have shaped her course. 

 What applied to Holland in the seventeenth century applies to Britain 

 to-day, and must eventually apply to all the nations of restricted size 

 and no capability of securing relief through the utilization of larger 

 contiguous areas. 



Size, then, has exactly opposed values at the two ends of national 

 evolution. The small size which affords strength to, and hastens the 

 development of, the incipient nation, if unchanged, becomes subse- 

 quently the weak spot in the foundation on which it must stand. On 

 the other hand, the size, which through its bigness, is likely to retard 

 early development, may become later a source of tremendous strength. 

 The nation with vast area, though perhaps slower in reaching its full 

 development, has not only the basis for ultimate importance, but also 

 the basis for permanent greatness in so far as anything may be re- 

 garded as permanent. Thus by virtue of their respective sizes, and 

 what size means, the future course of the United States, of Bussia, or 

 of China, must be radically different from the future of Britain, of 

 Germany or of France. The consideration of the area of a nation, 

 therefore, must be carried further than the usual bare statement of so 

 many square miles, and those who ignore the question of size fail to 

 appreciate one of the most significant items in national evolution and 

 strength. 



Surface Configuration. — The configuration of the surface is a con- 

 trolling factor which should perhaps be considered earlier in the dis- 



