398 The National Geographic Magazine 



droughts changing to devastating floods 

 are now noticeable, especially in the 

 vicinity of the City of Mexico. In up- 

 per Egypt, where only 100 years ago 

 rain was abundant, drought now usually 

 prevails. In Algeria, where, since the 

 middle of the last century, the forests 

 have been cut down on a large scale, dry 

 weather has increased, and in Venezuela 

 the level of Lake Tacarigua, to which 

 Alexander von Humboldt drew atten- 

 tion, has been lowered in consequence 

 of deforestation. 



If these and other facts are kept in 

 mind, the sentence " Man traverses the 

 earth and a desert results ' ' is under- 

 stood. It must not be forgotten, how- 

 ever, that this applies mainly to the in- 

 fluence of civilization upon appear- 

 ances and is not always due to climatic 

 changes produced by deforesting. Some 

 authorities even deny the influence of 

 forests on the weather and climate. It 

 cannot be denied, however, that dense 

 forests favor moisture and prevent the 

 drying out of the soil to a considerable 

 degree. At any rate, deforesting, which 

 in modern times assumes constantly 

 growing proportions for industrial and 

 agricultural purposes, is of universal 

 importance. 



Germany, with a forest area of about 

 26 per cent, realizes annually nearly 

 $60,000,000 worth of timber therefrom, 

 while the wood importations are about 

 of the same value. The consumption 

 of wood increases from year to year, 

 and systematic forestry has not suc- 

 ceeded in keeping up the forest area of 

 Germany. If it is furthermore borne 

 in mind that Canada, which formerly 

 possessed more than 300,000,000 acres 

 of forests, has today only a forest area 

 of about 225,000,000 acres, it becomes 

 evident that the question of deforesta- 

 tion assumes great importance. If 

 civilization continues to change the face 

 of the earth, the problem of its wood 

 supply will present itself like that of 

 coal and force the finding of a suitable 

 substitute. 



THE PROSPERITY OF MEXICO 



* * OMMERCI AL Mexico in 1 905 ' ' 

 V>i is the title of a monograph just 

 issued by the Departmeut of Commerce 

 and Labor through its Bureau of Sta- 

 tistics. 



Commerce between Mexico and the 

 United States has grown in recent years 

 with great rapidity, and large sums of 

 American capital have been invested in 

 various business enterprises in Mexico, 

 including agriculture, mining, transpor- 

 tation, and manufactures, while on the 

 other hand Mexico is contributing each 

 year more largely to the commercial re- 

 quirements of the United States, espe- 

 cially in those articles and classes of 

 articles not produced in this country, 

 or at least not produced in sufficient 

 quantities to supply the demands of 

 manufacturers or others in whose in- 

 dustries or business enterprises they 

 are required. Imports of merchan- 

 dise into the United States from Mex- 

 ico have grown from $4,346,364 in 

 1874 to $43> 6 33. 2 75 in 1904, the value 

 of merchandise imported from Mexico 

 in 1904 being, therefore, ten times as 

 great as in 1874. On the other hand, 

 exports from the United States to Mex- 

 ico have grown from $5,946,839 in 1874 

 to $45,844,720 in 1904, the exports to 

 Mexico in 1904 being thus about eight 

 times as great as in 1874. Sixty-four 

 per cent of the exports of merchandise 

 from that country were sent to theUnited 

 States, while 53 per cent of the imports 

 of merchandise were from the United 

 States. In the last 20 years its revenue 

 has increased from $10,000,000 to $30,- 

 000,000, its imports from $20,000,000 

 to $75>°oo>°o°> an d i ts exports from 

 $7,000,000 to $43,000,000, exclusive of 

 40^ millions of gold and silver. The 

 investment of American capital in Mex- 

 ico was estimated by United States 

 Consul-General Barlow in 1902 at $500,- 

 000,000, nearly all invested within the 

 last twenty-five years, and about one- 

 half of it within the last five years. 



