Europe and the Development of American Foreign Trade

W 7ITH an area constituting only 7.7 per cent of the land area of the globe, slightly larger than the United States and Alaska, Europe held, before the War, 26.4 per cent of the total population of the world. This is over four times the population of the United States, more than ten times the population of all South America and equal to the total estimated population of all Eastern Asia, including the islands of Japan, the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies. This large population gave to Europe an average density of 120 people to the square mile, a density of 3times that of the average density of the world-population or the population-density of the United States. The density of Europe's population is further indicated by the fact that out of approximately 400 cities of over 100,000 people, 190 or 47.5 per cent are in Europe. The largeness of its population and the concentration of that population do not, of course, necessarily indicate that Europe is a region of great economic wealth. The economic importance of a region must be measured by its ability to support, in comparison with the rest of the world, a large population in comfort through the magnitude of its production and its facilities for carrying on trade and commerce. Some measure of Europe's economic importance is shown by the following facts. In 1913, Europe had 33.4 per cent of the railway mileage of the world. This was slightly less than the railway mileage of the United States. The net tonnage of Europe's merchant marine, on the other hand, was 69.3 per cent of the total merchant marine of the world. In telegraph wire, Europe possessed 60 per cent of the total world-mileage. In agricultural production, Europe has been far the richest producing-area in the world. Europe leads in the production of most of the great food crops, in spite of the fact that she is also the greatest importer of agricultural products from the rest of the world. Table I shows the production in 1913 of the leading agricultural crops, indicating the per cent of the total world-crop produced in Europe. In 1913, European farms produced 96 per cent of the total world's rye; 62 per cent of the world's oats; 71.8 per cent of the world's barley; 52.4 per cent of the world's wheat; 18 per cent of the world's corn; 92.1 per cent of the beet sugar crop, and 42 per cent of the total sugar production of the world. Over 90 per cent of the potatoes of the world were then grown in Europe, and 92.6 per cent of the olive oil. Of the world's important food crops, only a few are not found in surpassing im64

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