Of the total in 1912, 608,000,000 marks, or about 50 per cent, came from the British colonies.2

The significance of the world-wide distribution of raw materials was for a time belittled in Germany. In fact, the Germans placed great faith in the so-called Ersatzstoffen, or substitute materials. Again, the idea of creating an independent, selfsufficient Mittel-Europa was advocated. The increasing severity of the blockade, however, showed the futility of both of these artifices. That internationalism must characterize commerce was proved to be inevitable. Even Friedrich Naumann, himself, the author of the Mittel-Europa idea, said:

"It has been claimed that by creating a Mittel-Europa we can dispense with a colonial policy, or that a Mittel-Europa will render unnecessary our oversea activities. The idea is absolutely erroneous. Now more than ever must we concentrate energy upon trade overseas, for the Mittel-Europa plan has imposed upon us economic obligations which can be solved only through a colonial policy."

The distribution of the world's resources plainly indicates that a conception like Fichte's "closed state" is purely fanciful. Individual states have virtually a monopoly of particular raw materials. Even under the alignment in the Great War the twentyodd nations allied against Germany did not have access to all the materials they needed. To a much greater degree is this true of any single state. A study of commercial geography leads overwhelmingly to the conviction that the keynote of commerce is internationalism. Thoughtful consideration of the pre-war statistics of German foreign trade would have exposed the folly of the Central Powers in their attempt to conduct a prolonged war. The same figures also militate against the formulation by the Allies of a boycott policy in the after-war program.

(b) The Reciprocal Needs of Nations

The machinery of international trade is infinitely complex. Direct trade, both export and import, is carried on between all

'Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Jan. 19, 1918. Other figures indicate that only 35 per cent came from the British colonies direct.

the nations of the world. Twenty billion dollars' worth of goods are exchanged annually in ways that almost defy analysis. Germany's trade with the chief warring nations in 1913 was as follows:

The United States ranked first among the countries that sold to Germany and Great Britain ranked first among the countries that bought from Germany. But every one of the nations in the Allied group sold considerable quantities of one or another product to Germany. The distribution of Germany's imports in 1913 shows from what a wide field the 70,000,000 Germans drew commodities for consumption and manufacture:

SOURCES OF PRINCIPAL ARTICLES IMPORTED BY GERMANY IN 1913.

Looking at these figures from another angle, we can see how the infinite ramifications of trade lines criss-cross political boundaries and indicate an organic unity which embraces the entire world. The following table shows the percentages of the chief exports to Germany from the leading Allied Powers and the rank of Germany in the volume of trade of each power:

EXPORTS OF ALLIED POWERS TO GERMANY.

A similar analysis for the trade of Italy, Belgium, Serbia, and the Central American Republics would show how the pre-war trade lines crossed the boundaries of the political groups that were aligned during the war. Furthermore, the trade between the countries making up each of the three groups—Allies, Neutrals, and Central Powers-was inter-related so diversely as to correspond to no possible political re-grouping that would be less extensive than the world itself.

A further evidence of the mutual economic interests of nations

The

is the loss resulting to the participants in a tariff war. dispute between France and Italy in 1888 and the levy of discriminatory rates resulted in financial losses to both countries. At the end of ten years Italy's exports to France declined 57 per cent and France's exports to Italy declined 5 per cent. There were no adequately compensating outlets of trade with other countries. In the 90's France and Switzerland carried on a trade war with the result that France's exports to Switzerland did not recover their pre-war level until seven years after its close. In addition, through the diversion of trade routes by Switzerland, France lost millions in railway receipts, ocean freights and commissions. Austria, Italy and the United States replaced France in the export of sugar to Switzerland; Germany and Belgium in metals; and the United States in leather. Russia and Germany carried on a tariff war in 1893-4 which proved so costly to both that an agreement was reached after several months."

(c) The Freedom of Commerce

Before the war trade was fairly unrestricted. German ships were free to engage in the coastwise trade of Great Britain. Certainly Germany had free access to the ports of the British colonies and dominions on the same footing as other powers. In fact, the figures show that in the five-year interval from 1909 to 1913, German export trade with the British Possessions increased as rapidly as with non-British countries that produce raw materials and, in some cases, more so. German export trade with France in this five-year period increased relatively more than German trade with the countries that became her allies in the war.

During this period Germany's import trade with the members of the Allied group grew at a greater rate than with the members of the Central European group. And as for the non-European countries, Germany's imports from the British Possessions increased many times as rapidly as the imports from non-British countries that produce raw material.

Again, the statistics of the trade of Great Britain, France, the 'W. S. Culbertson, "Commercial Policy in War Time and After."

United States, Belgium, and Germany with India afford absolutely no evidence to show that German imports or exports were restricted. The rate of increase in the trade of Germany is as great as in that of England. In fact, in a long list of commodities imported and exported Germany took first place.

The tables given below show that Germany's trade with the Great Powers and with their colonies was unhampered. The growth of her trade with various parts of the British Empire was indeed amazing.

GERMANY'S EXPORT TRADE IN 1909 AND 1913, SHOWING PER CENT OF INCREASE.