National Geographic : 1898 Jan
OUR FOREIGN TRADE 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.