=316. Great growth of foreign commerce.=—Assuming, for purposes of discussion, a fair degree of accuracy in the figures, some conclusions from them may be pointed out. The commerce of the world increased in this century at the astonishing rate of 1,359 per cent. We have before encountered instances of remarkable commercial expansion, in particular countries, but we must bear in mind that the figures here are supposed to include the whole world, the backward as well as the progressive countries, the many millions in the interior of great continents who scarcely trade at all, and the Chinese, perhaps in themselves a quarter of the world’s population, who trade still to but a slight extent. Clearly the growth of commerce in some countries must have been enormous to raise the total figures to the point at which we find them. FOREIGN COMMERCE AND PRODUCTION OF THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD =========+=================+========+=============+=========== Year | Aggregate | Per | Coal | Pig Iron | Commerce | Capita | Production |Production | Thousand |Commerce| Million | Million |Million Dollars |Dollars | Tons | Tons ---------+-----------------+--------+-------------+----------- 1800 | 1.4 | 2.31 | 11.6 | 0.8 1820 | 1.6 | 2.13 | 17.2 | 1.0 1830 | 1.9 | 2.34 | 25.1 | 1.8 1840 | 2.7 | 2.93 | 44.8 | 2.7 1850 | 4.0 | 3.76 | 81.4 | 4.7 1860 | 7.2 | 6.01 | 142.3 | 7.2 1870 | 10.6 | 8.14 | 213.4 | 11.9 1880 | 14.7 | 10.26 | 340 | 18.0 1890 | 17.5 | 11.80 | 466 | 27.2 1900 | 20.1 | 13.02 | 800 | 40.4 1910 | 33.6 | 20.81 | 1,141 | 65.8 1913 | 40.4 | 24.47 | 1,443 | 77.4 =========+=================+========+=============+===========