Basing my calculation on official reports covering a number of years, I find that the average value _per capita_ of the annual exports of native products from a number of tropical colonies selected by me for the purpose of this inquiry is as follows: Trinidad $26.48 British Guiana 34.26 Martinique 23.48 Mauritius 20.28 Dominica 7.28 St. Vincent 7.68 Ceylon 7.24 Montserrat 7.89 An examination of these figures will serve to show that the value of the colonies in the first column, measured by the standard of their productiveness, is three times that of the colonies in the second column. Reference to the population returns of the colonies named discloses the fact that in the colonies in the first column the population contains a very large proportion of imported contract laborers and their descendants, while in the other colonies practically the whole population is home-born for at least two generations. A moment's reflection will show the importance of the comparison instituted above, and if the space at my command permitted a more extensive analysis of the trade of tropical colonies, it could be demonstrated that the theory holds good, almost without exception, that of tropical countries those only are commercially valuable in which a system of imported contract labor is in force. There are one or two colonies (Barbados is the most striking example) in which the pressure of population is so great that the labor supply suffices for the utmost development of which the country is capable; but such instances are rare. The experience of England in governing tropical colonies is frequently cited by those who favor the so-called imperial policy for the United States as a proof that tropical colonization in itself presents no difficulties which can not be overcome by enlightened administration. It would be difficult to point out in just what manner Great Britain derives any benefit from her tropical possessions, but her experience confirms the theory I have stated above--that the commercial development of tropical colonies is possible only where there is an extraordinary density of population or where a system of imported contract labor is in force. A glance through the list of Great Britain's tropical colonies will serve to prove the correctness of this theory. Imported contract labor is used in British Guiana, Trinidad, Jamaica, Queensland, the Fiji Islands, the Straits Settlements, and Mauritius; while the pressure of population is extreme in Lagos and Barbados, which support respectively 1,333 and 1,120 persons to the square mile.