=Geography and the Future.=—From what has been said in the last four sections it will thus be seen that natural resources are a great factor in determining the progress and prosperity of a nation. [Sidenote: The energy of man cannot replace the bounty of nature.] No amount of intelligence and industry on the part of the people will ensure rapid economic progress if they occupy a country which lacks a fertile soil, is devoid of minerals, possesses no forests or fisheries, and is deficient in natural harbors and waterways. Man can do much, but his powers are limited without the aid of nature. Animals and plants can be carried from one part of the world to another and made to thrive in their new environment; but mineral resources were laid down many millions of years ago in certain definite places and there they have stayed. A country which has no mineral resources cannot create them by the genius or industry of its people. On the other hand, if great natural resources are at hand, progress becomes merely a question of applying human intelligence and industry to these resources. The rise of the American nation to its present position, therefore, is not surprising, although it has taken a relatively short period of time. It is the joint result of nature’s bounty and man’s efficiency. To which of these we owe the larger share of the nation’s progress no one can say. If the country had lacked either, it could not have progressed in any such measure during the past three hundred years. [Sidenote: Natural resources and national power.] The same things have been true of other countries. England, during the greater part of the nineteenth century, was the leading industrial country of the world. This was unquestionably due not only to the enterprise of Englishmen but to the great natural resources of the country in coal and iron. When Germany defeated France in 1870 she took away from the French certain territories which were rich in minerals. With the aid of these materials Germany in the course of fifty years was able to become a great industrial power. Now, as the result of the World War, the French have recovered these territories and we may look for a marked revival in the industries of France. During the peace negotiations more importance was attached to small areas of coal and mineral lands than to whole provinces of agricultural land.