This situation cannot be clearly expressed in figures; for we can prove that as late as 1891 the sum of imports was greatly in excess of that of exports. In normal periods one must, in fact, take into account a new factor; namely, external credit, which allows the Argentine to increase her power of purchase above her actual resources. When, on the contrary, a crisis arises, the imports rapidly follow the movement of the exports, the country no longer being able to depend upon credit nor to cover by loans its unfavourable commercial balance. We give below, taken from the publications of M. Latzina the statistics of foreign trade since 1861, which is the first year included in the official statistics. The foreign trade of the Argentine has passed through two distinct phases; from 1861 to 1890 the imports were usually larger than the exports; while since 1891 the exports, except in 1893, have been considerably the larger. It is curious to note that this reversal took place after the year 1890; that is, after the financial crisis which so violently shook the country, and deprived it of that external credit which had hitherto balanced the insufficiency of exportations. In 1891 the imports fell to £13,441,400, from £28,448,000, or a fall of more than 50 per cent. from one year to the next. Thenceforward the imports progressively increased to £37,400,000 in 1904, varying by a few millions each year, while the exports reached their present high state of development through the progress achieved by agriculture. Commercial YEAR. Population. Imports. Exports. Balance.