Some idea of the extent to which a modern industrial community is dependent for its survival upon imported raw materials may be gained from an examination of the trade figures for Great Britain. In 1920 the total value of British imports was 1,936 millions of pounds sterling. Of this amount, 767 millions (more than a third) were for food, drink and tobacco, while another third (711 millions) were for raw materials. Under these two general headings were included such items as grain and flour 232 millions, meat 142 millions, cotton and cotton waste 257 millions and wool and wool rags 94 millions of pounds sterling. The two main items of food and raw materials, covered more than three quarters of all British imports. (Statesman's Year Book.) But Britain is a relatively small and very much isolated community, lacking some of the essential resources. It is therefore quite natural that her trade figures should show such a result. The same thing is of course true of Japan, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Italy, France, and in fact most of the important industrial countries. This is taken as a matter of course. Oddly enough, however, it is likewise true of the United States, which is as near to industrial self-sufficiency as any of the leading industrial nations. Among the 5,278 millions of dollars worth of commodities imported by the United States in 1920, there were 40 million pounds of aluminum, 143 million pounds of rice, 345 million pounds of cocoa and cacao, 1,297 million pounds of coffee, 510 million pounds of hides, 152 million pounds of fresh meat, 603 million pounds of India rubber, 260 million pounds of wool, 510 million pounds of paper stock, 1,460 million pounds of paper, 8,074 million pounds of sugar, 4,459 million gallons of crude oil, 130 million skins, and so on. Here are extensive imports of hides, oil, paper, sugar, coffee, wool and rubber--seven of the most important items of modern commerce. Well supplied as it is with varieties of climate and resources, the United States is nevertheless compelled to import large amounts of some of the most essential raw materials. Like the nations of Europe, it is forced to depend, for these and other industrial essentials, upon portions of the economic world that lie outside the national boundaries.