The increase of trade with Europe has been only 12 per cent., while with other parts of the world it has been 28 per cent. The declining ratio of trade with Great Britain is very remarkable. In 1872-76 the mother country stood for 45 per cent. of the foreign trade of the United States, but the ratio fell to 40 per cent. in 1882-86, and to 35 per cent. in 1892-96. When we bear in mind the free-trade policy of Great Britain, and the similarity of language and race of the two countries, this decline of trade. is phenomenal, seeing that it is coeval with an increase of dealings with Germany.

5. Wanted, a North American Trade Union.-The interests of the United States, Mexico, and Canada demand the immediate. formation of a Zollverein or Commercial Union, which would abolish all custom houses between the three countries by an arrangement similar to the Zollverein, established in 1853, between Prussia, Bavaria, and the other sovereign states of Germany, without infringing on their political independence. Mexico seems ripe for a compact of this kind, as her trade with the United States is increasing, and Canada shows a similar tendency, viz. :

But for the existing barriers of custom houses and tariffs the trade between the United States and Canada would be double what it is, which means that the loss of trade to Canada by the present system is 45 million dollars yearly, or $9 per inhabitant, and to the United States 45 millions, or 60 cents per inhabitant. The relative loss, therefore, falls fifteen times more heavily on Canadians than on the people of the United States, and the longer this state of things continues the worse for the

Dominion. There ought to be, as far as commerce is concerned, no more barrier between Canada and New England than between New York and Pennsylvania. The census of 1890 shows us that 8 per cent. of the population of the New England States is composed of Canadian farmers!

6. Trade With West Indies and South America.-The gross amount of trade, imports and exports, between the United States. and the West Indies has declined in the last twenty years, partly owing to the diminished value of sugar, partly to the troubles in Cuba, as shown in the following table:

While there has been on the whole a falling off, this is not true of the British islands (especially Jamaica and Trinidad), with which, on the contrary, American trade has risen 95 per cent. in the above interval, those islands finding a profitable market for tropical fruits in the seaport cities of the Union. The returns of American trade with three of the principal islands show thus:

The prosperity of the British West Indies is due in great measure to their proximity to the United States and the rapid development of trade that has resulted.

If Cuba were a British, instead of a Spanish, colony her trade would probably have trebled in the last 20 years, like that of Jamaica or Trinidad.

All the South American republics have opened up so many new channels of trade within the last 10 years between the northern and southern portions of the American Continent that we find an increase of 48 per cent. in their dealings with the United States, while the trade between Great Britain and South America has risen only 20 per cent. in the same time, viz.:

Ten years ago British trade exceeded that of the United States in South America by forty-nine per cent.; at present the excess is only twenty-one per cent., which shows that before long the bulk of South American trade will be carried on with the United States.

7. Current of Bullion.—It is by no means easy to say how far the current of bullion is determined, or rather affected, by an excess of imports or of exports, but it is, nevertheless, interesting to observe the influx and outflow of the precious metals, viz.:

In the decade ending 1886 there was a net influx of 80 millions of the precious metals, but in that ending 1896 there was a net outflow of 375 millions. In both decades the exports of merchandise largely exceeded imports, the excess in the decade ending 1896 amounting to 701 million dollars. That is to say, during the last ten years the average annual surplus of merchandise exports was 70 million dollars, and yet so far from a net inflow of bullion there was an average outflow of the precious metals amounting to 37 million dollars yearly.

This ought to show how erroneous are the old "balanceof-trade" theories, to the effect that whenever a country exported more merchandise than it imported the difference always came back in bullion, if not in the same year, at least within a given number of years.

8. Internal Trade.-In the preceding remarks no allusion has been made to the internal trade of the United States, which is nine times as great as the amount of interchange with foreign countries. It rose forty-nine per cent. in the interval of fourteen years, from 1880 to 1894, the increase of population having been thirty-six per cent.

The average per inhabitant is $23 higher than in 1880, which shows that however rapid the growth of population the development of national resources is still more striking. If we count the working year as 300 days the internal trade will be found to average 48 million dollars daily, while external commerce is little over 5 millions. Moreover, the former progresses. much faster, having risen (as we have seen) 49 per cent. since 1880, whereas foreign trade is hardly 10 per cent. higher. Internal trade is the best gauge of national progress, because it reflects the power, energy, and resources of a people.

MICHAEL G. MULHALL.

LEPROSY AND HAWAIIAN ANNEXATION.

BY PRINCE A. MORROW, M.D.

THE proposed annexation of the Hawaiian islands by the United States has excited a general interest in everything relating to these islands and their inhabitants. Their maritime importance to this country and the advantages which would follow annexation from a commercial standpoint have been fully set forth, but the sanitary aspects of the scheme have received no attention. When it is considered that more than ten per cent. of the Hawaiian race are affected with leprosy it becomes a serious question as to what will be the effect of the absorption of this tainted population upon the health interests of this country.

Incidentally it may be said that the history of the Hawaiian people furnishes many facts worthy of careful study by the student of sociology as well as the medical man. It presents the picture of a people, facile princeps among the Polynesian races, by their fine physical qualities and superior intelligence, inhabiting a group of beautiful islands-the "Paradise of the Pacific" with a delightful climate and productive soil, surrounded by conditions most favorable for life, yet dying at a rapid rate. Civilization seems to have acted as a blight upon this people; under its withering touch they have dwindled by thousands each decade until now they number less than one-tenth the original population. At the time of Captain Cook's visit (1779) he estimated the population at nearly half a million. In 1823 it had decreased to 142,000; in 1853 the census showed 73,000, in 1873 56,000; in 1893 the native population did not exceed 35,000. No unfavorable influence of soil or climate or hardship can be invoked in explanation of the decay and death of the native race. It is not the outcome of a contest between a savage and a civilized race in which the weaker succumbs to the stronger, as exemplified