i Congress, | SENATE. j Document d Session. X \ No. 737. ETHNOGRAPHY AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES IN 1906. Mr. Lodge presented the following STATEMENT BY MR. HORACE N. FISHER ON ETHNOGRAPHY AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES IN 1906. February 24, 1909. — Ordered to be printed with map. [Memorandum, February 15, 1909.1 Ethnography and commercial importance of Latin America and the West Indies in 1906. I. ETHNOGRAPHICAL notes. The accompanying copy of an ethnographical chart of America, showing the proportion of the Caucasian race in each of the countries of America, was made ten years ago, but may be considered substan- tially correct as showing the present percentage of Caucasian, mixed, Indian, and negro races in America. In the marginal notes are given detailed statistics suggestive of the probable future of, inter alios, the several islands of the West Indies, from Avhich we may expect that Cuba and Porto Rico with, respect- ively, 65 and 57 per cent Caucasian, will ultimately be able to maintain responsible and prosperous self-government; while the other West India islands, with less than 5 per cent Caucasian, can hardly attain orderly government except as dependencies — "crown colonies. " It will be observed by the chart that the per cent of Caucasians is substantially the same in the North Temperate and the South Teni- perate zones— 85 to 90 per cent; that that percentage steadily dimin- ishes in approaching the Equator, whether from the ndrth or from the south, attaining the minimum, 10 per cent, in Ecuador, and not exceed- ing 25 per cent anywhere within the Tropics, except in Cuba and Porto Rico. It will also be noticed that the Indian and the mixed races are almost entirely within the Tropics, only 5i per cent being found in Temperate Zone countries; and that the negro is subtropical rather than equatorial in distribution in America. It will further be observed that in 1890 the foreign trade per inhabitant was over 50 per cent greater in the Temperate than in the Tropical regions of America, being, respectively, $30.25 and $19.60 per inhabitant. N f53 2 ETHNOGRAPHY OF LATIN AMERICA AND WEST INDIES IN 1906. Another fact appears by the ethnographical chart, which warrants the assumption that the Indian race never was considerable in what is now the United States, namely, that eleventh-twelfths of the Indian races are now inhabitants of the Tropics, and that even a larger per- centage of the mixed races live within the Tropics. This fact seems to concur with the conclusion of those who have carefully studied the Indian question — that the number of Indians in the United States at present is probably quite as large as when the white man came to America. II. COMMERCIAL STATISTICS OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE W r EST INDIES. The second subject treated in this memorandum is the comparative commercial importance of Latin America and the West Indies on the one hand, and of all Asia and the East Indies on the other hand. This matter was treated in my memorandum of January 19, 1899, based upon the latest official statistics then available, namely, of 1890. In the two appended tables are given the area, population, and foreign trade of each of the countries of Latin America and the West Indies, and of all Asia and the East Indies for 1906, my authority being the Statesman's Year Book for 1908. Though the trade statistics are given in various currencies — often of silver, and sometimes of depreci- ated paper money — great care has been taken to reduce these trade reports to United States gold. I think that the amounts in United States gold are substantially correct, as given in these two tables. It may surprise those who have not critically examined this subject to see (1) that the foreign trade of North and South America is more than double that of all Asia; (2) that the West Indies is the commercial equivalent of all the East Indies; (3) that the commerce of the east coast of South America (Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay) exceeds that of British India and all other British possessions in Asia (4) and is greater than the entire commerce of the Far East (China, Japan, and Korea); (5) that the foreign trade of Latin America and the West Indies, in 1906, aggregated $1,963,050,741, and somewhat exceeded the aggregate trade, in 1906, of British India, Australia, and Canada ($1,927,842,150); and (6) finally that Latin America and the West Indies have seven-eighths the population (continental) of the United States, and two and a half times its area. ISi quaeris mercatori.a, circumspice! In America we have an India and a Japan, a China and an East Indies, able and willing to take all our surplus manufactured and agricultural productions ! Horace N. Fisher. Brookline, Mass., February 15. 1909. "]- 35 m ETHNOGRAPHY OF LATIN AMERICA AND WEST INDIES IN 1906. ©-Co s "53 < B 1 s? Sr: 5 ^3 h s 2; - e 'A <1> "^ o5 - ff^ IE C^ 1-3 >, K CO "* •8 e e ■3 ! O^ CO «2 OS 03 COCOCNi^OWOiCO iOC5f COCO-WCOCOCOl^CO HCC CO i-i r*- i> cm MHHOlWL^CO*' OS f- CM iO OS t JCOH i-l CO ■* )0 COMrt CO mWCOiK -<*t CD *— ' CM 1-* »C nHH^ CM GOOlO HOiO i>^r co on~cM go" co fot CC O CM i-t 00 CO i— I CO as ic co r-- r- os oc co os i> CO CO r-H OS L^ OS Tf OC 00 -^ CO T r-i i— I CO -T" iC CN CM CM os oas t^ lO OS O CI r-i CO a- CO 00 — < lOOS OC OC — OS TOG5H i.O CO o -T -TO CO CM O CM*Co"cO*" i-t ds OS OS CO'* 00 CO iO O OS OS CO COrf< -t cm I- 1- CO CO CO' t> CO OS O. OS OO l(7 OS r- «— iO 0CH1 leTr-TcM (X CO -X' 1-HCOl- oTco'co" 03 -S c«™o^'3 rn '— I *-< ;r 03 O iC o o t- l^ Co 00 -* "-D 'O (O l^ CD CO Nrt-*COrt bo R :.£§ :«« cs23 •° (- d d c 5 d cs£ 'C o .-HOO CO -f r-H CO X d a e3 03 g d>, " '3 CD 60 W CS Mid f-C P-i (-1 >a 5 =J c3 d § leg M 03 d S - Eciu o3 S c"^ S <£ a « c£* > 03 JJ'O ? |J« 03 o cu'o^: HPhMO § So CO C *H . d43 cc O+i "O o3 P-O CO 11 c3 d 4 ETHNOGRAPHY OP LATIN AMERICA AND WEST INDIES IN 1906. Statistics of Asiatic countries for 1906. [Compiled from the Statesman's Year Book for 1908, by Horace N. Fisher.] Country- Russian Asia Turkish Asia British possessions in Asia: British India Ceylon Straits Settlements, Federated Malay States, J oho ret- ... Baluchistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim.. Bahrein Islands d ... Aden and Perim d ... Cyprus British Borneo Hongkong/ East Indies: Dutch East Indies French: French India, Indo-China Portuguese: Goa, Ti- mor, Macao's German: Kian- chau; American: Philip- pines Total East Indies . Far East; China Japan Korea Far East and East Indies. Siam Persia Oman Afghanistan All Asia and East Indies Area, square miles. 6, 207, 662 693, 610 6,901,272 1,766,642 25, 332 39,953 205,473 275 9,080 3, 584 76, 106 405 2,126,850 1,127,521 4,277,170 161,198 71, 000 4,509,368 212, 200 628, 000 82, 000 250, 000 5, 636, 889 1, 172, 200 .15,837,211 Population, 1906. 21,796,300 17, 683, 500 39, 479, 800 8,410,770 olOO, 000, 000 294,361,056 3, 578, 333 1,488,710 5, 993, 565 70, tiOO 41, 722 237, 022 685,000 410, 638 -306, 866, 046 Exports and imports reduced to United States gold. $168, 410, 770 801,074,539 76,211,247 c 69, 286, 573 15,180,696 e 15, 772, 745 c29,391,050 4,831,563 11,910,716 (S) -1, 026, 659, 129 36, 000, 000 21,518,000 895, 789 33,000 7, 635, 426 66,082,215 433, 553, 030 50, 590, 244 10, 000, 000 -494,143,274 6, 686, 846 9, 500, 000 800, 000 4, 500, 000 .560,225,489 21, 486, 846 .928,058,181 211,153,919 91, 347, 410 i2, 054, 521 (*) 59, 046, 660 364, 202, 510 517,381,456 451,783,152 19, 212, 890 98S,377,498 59, 794, 905 56,633,870 3, 396, 861 10, 704, 666 .1,352,580,008 130,530,302 .2,690,385,161 hab- itant. 3.14 2.73 21.30 2.53 20.38 5.86 4.19 7.73 1.19 8.93 1.92 5.94 4.25 a Estimated. b Straits Settlements (Singapore and Penang) are ports of deposit and distribution for transit trade, aggregating in 1906 $304,175,896; for which reason are not counted in this table. Federated Malay States, with a trade of their own, are counted. c Federated Malay States. d Bahrein Islands in the Persian Gulf and Aden are practically ports of entry for the hinterland of Arabia; their trade, $45,163,795, is mainly transit. e Mainly transit trade with the Arabian hinterland, but not credited to Turkey in Asia. / Hongkong, a free port of deposit and distribution for transit trade to and from China, had in 1906 a trade of $1S2,141,907, or 35 per cent of China's trade of $517,381,456, exports and imports. g Transit only — credited to China. ft Goa and Macao have only transit trade with India and China, respectively; in 1906, $22,242,734. i Timor. j'Kiau-chau has onlv transit trade with the adjacent Chinese province of Shantung; in 1906 $24,409,904. ic Transit trade credited to China. i North TemperaicZo** NoMhTVofiicfllZene Bosto/t,relitf.l.l899- Senate Doc. No.7 37 ; 60th Cong., 2d Sess LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 015 848 890 5