, enjoy the great bulk
of Spain's foreign trade, but of late years Germany and the United
States are taking a small share of it. The MINERAL WEALTH of Spain is
enormous, and as the mines are often controlled by foreign capital
they are worked with energy. The iron ore of the Basque provinces of
the north and the copper ore of the district about Cadiz have been
renowned for ages. Thirty-five million dollars' worth of copper, iron,
lead, silver, and quicksilver are exported to Great Britain annually.
There are manufactures of cottons, woollens, linens, and silks, but
none of these can be said to be very prosperous, although during the
last twenty-five years, owing to a high protective tariff, the
quantity of raw material used in textile manufacture in Spain has
doubled. Spain produces excellent wool, but her woollen manufacture is
unable to use it all and one fourth is exported. Similarly, although
Spain is especially rich in iron-fields, she gets about one third of
the hardware she needs for her own consumption from England. The total
area of Spain's COAL-FIELDS is estimated at 5500 miles, but hitherto
little coal has been mined, partly because it is somewhat
inaccessible. Four million dollars' worth of coal is annually imported
from England. Whole mountains of ROCK SALT exist, but little is mined
and none is exported, although bay salt obtained in the south is
exported to the fishermen of Cornwall. Another important export is
ESPARTO GRASS, which is sent to England to be used in paper-making.
And still another is CORK, although Portugal, which adjoins Spain, is
the chief seat of the cork-producing industry. MADRID (470,000) is the
capital and largest city. BARCELONA (250,000) is the chief seaport of
Spain and the chief manufacturing centre. VALENCIA (145,000), in the
southeast, and SEVILLE (135,000) and MALAGA (115,000), in the south,
are the principal seats of the fruit export trade of the country.
CADIZ (65,000), Spain's principal naval seaport, has a famous export
trade in sherry wines. The total population of Spain is 17,500,000.

[Illustration: Spain compared in size with California.]

ITALY'S LAMENTABLE CONDITION

Italy's condition is in some respects better than that of Spain, but
in others worse. Its population is 30,500,000, being three times more
to the square mile than that of Spain, and fifty per cent. more to the
square mile than that of France. Since 1830 the population has
increased forty-five per cent