The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-12-30
The Business World Confronted By Fifty
 New Political Divisions
co. P. AUSTIN.l
Statistician, The National City Banl
 of New York.
l

The business world at the begin ming of 1920 finds itself confronted with fifty new political divisions with newly defined areas, new eta..ic groupings of population and there fore with new industrial and com mercial activities, new forms of gov ernment, new political managers and law makers, new forms of currency, and new relations to world com merce, industry and finance.
 Thirty of these new political di- visions have declared themselves as republics; certain others as kingdoms or under the direct control of local rulers; others, classified as 't~olonies, protectorates, and dependencies" have passed under new political con- trol; and still others are awaiting anxiously the determination as to the political power which is to exercise the mandate" under which their po- liticaI and industrial future is to be developed. Of these fifty new di- visions thirty occupy that formerly great industrial and commercial area, i Central Europe, and the remainder are scattered over Africa, Asia, and the islands of the Pacific. They az gregate one-fifth of the land area and have one-ffth of the popula- tion of the globe, and their imports and exports formed one-ffth of the 1 total international trade immediately preceding the war.
 Twenty of these new republics have been established upon a terri tory formerly tE-1t of 8 single em- pire, Russia; a dozen others have been created from sections of three other empires, Germany, Austro-Hun- 1 gary, and Turkey; and the remaind- CT, which Is practically a score in number, represents pre-war "colonies, | protectorates or dependencies' of | Germany and Turkey respectively. l Most of these new political di- l visions lie within the interior of Eu- 1 rope, separated by long dista nces 1 from the ocean; their railroads dis l organized; their currency in state 1 Of extreme disorder their popula- i tfon unaccustomed to the new form ! of government; their legislators inex- 1 perienced in national and internatlon- 1 al affairs of government.
 l What will the world the indus ] trial, the financial, and the conner ] cial world, do with them and for i them?
 It is easier to ask this question 1 than to answer it. It cannot now be i answered, in fact, with anything liks accuracy or even a safe prediction. We can, however, take g hurried sur vey Of the respective areas in ques- tion, the type of their population. 1 their former commercial, industrial and financial power, and perhaps 1 from these facts draw some couc1u- sions as to the future, or at least get ! into concrete form the chief factors
 of the problem as to their future or | respective futures. While 1t may be
 assumed that the 335 .0nO,00o indus 1 trious people of this area, who have | created in the past an international
 trade of $8.000, 900, are still of ! the same industrious disposition, it is important to consider the new group l ing which has been made in the mat 1 ter of ethnic stocks, form of govern l ment, experience or otherwise as law
 makers, transportation facilities in-
 dustrial power and therefore com
 E-ercial prospects.
 One of the most distinguished
 American authorities on world po-
 litica1 and ethnic history, Professor
 Edwin A. GrosvenOr, Professor of
 Modern Government and Internation-
 al Law in Amherst College and for
 twenty years Professor of History in
 the Robert College, at Constaatinople
 discussing the new groupings of peo-
 pie in the area in question says:
 For the first time in human
 experience, the effort is being
 made by the victors after a great
 war to trace the new frontiers in | accordance with the racial espi-
 rations and affinities of the peo-
 pies involved. Because of the
 impossibility of defining exactly
 the limits of race, many heart | burnings are inevitable in the new
 adjustment of European boun-