ABSTRACT
The deficit of 2,500,000,000 francs in the national commercial balance for January–June, 1926, presaged the more recent situation, marking sharply the troubles of the falling franc and rising prices. The remedy sought then and later has been economic independence through movement toward the self-sufficing empire, by stimulating home and colonial production, since raised taxes and economies have been insufficient. In Algeria the population is twenty-six to the square kilometer in the north, but in the ten times larger south only three-tenths; this is not all due to desert aridity. The dilemma of the problem lies in the fact that increase of population implies trend toward dissidence, while a stationary population retards development. The criticism of imperialism demands that trusteeship shall dominate colonialism, and lays down the bases thereof. Powers which control tropical areas and exploit their resources must see that the process benefits native populations.
