and extending the productivity of her own agriculture, on the other, Germany will hardly be in need of very large amounts of Russia's grains.
III.
But perhaps Russia can become a self-supplying country, i. e., a country which has no need of a foreign trade and is not compelled to produce more than what is needed for home consumption?
Whoever is acquainted with the condition of the Russian market at the present time, and with the enormously high prices that we are compelled to pay for all kinds of goods, will scarcely advocate a policy like the above. Moreover, the economic history of the civilized world has shown the utter impossibility of the existence of a country completely isolated from the world's trade. The following figures show the growth of the world's trade during the last half-century.
| Year | World's Trade in Billions of Roubles. |
Average Annual Increase in Billions of Roubles |
| 1860 | 15 | 0.6 |
| 1895 | 35 | 1.8 |
| 1905 | 53 | 3.0 |
| 1910 | 68 | about5.0 |
| 1912 | about78 |
In other words, during seventeen years, from 1895 to 1912, the amount of the world's trade has almost doubled. In the course of only seven years, from 1905 to 1912, the world's trade has increased by fifteen billion roubles, or exactly the whole amount of the world's trade in 1860, after many centuries of human civilization.
Russia, too, despite the continual rise of her customs tariff since the days of Vishnegradsky and Witte, has not been able to escape taking part in the world's trade, as may be seen from the following figures, showing the amount of imports and exports per capita:
| Years | Imports | Exports |
| IN ROUBLES | ||
| 1895-99 | 4.7 | 5.5 |
| 1900-04 | 4.6 | 6.3 |
| 1905-09 | 5.1 | 7.4 |
| 1910-13 | 7.1 | 9.1 |
