ric acid, ammonium salts and many other
raw and semi-manufactured products.

The preceding enumeration of the physical resources of Ukraine shows
how mistaken is the conception that Ukraine could not maintain an
economic existence independent of Russia. If a country possessing such
extraordinary natural advantages and wealth as Ukraine cannot stand
alone, how can one justify the independence of Italy, Greece, Poland,
Jugoslavia, Finland and other European nations whose right to autonomy
is not questioned, but whose natural endowments are far less favorable
to economic freedom.

The converse of the same proposition; viz., that Russia cannot live
without Ukraine, will not survive impartial criticism. Although it is
quite clear that, in reasoning to this end, other interests than those
of Ukraine supervene, it is nevertheless worth while to examine this
point of view in order to expose its falsity.

The three fundamental bases of opposition usually advanced are: (1)
Ukraine is the granary of Russia and is necessary to Russia for a large
part of her food supply; (2) Ukraine separates Russia from the Black
Sea and Sea of Azov, thereby closing the outlet to the Mediterranean;
(3) Ukraine possesses a supply of coal and iron which is necessary to
Russia.

The first objection is refuted by an examination of statistics. Figures
for the years previous to the war show consistently that Ukraine's
exportations of cereals to other parts of the Russian empire did not
reach more than 10 to 15% of her total export; i.e., about 36,000,000
bushels annually. Nearly all of this was destined for Poland, Lithuania
and White Ruthenia. Russia proper never consumed more than a very small
fraction of Ukraine's grain. She did not need it then and will not need
it in the future. She is virtually self-sustaining in cereals, and the
small surplus needed can readily be obtained from the fields of Siberia
and the region of the Volga.

The second allegation, that Russia needs the Ukrainian ports on the
Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, is readily disposed of by a reference to
Russian maritime experience. The official Russian statistics of the
traffic of merchandise by rail show no southern port which served as an
outlet for the products of the territories situated north of the ethnic
frontier of Ukraine, with the single exception of Rostov-on-the-Don.
Novorosseysk was the port used by the Ukrainian Cossacks of Kuban and
the northern Caucasus. Up to th