MERCE mm T E R SERIES isJ^O^- THE GEOGRAPHY OF COMMERCE >9 " MACMILLAN'S COMMERCIAL EDITED BY CHEESMAN A. HERRICK, PH.D. DIRECTOR SCHOOL OF COMMERCE, PHILADELPHIA CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL THE GEOGRAPHY OF COMMERCE A TEXT-BOOK BY SPENCER TROTTER, M.D. PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY AND GEOLOGY IN SWARTHMORE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA ; AUTHOR OF " LESSONS IN THE NEW GEOGRAPHY" f0rfe THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1906 All rights reserved 0"* COPYRIGHT, 1903, Bv THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, Set up, electrotyped, and published September, 1903. Reprinted January, 1904; February, July, 1905; January, 1906. EDUCATION DEFT, PREFACE THIS book involves two points of view : physical geography (physi- ography) , and the activities of men and organizations of men. This makes necessary the union of two phases of thought, often treated as unrelated, one dealing with physical science, the other with economic affairs. The balance between these has been sought in the interpre- tation of commercial life as dependent upon physical surroundings. This, it is conceived, should be the method for the study of the geo- graphical basis of commerce. If commercial geography is to serve its true ends in education, it must be primarily geography, not a mere aggregation of commercial data. The unrelated facts of commerce have slight educational value ; they should be made to illustrate some underlying principle, to make clear a natural law, to stand in relation to the great stream of causes and effects. For the purposes of introductory study as outlined in the present work, facts should be taken with a certain largeness of view, and will have their highest utility in indicating relative conditions at a par- ticular time. The actual amount of the wheat crop in bushels or of the coal output in tons for a given year is of little significance, unless comparison is made with similar data for previous years, also with the statistics of population and with data for other countries. Thus is obtained a view of the relative increase and the relation of the com- modity or industry in question. Graphic representation to illustrate the increase of a commodity or industry, either absolutely or in relation to population, or in relation to the increase or decrease of other commodities or industries, or in comparison with production in other countries, etc., has vastly more meaning than has any one set of facts. 541868 vi Preface Graphic representation has been employed in the present work to represent the approximate condition of various commercial activities. Notable among the sources used in the preparation of this book are the special and general reports in the Monthly Summary of Com- merce and Finance of the Bureau of Statistics; volumes of the Twelfth Census ; Commercial Relations of the United States ; Year- books of Agriculture ; Mineral Resources of the United States ; Con- sular Reports and reports of Boards of Trade ; publications of the Bureau of American Republics ; the Statesman's Year Book ; Hand- book of Commercial Geography by Chisholm ; and various articles in the International Geography by Davis, Chisholm, Mill, Keltic, Herbertson, Kirchhoff, and other writers no less worthy of mention. Use has also been made of many other works. The author's thanks are due to Mr. O. P. Austin, of the Bureau of Statistics, for his courtesy and kindness in supplying much valuable data ; also to Mr. Frederic Emory, of the Bureau of Foreign Com- merce, Thanks are extended to Principal Charles T. McFarlane of the Brockport (New York) State Normal School, for valuable aid in the preparation of the manuscript, also to Mr. Edmund B. Smith, of the Hyde Park High School, and Dr. William H. Allen of New York City, for reading the book in proof. Many errors have been avoided and the book has been much improved from the suggestions of these gentlemen. The author is likewise under obligation to the Philadelphia Commercial Museum, for allowing reproduction of cer- tain illustrations and furnishing data. The author's illness placed the final revision of the manuscript and the reading of proof in the hands of the editor of the Series in which the book appears. Dr. Herrick was a colaborer in the preparation of the manuscript and supplied the suggestive questions which accompany the chapters. To him the author desires to express a sense of appreciation of helpfulness, encouragement, and sound advice which were always freely given. S. T. SWARTHMORE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA, June, 1903. CONTENTS PAGE MAPS AND PLATES INSERTED xi MAPS AND DIAGRAMS IN THE TEXT xii EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION xv SUGGESTIONS FOR A WORKING METHOD xix PART I INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER I The Relations of Geography and Commerce I CHAPTER II Climate and Commerce 9 CHAPTER III The Forest '.... 27 CHAPTER IV The Man Element in Commerce 34 PART II THE UNITED STATES CHAPTER V Regional Geography of the United States 43 CHAPTER VI Resources : Mineral Products 60 vii viii Contents CHAPTER VII PAGE Resources : Vegetable Products ......... 87 CHAPTER VIII Resources: Animal Products ..... .113 CHAPTER IX Internal Commerce of the United States ....... 124 CHAPTER X Wider Trade Outlook of the United States ....... 150 CHAPTER XI Outlying Possessions of the United States . . . . . .162 PART III TRADE OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE OTHER THAN UNITED STATES CHAPTER XII The Dominion of Canada .......... 177 CHAPTER XIII Mexico and Central America ..... ,187 CHAPTER XIV The West Indies ............ 197 CHAPTER XV South American Countries ..... 207 CHAPTER XVI South American Countries (continued} ..,... 222 Contents ix PART IV TRADE OF THE EASTERN HEMISPHERE CHAPTER XVII PAGE The Continent of Eurasia : Europe and Asia 237 CHAPTER XVIII Great Britain and Ireland : the United Kingdom 249 CHAPTER XIX France 261 CHAPTER XX Spain and Portugal 270 CHAPTER XXI Belgium and Holland 274 CHAPTER XXII The German Empire 280 CHAPTER XXIII Switzerland and Italy 288 CHAPTER XXIV Austria-Hungary 294 CHAPTER XXV The Danube Countries and the Balkan Peninsula 299 CHAPTER XXVI Scandinavian Countries 35 x Contents CHAPTER XXVII PAGE Russia in Europe . . ........ 39 CHAPTER XXVIII Russia in Asia ............ 3*3 CHAPTER XXIX The Chinese Empire ........ . . 3 1 9 CHAPTER XXX Japan .............. 326 CHAPTER XXXI India .............. 331 CHAPTER XXXII Other Asiatic Countries .......... 33$ CHAPTER XXXIII Commercial Africa ..... ...... 345 CHAPTER XXXIV Australia and the Pacific Islands ....... . . 359 PART V (Conclusion} REVIEW OF WORLD COMMERCE CHAPTER XXXV World Commerce ........... 367 APPENDIX, STATISTICS, AND TABLES . ...... 383 INDEX. . ........... 3 8 9 MAPS AND PLATES INSERTED MAPS PAGE Regional Map of the United States facing 43 Productive Areas of the United States; Predominant and Minor Industries "124 Principal Railway Systems of the United States .... " 137 United States in the World's Markets . . . . . " 150 The Russian Empire and the Siberian Railroad . . . . " 315 Chief Colonizing Powers of the World and their Possessions . " 367 PLATES Seven-masted Schooner Thomas Lawson .... Frontispiece Marysville (Montana) Gold Mill and Water Power at Niagara Falls facing 50 Ore Docks, Fairport, Ohio . 64 California Lemon Trees and Wheat Harvesting in Dakota . . " 101 Sault Ste. Marie (" Soo ") Canal 136 Massachusetts Road before Improvement and after Improvement " 140 Manila Tobacco Factory and Sugar Refinery .... "164 Mexican Maguey Plants and Pulque Shop "189 Jamaica Pineapple Plantation and Trinidad Asphalt Lake . . 202 Curing Rubber and Loading Cattle, South America . . . " 217 Mountain Pack Train and Valparaiso Harbor .... 233 Rhine Vineyard, Plain of North Germany, Dock at Cologne, and Rhine Bridge of Boats "285 Caravan Constantinople 33 Weaving Rice-straw Mats (Japan) and Dry Dock at Nagasaki . " 326 Singapore Harbor " 343 Panama Canal in Construction and the Suez Canal at Port Said . " 376 MAPS AND DIAGRAMS IN THE TEXT PAGE Mean Annual Isotherms 12 Rainfall of the United States in Inches 16 Advent of Spring 17 Effects of Slope Exposure on Vegetation .18 Storm Tracks in the United States 19 Signals of United States Weather Bureau ....... 22 Forest Reserves and National Parks of Western United States . . 31 Original Areas of the Races of Man 35 Cities of the Fall-line " 44 Comparison of the Areas of European Countries with that of the United States 53 The World's Production of Pig Iron 62 Regions producing Iron Ores 63 World's Production of Steel 64 World's Production of Copper 66 World's Distribution of Silver 70 World's Production of Silver 71 World's Production of Gold 72 World's Production of Coal 77 World's Distribution of Coal 78 Distribution of Indian Corn Production 9 Distribution of Wheat Production . . 92 Wheat Crop of the World approximated in Bushels (1900) 93 Movement of Cereal Production in Relation to Movement of Population and Manufacture 95 Relation of Cereal Production of the United States to Population . . 96 Distribution of Rice 99 Areas of Beet and Cane Sugar Production 100 World's Distribution of Cotton Production 102 Forest Map of the United States 107 Distribution of Tobacco in the United States 109 Distribution of Sheep .116 Fisheries of Eastern North America . . . . . . . .119 xii Maps and Diagrams in the Text xiii Increase of Cotton Production and Increase of Population in the United States 126 Navigable Waterways of the United States 133 Productions of the Lake Region 135 Increase of Miles of Railroad in the United States compared with Increase of Population 137 Time Belts in the United States 138 Triangular Territory of the Great Provision Centers of the United States . 144 United States' Exports of Manufactured Products for 1901 . . . .150 United States' Exports of Agricultural Products for 1901 .... 152 Total Foreign Commerce and Per Cent in American Ships . . . . 153 Export and Import Trade of the United States 154 Commerce of United States for 1901. Exports by Countries . . . 155 Imports into United States by Countries (1901-1902) 156 Approximated Volumes of Exports from the United States (1900-1901) . 157 Increase of Manufactures compared with Increase of Population . .158 Values of Principal Commodities imported into the United States . .159 United States' Possessions in the Pacific .167 Total Commerce of North America by Countries (1900) .... 179 Combined Imports and Exports of Canada (1900) 182 Mexico and Central America 191 The West Indies 201 Paths of West India Hurricanes . 202 Trade Map of South America 208 South America. Density of Population 211 World's Distribution of Coffee 217 The World's Production of Coffee (1900) 218 Combined Imports and Exports of Argentina (1900) 223 Commerce of Chile for 1900 . . 232 Commerce of South America by Countries (1900) 234 Europe. Density of Population 238 Rainfall of Europe 239 Map of Europe showing the Occurrence of Iron Ores 240 Asia. Density of Population 242 Commerce of Europe (1900) 243 Principal Railroad Lines of Europe 245 Total Imports and Exports of Asia (1900) 246 Regional Map showing the Industrial and Agricultural Divisions of England 250 Coal Fields of Great Britain . .253 Rainfall of the British Isles 255 Combined Imports and Exports of Great Britain (1900) .... 259 xiv Maps and Diagrams in the Text PAGE France (Relief and Railroads) 263 Commerce of France (1900) 268 Relief of the Low Countries 274 Commerce of Belgium (1900) 277 Combined Imports for Home Consumption and Exports of Netherlands 0900) 278 Physical Regions and Products of Germany 280 Combined Imports and Exports of Germany (1900) 286 Commerce of Italy (1900) 292 Combined Imports and Exports of Austria-Hungary (1900) . . . 296 Map of Central Europe 297 Total Commerce for All the Russias (1900) 317 Distribution of Tea Production 320 Commercial China 322 Combined Imports and Exports of China (1900) 323 Rainfall of India, showing the Effects of the Southwest Monsoon . .331 Density of Population and Products of India 333 Commerce of India (1900) approximated in Millions of Rupees . . . 335 Vegetation Features of Africa 345 Africa. Density of Population 347 Trade Map of Africa . 349 Commerce of Africa (1900) 357 Australia and Islands of the Pacific. Density of Population . . .361 The World's Production of Wool (1901) 363 Total Commerce of the World (1900) represented by Continents . . 369 Section of Pilot Chart of North Atlantic, Month of July .... 373 Principal Land and Submarine Telegraph Systems of the World . . . 375 Increase of Trade of the Four Great Commercial Countries . . . 378 Increase of Population of Principal Countries of the World . . . 380 Plates showing Values in United States and other Countries of Manufactures and Agricultural Products 385-388 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION THE book presented herewith is the first of a Series designed to cover ultimately the whole field of commercial education. Closely related to the present book, and to follow it in due time, are three other works : one dealing with commercial products ; one with economics applied to commercial affairs ; and another with the history of commerce. These with the geography will serve as the backbone of the Series, and the other books to be published will be articulated with them. The book on commercial products will treat of ready-to-hand materials of commerce from the standpoint of science and industrial processes. It will deal with the commodities of commerce how secured, parts used, how prepared, etc. By such treatment science becomes an eminently practical subject, not restricted to formal systems of classification or to the gross anatomy of selected types. The Geography of Commerce fixes the attention on the earth as an agent in the production of commodities upon which human life depends. In a broad way it treats of the relations of men to their physical surroundings. The aim has been to give an account of the physical features, the products, and the trade of the United States, also a more general view of these for the world at large ; in dealing with other countries emphasis has been laid on their trade relations with the United States. It is believed that the sequence of the different parts is logical. The plan followed has been to treat the commerce of each country under the following heads : first, the physical basis ; second, the people ; third, the products ; and fourth, the trade. Thus in dealing with the causal relations of physical environment to men, of men and environment to products, and xvi Editor's Introduction of products to trade, there is given a unity that will make the book readily adaptable for class purposes. The Geography of Commerce was prepared to make clear the present conditions of trade, but with the attention fixed primarily on the physical laws and facts by which it is influenced. It is geog- raphy from the science side and is in conformity with the ideal expressed some years ago by President Gilman, now of the Carnegie Institution, "The geography of the future will be written by a scientist, preferably by a biologist." The Economics of Commerce will deal with the present conditions of industry and trade, but will treat them more particularly from the standpoint of men and organizations of men. Economics will be made inductive and practical. The History of Commerce will present the evolution of trade ; it will furnish a view of the past state of trade as Geography and Economics do of its present condition. This Series will not be revolutionary; the authors and the editor have tried the old and the new in our system of education; they have become somewhat acquainted with practices in foreign schools, and have made themselves familiar with the best of the books used there ; they aim to present a group of books that will hold fast to that which is good in our own experience, and give it added value through fresh applications and by the introduction of new elements. The books are the result of years of experiment and planning. Neither labor nor expense will be spared in their preparation and presentation. These books are being prepared by experienced teachers who have due regard for the needs of class instruction. Sug- gestions for the improvement of this Series will be gratefully received. We have reached the third and all- important phase of the question of giving commercial instruction in public high schools. The first was, Shall such instruction be attempted ? This was answered in the affirmative. The second was, What shall be put into the curriculum ? By general agreement four years of studies are recommended, these Editor's Introduction xvii to be of stable educational worth. The final question in answer to which the present Series was projected, is, How get out of the curriculum the educational results claimed for commercial studies? Properly prepared teachers and suitable text-books are the requisites, and the second is not less important than the first. Commercial educa- tion has been delayed only because suitable books were not available. The Geography has been published first because it is the treatment of commerce that can be most satisfactorily introduced as a new branch of study. Geography is the most universal subject of the group. It is a study of the earth, but in its relations to men; hence geography touches on science, industry, economics, and history. Dr. Trotter's book is on the " practical side " of geography which, according to a recent statement of Professor Davis, " is best taught in a well-developed course of commercial geography placed after earlier courses on general geography in the grades and a course in elementary physiography either in the grades or in an early high school year." Though the manuscript of this book was prepared before the appearance of Professor Davis's formulation of the require- ments for a commercial geography, it fairly answers those require- ments. After expressing the belief that commercial geography if well founded and well developed is to have a prominent place in our system of education, Professor Davis adds, " If commercial geography is to gain the place it deserves, it is of vital importance that it should be taught as that part of regional geography in which man, the trader, responds so marvelously to his environing conditions." 1 Probably the further we look into the matter the better we shall agree that the attempted sharp division of geography into political, physical, and commercial is misleading and illogical. Political geog- raphy may well involve physical and commercial elements ; physical geography can be given practical application ; and commercial geog- raphy should have the basis of the physical. Dr. Trotter's book is 1 Geography in the Schools, p. 48. See Bibliography, p. 7. Every teacher of geography should study this monograph. xviii Editor's Introduction not what so long has been to students the purposeless pure science of physical geography. Under the head of regional geography the best of the physical has been retained, and it is made instinct with meaning by practical application. Nor is the book a commercial geography of the sort that " is in the woods, without compass or sun, lost among the brambles of infinite detail." Instead of the " woods " of principles being obscured by the " trees " of facts, principles and facts are so presented that it is possible to see at once the woods and the trees. Several chapters of the book have been used for class instruction ; all the proof has been studied by high school students, and the matter so altered as to bring it fairly within their comprehension. The aim has been to be perfectly clear, but this does not imply that there is no effort to be put forward by teacher and pupil. In several instances, for example, monetary values are given in units of foreign countries, so that by performing the reductions (by use of table, p. 383) the student will learn the monetary standard of different countries, and something of the computations for foreign exchange. An effort has been made to furnish the book with a working equip- ment as complete as possible. The subject is new, and it has been thought wise to append lists of books for further consultation. These lists are meant merely as suggestions as to some of the available newer material. Difficulties sometimes arise in using such reading lists, and to point the way in using those furnished, supplementary questions and topics are supplied. Many of these are an outgrowth from the text, but some of them relate to matters outside of the text, and refer directly to the book lists. The questions have been in part compiled from those published by the London Chamber of Com- merce, the County Council of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the Board of Regents of New York State, and those prepared to accompany Longmans' School Geography. The question lists are suggestive merely, and will be most useful in promoting other ques- tions upon the text and outside of it. C. A. H. PHILADELPHIA, August, 1903. SUGGESTIONS FOR A WORKING METHOD A BOOK of this sort would be most valuable if it were truly a text, to be enlarged upon by outside reading and class discussion. The present book is complete in itself and may be made the basis of class recitation, but a higher value will be realized if it furnishes the means for wider study and class teaching. To make the latter more feasible two definite lines are suggested for supplementary work: (i) the collection and use of a museum of commercial materials; and (2) the building up and utilization of a reference library on commercial geography. Though the commercial museum idea is new, it does not present great difficulties. A few dollars for bottles and labels will give the start. Cereals, fibers, woods, tea, coffee, cacao, starches, sugars, ores, metals, coal, clay, brick, building stone, pigments, gums, oils, hides and skins, leather, etc., can be readily secured. Varieties of the different materials should be shown in a raw state, in various stages of manufacture, and as finished products. Special attention should be given to local industries and products. It is quite possible that schools in different sections may be able ultimately to exchange their surplus materials to mutual advantage. In every community will be found manufacturers and dealers who will contribute the small amounts of material needed for illustrative purposes. Indeed, a simple request to a class will often bring a goodly return of products for a museum. If funds are available, a tolerably good museum can be bought outright ; but this method of obtaining one is not necessary, perhaps xx Suggestions for a Working Method it is not desirable. Two inexpensive methods are known by which materials have been gathered aad arranged. One is to assign differ- ent products to individual students, furnish them with credentials, and let them solicit and arrange the material under the teacher's supervision. A fairly complete commercial museum has been thus collected at Drexel Institute, Philadelphia. A good working collec- tion has been made in a very different way by Mr. Frank O. Carpen- ter of the English High School in Boston. Mr. Carpenter bought his own bottles and cases, and gathered and arranged the products, placing them in the school as a loan collection. .Where- the former method can be put into practice it would seem more promising of educational results. Ordinary exhibition cases or simple book shelves furnish the dis- play space necessary for a commercial museum. Such a museum should be kept either about the walls of the class-room or adjacent to it. It is believed that any teacher who gives this supplementary work a fair trial for a year will be gratified at the showing he is able to make and the interest he can arouse. The single book most useful for this work is Yeats, Natural History of Raw Materials of Com- merce (London: Philip & Son. Price 6^.). The special library also is largely a matter of personal attention, and calls for but a limited expenditure in money. There should be for reference, preferably on a reading table, in the class-room, a commercial atlas, a few standard books, and numerous documents and reports. Of the atlases in English, Bartholomew's Commercial Atlas is probably the best (Macmillan Co., $ i.oo) ; but one in the German, more modern and much superior, is Scobel, Handels- Atlas (Leip- zig: Verhagen and Klasing. Price 6 marks). It is desirable to have in the class-room, also, a large wall map or chart. A very satisfactory one is Johnson's Commercial Chart (London : Johnson Map Concern). Mention should be made of the maps in numerous government reports, particularly of the Bureau of Statistics. Many Suggestions for a Working Method xxi of these are large, being folded as insets. Such maps when taken out and mounted on muslin will be found useful. By use of outline maps students can be given, at a minimum expenditure of time, much valuable practice in fixing the distribution of products, the location of industries, the centering and direction of trade, etc. Very satisfactory outline maps are those of the McKinley Publish- ing Co. of Philadelphia. (Large size, 75 cents a hundred.) The same publishers also furnish coordinate paper for the representation of statistical matter on graphs and diagrams. The most indispensable book for reference purposes is the States- man's Year Book (Macmillan Co., Annual Issues, $3.00). The Commercial Yearbook (Journal of Commerce, New York City) furnishes a useful compend of statistics, as does the annual Statis- tical Abstract of the Federal Bureau of Statistics (formerly in the Treasury Department). The former is $1.00, and the latter may be had on request. The British Statistical Abstract for Foreign Countries contains much valuable information (London : Eyre and Spottiswoode, is. 6d.). The Shipping World Yearbook (Annual) gives the tariff arrangements of all nations, also detailed information of important ports, their incoming and outgoing trade, harbor facilities, etc. (London : The Shipping World. Price to foreign countries 6s.). A pamphlet of value is the World's Commerce and American Industries, published by the Philadelphia Commer- cial Museum, 1903. (Price 50 cents.) A useful and inexpensive reference book is the annual almanac issued by various newspapers ; the one by the New York World is particularly good (25 cents). The International Geography, prepared by a group of scholars, is clearly the best single volume on geography (Appleton and Co., $3.50). Of the distinctively commercial geographies, the Handbook by Chisholm is still the best (Longmans, Green, and Co., $4.00). Zehden's Commercial Geography is a typical German text-book which may be had in English translation (London : Blackie and Son, 5.$-.). A recent French book of distinct value is Du Bois and xxii Suggestions for a Working Method Kergomard's Precis de Geographic Economique (Paris : 1903, Masson and Co., 8 francs). Several briefer commercial geographies have appeared in England, among them Mill's, Conner's, Smith's, and Lyde's. Others have been published in this country, notably those by Adams, Macfarlane, Redway, and Tilden. The government reports are mostly for gratuitous distribution. They may sometimes be secured by application to the heads of the bureaus, or departments, by which they are prepared ; but the num- bers for such distribution are usually limited, and they can be had with less delay by presenting a request through a member of Con- gress. The Consular Reports should come first, to be followed by the regular and special reports of the Bureaus of Commerce and Statistics (now consolidated in the new Department of Commerce and Labor) ; also the reports of the new Bureau of Manufactures in the department just named. There should be had, if possible, the volumes on Agriculture and Manufactures of the Twelfth Census, and, in any event, the Abstract of this census and the reports of the Permanent Census Bureau. Add to the foregoing, the Yearbooks of the Department of Agriculture, the annual and other reports of the Weather Bureau, and special reports of the Foreign Markets Section of the same department; the annual volume of the Geological Survey on Mineral Resources of the United States ; Reports of the Bureau of Insular Affairs in the War Depart- ment ; Annual Report of the Commissioner of Navigation ; and the Annual Report of the Interstate Commerce Commission. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it serves to indicate how rich are the stores of information furnished by our government. Slightly different from the preceding in organization, is the Inter- national Bureau of American Republics. It controls its own litera- ture, which is usually sold at a nominal price. Its Monthly Bulletin and Handbooks are of first importance in dealing with the repub- lics of the western hemisphere. Of special value for many coun- tries are selected reports of the British Board of Trade and the Suggestions for a Working Method xxiii Diplomatic and Consular Reports of the British Foreign Office, selections from the Miscellaneous and Annual Series. These are sold separately at a very low price (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London). A recent study of the United States from a British standpoint is suggestive : American Industrial Problems, by Lawson (McClure, Phillips & Co., $2.00). A very useful book is Clow's Introduction to the Study of Commerce (Silver, Burdett & Co., $1.25). A valu- able English book along similar lines is Gait and Gambaro's Les- sons in Commerce (London : 35-. 6rf.). Slightly different in character, but also to be recommended, is Yeats, Recent and Existing Commerce (London : Philip & Son, 6j.) The selection of books and documents from the above list should be supplemented by magazine literature and trade journals. Poole's Index to Periodical Literature gives a survey of the field. The Cumulative Index to Periodical Literature (Cleveland, Ohio) makes available the contents of magazines in advance of Poole's Index. Of the magazines themselves there should be mentioned first the Magazine of Commerce (London). This is an illustrated monthly, dealing with various phases of commercial affairs. Its first number appeared in November, 1902, and up to date it has been ably written and highly artistic. (Foreign subscription rate, iSs. per year.) The World's Work and the Review of Reviews are monthlies of our own country which should be mentioned. The latter furnishes a summary of the contents of other leading magazines. If possible a few of the standard trade papers should be secured, such as the American Agrictilturist (New York and Chicago, $1.00, Weekly) ; The Engineering and Mining Journal (New York, $5.00, Weekly) ; Financial and Commercial Chronicle (New York, $10.00, Weekly); The Iron Age (New York, $1.00, Weekly; The Textile World (Boston, $2.00, Monthly) ; The Railroad Gazette (New York, $4.20, Weekly) ; Board of Trade Journal (London, Weekly, \d. per number) ; The Journal of Geography should be included in this list (Lancaster, Pa., $1.50). xxiv Suggestions for a Working Method Publishers of trade journals have sometimes been made to see that it is to their advantage to have young people being educated for business, familiar with their publications, and when they have so seen they have given schools complimentary subscriptions. Business houses often get a large number of journals which are read and abstracted, after which they go for old paper. Such journals would be cheerfully given to schools. Students will sometimes contribute recent issues of magazines. More important than getting these papers is- the use to be made of them. One successful method is to have them read and cuttings made of important articles as a class exercise. In thus working under the eye of the teacher, students get a breadth of view in the subject, and training of the selective faculty. The cuttings should be classified and kept in envelopes or folders. A simple " vertical letter file " has been found satisfactory as a device for classification. This works on the card index principle, can be used for minute or loose classification, and is capable of indefinite expansion. Plain board boxes, with folded sheets of paper and pasteboard dividers, will serve as a substitute for the vertical letter file. No statement on method would be complete without mention of lantern illustration. The heliostat, stereopticon, oxyhydrogen, and electric lanterns are familiar. It is preferable to have dark shades in the class-room, thus making it possible to use the illustrations in connection with the subjects which they illustrate. The stereoscope may be used to advantage, especially in small classes. Diagrams, maps, statistics, etc., may be prepared for lantern projection by drawing on glass with an ink thickened with gum. C. A. H. THE GEOGRAPHY OF COMMERCE THE GEOGRAPHY OF COMMERCE PART I INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER I THE RELATIONS OF GEOGRAPHY AND COMMERCE 1. Scope of the Work. This book aims to describe commercial life as it is influenced and determined by geographical conditions. To understand the relations of geography and commerce, the various industries and occupations of men must be studied in the light of their dependence upon physiographic surroundings. " Physiographic " as distinct from " geographic," is taken to include the physical environ- ment, as climate, soil, topography, and the distribution of resources. Geography, as distinct from physiography, includes not only the physical environment, but the human element as well. Geography is used in the following pages, in its broad meaning, and includes an account of man and nature, and the interactions which are an outcome of their relationship to each other. Commerce grows out of the adjustment of men to their physical environment. The study of regions, it has well been said, passes naturally into what regions produce, and similarly the study of men leads to what men make. 1 Thus the geography of commerce includes what is coming to be understood as economic geography, the production and distribu- tion of raw commodities ; and industrial geography, or the loca- tion of manufactures and the distribution of their products. Commerce enables men to give the goods they produce, or that 1 Redway, New Basis of Geography, p. 176. ? I 2 The Geography of Commerce are produced in the region they inhabit, for goods not produced ; its utility is in that men of each region can enjoy the productions of all regions. The geography of commerce should furnish first, an account of the natural raw products of the earth, and the localization of industries. Unequal distribution of products necessitates their transfer, hence the subject also includes a description of the earth as an agent that aids or hinders in transportation. In last analysis, life is conditioned by physical environment ; the geography being studied is therefore a statement of the facts and laws of the physical universe affecting man's economic life ; or, it deals with the earth in its relation to man's physical well-being. In brief, the geography of commerce sets forth the things that the earth does or is made to do, in supplying the material needs of men. This book aims to give an eye picture of world trade, from the view point of physical facts and laws. In this picture the bold lines are the centers of production, great commercial cities, and commercial routes, with the reasons therefor. These sub- jects are treated with special regard for the commercial interests of the United States. 2. The Physiographic Control of Commerce. The commercial life of peoples is based primarily on the physiographic conditions of the regions which they inhabit. By physiographic conditions is meant such things as the relief and drainage, of the land, the nature of the soil, the contour of the shore line, and the climate. Relief pro- duces slope, which bears directly upon agricultural production, and likewise influences in transportation. Thus, a broad, gently slop- ing plain is favorable to agriculture. Mountain ranges offer bar- riers to transportation ; on the other hand, a river flowing through a region affords a natural highway of transportation, either by its waters, or by the lowlands along its valley. The river valley, again, especially in its lower portion, is covered by a rich soil which the water has spread over its flood plain. The land of Egypt is richly productive because it is the flood plain of the Nile. Similar flood plains are found in many other river valleys. The Relations of Geography and Commerce 3 The nature of the soil is also a determining factor of commercial life. The admixture of sand and clay forms the fertile loam which contains the elements of plant food ; the presence or absence of loam, therefore, determines the presence or absence of agriculture on any scale. Human welfare ultimately rests on the nature of the soil, for from it man draws directly or indirectly, his food, clothing, and shelter. Soils result from the "weathering" or breaking up of rocks under the action of rain, frost, and other atmospheric agencies. The irregular particles which make up a soil do not fit closely together, but leave interspaces which are filled by air or water or both. Under normal conditions each tiny particle of soil is sur- rounded by a film of moisture. The root hairs of plants attach themselves to the particles of soil and absorb the mineral matters that are dissolved in this moisture. The air is likewise of great importance to plant life. Soils are found to differ as to their porosity. Thus in clay the particles fit so closely together as to leave comparatively little interspace. This produces a stiff, compact soil through which water and air find their way with difficulty. Such a soil is unsuited to the growth of many kinds of plants. On the other hand, sandy soils are loose, with comparatively large inter- spaces. The ease with which these drain, renders them also ill adapted to the growth of many kinds of plants. A mingling of sand and clay (loam) combines the requisite conditions for the great majority of the grasses and other useful plants, for both' the ingredi- ents are rich in the elements of plant food. Many limestones also form excellent soils, for they are rich in plant food which is readily dissolved by percolating water. The alluvial mud of rivers, and old lake bottoms, is a fertile mixture of sand and clay. The productive fertility of soils also depends largely upon the presence of decaying organic matter, both vegetable and animal. The mold or "humus" which forms the surface soil of many regions (notably of forest lands), gradually works downward and mixes with the earth. Bacterial or- ganisms, earthworms, and other living beings perform an important 4 The Geography of Commerce service to plant life by converting various substances into available food for plants. Darwin estimated that in England, from seven to eighteen tons of soil per acre were annually brought to the surface and exposed to the influence of the air through the agency of earth- worms. In a word, a soil, to meet the fullest requirements of agriculture, should contain the needful food elements of plant life, and should be easily broken up by the plow and harrow, neither too stiff and com- pact nor too loose and porous. The effects of contour are seen in Europe, for example, where a long and tortuous coast line incloses inland-reaching bodies of sea water. These bays and seas have had a direct effect in stimulating commercial activity by favoring a seafaring life, and rendering access to the ocean highway easy. Rivers discharging into the sea by sunken valleys or estuaries, and deep inlets of the ocean of whatever kind, when other conditions exist, form natural harbors for shipping. The African continent presents the reverse of these conditions with comparatively unindented coast line and scarcity of inlets. Irregu- larity of shore lines is in large measure the result of a sinking of land in a past age, the higher portions of the land remaining as islands, peninsulas, etc. Islands tend to foster trade by the comparative smallness of their areas which forces an increasing population to offer manufactured products in exchange for the food-stuffs and commod- ities of other countries. Islands also, by their isolation, afford pro- tection from the devastating effects of invasion, and in this way foster an industrial life. Great Britain and Japan are illustrations of the effects of an island environment. Climate exerts a controlling influence upon commerce through its two factors of temperature and moisture. The food plants of the temperate zone require a summer temperature sufficient to insure their maturing. The exact amount of temperature which each kind requires, varies according to its nature. Thus corn requires a greater sum total of heat than wheat, and rye and barley a less. The two The Relations of Geography and Commerce 5 last are consequently grown farther north than wheat, and wheat farther north than corn. Tropical and subtropical regions are areas of highest production because of the greater amount of heat present throughout the year. The proximity of a considerable body of ocean water tends to equalize climate, since water absorbs a relatively large amount of heat and parts with it very slowly. An oceanic climate therefore is not marked by the extremes of heat and cold which characterize the climate of the interior continental land masses. The proper supply of moisture is quite as important as temperature. The average annual amount and the distribution of rainfall affect the character of occupations in a region. A region of abundant precipi- tation is a region favorable to agriculture, providing the conditions of slope, soil, and temperature be likewise favorable. Forest regions are usually in areas of high average annual rainfall. On the other hand, a region of less rainfall may be grass-covered steppe land, such as the Great Plains of the western United States, and thus be adapted to grazing ; or it may be a desert, the difference depending largely upon the nature of the soil and the prevailing winds. The relative position of highlands and mountain ranges in causing precipitation on their upper windward slopes, largely determines the degree of aridity or humidity of the regions on both sides. Thus the western plains of the United States are arid from a lessened rainfall because the prevailing westerly winds have been deprived of their moisture in crossing the mountains. It should be noted also that mountain ranges are usually rich in mineral wealth. In the mountains, conditions were favorable for the formation of mineral veins and deposits, which subsequent erosion and atmospheric weathering have laid bare in many places. 3. Fundamental Principles of Commercial Geography . The three basal interests of the Geography of Commerce are Production, Transportation, and Consumption. Under production naturally falls consideration of the resources of a region as dependent upon soil, climate, topography, etc. Transportation is conditioned by 6 The Geography of Commerce topography and deals with such questions as the presence and posi tion of navigable rivers and lakes, mountain ranges, and divides ; transportation seeks to cut canals and build railroads along the lines of least resistance. Engineering skill has accomplished wonderful results. The tunneling of a mountain is almost equivalent to its removal as a barrier to transportation, and the same result is accomplished by the bridging of rivers and estuaries. Under the head of consump- tion comes the consideration of cities as centers of population, de- pendent upon such conditions of commercial activity, as manufacture and transportation. In modern times the growth of a city is largely dependent upon its position for trade. New York has become a metropolis by virtue of its being at the entrance of the Hudson, commanding the ocean highway on the one hand and a vast area of interior country on the other. Philadelphia is a manufactur- ing center from its geographical position in relation to the coal fields. Cities are disbursers of either raw or manufactured products, rarely of both. The New England towns became manufacturing centers from the fact that the soil and the long and rigorous winter offered slight inducements to agricultural pursuits, and in New England the fast-flowing streams afforded vast sources of water power for manufacturing purposes. Boston commands the ocean and is a disburser of manufactured products. On the other hand, Charleston, Savannah, and the other cities of the South Atlantic seaboard and of the Gulf, have become, chiefly, disbursers of raw products from their geographical relation to the great corn, cotton, tobacco, and sugar growing lands of the southern Coastal Plain. The relation between the physiographic and the human elements in commerce is only a phase of utilizing the resources of the earth. Resources represent so much power that is stored away, and that must be liberated by working intelligence in order that it may create the materials upon which human life depends. The interaction of man and nature finds its expression in the production, transportation, and consumption of goods. The Relations of Geography and Commerce SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 1. In what sense is geography an independent subject, and in what sense is it composite? What are the advantages from its being a " meeting place " of other sciences? State the practical uses to be served by a study of the geography of commerce. What is its relation to physical geography? (See Davis and De Garmo, noted below.) 2. Note the following summary by Captain Mahan (Sea Power, Chapter II) : "The principal conditions affecting the sea power of nations are as follows: I. Geographical Position; II. Physical Conformation, including, as connected therewith, natural productions and climate; III. Extent of Territory; IV. Num- ber of Population; V. Character of the People ; VI. Character of the Govern- ment, including therein the national institutions." It will be observed that, of the six points, three have to deal with the physical environment and three with men. Keep this summary in mind and apply it to the commerce of the United States and other nations. 3. With the Amazon Valley as an illustration, show how nature has been too prolific. Cite other illustrations and explain them. 4. Point out advantages and disadvantages of an island environment to a commercial people. 5. With coal as an illustration, show the relation between energy and working forces. Indicate some of the ways in which the energy of coal is turned into working forces. 6. Establish the relations between the physiographic features in the region where you live, and the industries and occupations being carried on there. Books to be Consulted 1 *Davis, W. M., Geography in the Schools. University of Chicago Press; 1902. *De Garmo, Correlation of Studies. Educational Review; May, 1893. *Redway, The New Basis of Geography. Macmillan Co.; 1901. **Keltie, in the International Geography ; Chapter X, Political and Applied Geography. 1 Books especially recommended are marked with a double star (**) ; those less useful but also of special value are marked with a single star (*). Other books are mentioned as suggestions to those who may wish to make more detailed study under any head. 8 The Geography of Commerce *Mill, General Geography. Macmillan Geographical Series. Buckle, History of Civilization. **Shaler, Origin and Nature of Soils. Twelfth Annual Report of the Geological Survey, Washington, D.C. Trotter, The Social Function of Geography. Fourth Yearbook of the National Herbart Society, Chicago ; 1898. CHAPTER II CLIMATE AND COMMERCE 4. General Statement. Climate and soil are the most determin- ing physical facts which influence commerce. The relations of soil to commerce were considered in a general way in the preced- ing chapter. A more detailed account of climate is necessary to understand its influence. Climate is here used as meaning the combined average result of the varied conditions of the atmosphere as regards temperature and moisture. Weather, on the other hand, is used to denote the purely local and temporary conditions of tem- perature and moisture at any given place and time ; it " is only one phase in the succession of phenomena whose completed cycle con- stitutes climate." 1 5. Distribution of Temperature. The distribution of temperature depends upon (i) latitude, or position in relation to the sun's rays, (2) the relations of land and water, and (3) the topography or relief features of the land surface. (i) Latitude. When the tropical zone is compared with the rest of the earth's surface, it is found that in this zone the rays of sunlight fall more directly throughout the year. In regions where the sun's rays are vertical or nearly so, a greater number of rays are concentrated on a given space than is possible where they fall obliquely, and thus their heat-producing power is greater. On either side of the tropics, in the temperate and frigid zones, the sun's rays fall more obliquely, and consequently exert less energy in heating the surface. The 1 Hann, Handbook of Climatology , p. I. 9 IO The Geography of Commerce apparent change of the sun's position in relation to the northern and southern hemispheres, as a result of the earth's annual movement or revolution, and the inclination on its axis, give rise to variations of temperature which are called seasons. (2) Land and Water. The sun's rays penetrate to some depth below the surface of the water, and the heat is diffused more uni- formly than is the case with the land ; only a thin 'surface layer of land is heated. The land heat is soon given off by radiation ; on' the other hand, the water parts with its heat more slowly. During the day the layer of atmosphere overlying the land is continuously heated by radiation from the ground. This is followed immediately after sundown by a coolness from the rapid dissipation of the heat into the higher levels. The water on the other hand retains its heat at night for a longer time. As a result of these conditions the temperature of the air over- lying the sea is more uniform than that over the land. The water retains its heat longer and parts with it more slowly, while the com- paratively large amount of evaporation and condensation taking place still further tends to equalize temperature. An oceanic climate is, therefore, subject to less extremes of temperature than a con- tinental climate. From the equatorial zone the heated water on the surface of the ocean flows toward the polar regions. This surface outflow of warm water gives rise, under the prevailing winds of tropical latitudes and the relative positions of the continental land masses, to several so-called ocean currents, as the Gulf Stream and Japan Current. These surface drift currents are important distributers of heat. Deeper drifts of cold water flow away from the polar oceans toward the equatorial zone, and in many places influence the climate of lands near which they pass as in the case of the Labrador ice current. (3) Topographical or Relief Features. The surface of highland regions is irregular. The rocky and gravelly nature of the soil, cov- ered with scant vegetation, allows what heat is received to be quickly Climate and Commerce 1 1 radiated. The evaporation at high altitudes is also rapid, and less moisture is present in the atmosphere, both of which factors add to the lowering of temperature. 6. Isotherms. A line drawn through places having the same temperature is known as an isotherm or isothermal line. An isotherm may connect places having the same temperatures, either at a time of observation, or when averaged over a given time. The great temperature zones of the earth, characterized by peculiarities of vegetation and animal life, are somewhat definitely bounded by isotherms. The tropical zone of temperature is included within the annual isotherms of 70 Fahrenheit, north and south of the equator. The north and south temperate zones lie between the isotherms of 70 Fahrenheit and the annual isotherms of 32 Fahrenheit, marked in the northern hemisphere by the limit of forest tree growth and the beginning of continuously frozen ground. Included within the irregular isothermal circles of 32 are the Arctic and Antarctic zones. The greater preponderance of land in the northern hemisphere, with the variety in its surface features, and the character of the ocean drifts, cause the isotherms in that part of the earth to be very irregu- lar. The isothermal lines and their included zones move with the apparent annual motion of the sun. Thus the midwinter and mid- summer isotherms in the northern hemisphere bear no fixed relation to each other, but change with the changing conditions of tempera- ture induced by the influence of the greater or less obliquity of the sun's rays. For example, " the coast of Alaska, the central United States, the lower Lake Region, Newfoundland, the Scandinavian Peninsula, Central Russia, Mongolia, Korea, and Northern Japan have the mean January temperature of 20, while in July the tem- perature of these places does not correspond. For instance, in July the coast of Alaska has the same mean temperature as Northern Siberia, and the July isotherm of the central United States passes through Northern Africa. The annual isotherm is a line drawn to represent the average sum of the mean monthly temperatures taken Climate and Commerce 13 from observations covering a period of several years." (Map opposite.) 7. The Trade Winds. In a voyage from New York around Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope, a ship, after getting clear of the variable winds and weather of the North Atlantic, falls into a region of "calms" in the neighborhood of the Tropic of Cancer. After light, baffling winds she strikes the steadily blowing " trades " from the northeast, which carry her over thirty degrees of latitude. Just before crossing "the 'line" the "trades" die down, and she finds herself in the region of " equatorial calms." Once past the equa- torial calms, the ship is for about thirty degrees in the southeast trade wind zone. Another belt of calms is then encountered, and beyond this the boisterous " westerlies " or " roaring forties " of the South Atlantic mark the rest of the voyage around either cape. During any month of the year a vessel will encounter these zones of wind and calm, though their boundaries fluctuate over a few degrees. This is true of any of the three great oceans, and, with certain modi- fications, is true also of the land areas lying within the zones above described. The constant winds here noted are the trade winds, which blow in one direction almost uninterruptedly throughout the year. The trade winds have always played an important part in the history of ocean-going commerce, especially in the days before the steamship ; even now their influence upon steam-driven vessels is not inconsiderable. 8. Periodic Winds. The difference between the day and the night temperature of the air over the land and sea, as a result of the unequal heating of land and water surfaces, causes winds which set toward or away from the land. During the daytime, when the radi- ation from the heated ground makes the overlying atmosphere an area of low atmospheric pressure, the cooler air over the ocean blows in as a sea breeze. After sundown an exchange of conditions takes place. The air over the land becomes quickly cooled, as already explained, while that over the ocean becomes relatively warmer 14 The Geography of Commerce from the slow radiation of the water. A wind then sets in from the land toward the sea known as a land breeze. On a larger scale, but for similar reasons, are the yearly differences in the direction of certain " season " winds. When the sun is to the northward in summer and is more directly over the land of southern Asia, that region becomes an area of " low pressure," and a persistent movement takes place from the cooler air over the Indian Ocean in the form of a strong and often violent wind called the " monsoon." When the sun has moved south to a winter position over the Tropic of Capricorn, a reversal of the conditions takes place, the so-called " winter monsoon " blowing for six months of the year in an opposite direction. The winter monsoon has not nearly the same force as the summer or southwest monsoon, since the ocean area far exceeds that of the land in the region of the southern tropic. The waters of the Indian Ocean and the shore lands of southern Asia are thus swept by these monsoon winds for six months of the year in one direction and for the remaining six months in the other. Monsoon-like winds similarly occur on the coasts of Africa, Australia, and South America within the torrid zone, but are not marked by such force and regu- larity as are the monsoons of the Indian region. The monsoon is taken advantage of by vessels making the voyage through the Indian Ocean; but during the time of the changes, in April and October, known as the " bursting of the monsoon," violent gales and storms are prevalent. 9. Rainfall. The distribution of rainfall is determined by the relative positions of land and sea, by topographical features (as mountain ranges), and by the direction of the prevailing winds. The heaviest rainfall on the earth is in the region of the Bay of Ben- gal, where the total amounts to more than five hundred inches annually. Rainless regions, such, for example, as Upper Egypt, Arabia, the Desert of Gobi, and the Desert of Atacama in Peru, are the result of an intensely heated atmosphere which absorbs the moisture Climate and Commerce 15 present, or of dry winds, deprived of their moisture in crossing high- lands. In the United States the amount of rainfall over different portions is largely governed by the movements of cyclonic storms across the country from west to east. As shown by the map on p. 1 6, the heaviest rainfall occurs on the Pacific coast north of San Francisco, since the moist winds from the ocean are forced to rise in striking against the high coast ranges, and a copious precipi- tation results. The same currents after passing the crest of the range will blow as dry winds ; hence the light rainfall of the Great Plains. The effect of a great highland mass, like the Plateau Region of the western United States, is felt for a considerable distance eastward ; because of this the rainfall is lighter throughout the Lake Region and the states immediately west of the Mississippi (extending to the Gulf coast of Texas) than in the more eastern portion of the coun- try. The lower Mississippi Valley, the Gulf coast, and the entire Atlantic seaboard, on the other hand, enjoy a much more abundant rainfall from the proximity of the ocean and also from the fact that many storms sweep northeastward from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. On the Atlantic coast the rain- fall diminishes from Florida northward; on the Pacific coast it diminishes from Washington southward. 10. Irrigation. In regions of deficient rainfall, or where the sea- sonal distribution of rain is irregular, it becomes necessary to resort to irrigation to insure a sufficient crop return. Water for irrigation is secured by impounding river water in a reservoir, or by storage of rain or well water in tanks. Water is also sometimes used directly from springs. In many parts of the west, wells have been sunk and the water pumped by windmills into reservoirs for distribution. In the modern improved methods of irrigation as carried on in the arid regions of the western United States, the water is brought from the reservoir, often a distance of many miles, through flumes, pipes, or cemented ditches, and distributed according to the nature of the crop to be irrigated. Large tracts in the western part of the United States Climate and Commerce \*j have thus been reclaimed, and what were formerly desert wastes are now rich agricultural regions. Irrigation is employed in three sections of the western United States : (i) that known as the Great Plains or sub-humid region; (2) the Rocky Mountain section; and (3) the arid region proper, which includes Nevada, Arizona, and parts of the Pacific States. Irrigation is one means of materially increasing the production of the United States. The establishment of farms and homesteads in ADVENT OF SPRING Northward movement of the isotherm of 43.8 F. 1 the arid regions of the west opens a wide field for future commercial enterprise. With the increasing interest in the subject among individuals, the favorable attitude of federal and state governments, and the activity of the various irrigation associations, the settlement 1 After Harrington, Harper's Magazine, Vol. 88, p. 874. i8 The Geography of Commerce of much of the arid area by an agricultural population, bids fair to be an accomplished fact in the not distant future. 11. Temperature Control. Every species of animal and plant requires a certain sum total of heat in order to complete its full cycle of growth and reproduction. It has been ascertained through extended observation that the temperature required to start the dormant activities of plant life is 42.8 F. The northward move- ment of the isotherm of this temperature (usually taken as one degree higher, or 43.8 F.) marks the advent of spring in the northern hemisphere, calling into activity the germinating force in seeds, and the growth and flowering of vegetation. (See map on p. 17.) Each variety of plant or animal has a definite relation to tempera- ture which is expressed as its "heat constant." This is obtained by taking the sum of the mean normal daily temperatures above the initial point of 42.8 F. throughout the period of reproductive activity (i.e. the spring and summer). Thus corn has a higher " heat constant " than wheat ; i.e. it requires a greater sum total of heat to effect its growth and ripening. The life features of the climatic zones (especially the features of vegetation) are based upon the laws of tem- perature control. The distribution of products is governed by the same laws, commerce being thus conditioned by tem- perature. 1 12. Slope Exposure. The effects of increased temperature on the EFFECTS OF SLOPE EXPOSURE ON VEGETATION (After Merriam) 1 C. Hart Merriam, Laws of Temperature Control of the Geographic Distributiqn of Terrestrial Animals and Plants. National Geographic Magazine, Vol. VI, 1894, pp. 229-238. Climate and Commerce southern slopes of hills and mountains in the northern hemisphere (the conditions being reversed in the southern hemisphere), is very marked in the character and development of the vegetation ; many species of plants appear earlier in the spring on southern slopes, and certain forest trees reach a higher elevation than they do on the northern side of mountains. In the northern hemisphere the southern slopes of hills are favorite locations for orchards, gardens, and vine- yards, the different varieties of fruits and vegetables coming to greater perfection and ripening earlier in these situations. 13. Climatic Features of the United States. The climate over the greater portion of the United States is of continental character. This r STORM TRACKS The paths followed by the low-pressure area of cyclonic storms results from several factors, notably from the vast extent of land mass which, being readily heated and radiating rapidly, produces extremes of temperature. Another factor of importance is the prevalence of westerly winds and the consequent eastward movement of so-called 2O The Geography of Commerce cyclonic storms, from the Plateau Region to the Atlantic. These storm movements exert a powerful influence over the climate of the United States, causing the characteristic " changes of weather." With the ad- vance of these storms the humidity and the temperature are increased, and the barometric pressure is continually lowered until the storm center has passed a given locality. Following the storm are areas of high pressure or anti-cyclones, characterized by very dry air. In the winter season they produce the clear and intensely cold spells of weather called " cold waves " which sweep over the land, dominating its entire climate. In summer, from increased insolation, they cause the dry and hot sirocco-like spells known as "hot waves." This unending succession of "lows" and "highs," or cyclones and anti- cyclones, is a characteristic feature of weather and climate in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, influenced of course by the time of year. Cyclonic storms seem to be the result of local eddies of low pressure developed in the currents of the westerly winds as they cross the highlands and ranges of the Plateau Region. Another class of cyclonic storms are the tropical cyclones or West India hurricanes, a system of revolving winds accompanied by heavy rains around a low pressure area that moves northward along the eastern seaboard from the tropical latitudes of the ocean. These dangerous gales cause much destruction of life and property on land and sea (p. 202). On the Pacific Slope the climate is much more equable from the proximity of the ocean and the prevalence of the westerly winds, which bring in an abundance of warm, moist air. South of the Lake Region, the eastern portion of the United States is warmer and moister than the western half of the continent, merg* ing into a semi-tropical climate along the Gulf of Mexico. This forms the "humid province" the great area of crop production. West of about the one hundredth meridian, the rainfall materially decreases and an " arid province " prevails, reaching to the western border of the Plateau Region. 14. Weather and Commerce The influence of weather conditions Climate and Commerce 21 upon commerce is of such vast moment that it forms an impor- tant subject of investigation by an accurately trained corps of scien- tists in a special department of governmental work. The Weather Bureau is a leading feature of the government of nearly every civilized country. Agriculture, the basis of material prosperity, is a delicate index of atmospheric conditions. A disastrous flood, a season of drought, a killing frost, or a series of heavy storms of wind and rain, if sufficiently widespread, may so far throw the productive machinery out of gear, through the destruction and failure of important crops, that serious financial disturbances result, the effects of which may reach throughout the civilized world. The United States Weather Bureau, under the direction of the Department of Agriculture, issues climate and crop bulletins and a Monthly Weather Review ; besides these are the daily maps, weather reports, and forecasts, which are circulated throughout the country. Weather conditions are reported to headquarters at Washington, D.C.j by the local observers at stations in every part of the United States. The data thus received form the basis of the weather fore- casts issued daily. So important is this information that the weather report has precedence over other messages sent by telegraph. Special warnings are issued relative to killing frosts and to the probable movement of the "frost line," based on a long series of observations. These cold wave, frost and storm predictions are of untold value in the* case of the less hardy fruits and market vegetables, and in the planting, sowing, and caring for crops. The rural free-mail delivery is now utilized for a wide distribution of the weather forecasts throughout agricultural districts. Shipping, both upon the Great Lakes and the seaboard, is protected by the weather forecasts. Reports of observations are now made to the United States Weather Bureau from the continent of Europe, the Azores, the Bermudas, Mexico, and South America. Storms are thus located long in advance of their arrival. " Storm signals " are displayed and are a sign for shipping to seek the shelter of some protecting harbor. Similarly, 4^ ^ -5 42 o rt fl . C C u rt rt ^ C T3 > g "a,^ IS* m O 0> "g=S tUO "O '> c c > S - c 73 c o .J. (U j>* 5 2 1 n - n o S .2 J5 ' * m rt rt ^ TI rt fe a .SP.S a rt o A iu i3 (U !! in > -jj . ^ t) zr w -u ^1 IJ c ~ 53 C ID m n! rt E S '-5 4 5 - s G rt '> o > '3 4i 15 ^ O O ^ .5 t3 s a- s O 5 to - ts 8 g ^o o a 2 -2 o as 5 -a 5 n S -d < as 83 2^-5 wh != rt in C 03 -3 o tn 43 ~ H ^ o ^ S >^ JQ S * 1 I C t/5 0) (U p ( rt o c .a ja o {g -d H II rt irt rt T3 C . .SP > c/5 ^ '-S 0) ,0 C 'S >^ rt S g ^^ rt C " v_, W > G O 'So S o oj p o s-i ^-i > 5 5 S 2 rt rt rt J2 O 55 O ^ rt 2 rt . ^ S *= rt CD i: s * BBS in ui in 1.1 C rt in 1-1 O c j3 ja cxcxcx^^oOoo-o-B^So fe ^ . . 2 42 8 8 a 3 S 2 Q Jij _C *^1 03 C^ (-( f> sJ* tT *<-; ^ M S ^ fi rt 2 o o S G C v-i - . .G ,rt ^-. *- (D (U> ^|^ISlo49 r o.4;,n for changes to take place. The term " race " refers to the pri- mary groups into which mankind is divided, as white, yellow, and black. Each race may again be divided into branches, each 36 The Geography of Commerce branch into stocks, and each stock into peoples. A line drawn from the North Cape of Europe southeastward to the base of the Pamirs, serves roughly to indicate the barrier zone that in primitive times separated the white from the yellow man, while the area of the black man lay wholly south of the desert tracts of the Sahara. (Illustra- tion, p. 35.) Three distinct types are recognized among the European peoples, the Teutonic, the Celtic, and the Mediterranean. The first includes among others the modern Germans and the Anglo- Saxons. The Celtic includes the Irish, the Gaelic Scotch, the natives of Brittany, and the peoples of Alpine Europe. The Mediterranean type includes the Spanish, the Portuguese, Italians, and many of the inhabitants of France. Another group of European peoples is the Slavonic, which includes the modern Russians, the Poles, Servians, and Bulgarians. The Teutonic peoples took possession of the fertile river valleys, driving the earlier Celtic inhabitants into the rugged mountain districts where their descendants are found to-day. 1 The Berbers of the Atlas Mountains in northern Africa, the natives of Egypt, the Jewish peoples, the Arabs, and the Abyssinians belong to the Semitic stock of the white race. The Asian peoples are disposed in two primary groups or branches, one including the Chinese, Tibetans, and the inhabitants of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula, and the other comprising the different tribes and nations from the Black Sea and Eastern Russia across Siberia, Turkestan, and the Mongolian deserts to the Pacific. At the ends of this immense territory are the Japanese, the most civil- ized of Asian peoples, and the Ottoman Turks. Various tribes dwell along the shores of the Arctic Ocean. Many are also roving horsemen, as the Cossacks and Kirghis of the Central Asian steppes. Most of these nomadic tribes are now under the dominion of Russia. The black peoples are distributed throughout Africa south of the Sahara. They are divided into numerous tribes and kingdoms, and lead a hunting and fishing life in the great forest region, cultivating l Ripley, Races of Europe, Vol. I, pp. 103-130. The Man Element in Commerce 37 only patches of ground about their villages ; they raise plantains, maize and other food plants with little effort. The pastoral tribes, inhabit- ing the grass lands of East, Central, and South Africa, possess large herds of cattle and sheep. African peoples are naturally divided into three primary branches, the true negroes of the equatorial forest region and the Sudan, the Bantu peoples, including the pastoral tribes of the grass lands, and the dwarf peoples of the Kongo forest and South Africa. The islands of the Malay Archipelago and the vast island area of the Pacific, including Australia, are inhabited by a race of people quite different among themselves, though possessed of certain traits that indicate a common origin. Many of them, like the aboriginal Aus- tralians, are among the lowest of mankind ; others, again, have reached a considerable degree of culture, as the various Polynesian peoples. The Indian peoples of America are probably descendants from some primitive Asian stock. 21. Migration. One of the most notable features in the opening of a new region and the establishment of trade is the phenomenon of the migration of peoples. Its cause lies in the increase in popula- tion in a more or less restricted area, and the consequent cutting down of the food supply. This is one of the conditions that has from time to time forced a body of people to move out and seek new territory. Once on the move, new conditions were met with. In the main the movement has been always to the westward. Wave upon wave swept on, stopping only at the bounds of the ocean, but even this proved no absolute barrier. The Norse- men reached Greenland and the shores of a new continent. The close of the fifteenth century saw the people of western Europe on those marvelous voyages of discovery. The sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries witnessed the migration of European peoples across the Atlantic. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw the west- ward movement across the North American continent and the occu- pancy and settlement of a wilderness. The opening of the twentieth 38 The Geography of Commerce century finds the vanguard of western migration invading eastern Asia and meeting the reverse wave of Slavonic migration, which has moved eastward across Siberia. Each migration has enlarged the sphere of commercial activity and made the problems of commerce more intricate. Not infrequently, as a result of conditions in the new home, a people has developed a commercial instinct formerly wanting. 22. The Relation between Trading and Aboriginal Peoples. The history of mankind is largely an account of the invasion of new regions, and the dispossession of the aboriginal peoples of their native soil. The civilized world of to-day is face to face with this problem as the actively commercial peoples reach out for wider territory. How are the invaders to treat the native peoples in new lands? Some nations have in part solved this problem, as the Dutch in Java, and the British in India, but the results in most cases have been far from satisfactory. Man's history seems to bear out what science has shown to be true in the case of the lower animals, that the newcomer thrives at the expense of the native stock. The more radical the racial difference, the more surely will the aboriginal possessors of the soil tend to diminish and ultimately to go down before the invading peoples. This is especially true in the case of the Anglo-Saxon invader. The Latin peoples have mingled with the natives in the new lands, and though the native stock has been largely intermingled with the blood of the invaders, it has not been wiped out to the extent that it has under Anglo-Saxon influence. A respect for aboriginal institutions and customs, the gradual spread of education, the recognition of a people's rights, the foster- ing of every trait that tends toward the betterment of native popula- tions, and the prohibition of all harmful influences, should be in- cluded in the policies adopted by the commercial invaders and colonizers of new lands. 23. Occupations. The gaining of a livelihood is the basal need of man in every stage of development. In a primitive society such as The Man Element in Commerce 39 exists among savage peoples the division of labor is presented in its simplest terms and is largely a matter of sex. The men of a tribe hunt and fish, and engage in offensive and defensive warfare, while the women are employed in the cultivation of food plants, the grinding of seeds and grains into meal, in weaving, and the making of garments and utensils. In the higher stage of culture, as among civilized peoples, sex distinction as to the kind of occupation be- comes less apparent. Woman's work is mainly concerned with the household, while man is more largely engaged in the field of what are termed "gainful" pursuits. The many and various sorts of gainful occupations fall in one of four classes: (i) Those that are purely "extractive," or concerned in the production of raw materials, as the agricultural, mining, lum- bering, and fishing industries. (2) The transforming industries the working up of the raw materials into manufactured products either by machine or hand. (3) The transporting and transferring industries, which include the carrying of products either by water, rail, pack-train, or wagon, and the marketing of the same. (4) Those gainful occupations that are rendered by individuals for the general welfare of a community, such as the professions, police duty, domestic service, etc., which are grouped under the head of personal, domestic, and professional service. Of these four groups the first and third are distinctively masculine in character, the second is largely so, while the fourth, that of personal service, includes pursuits in which both men and women engage. 24. Racial Traits. To trade or barter is a natural instinct. Dif- ferent peoples exhibit different degrees of commercial aptitude. The most highly developed people, those that have reached an advanced state of civilization, are possessed of a commercial spirit which is highly developed. The degree of commercial aptitude is not a fixed quantity in any race or people, but is largely a question of environ- ment. Professor Ross in a recent essay says : " The superiorities that, at a given time, one people may display over other peoples, are 4O The Geography of Commerce not necessarily racial. Physical inferiorities that disappear as the people are equalized in diet and dwelling, and mental inferiorities that disappear when the peoples are leveled up in respect to culture and means of education, are due not to race but to condition, not to blood but to surroundings." 1 Among the causes of race superiority and commercial superiority may be mentioned climatic adaptability, native energy, the development of better standards of living, and a sense of the value of things. While the animal is largely the slave of its environment, man adapts himself to surrounding conditions, and shapes his environ- ment to his own ends. He, " alone of living beings, has been able in large measure to emancipate himself from the tyranny of natural forces." 2 Man's intelligence finds its most effective manifestation in the social life. The interaction of the physical and the social envi- ronments is the underlying principle of the human progress of which commerce is an expression. It is this view of the subject that gives the true value to the study. We should never lose sight of the fact that the central theme in the geography of commerce is the material welfare of humanity viewed against the background of physiographic conditions. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 28. What are the principal stages of social progress? What is the character- istic occupation of each? What use does man make of his physical environ- ment in each stage? 29. What is meant by " subduing nature " ? With progress, does man become more or less dependent upon his physical surroundings? 30. What is meant by passive and active as applied to races? Historic and non-historic? 31. Is there any physical law to explain the general westerly migrations? 1 Edward A. Ross, The Causes of Race Superiority. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science ; July, 1901. 2 Scott, An Introduction to Geology. The Man Element in Commerce 41 32. Discuss the ethics of enslaving an aboriginal people; of destroying them by war. What shall be done with an aboriginal people that refuses to become civilized? 33. Compare the classification of occupations in Section 23 with that in the Twelfth Census. 34. Cite what may be regarded as instances of " racial instincts " for industry or trade. Books to be Consulted *Tylor, Anthropology. International Science Series, Appleton & Co. **Keane, The Peoples of the Earth and the Distribution of Mankind. The Inter- national Geography, Chapter IX. Trotter, Lessons in the New Geography. Heath & Co. ; Second Edition. Mackinder, Britain and the British Seas. Chapter XII. ; Appleton & Co. **Herbertson, Afan and His Work. A. and C. Black; London. *Shaler, Nature and Man in America. New York, Scribners; 1891. Ripley, The Races of Europe. Appleton & Co. *Lyde, Man on the Earth and Man and His Markets. Macmillan Co. *Lawson, American Industrial Problems. Sections on Personal Factors, Cor- porate Factors, and National Factors, Chapters VII to XIX. REGIONAL MAP OF THE UNITED STATES Z|A P.-L-A T E A_U IND. from Greenwich 92 BORMAV 1 CO., N. r. PART II THE UNITED STATES CHAPTER V REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE UNITED STATES 1 25. Physical Regions. The entire area of the United States may be divided into six more or less well defined regions as follows : (i) The Coastal Plain Region; (2) The Appalachian Region; (3) The Middle Prairie and Lake Region ; (4) The Great Plains or Steppe Region'; (5) The Cordilleran or Plateau Region, and (6) The Pacific Slope Region. The primitive nucleus of the conti- nent probably existed in the region now embraced by Canada and the upper Lake district, with detached masses of land that extended southward through the areas of New England and portions of the Atlantic States. An isolated mass existed where is now the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, inclosing between it and the eastern land areas a vast interior sea from the sediments of which the central portion of the continent was ultimately developed. Throughout these areas the rocks are crystalline in character (granites, schists, etc.), and belong to an early period of geological history. 26. The Atlantic Coastal Plain. This characteristic region may be said to begin at Long Island, extending from thence southward as a widening belt of country across southern New Jersey, Dela- ware, and the eastern parts of Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, 1 In preparing the map opposite, and the present account, the author gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to Professor Davis's admirable chapters in The Inter- national Geography (Bibliography, p. 59). 43 44 The Geography of Commerce and Georgia, where it merges into the Southern Coastal Plain of the Gulf States. Its inland border is marked by crystalline rocks which form the "upland terrace," where the Appalachian region begins. The maritime districts of the Coastal Plain are marked by a fringe of sand spits or low outer beaches, between which and the mainland, are the salt lagoons or maritime marshes. In the inland-reaching bays or estuaries are the oyster beds of the Atlantic coast. These outer sand beaches from Long Island southward along the coasts of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia present two aspects of life, that of the seaside resorts which have developed here and there, and the fishing of a scanty native population. Along the shores of North Carolina these outer " banks," as they are called, form the dangerous capes of Fear, Lookout, and Hatteras, for which this part of the coast is so well known. Immediately succeeding the marshes, in passing inland from the coast, are the " pine barrens," a monotonous sandy waste, well developed in southern New Jersey, and -forming wide, level tracts of sparsely settled, sandy country in Virginia and the Caro- linas. These pine lands in the South are an important source of lumber, tar, and turpentine. Succeeding the sandy plains and pine barrens is a fertile country, extending to the upland terrace. In some places, as in portions of New Jersey, the soil is a marl or lime- stone deposit. To the south, in Virginia and the Carolinas, this fertile area forms the agricultural belt of the lowlands. A number of large and important cities are located on the Atlantic Coastal Plain, either on one of the numerous estuaries, or on the rivers at the head of naviga- ClTIES OF THE FALL-LINE tion where the streams flow down from the older Appalachian area to the more recent deposits of the Coastal Plain ("upland terrace" and "fall-line"). Philadelphia is Regional Geography of the United States 45 near the head of tide-water on the Delaware. Trenton, New Jersey, is on the same river at the fall-line a few miles above Philadelphia. Baltimore, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Virginia, are on river estuaries which reach in from Chesapeake Bay (a sunken river valley). Raleigh, North Carolina, and Columbia, South Carolina, are at the fall-line of rivers some distance above tide-water. Norfolk, Virginia, Wilmington, North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, are on the coast The Atlantic Coastal Plain was an early settled portion of the country. The division of its area into commonwealths was largely determined by the topography and configuration of the coasts. The sunken river valleys represented by the present Delaware and Chesapeake bays led to settlements at favorable points. Thus, Philadelphia was located on the only bluff that rose along the west- ern shore of the Delaware for many miles. New Jersey became a separate commonwealth because of the Delaware. The colony of Delaware became separated from Pennsylvania largely as a result of its peninsular position. The Maryland colony was first settled on the peninsula and along the shores of Chesapeake Bay, and gained com- paratively little territory because of the wide inlets that severed its population from the mainland Virginia and the Carolina colonies claimed vast tracts of land to the westward, for here the Coastal Plain becomes very much broader, and is uninterrupted by great estuaries, such as the Chesapeake and Delaware, which extend in a north and south direction for long distances. On the broader part of the Coastal Plain, the Virginian became a tobacco planter, and the many estuaries allowed sea-going vessels to load directly at the plantation wharves. Hence no great commercial centers were early developed. 27. The Southern Coastal Plain. This area is a continuation of the Atlantic Coastal Plain south of the mountain terminus ; it was formed during the same period, under the same conditions, and pre- sents similar characteristics. It is the great cotton-growing region ; its principal port is Mobile, Alabama, at the head of a tide-water 46 The Geography of Commerce estuary. The Southern Coastal Plain merges into the flood plain of the Mississippi and is continuous beyond in the Coastal Plain of Texas. The Florida Peninsula forms a peculiar exception to the general features of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, its more southern por- tion being a rim of coral limestone surrounding a vast wilderness of swamp and marsh, known as the Everglades. The peninsula is fringed with numerous coral reefs with shallow lagoons separating them from the mainland. The entire Coastal Plain Region is the re- sult of the accumulation of sediments which have been slowly uplifted into a land area with a slight tilting seaward. 28. The Appalachian Region. The Appalachian region embraces all of New England and the Middle Atlantic and Southern States, from the inner border of the Coastal Plain to the western border of the mountains, including the eastern portions of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. An outlying mass of highlands in Missouri and Arkansas (the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains) may also be included in this region. The main region (outside of the Missouri and Arkansas highlands) is divisible into two well-defined units or belts : (i) The New England area and Piedmont Belt, known as the Older Appala- chian, and (2) the Newer Appalachian Belt and the Alleghany Plateau. 29. New England. The characteristic rocks of the New England area are the crystalline granites, gneisses, and schists, which represent the base of a very old land surface, the overlying domes of which have been entirely removed by erosion. This worn-down area with its exposed rocks is part of the original nucleus of the continent already referred to. The whole of New England was covered by the ice sheet during the glacial period. This left its characteristics, among other things, in the scattered bowlder drift and transported rock debris or "till" which forms the loose soil that is spread over the surface and piled up here and there into rounded hillocks or " drumlins." North of the Hudson the coast of the continent underwent a sinking which submerged a considerable area of Coastal Plain and brought Regional Geography of the United States 47 the eastern border of the Old Appalachian area into contact with the sea. Hence the rugged and indented character of the New England coast. Its numerous offshore islands are the highest parts of the sunken land, and some, as Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, reveal their comparatively recent separation from the mainland by the glacial features of their surfaces. Boston, the chief city of New England, is situated at the head of Massachusetts Bay, one of the numerous deep inlets of the sunken shore which afford good harbors. Portland, Maine, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, are other cities which have developed under similar conditions. The exposure of vast areas of bed rock and the nature of the soil as a result of glacial action render most of the land through- out New England unfit for farming on a large scale. This is com- pensated for, however, by the ample water power that is available in the many streams of the region. These streams have successions of falls and rapids, and. do not present any considerable reaches of tide water as do those of the Coastal Plain. Many of the important cities of New England are situated at the shelf (fall-line) where the streams descend to the lower level of the tide-water region. This position gives them the desirable advantage of power for manufactures and deep draught for commerce. In the South, which is generally contrasted with manufacturing New England, as an agricultural region, the fall-line has in recent years similarly determined the loca- tion and development of numerous manufacturing centers. 30. The Piedmont Belt. The Older Appalachian area is con- tinued southward as the Piedmont Belt, which lies between the inner border of the Coastal Plain (upland terrace) and the eastern base of the Appalachian ranges proper. Like New England it is an old worn- down land surface with the underlying crystalline rocks exposed, and represents a southward extension of the ancient nucleus of the con- tinent. Unlike New England, however, it was not subjected to glacial action, and its surface represents a broadly rolling upland, well covered with a fertile soil that has been formed by the weathering of 48 The Geography of Commerce the crystalline rocks in places. It may be said to begin south of the Hudson, extending as an increasingly broader belt to Georgia. From New Jersey southward, the Piedmont Belt is an agricultural country. Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond are the important cities situated on or near the border line between the Piedmont Belt and the Coastal Plain. 31. The Newer Appalachian Belt. The ranges of the Appalachians proper begin immediately west of the Piedmont and constitute the Newer Appalachian Belt. Unlike the crystalline rocks of the Pied- mont and New England area, the rocks of this region are stratified deposits of great thickness. They form a long trend of mountain ranges with intervening longitudinal valleys of considerable breadth. One of these valleys, known as the Great Valley, trends along the eastern side of the mountain ranges for a long distance north and south. It may be said to begin in the St. Lawrence Valley and is continued southward through Lake Champlain into the valley of the Hudson. The Hudson leaves the Great Valley before it enters the Highlands. The Great Valley continues southward under various local names the Kittatinny Valley in New Jersey, the Lebanon and Lehigh Valleys in eastern Pennsylvania, the Cumberland Valley in southern Pennsylvania, the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, and the East Tennessee Valley. It is underlaid with limestone in many places, and throughout its extent is noted for its fertility, being the seat of numerous agricultural communities. The rivers of the Atlantic Slope, south of the Hudson, as the Delaware, Susquehanna, and Potomac, rise on the farther side of the Great Valley and flow across it, having cut their way through the intervening ridges. 32. The Alleghany Plateau. The mountain ranges on the western side of the Appalachian Highlands constitute the Alleghany Plateau. They are of the same vast thickness as the more eastern mountains, but are unlike them in their topography, being a maze of branching spurs instead of long trending ridges. The region is a dissected plateau, the even sky line of the various ridges and spurs being a characteristic Regional Geography of the United States 49 feature. The valleys between are occupied by the head streams of the Atlantic rivers and those of the Mississippi Basin, the crest-line of the region thus forming the divide. The Alleghany Plateau is much higher toward the south, its western side (the Highland Rim) descending quite sharply into the limestone belts of Kentucky and Tennessee, the former embracing the famous " blue grass " country. To the north, in Pennsylvania and New York, the plateau becomes lower, ending somewhat abruptly on the western side of the Hudson in the Catskills and farther west in the Helderberg Mountains. The eastern side of the Alleghany Plateau along its entire extent from northeast to southwest, presents a decided wall or escarpment the Alleghany Mountain proper (" Alleghany Front "). Its western slope in the northern portion passes gently into the prairie lands of Ohio, quite different from the bold western escarpment of its southern portion which forms the bluffs of the Highland Rim. 33. Effects of the Appalachian Highland. The Appalachian High- land is still largely a wilderness. In many parts the primeval forest has been cut off by the lumbermen, a strong " second growth " taking its place. The strata contain vast deposits of coal and iron which have made possible the development of the mining industry in many parts of the region. Busy centers of manufacture, as Pittsburg in western Pennsylvania, and Birmingham in Alabama, have developed incident to the coal and iron of the region. The mining operations and the manufacturing centers have drawn a large influx of foreign labor (Poles, Huns, etc.) into the population. Outside of the mining and industrial centers, the population is chiefly of the "mountaineer" type, scattered communities and isolated families, dwelling in the " back country," and often preserving many of the traits, customs, and manners of speech of their ancestors. The Appalachian wilderness long formed a barrier to the western movement of population from the settled parts along the Atlantic seaboard. Many of the towns throughout the region began as frontier forts for protection against the Indians. The Scotch-Irish and Ger- 50 The Geography of Commerce mans were among the earliest pioneers, clearing and cultivating the fertile strips of the Great Valley, while some, like Daniel Boone, penetrated into the wilderness beyond the mountains. The greater breadth and height of the Appalachian Highland in the south, made this portion an effectual barrier to western migration. Passage around the south of the highland was disputed by the presence of hostile Indian tribes. In Pennsylvania and Maryland the divide between the Atlantic rivers and the Ohio drainage is comparatively low, and the valleys of the Susquehanna and Potomac have always marked out natural highways of travel. A remarkable illustration of the effect of topography on the movement of people is seen in the Mohawk Valley. A depression exists in the northern end of the Appalachian uplift, between the northern terminus of what is now the Alleghany Plateau (Catskill and Helderberg Mountains) and the outlying group of old crystalline rocks, forming the present Adirondack mountain region. Through this depression the Mo- hawk River flowed eastward into the Hudson, thus opening a broad highway, unobstructed by mountain ridges, between the Great Valley and the Lake Region and prairies. Before the advent of Europeans and for many years after, the land from the Mohawk to the Niagara River was the " Long House " of the Iroquois Confed- eracy or Five Nations, who by virtue of their strategic position, dominated a wide territory, holding many of the surrounding tribes in vassalage. This region contains numerous glacial lakes and glacial river channels which have further facilitated communication. (" Fin- ger lakes.") The broad depression leading from the Hudson to the Ohio prairies and the Lake Region, in connection with the sinking of land that made the Hudson an estuary as far as the Mohawk, has more than anything else, determined the supremacy of New York City as the metropolis of America. To a lesser extent, Philadelphia and Baltimore have become great cities from their proximity to the lower portion of the Appalachian Highland. MARYSVILLE (MONTANA) GOLD MILL WATER POWER, NIAGARA FALLS Regional Geography of the United States 51 34. Outliers of the Appalachians. A re-appearance of strata simi- lar to that of the Appalachians is observed to the west of the Missis- sippi in the Ozark Plateau in Missouri, south of the Missouri Rivei (composed of gently inclined strata, ending in escarpments or cliffs of moderate elevation), and in the Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas. These regions are largely forested and sparsely settled, the people cultivating small farms in the river valleys. Here and there a dome of crystalline rock rises through the strata, as Pilot Knob and Iron Mountain in the Ozark country. 35. The Middle Prairies and Lake Region. Extending northward from the northern bank of the Ohio and of the Lower Missouri to the borders of the Great Lakes and the Canadian frontier, is a broad expanse of open country known as the prairies of the Middle West. They embrace the western part of Ohio, the whole of Indiana, Illi- nois and Iowa, the northern portion of Missouri, the eastern edge of Nebraska and the Dakotas, and portions of Minnesota and Wisconsin. The eastern part of this area is composed of the thinned-out strata of the Appalachians. Between the basins of Lakes Ontario and Erie is a bluff-like escarpment of limestone over which the Niagara River plunges, form- ing the famous cataract. This escarpment may be traced north- west between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, across the Mackinaw Peninsula, and southwest along the western side of Lake Michi- gan to beyond the Mississippi. The line of escarpment marks the inner border of an old coastal plain. Masses of crystalline rock of the old land occur to the northwest of it in Minnesota and Wiscon- sin, and a mountainous uplift forms a rugged, forested district in the Michigan Peninsula. The Lake basins occupy depressions in the floor of this coastal plain as the result of conditions developed during the glacial period. From the ridge of this limestone escarpment the country slopes gently toward the south as the prairies. The Mo- hawk Valley leads into the prairie region through the depression north of the Alleghany Plateau. This last feature shows very clearly 52 The Geography of Commerce how accessible the prairies were to the early settlers who followed this natural highway. The soil of the prairies is extremely fertile and supports an immense population. It is the center of the corn-belt and is one of the richest regions of the continent. During the glacial period the ice sheet covered its surface to the present banks of the Ohio and Missouri rivers. Unlike New England, however, the glacial soil or " till " was deposited layer upon layer mingled with silt and finely powdered materials which covered over previous irregularities, making the present comparatively even prairie surface, and forming a deep, loam soil of wonderful fertility. The belts l of low hills which occur here and there over the prairies are the moraines of the old glaciers. Many of the smaller prairie streams rise in low divides and flow into the nearest lake or river basin as determined by the slope. The absence of trees on the prairies is a marked feature of the landscape, especially in the more western part of the region. This has been attributed to the burning off of the woodland by the Indians to make more pasture for the buffalo, the range of which extended eastward into the Appalachian region at the time of the first settlements. It may have been partially due to this, but prob- ably also to the very fine character of the glacial soil which is not well adapted to support tree growth. 36. Prairie Cities. The rapid peopling of the prairies resulted from the wonderful agricultural opportunities which the region offered. To-day agricultural interests are the basis of the region's commercial activities. During the last half of the nineteenth century centers of population which began as scattered settlements, grew into important towns, and in some instances into great cities. The ease with which railroads could be built has added immensely to the growth of the region. In the prairie region are a network of railroad lines con- necting the various towns. Chicago the Prairie Metropolis is a type of this development. Its situation at the southern end of Lake Michigan made it the focus of the region's commerce in the 54 The Geography of Commerce beginning, for all routes to the northwest passed through it. Besides, it is favorably located for the Lake traffic of the entire central region. Its importance as a commercial center has extended far beyond the limits of the prairies, for it is the center of the trade in the food supply of millions of people, both at home and abroad. 37. The Great Plains or Steppe Region. In the eastern part of the second tier of states which lie west of the Mississippi River Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas the prairies gradually pass into a more arid steppe-like region known as the Great Plains. The term " plains " is a misnomer inasmuch as the surface of the region is far from plain-like in character, being a high, rolling country of very uneven contour; the swells of land often reach several hundred feet above the intervening depressions. The entire area is the result of an uplift of strata which were laid down in what was once a great interior sea. The rivers of the region, with their numerous tributary streams, have cut deeply through these strata, forming char- acteristic bluff-walled valleys. The plains are a treeless expanse of grass land as a result of deficient rainfall ; the only tree growth is in fringes along the numerous river bottoms. The rivers rise on the eastern side of the Cordilleran Highland and flow across the plains, for the most part into the Missouri-Mississippi system. The plains reach northward far beyond the Canadian border. Southward they extend into the plateau country of northern Texas known as the Llano Estacado, or " Staked Plains." They end abruptly on the west at the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Their eastern limitation, where they merge into the lower prairie lands of the Mississippi region, may for convenience be taken as the looth meridian of west longitude. The entire region shows the effects of denudation under arid con- ditions. To the north the country is dissected into many remarkable forms of relief (mesas, buttes, etc.), forming the characteristic "Bad Lands." In Nebraska, north of the Platte River, are many low sand dunes as the result of wind action in piling up the loose, finely disin- Regional Geography of the United States 55 tegrated soil. In South Dakota, near the borders of Wyoming, is an ancient mountainous region of exposed crystalline rocks denuded of their overlying strata. This island-like district is known as the Black Hills. Being elevated above the surrounding plains, they induce a greater rainfall and are consequently forest covered. In this "island of crystalline rocks" are many valuable mineral deposits, and the Black Hills region has become an important mining center. Over the vast expanse of the Great Plains the dryness of the climate precludes agriculture, save along the narrow bottom lands of the rivers, and where irrigation is possible. The region is mainly given over to grazing and stock raising, and the cattle of the great " ranges " are shipped by thousands to the stock yards of Chicago, Omaha, Kansas City, St. Louis, and to the markets of the eastern United States and Europe. Denver, the city of the Great Plains, has developed owing to its nearness to the mountain region, and its accessibility by railroad to the east. 38. The Cordilleran or Plateau Region. Under the general name of the Rocky Mountains are included a number of ranges, as the Wasatch and Uintah ranges in Utah, the Sawatch range in Colorado, and the Teton and Wind River ranges in Wyoming, the Bitter Root Mountains in Montana and Idaho, and numerous other ranges. In this western part the Great Plains reach a general elevation of about five thousand feet. From this elevated base, the eastern range of the Rocky Mountains proper, rises abruptly to heights varying from ten thousand to fourteen thousand feet above the sea level. The ranges of the Rocky Mountains consist of vast series of folded strata. Erosion has in many places revealed valuable mineral deposits, and mining has become the characteristic industry throughout the region. Various mining centers or " camps " have sprung up in relation to the rich lodes, as Cripple Creek and Leadville in Colorado, Butte in Montana, and others, some of which have grown into important towns. $6 The Geography of Commerce Peculiar level areas called "basins" are found here and there hemmed in among the ranges where the stockmen and ranchers have developed permanent settlements. These interment basins have been produced by the twisting or warping of strata, which has formed a trough, somewhat oval in form. They are usually covered with a thick soil which is the accumulation of land waste from the surround- ing ridges. Their surface is covered with good grass and clumps of evergreens, which have won for them the name of " parks " in several cases. Cattle raising and wheat growing are here carried on suc- cessfully, and the railroads have pushed their way among the ridges to reach these districts. These basins are drained by rivers that have cut their way out through deep canons and are, in some instances, rapidly denuding the floor of the basin itself. The Big Horn Basin and the Yellowstone Park in Wyoming, North, Middle, and South Parks in Colorado, and the San Luis Valley on the borders of Colorado and New Mexico, are illustrations of these intermont basins. A dry elevated region of considerable extent occurs toward the south known as the Great Basin. It embraces a large part of Utah and Arizona, the whole of Nevada, and the southern portion of Cali- fornia. Many of the Basin ranges are devoid of trees to their sum- mits, and the entire region is covered with a characteristic growth of sage brush, interspersed with various thorny species of plants, such as the cactus and yuccas. Much of the surface is an alkali waste, with the remains of lakes which have disappeared under the drying effects of the atmosphere. In Utah this region is the home of a large Mor- mon population which has converted wide areas of desert into produc- tive farm lands and built up a great city on the shores of Salt Lake. In many parts of the Basin ranges, rich "lodes " of gold and silver have been discovered and mining camps have sprung up, one of which Virginia City, Nevada, on the Comstock Lode developed into a mining and commercial center of some importance. The Cordilleran region has been the scene of great volcanic activity. Immense sheets of lava here overflowed wide areas, producing characteristic Regional Geography of the United States 57 features of scenery. In Oregon, Washington, and Idaho are a series of great lava plateaus, deeply trenched by the numerous streams of the Snake and Columbia rivers which drain the region. The Snake River has cut out a remarkable canon four thousand feet in depth. These plateaus, though sparsely covered with grass, afford extensive ranges for the stockmen. Spokane, Washington, is the commercial center of the region and in large measure owes its rapid development to the water power of the falls. In New Mexjco and Arizona a desert plateau occurs in which the strata have been uplifted in a nearly horizontal position to an elevation- of over six thousand feet. The region has been deeply dissected by river erosion, the Colorado flowing through one of the most remark- able canons in the world. Numerous evidences of volcanic action are present in lava sheets and such extinct volcanic peaks as San Fran- cisco Mountain. 39. The Pacific Slope. On the western edge of the Cordilleran region, separated from the Rocky Mountains by the broad stretch of the Columbia Plateaus on the north and the Great Basin on the south, rise the lofty ranges of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Moun- tains. Their eastern sides are steep and rise into numerous snow- clad summits which reach elevations of from twelve thousand to fifteen thousand feet above the sea level. These slopes feed the streams which water the valleys below. The ranges are watered with the abundant moisture from the ocean, and are well wooded, being covered with a magnificent growth of forests, among which are the giant redwood and sequoia. In this respect they are in striking con- trast to the less heavily forested ranges of the Rocky Mountains. Several rivers have cut their way through the ranges in their course to the Pacific the Pitt tributary of the Sacramento in California, and the Columbia and Klamath in the Cascade Range. The entire range of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade appears as a huge tilted block, uplifted along its eastern side. Several remarkable valleys are in this region, the most notable being the Yosemite. 58 The Geography of Commerce To the west, and fronting on the Pacific, are the lower, parallel Coast Ranges, including between them and the Sierra Nevada and Cascade on the east the broad, fertile valleys of California which extend northward into Oregon. The valley floors are covered deep with soil brought down from the denuded ranges. Evidences of a local sinking of the coast line are seen in the sea cliffs of the Coast Range at various points, and the few deep inlets, as the Golden Gate, the estuary of the Columbia, and Puget Sound. The great cities of the Pacific coast San Francisco, California, Portland, Oregon, Tacoma and Seattle, Washington are located on these sunken river valleys. The mountain barrier of the Sierras and the Cascade Range, the wide stretches of Cordilleran and desert ranges, and beyond these still the Great Plains, long isolated the peoples of the Pacific Slope from the life of the east. The early settlement of California was Spanish, and for long the chief interest in its civilization was because of the " missions." The discovery of gold led to the rapid increase of population by immigration from the east, but the real basis of pros- perity was the fertile soil of the valleys which determined permanent settlement by an agricultural population. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 35. Does the phrase " black belt " as applied to the Southern Coastal Plain refer to the nature of the soil or to the large proportion of negro population in the region? 36. What is the meaning of " fall-line "? Enumerate the advantages of cities situated on the fall-line for manufactures and commerce. Is the conventional explanation that New England became a manufacturing region and the South agricultural because of the water power in .New England true to the facts? 37. Fanciers tell the ages of animals by examining their teeth. Compare this with geologists telling the ages of mountains. Explain the phrases " worn to the roots " and " gnawed by the tooth of time," as applied to mountains. 38. The Appalachian Highlands, three hundred miles in width, presented a bar- rier of forest and mountain " almost as impassable as the Alps " (Shaler). Discuss this, showing its result on the settlement of the interior, fixing of trade routes, location of cities, and present conduct of trade. Regional Geography of the United States 59 39. What has been the effect of the Great Valley of the Appalachians on the distribution of population? 40. " A lake is an inverted island." Apply this to the Lake Region of western New York. What do the " finger lakes " show about the geological history of the region? 41. What was the effect of opening the Erie Canal (1825) upon New York? Upon Philadelphia? 42. Does it seem probable that the prairies of the United States were due to the annual burning by the Indians in order to get tender grass, and thus enlarge the pasture of the buffalo? (See Shaler, Nature and Man in America, pp. 184- 187.) 43. Note the presence of the following products in the Middle West : coal, iron, timber, grain, and cattle. What have been the results of the Great Lakes as a highway connecting the regions producing these various products? (See P- I35-) 44. Compare the population of the states west of the Alleghanies, north of the Ohio, and east of the Great Plains, with the combined population of New Eng- land and the Middle Atlantic States. Compare the probable future of the two districts, basing the comparison on the resources. 45. What is the origin of the name Butte, Montana, and what does this indi- cate about the geological history of the region? 46. Approximately, what proportion of the area of the United States lies west of the Rocky Mountains? How will the future of this region be affected by the completion of the Isthmian Canal and the development of the lands about the Pacific? Books to be Consulted **Davis, The Continent of North America, Chapter XXXVII, and The United States of America, Chapter XXXIX, in The International Geography. *Gannett, The United States' Stanford's Series, 1898. Physical Geography of the United States as represented in the better class of text-books. Tarr, Economic Geology of the United States, Chapter III. Macmillan Co. Outlines of Geography with reference to History as represented by Shaler, McMaster, Fiske, W 7 insor, Channing and other writers. *Shaler, Aspects of the Earth and Nature and Man in America. Powell, Russell et al, National Geographic Monographs. New York, American Book Co. *Lawson, American Industrial Problems, Chapters III to VI, Soil and Climate; also Ports and Harbors. CHAPTER VI RESOURCES: MINERAL PRODUCTS VARIOUS methods suggest themselves for studying the products of the United States, but the scientific method of classification and presentation is here adopted. This is in line with what has come to be known as economic mineralogy, botany, and zoology. This method includes only those products which are of use to man, and it has, moreover, the advantages of conforming to well- established principles of science that have become matters of common knowledge. 40. Metals. The elements may be classified in two primary groups : the Metals and the Non-metals or Metalloids. The former are distinguished by various physical properties, as ulti- mate constituents of minerals luster, tenacity, ductility, and malle- ability, and by their power to conduct heat and electricity. Metals differ widely among themselves in these physical properties, but each usually possesses some one property in a marked degree, and it is this which makes it of value in the arts. The metals occur usually in combination with some non-metallic element, as sulphur, for example, though some few, like gold and platinum, occur native, i.e. uncombined or free. The metallic compound or metal as it occurs in nature, forms an ore, though the term " ore " is applied only when the metal can be profitably extracted. The ores of the metals usually occur as " veins " in the fissures and " faults " that cut through rock masses of the earth's crust. These fissures are mainly filled with quartz or other mineral substances known as the " vein-stuff," in which the ore occurs as threads or pockets. 1 1 Some metals, e.g., tin and gold (see pp. 69 and 71), are found as " placer deposits." 60 Resources : Mineral Products 6 1 The metalliferous veins are most abundant in the mountainous regions, for the conditions incident to mountain building were also favorable to the formation of metallic ores, and these regions have further been the scene of great erosion by streams and atmos- pheric weathering, whereby the metal-bearing veins have been exposed over wide areas. In the United States the Old and New Appalachian Belts, the Cordilleran or Plateau Region, and the Lake Superior hill region are the areas of greatest metal production. I. METALLIC SUBSTANCES 41. Iron. As a workable ore of commercial value iron is found in four forms : limonite or brown hematite, including the bog ores ; red hematite; magnetite; and the carbonate called siderite or spathic iron} The first three are oxides of the metal. Native iron is of rare occur- rence, and does not enter into commerce. The sulphide of iron, or pyrite, is mined solely for the sulphur which it contains. Limonite, though not the richest in the amount of metal contained, is worked with comparative ease, and was the first ore mined in this country. The remains of the old works are still to be seen in many places in the Eastern States, as open pits and dump heaps where the ore was dug out of the ground. The commercial aspects of iron production are thus set forth by Professor Tarr : "An iron ore, in the present state of the iron industry, must occur in a very favorable position as regards mar- ket, it must be of good quality and considerable quantity, and favorably situated for extraction and smelting. The presence of sulphur or phosphorus in an ore makes it valueless unless the quantity is very slight. Iron is now so cheap that, where mining 1 In 1901 the production of iron ore in the United States in long tons was as follows : Brown hematite ............. 3,016,715 Red hematite 24,006,025 Magnetite 1,813,076 Carbonate 51,663 Mineral Resources of the United States, p. 46. 62 The Geography of Commerce 1877 1880 16 operations are difficult, as, for instance, where the mine is deep, the vein narrow, gangue abundant, or transportation difficult, it cannot be mined. There are a sufficient number of good iron deposits in this country to make selection possible, and conse- quently many of the older mines are being abandoned because of the development 1S of these more prof- itable mines. For reasons of this sort, the New Jersey re- gion, for instance, which was once an important iron-pro- ducing section, is becoming aban- doned; and whereas only a few years ago there were many score of prof- itable mines in that state, now there are very few. As this ore is chiefly mag- netite, and some of it of a very high grade, it is possible that the use of elec- tricity in the sepa- ration of the ore 1 , which is now being experimented with, may revolutionize the iron industry of that state. " The most favorable situation of an iron ore for profitable ex- traction is near good coking coal for smelting and limestone for a flux, as in the Birmingham district of Alabama ; and in such a THE WORLD'S PRODUCTION OF PIG IRON "MINERAL INDUSTRY 1902' Resources : Mineral Products 63 situation even low-grade ores can be worked profitably. Unless this is the case, iron ore cannot be extensively mined excepting under conditions of great abundance and economical methods of transportation, as in the Lake Superior district, where thick and remarkably uniform beds of good ore occur in such a position that water transportation to the market is possible. Where these condi- tions do not exist, iron mining is feasible only on a small scale for the local market. Thus, in the Rocky Mountains there are almost inexhaustible supplies of iron, often of a high grade, which are at present of no value whatsoever." 1 Though very widely disseminated, the workable deposits of iron ore are remarkably local in their distribution. The chief iron- producing states, named in order of their importance, are (1901) Minnesota, , Michigan, Alabama, and Pennsylvania. Of these Minnesota and Michigan are in the Lake Superior region, an ancient mountain area worn down to a core of low hills ; here the weathering process has laid bare the rich ore deposits. The other states mentioned are in the Appalachian belts. Iron is also 1 Tarr, Economic Geology of the United States, pp. 7 and 119-120. 64 The Geography of Commerce 1878 1880 produced in many other states, but to a comparatively limited extent. A very striking fact is the recent shifting of the iron- mining industry from the northern Appalachian area (New York and Pennsylvania) to the Lake Superior and Alabama regions. This is due to the conditions already noted, more productive deposits and better facilities for trans- portation. The larger part of the Lake Superior ore is smelted in Pitts- burg and vicinity, and at South Chi- cago. Iron is worked extensively in the Mahoning Valley district of Ohio, and in the Connellsville region in Pennsylvania be- cause cokable coal and limestone are accessible. Of the several ores, red hematite is best adapted for the pro- duction of steel, and is the principal ore mined in Lake Superior and Alabama districts. Pennsylvania and New York produce all four varieties of the ore, while Ohio is the only state producing the carbonate (siderite) to any extent. The production of iron ore in the United States in the year 1901 amounted to 28,887,479 long tons (2240 pounds per ton). In 1901 THE WORLD'S PRODUCTION OF STEEL "MINERAL INDUSTRY 1902' Resources : Mineral Products the total world production of pig iron amounted to upward of 40,000,000 metric tons (metric ton equals 2204 pounds) and of steel more than 31,000,000 tons, of which the United States pro- duced approximately 16,000,000 and 13,000,000 tons of each respectively, or nearly 40 per cent and 41 per cent of the world's product. 1 42. Copper. The chief sources of commercial copper are sulphide ores and the native metal. Other metals are often found associated with copper, as mechanical admixtures of the ore. Gold, silver, zinc, and lead are some of the metals thus found. The United States is the greatest copper-producing country of the world ; the bulk of the world's supply is produced here and 1 Statistics of the production of pig iron, in the period when the United States passed from being an unimportant producer to the foremost place in production, are given below. The figures are averages of the five-year periods in thousands of tons. London Commercial Intelligence, May 10, 1902 : COUNTRIES 1866- 70 iSjI- 75 1876- 80 1881- 85 1886- 90 1891- 95 1896- 1900 1901 United States . . . United Kingdom Germany .... 1,464 1,226 2,248 6,458 i.9i3 ^6 2.563 6,658 2,142 4,301 8,098 3.353 482 779 7.759 4!47 682 8,133 7. 2 45 5,001 11,492 8,879 7.326 15,878 7.750 7,663 France Austria . . . * . Belgium .... I,2OI 22 3 5 00 264. 1,250 467 580 326 1,493 411 5i 1.869 650 708 1,666 794 768 1,994 975 773 4.63 2,493 1,251 987 * 2,362 1.500 i, 020 Canada 13 2 5 2 5 35 73 Other 360 380 Total JO,533 13,848 14,753 20,189 23.659 26.141 35,565 40 408 PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL CONTRIBUTED BY THE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AT EACH PERIOD United States 16.1 17.4 21.3 29.9 32.3 United Kingdom . . . 48.7 46.7 45 o 40.1 32-9 27.7 25.0 19.2 Germany Russia 11.7 3- 13.8 2.7 14 5 2 8 16.6 2.4 17.4 2.9 19.1 4-5 20.6 6.2 19.0 77 France Other .... 11.4 90 10. 1 IO 2 93 10.3 7.0 9.9 7-7 99 7- 8 Q 58 Total . . IOO O IOO.O IOO.O 66 The Geography of Commerce in Spain and Chile. Like iron and other metals, copper occurs chiefly in mountain regions, such as the Rocky Mountains ; it is also found in old mountain areas that are worn down to their core, such as New England and the Lake Superior district. The distribution , 7K 1883 1885 1890 1395 '1900 1 01 275 250 225 200 co 175 o " * c 125 i 100 75* 50 25 THOUSANDS OF METRIC TONS s ssissslSSg y """* y / THS WORLD'S PRODUCTION OF COPPER "MINERAL INDUSTRY 1902" / / / / ^/ / ^ / f j -'-- ^^ GERMA Y ^, ^ir^if- _> tT _...._ v SEir= " *"* ...j55~ -^*" YEARS 1883 1885 1BOO 1901 of the workable ore is exceedingly local, and in 1901 only two states and one territory were copper-producing on a large scale, Montana, Michigan, and Arizona. Copper minerals of the Appalachian region are considerable in quantity, but of rather low grade. The opening up Resources : Mineral Products 67 of the western region caused the Appalachian region to decrease its output ; but with cheaper methods in mining and easier extrac- tion, this copper may be made to pay if the demand should con- tinue to increase. As in the case of iron, the Michigan Peninsula in the Lake Superior district, is an important center of copper pro- duction ; much of the copper mined there is native and there are good transportation facilities to market. The largest mine in the region has reached a depth of over 4000 feet below the surface, with no sign of diminution in the supply of the metal. The Mon- tana copper production is the largest in the United States and is con- fined chiefly to a hill in the town of Butte and at the near-by Ana- conda Mine. The ores here are chiefly sulphides associated with silver and lead. The Arizona mines occur in several districts, among the better known being the Copper Queen, Old Dominion, United Verde, and Arizona Copper. A number of smaller deposits are also worked in Colorado, California, New Mexico, and Utah. The total world production of copper in 1901 amounted to 532,000 metric tons, of which the United States produced more than half. The principal uses of copper are in the manufacture of copper wire for electrical construction, cables, dynamos, etc., and as sheet- copper in the manufacture of boilers and stills, for roofing houses, and sheathing the bottoms of ships. Enormous quantities of copper are also used in the form of alloys, such as the bronzes (alloys of copper and tin), brass (alloy of copper and zinc), and German silver, 43. Lead and Zinc. These two metals are nearly always found associated, one or the other usually predominating. The principal ore of lead is a sulphide known as galena. Much of this ore is silver- bearing (argentiferous) ; it occurs to a large extent in the Rocky Mountain region. It is because the ore is argentiferous that the mining of lead in the Rocky Mountain region is profitable, it being taken out with the silver as a by-product. The same is true to a large extent in the case of copper in the Rocky Moun- tains, where the copper frequently occurs in gold and silver 68 The Geography of Commerce bearing ores. One of the best known localities of the Rocky Mountain district is the silver and lead bearing lode at Leadville, Colorado. Copper, zinc, and gold are also associated in this vein. In the Mississippi Valley the lead ore is non-argentiferous and is associated with zinc, occurring in a vein-stuff of lime- stone. Its abundance, and the ease with which it may be mined, make it a paying product. The Missouri district is the center of lead production in this area. Lead also occurs throughout the Appalachian region, but in small, non-argentiferous veins which hardly pay in competition with the central and western products. Lead has a wide use in the arts, its softness making it especially adapted for plumbing purposes (lead pipes and sheeting). Its most important use is as " white lead " (a hydrated carbonate) in the manufacture of paint ; the oxide of lead also is used in this way. With a small addition of arsenic, which renders it hard, lead is used in the manufacture of shot, and a mixture of lead and anti- mony forms the alloy known as type metal, used in the casting of type. The United States and Spain are the leading countries in the world in the production of lead. Zinc occurs mainly as the sulphide in the ore known as " blende," and is in association with galena as already noted. In the silver- bearing ores of the West, the percentage of zinc is small ; the chief center of the output is the Mississippi Valley districts. In New Jersey zinc ores of commercial importance occur as oxides and sili- cates. In Pennsylvania there is, likewise, a zinc-mining district. Commercial zinc is known as " spelter." Zinc finds an important place in the arts for plumbing and roofing purposes. Alloyed with copper it forms brass as already noted. It is largely used in the process of galvanizing as a coating to iron. " White metal " is another alloy of zinc and copper which has a wide use in the arts, being extensively made into buttons. Still another alloy with cop- per forms "gold foil" used in gilding. Zinc plates are likewise used in the preparation of electric batteries. In 1901 the United Resources: Mineral Products 69 States produced over 25 per cent of the world's output; Bel- gium, Rhenish Prussia and Silesia furnished the larger portion of the balance. 44. Tin. The only important ore of tin is tin stone or cassit- erite, which occurs in granite rocks of coarse texture. It is widely distributed, but is only found in paying quantities where the heavy metal has been washed from its granite source in the process of erosion and weathering, and has collected in gravel and sand as a placer deposit termed " stream tin." Tin mines, wherever they exist, have been discovered by tracing these stream deposits back to their source in some parent granite or associated rock. In the United States, California, and the Black Hills district in South Dakota, are regions where the best tin mines have been found. The California mine is the only one that so far has furnished much of importance. Other localities where tin has been found, and mined to some extent, are the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, also North Carolina and Alabama. Tin is largely made into tin plate (a coating of tin on iron to prevent rusting), which forms the various tinware articles of manufacture. Its alloys with copper the bronzes have already been mentioned. Alloyed with anti- mony and a small percentage of zinc and copper it forms Britannia metal, much used in the manufacture of the cheaper sort of domestic utensils. The' world's supply of tin comes chiefly from the Straits Settlements in the Malay Peninsula, the Cornwall and Devonshire mines of Great Britain, Bolivia, and Australia (Tasmania). The total amounted in 1901, to slightly over 90,000 metric tons. 45. Aluminium. Though aluminium is a very abundant and widely distributed element of the earth's crust, it never occurs free. The chief ore from which commercial aluminium is obtained is cryolite. " Bauxite " (a hydrated oxide of aluminium) occurs in the United States, in Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas, and will undoubtedly be found in other localities. More than 23,000 tons of this ore were produced in 1900. Aluminium possesses remark- fo The Geography of Commerce able lightness of weight and is very ductile and malleable. Its lightness renders it valuable for construction purposes where little weight without special strength is desirable, as in racing boats and in certain instruments. It also resists the action of the atmosphere to a marked degree. It has a wide use in the manufacture of fancy articles and ornamental work. Some of its alloys with different metals, especially copper, are important. 46. Silver. The workable ores of silver are mainly sulphides, though many other varieties occur. The metal is also obtained largely as a by-product in the extraction of other metals, notably lead and copper. The output of silver in the United States is WORLD'S DISTRIBUTION OF SILVER almost entirely from the Rocky Mountain region, Colorado, Mon- tana, Utah, Idaho, and Arizona being the chief producers (1901). At one time Nevada held first rank in the production of silver, and millions of dollars were spent in exploiting the famous Comstock Lode ; this created a city (Virginia City) on the site of the lode, and raised Nevada to the rank of a state. Mismanagement, litiga- tion, destructive fires in the mines, and costly methods, however, caused many of the operations to be abandoned, and reduced Nevada to sixth rank as a producer of silver. Lead and copper ores as noted above, are the chief sources of silver. The United States' product in 1900 amounted to nearly 60,000,000 ounces Resources : Mineral Products (fine ounce). Silver is extensively used in alloy with other metals in the manufacture of fine wares and in jewelry ; all silverware is alloyed with copper in order to increase its hardness. The silver coins of the United States contain ten per cent of copper. 47. Gold. Gold occurs native (i.e. uncombined with other elements) and is chiefly found in veins of quartz or as placer gold in the gravels and sands of streams as a result of the weather- ing of gold-bearing (auriferous) rocks. It occurs in these situa- 1875 19001901 60,000,000 02, THE WORLD'S PRODUCTION OF SILVER MINERAL INDUSTRY 1902 M 60,000,000 30,000,000 OZ. 1 5,000,000 or. 187.5 1880 1885 1890 1895 19001901 tions in grains and flakes disseminated through the quartz or the gravels, or in larger pieces called "nuggets." A large part of the gold of commerce, however, is obtained as a by-product in the min- ing of silver and copper, and certain other metals. In this con- nection, the gold probably exists mechanically mixed with the other metals, and not in chemical combination. Native gold is thus largely associated with silver, and the two are generally mined together. The gold-producing areas of the United States are in the Appalachian and the Plateau and Pacific Slope regions. 72 The Geography of Commerce Until the discovery of gold in California in 1848 the southern Appalachians produced all the gold of the country, chiefly from the states of North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina. At the present day the Western States and Alaska are the chief producers of this precious metal. Colorado heads the list (1900), followed by California, Alaska, Montana, South Dakota (Black Hills district), $75,000,000 $60,000,000 $45,000,000 $30,000,000 $11,000,000 THE WORLD'S PRODUCTION OF GOLD MINERAL INDUSTRY 1902 $75,000,000 ^60, 000, 000 $45,000,000 $,30, 000,, 000 $15,000,000 1875 and Utah. A number of other states produce smaller amounts. The United States output for 1901 amounted to nearly 4,000,000 ounces (fine) of which over 3,000,000 ounces were obtained from the quartz, the remainder being from placer deposits. This in- cludes the gold output of Alaska. The principal placer deposits are in California, where the gold has been washed down from the Sierras and accumulated in the gravels of the slack-water reaches Resources: Mineral Products 73 of rivers. The placer deposits are now mined by the hydraulic process, a stream of water being played with force upon the banks, and the water and sediment run into sluices where the heavy gold collects back of the riffles and is held by mercury with which it forms an amalgam. This has largely done away with the process of wash- ing the gravel by hand. The important use of gold is as a basis of coinage and in the manufacture of costly ornamental wares and jewelry. It is highly ductile and malleable and, unlike silver, does not tarnish. Being comparatively soft, gold is alloyed with other metals to give it durability ; silver and copper are the chief additions. 48. Platinum. This metal is occasionally found in the gold- bearing gravels, but its production has little commercial impor- tance in the United States ; the chief supply comes from Russia. Platinum is a heavy metal, remarkable for its ductility, mallea- bility, and high melting point. It is alloyed with iridium and other metals to make it harder. Its chief use is in the manufacture of crucibles, wire, and other chemical utensils required to withstand a high degree of heat, as well as the action of chemicals. It is used extensively in the manufacture of incandescent electric and gas lights, and in dentistry. 49. Mercury. The ore from which mercury or quicksilver is obtained is known as cinnabar, and is found in the United States in paying quantities only in California. The United States in 1900 stood next to Spain in the production of this metal. Its chief use is in the extraction of gold and silver from the ore. It is also used in the manufacture of a material for the " silvering " of mirrors, and on account of its remaining liquid at ordinary temperatureSj it is the substance most generally employed in the construction of thermometers. The same fact and its high spe- cific gravity render it useful in the construction of barometers. Mercury is also largely employed in medicine as calomel and corrosive sublimate, and in the form of ointment. Cinnabar, mixed with other ingredients, is the basis of the pigment vermilion. 74 The Geography of Commerce 50. Other Metals. Manganese is obtained from several dif- ferent ores. The largest producing regions of the United States (1901) are Michigan and Wisconsin. Its oxides are mined as a by-product in the silver ores of Leadville, Colorado, and in the zinc ores at Franklin Furnace, New Jersey. It is also produced in Georgia, Virginia, and Arkansas. Its chief use is in the manu- facture of steel as allots known as " spiegeleisen," and " ferro- manganese." It is also used as a bleacher, as a drier in varnishes, in the manufacture of disinfectants, in calico printing, and in the coloring of glass and pottery. Ironpyrite (sulphide of iron) occurs largely in the Appalachian region and is mined in various places solely for sulphur used in the manufacture of sulphuric acid. Chromium occurs chiefly as a chrome iron ore (chromite). The metal itself is used only as an alloy with steel, but in combination it forms the basis of several yellow and green pigments, and in the form of the bichromate of potash is used in the printing of calicoes. " Chrome steel " is used in the manufacture of edge tools and burglar-proof safes. Mining of chrome iron ore was formerly almost entirely confined to. Maryland and southern Penn- sylvania, but California is now the only state that produces it in any quantity. Baltimore is the center of the chrome industry. Antimony, obtained from the ore stibnite (a sulphide of the metal), is chiefly used in alloys to impart hardness to other metals, notably with lead to form type metal and with copper and tin to form pewter, Britannia metal, etc. The sulphide is used in the process of vulcanizing rubber ; a tartaric acid compound of the oxide, known as tartar-emetic, is employed as a mordant in dyeing, and also in medicine. Antimony ores are found in the United States, in California, Idaho, and South Dakota. Germany leads in the world's supply of antimony and antimony compounds (1900). Nickel and cobalt are two metals usually associated in several varieties of ore. Cobalt is mainly obtained as a by-product Resources: Mineral Products 75 in the extraction of nickel. Though found in various localities, the only commercial source of these metals in the United States since the closing of the nickel mines near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is in their extraction as a by-product in the mining of lead at Mine Lamotte, Missouri. The chief sources of the world's supply of nickel are the Dominion of Canada, France, and Germany. Nickel enters into the process of plating and as an alloy in the formation of nickel steel. It is also used in the so-called " German silver," in cheap watches and jewelry, and in coinage (five-cent piece). Cobalt as an oxide, is used in the manufacture of a blue pigment (cobalt blue or smalt). II. NON-METALLIC SUBSTANCES 51. Coal. Coal is the accumulated carbonaceous matter from the decay of plant life in past ages of the earth's history. There are all grades, from peat (the" dark brown, partially formed coal in vegetable sod of bogs and swamps), through lignite or wood coal and bituminous (soft) coal, to the more completely mineralized anthracite (hard) coal. Coal occurs in beds, often of great thick- ness, and is widely distributed throughout the world. Iron and coal, more than any other mineral substances, are the basis of a nation's prosperity, and with a fertile soil form the tripod upon which modern civilization rests. In the United States the chief coal fields are distributed in six areas, as follows : (i) the Appa- lachian coal fields from Pennsylvania to Alabama, including about 65,000 square miles, and the most important coal-producing area of the country ; (2) the northern area, about 7000 square miles in Michigan ; (3) the central area of. about 48,000 square miles, embracing Indiana, Illinois, and the western part of Kentucky ; (4) the western area, a vast trans-Mississippi strip of about 98,000 square miles, extending in detached fields from Iowa to the Mexi- can border ; (5) the Rocky Mountain area of numerous isolated basins scattered throughout the Plateau States ; and (6) the Pacific Slope coal fields of California, Oregon, and Washington. 76 The Geography of Commerce Coal of a peculiar nature is also found in southern New England. This is an anthracite which does not burn readily, but it is not quickly consumed, and it produces relatively a large amount of heat. In its nature it approaches graphite. In the region where this is found there have developed from it, local industries in the manufacture of stove facings, stove blacking, pipe coverings, and paints. Both bituminous and anthracite coal occur in the Appalachian area, the latter being found only in eastern Pennsylvania (the Schuylkill, Lehigh, and Wyoming districts). The rest of the Appalachian coal measures are bituminous and include important fields in western Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, the eastern part of Kentucky, and in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. The bituminous (and semi-bituminous) occurs in relation with iron in this area, and this fact has been of great importance in the development of the coal-mining industry, creat- ing an immediate market for the coal in the iron furnaces of the region. Coke (bituminous coal from which the volatile substances have been driven off) is largely used in the manufacture of pig iron and steel. The central and western areas produce bituminous chiefly, and the coal is easily mined since the measures exist in horizontal beds and not tilted as in the mountainous region of the Appalachian area. Much of the Texas coal is impure, although the output is of considerable local importance. Both anthracite and bituminous beds of excellent quality are found in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Slope areas. Pennsylvania is the largest coal-producing state of the Union ; the output of this state for 1901 amounted to more than 82,000,000 (long) tons bituminous, and 60,000,000 (long) tons anthracite. Illi- nois, West Virginia, and Ohio are also large bituminous producers. The world supply of coal in 1900 amounted to more than 765,000,000 tons (metric), an increase of over 40,000,000 Resources : Mineral Products 77 tons from the previous year. Of this the United States fur- nished about 31 per cent. The output of Great Britain was a 1878 1680 1885 1880 1895 1600 THE WORLD'S PRODUCTION OF COAL ,< MINERAL INDUSTRY 1902" 240 ,1835 1900 little short of this, while that of Germany amounted to about 19 per cent of the whole. 78 The Geography of Commerce The total area of the world's known coal fields is about 471,800 square miles, the area of the United States coal fields being about 41 per cent of this (194,000 square miles). The known coal fields of China and Japan collectively exceed in area those of the United States. The output of the three great coal producing countries the United States, Great Britain, and Germany amounts to WORLD'S DISTRIBUTION OF COAL upwards of 81 per cent of the world's total production. Im- proved methods in mining and machinery have greatly lessened the cost of coal by increasing the yield per miner and this has been of immense advantage to the industries of the world at large. 52. Petroleum. Coal oil or petroleum is found in rock strata of certain localities. It, too, is the result of the decomposition of organic matter in past geological periods. The most extensive oil production of the world is in the United States and the Caspian region of Russia, though oil occurs also in Japan, in New Zealand, and in Canada. In the United States the chief fields are in western Pennsylvania and New York, in Ohio, West Virginia, Texas, Colorado, and California. It is likely that oil will be dis- covered in other localities not yet known to be oil-producing, the recent discovery of the Texas field being an illustration of such dis- covery. The products of petroleum have many uses in industrial and domestic life, kerosene for illuminating purposes and for fuel, Resources: Mineral Products 79 lubricating oil, benzine, gasoline, naphtha, and paraffin from the last of which vaseline is manufactured. " Petroleum must be classed with coal and iron as one of the most important products of the coun- try, and one which has added largely, not only to our industrial progress, but also to the comforts of living." 1 The oil is shipped in barrels or tanks, or " piped " to distant points ; the method of piping is employed on an enormous scale in some sections. Much of the crude oil is thus transported through pipe lines to the refineries. Over 69,000,000 barrels (42 gallons) of crude petroleum were produced in the United States in 1901. In the same year Russia produced more than 85,000,000 barrels. 2 These two countries furnished over 93 per cent of the world's supply of petroleum. 53. Natural Gas. Natural gas is closely related to petroleum both in origin and distribution. The chief centers of natural gas are western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, the northwestern part of Ohio, and the eastern part of Indiana. It also occurs in Cali- fornia, and Kentucky. Its use is local for illuminating and fuel purposes, it being conducted from the gas wells in pipes for rela- tively short distances only. It is used as fuel in the manufacture of iron, steel, and glass. The economic outlook for natural gas is limited, for with the diminution of supply in a given region which must necessarily follow, its value as a factor in industry will decline. 54. Asphaltum. A number of allied substances of a bituminous nature are grouped together under the general head of asphaltum. The principal use of the material is in the manufacture of asphalt for paving purposes. In the United States certain sandstones in California, Kentucky, and Indian Territory, and some limestone in Indian Territory and Texas, are quarried for the bituminous material which is used in making asphalt, 3 but the bulk of the sup- 1 Tarr, Economic Geology of the United States, p. 348. 2" Mineral Resources of the United States (1901). The total for Russia given in Rothwell, Mineral Industry, 1902, is 80,945,247 barrels, p. 523. 3 Eldridge, Report of the United States Geological Survey (1900-1901), Part I, pp. 219-252. 8o The Geography of Commerce ply comes from the great pitch lake in the island of Trinidad, off the northern coast of South America. (See illustration facing p. 202.) An allied substance, known as mineral wax or " ozokerite," is found chiefly in Austria-Hungary. It is used in the manu- facture of candles, and as a substitute for beeswax and vaseline. It is also used as an insulator in electrical work. 55. Building Stones. The use of building stones is still largely local ; the best varieties, however, are being shipped considerable distances within the country, but building stones are not exported to any extent. The weight and size of the material precludes the transportation of the poorer varieties. Nearly every region finds the rocks of its own vicinity suited to building purposes, though of late the trade in building stone has developed considerably. 1 Granite is mostly quarried in New England, but many other states have important granite quarries, as Pennsylvania, California, Geor- gia, Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Wis- consin, Missouri, Colorado, and South Dakota. Sandstone, a widespread rock much used in building, is largely quarried in Ohio and the Middle Atlantic States. Bluestone, a fine-grained sandstone of the nature of a shale, which breaks into large, slab- like pieces, is much used for flagstones in paving. It is mainly quarried in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Slate depends upon its peculiar cleavage (the property of splitting up into thin sheets) for its usefulness. Its chief value is for roofing purposes, school slates, flagging, doorsills, etc. It is largely quarried in New England and the Appalachian States, notably Vermont and Pennsylvania. Marble is a limestone, of a crystal- line texture and generally white in color, though frequently banded and mottled with blue, brown, and other shades. It is extensively 1 " Within twenty years combinations among stone producers have followed the lead of other productive industries; close business relations in far distant localities have brought about sharp competition, With consequent improvements in methods of producing, marketing, transporting, and finishing grades of stone formerly used only locally." 2ist Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey. Resources: Mineral Products 8 1 used for building purposes and is quarried in many parts of the United States, though Vermont is the chief marble-quarrying state. The Rutland quarries there are celebrated throughout the country. Serpentine, a stone of a greenish or reddish appearance, is used locally for building purposes, notably in southeastern Pennsylvania and in Maryland. Limestone is quarried in many parts of the country, and aside from its use as a building material, is mainly employed in the manufacture of quicklime for mortar, as a flux in blast furnaces, in the making of plaster, and for fertilizers. Penn- sylvania, Ohio, New York, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Mis- souri, Illinois, California, and Connecticut are (1901) the largest producers of building stones. i 56. Cements. Limestone burned in kilns forms lime, which mixed with water and sand, makes a cement known as mortar or plaster. Hydraulic and Portland cements have the property of "setting" or hardening under water. Cement is produced most largely in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, and New York. 57. Clays. Clays result from the decomposition of rock, the finer and purer grades coming from a feldspar. Clay enters into industrial life in the manufacture of bricks, for the lining of fur- naces (fire clay), for drainage tiles, for chinaware, and for pottery of various sorts. The workable clays are usually found in beds as the deposit of some ancient sea, lake, or estuary bottom. In the glazing industry the finer sort of clay (kaolin) is of quite local pro- duction. The chief centers are Georgia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 58. Fertilizers. The materials used to enrich the soil as plant foods may be divided into three groups, (i) limestone, (2) gyp- sum, and (3) phosphates. Limestone (the carbonate) in the form of the burnt product (lime) is spread upon the soil for fertilizing purposes. Marl (a clay containing vast quantities of shells) is of local use as a fertilizer, especially in New Jersey where it is more or less abundant. Gypsum has two important uses, as a fertilizer 82 The Geography of Commerce and in the form of plaster of Paris. It is widely distributed and is frequently associated with salt. Two classes of phosphatic de- posit are recognized, the mineral phosphate and rock phosphate (resulting from guano, bone beds, etc.). Little if any of the mineral phosphate is mined in the United States, but it is worked to some extent in Canada. Guano is a form of rock phosphate, the result of the accumulated excrement of sea fowl on rocky shores and islands. Vast deposits of this material have been formed on the west coast of South America. Rock phosphate is found in the bone beds of Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina, and in other localities of the southern Coastal Plain. These beds are immense accumulations of the remains of fossil animals, which have been converted into mineral substance. The remains appear to have been accumulated in old estuaries. Charleston and Beaufort, South Carolina, are the chief centers of the phosphate industry. Artificial manures are also prepared from the refuse of fish and other animals ; large factories for this purpose are established in various places. 59. Mineral Waters. Water issuing from the ground as springs contains mineral matter in solution. In some of these springs the dissolved mineral matter is of such character and quantity as to qualify the spring as " mineral." The utilization of these waters for medicinal purposes is a growing industry in various parts of the country, either directly from the spring, or by bottling and ship- ment. New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and California are (1901) among the chief states in the production of mineral waters. 60. Precious Stones. Most of the varieties of gems or precious stones are found in this country, but not in quantities that would warrant commercial enterprise. The only gems produced in paying quantities are turquoise and pearls. The latter are frequently found in certain fresh-water clams (the pearl itself being the result of a deposit in the clam shell due to the irritation by a grain of sand or some other foreign matter). Veins of turquoise exist in New Mexico. Resources : Mineral Products 83 61. Abrasive Materials. The mineral known as corundum (of which sapphire is a pure crystalline form) is an important abrasive material, containing much oxide of iron ; this is termed emery. The chief sources of corundum in this country are North Carolina, Georgia, and Montana. Emery is found in Massachusetts, though the larger part used in the United States is imported. The silicious tests, or minute shells, of certain low forms of life (diatoms and in- fusoria) have collected in some localities in large quantities as a result of stream deposit. This deposit is known as diatomaceous or infusorial earth and is largely used in the form of a powder for clean- ing purposes. It is also used as an absorbent in the manufacture of dynamite. It occurs chiefly in New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland, and California. Sandstone of a firm, gritty character, is used in the manufacture of grindstones, which come mainly from localities in Ohio, Michigan, South Dakota, and California. A much more compact variety of sandstone is used in the manufac- ture of millstones or " buhrstones," though its use in milling is largely being replaced by the metal and porcelain rollers. Oil- stones of a fine grain are found in Arkansas, which is the chief center of oilstone manufacture in this country, though Indiana and New Hampshire also produce very good stones of this sort. Whet- stones are a somewhat coarser variety ; the chief center of their production is in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts. 62. Salt. Common salt (chloride of sodium) is obtained either by the evaporation of a brine, or from deposits of rock salt. These deposits resulted from the evaporation of salt water or brine in past ages, leaving the material incorporated as rock salt with the other rock strata. A number of salt works are located about the salt lakes of Utah and Nevada; these obtain salt by the evaporation of water. The use of the product from these works is mainly local (process of chlorination in reducing ores). The main supply of the salt used in this country comes from the de- posits of rock salt in various places, chiefly in Michigan and New 84 The Geography of Commerce York, though Kansas, Ohio, California, and West Virginia con- tribute considerable quantities. Over 20,000,000 barrels of salt were produced in the United States in 1900 (a barrel equals 280 pounds), representing a value of more than 6,000,000 dollars. Aside from the use of salt for domestic purposes, a large quantity is used in the manufacture of baking and caustic soda, and in the reduction of metallic ores. Great Britain, Russia, Germany, and the United States are the largest salt-producing countries in the world. 63. Other Non-metallic Substances. Graphite or plumbago (a pure form of carbon) is the result of the alteration of carbonaceous matter. It occurs in Rhode Island in relation with anthracite coal. The chief center of graphite mining is at Ticonderoga, New York, but some mining is also done in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and other states. Its most important use is in the manufacture of lead pencils, black lead crucibles, and as a lubri- cant. The cheaper varieties are used for stove blacking, etc. Talc and steatite or soapstone occur in many parts of the country, but their quarrying is confined to a few localities. The chief states producing soapstone are Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. The large slabs are used for hearths, stove linings, and tubs of various sorts, the smaller pieces for slate pencils and ornaments. It is also used as a basis for toilet powders, in the adulteration of soap, paper, and rubber, in the manufac- ture of paint, and as a lubricant. Asbestos is a fibrous substance derived from two kinds of minerals. It is used largely for fire- proofing purposes in the form of cloth, paint, paper, etc. The domestic supply comes chiefly from Georgia ; some is found in Massachusetts, and California, and to some extent in other regions. Sulphur is used mainly in the manufacture of matches, gunpowder, and sulphuric acid, and for medicinal purposes. It is obtained largely from native sulphur, the supply of which in this country comes almost entirely from Utah and Nevada. Magnesite and soda Resources: Mineral Products 85 both occur in the western part of the United States and will un- doubtedly be found available for the various purposes to which they are applied when the demand is sufficiently developed to make their exploitation profitable. Bromine is produced as a by-product in the salt manufacture in Michigan, West Virginia, etc. Its chief use is for chemical and disinfectant purposes. Borax is found in the arid districts of the West, chiefly in the dry lake beds of Cali- fornia and Nevada, from whence our main supply comes. It has a wide use in the arts and in medicine. Barytes, used as a pigment and for purposes of adulteration, comes chiefly from Missouri, Ten- nessee, Virginia, and from North and South Carolina. Mica is mainly quarried in North Carolina and New Hampshire, but is also produced in South Dakota and New Mexico. Its principal use is in the manufacture of panels for stoves and furnace doors, for electrical purposes, as a lubricant, and for making the frosting on wall papers. Fluorite, used as a flux in ore reduction, in the manufacture of certain kinds of glass, and for chemical purposes, is mined in the southern part of Illinois, where it occurs in the galena-bearing limestones. It has also been discovered in other regions. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 47. What other methods of dealing with products than that entered upon in Chapter VI ? (See Clow, Introduction to The Study of Commerce, Chapter II). 48. What is the meaning of commodities ? Of goods ? Of merchandise ? 49. What is meant by raw materials of commerce ? Try to make a funda- mental distinction between raw products and manufactured commodities. Show by illustration how a commodity that is a finished product for one industrial pro- ess may be raw material for another. 50. What is the meaning of the word "staples" as applied to products of dif- ferent regions ? What is the meaning of "native" as applied to metals? 51. Why is the iron ore transported to the fuel, and not vice versa? Name the three greatest centers of iron and steel manufacture in the United States. How account for the prominence in each case ? 86 The Geography of Commerce 52. What is the weight in pounds of a short ton ? Long ton ? Metric ton ? What is the origin of each and to what sort of commodities is each applied ? Which of these will likely be the standard ultimately ? 53. Compare the value of the gold production of California with the value of her agricultural products. 54. "The Coal Question : " Discuss the ethics and the economics of wastefulness in the domestic and industrial consumption of coal. Compare the known coal supply of the United States with that of the other great industrial powers, keep- ing in mind the dependence on coal. What conclusion is reached from the com- parison ? 55. Write a short essay on salt, dealing with the following : () sources of supply; () commercial use and value ; and (c} trade. 56. With an outline map of the United States, fill in the regional distribution of the principal commercial mineral products. 57. What is the meaning of "by-product" as applied to an industry ? Try to find out about the profits from the converting of waste material into by-products. What are the chief by-products of petroleum refining ? Books to be Consulted Tarr, Economic Geology of the United States. Macmillan Co. * Roth well, The Mineral Industry, issued annually. Volume for 1902, edited by Struthers. New York and London. **United States Geological Survey, Mineral Resources of the United States. Published annually. *Rocheleau, Minerals, Vol. I in "Great American Industries." Elementary but valuable. Flanigan Company, Chicago. Coal Trade of the United States and the World's Coal Supply and Trade. Monthly Summary of Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department; Septem- ber, 1902. **Yeats, Natural History of Raw Materials of Commerce, Part IV. Philip & Son; London. CHAPTER VII RESOURCES: VEGETABLE PRODUCTS 64. Distribution of Vegetable Products in Relation to Temperature and Moisture. The area of the United States is divisible because of conditions of climate, into two temperature regions or zones, the northern and the southern. In each of these, certain character- istic features in animal and plant life prevail, as conditioned by tem- perature. The general facts of temperature control have already been outlined (Section 1 1). The boundary line between the two regions is exceedingly irregular, owing to topographical influences. Thus, in the eastern part of the country, the lower temperature prevailing over the Appalachian Highland causes the line to bend southward for a considerable distance around the southern end of the mountains, while in the central region it extends far northward to the valley of the Saskatchewan River in Canada, because of the comparatively high summer temperature prevailing over the Great Plains and Mississippi Valley. 1 The southern region is again divided into an upper and a lower zone as a result of the great increase of temperature over the southern Coastal Plain and the Gulf border. The lower southern zone is the great cotton-growing region of the United States. The upper southern zone corresponds in general with the corn-belt and the zone of winter wheat, while spring wheat is grown in the northern region. Among forest trees the magnolias, live oaks, papaws, buckeyes, tulip trees, and sweet 1 The boundary between the northern and southern zones is an isothermal line the midsummer isotherm of 64.40 F., which represents the average for the six hottest consecutive weeks. It is not a fixed line, but represents an approximate boundary during the period of plant growth. 87 88 The Geography of Commerce gums are conspicuously southern. These gradually give place toward the north to the hickories, chestnuts, and oaks of the mid- dle region. Farther north still, as in New England and on the Appalachians, the maples, beeches, aspens, and birches, extend to the borders of the northern zone of evergreen forests, where pines, spruces, firs, and larches are the predominating trees. The southern region is further divided into an eastern humid and a western arid province, as already noticed (Section 13). These features of the distribution of temperature and moisture Jie at the basis of the agriculture of the United States. Six indus- trial divisions are recognized, in each of which some form of agriculture is the basic factor of prosperity: (i) in the region embraced by New England and New York mixed farming, dairy- ing, and market gardening are carried on as staple agricultural pursuits. Farming on a large scale has been precluded because of the irregularity of relief, the forbidding nature of the climate and the thin soil, and from the fact that no single crop ever became preeminent; (2) the corn and winter wheat belt lies in a zone included approximately between the forty-third and thirty-fifth par- allels of latitude, and extending from the Atlantic seaboard to the western borders of Nebraska and Kansas. It thus corresponds, in a general way, to the upper zone of the southern region. In this area the raising of live stock, as dependent upon corn, is a leading industry ; (3) south of the thirty-fifth parallel is the cotton- growing belt, reaching to .the western border of Texas. This area corresponds almost exactly with the lower zone of the southern region ; (4) the spring wheat belt lies north of the forty-third par- allel, extending from the Lake Region westward to Montana and Wyoming; (5) the Plateau States Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, and Nevada are preemi- nently " range states," owing to the diminished rainfall. They are given over to the production of live stock and wool ; (6) the Pacific States Washington, Oregon, and California form an Resources: Vegetable Products 89 agricultural unit. Wheat, barley, fruits, and live stock (besides timber) form the staple products. 1 In reviewing the vegetable products of the United States, the most natural and logical order is : first, food plants ; second, fiber plants ; third, forest products; and fourth, other vegetable products. I. FOOD PLANTS 65. Corn or Maize. Indian corn or maize is the largest single crop in the United States, the yield of 1900 amounting to upwards of 2,000,000,000 bushels. This amount represents about four-fifths of the total world production of corn. The states of greatest production 1901 (each state producing over 100,000,000 bushels) are Iowa, Illinois, and Nebraska. Other states producing largely of corn are Missouri, Kansas, Indiana, and Ohio. These constitute the "corn-belt." Their combined production amounted to over one-half of the entire crop of the country. Corn is used chiefly as a food for man and stock. Its value as a food lies in the com- paratively large percentage of fatty material contained in the grain, and in the starch and nitrogenous substances. The ease with which it can be cultivated in newly cleared land was a very important factor in the early settlement of the Middle West. When ground, its flour forms the cheap and nutritious corn meal or Indian meal so largely used in domestic economy. In the manufacture of glucose, starch, and distilled liquors it has a very wide and important use. The glucose industry alone consumes between 50,000,000 and 60,000,000 bushels of each year's crop. The value of the export from glucose manufactures amounts to $3,600,000, which is only a small fraction of the value of this product consumed at home. It is, however, as a stock food that corn finds its greatest use. Not only is the grain used for feeding and fattening cattle, hogs, and fowls, but the whole plant, leaves and stalk, is used as "fodder," either dry and stacked, or as "ensilage " kept in large 1 See Map of Productive Areas, opposite p. 124. 90 The Geography of Commerce quantities under pressure, or in a pit or " silo." Returns in beef and hog-products, milk, butter, eggs, and poultry, are largely from corn converted by the process of animal life (metabolism) into these more concentrated forms. Seventy-five per cent of the corn crop of the United States is used as a food for stock in the corn-belt section. The land is again enriched for future crops by the manures returned to it from animal life. The small portion of corn exported, finds its way for the most part into Canada, Great Britain, and the countries of Europe. The United States had devoted 83,320,872 acres of land to producing corn in 1900, and the value of the entire crop, at farm prices, amounted to upward of $750,000,000.* Maize grows best in a rich, loamy soil, and in a climate of abundant sunshine and rainfall. A region where the summer is comparatively long, from four and one-half to seven months, and where the possi- bilities of frost during the crop's growth are reduced to a minimum, where the soil is rich in the elements of plant food (as in river DISTRIBUTION OF INDIAN CORN alluvium, glacial deposits, and old forest floors), and is not too stiff and compact to allow of readily drying after rains by free drainage ; where the summer rains, though copious, are not too heavy and frequent such a region is an ideal one for the cultiva- 1 Figures of the Department of Agriculture. Resources: Vegetable Products 91 tion of maize. All these conditions are found throughout the corn- belt of the United States, save in the very western portion where the disability of diminishing rainfall is overcome by irrigation. Maize was originally a native of the warmer parts of America, and has spread by cultivation throughout a large portion of the tropical and temperate regions of the world. The world's supply of maize to-day comes from the United States, Hungary, Rumania, Italy, Argentina, southern Russia, Turkey, and Egypt. 66. Wheat. Next to corn, wheat is the most important food crop of the United States. The production of wheat for 1900 amounted to 522,230,000 bushels. 1 This exceeded the crop of any other single country by more than 100,000,000 bushels. For 1901 the Department of Agriculture reported 748,460,000 bushels. Good wheat land is usually a moderately rolling country, which insures sufficient drainage, and at the same time allows of easy tilling and of harvesting by field machinery. The best soil's are loams or light clays of not too stiff a character, and containing the necessary elements of plant food. Climate is essentially a controlling factor in wheat growth. Wheat differs from corn in one particular, for while the latter is a summer crop, wheat from its nature, being a " winter annual," requires a season of coolness and moisture in which to germinate and attain its young growth. Alternate spells of freezing and thawing kill the young plants, while the warmth induced by a covering of snow is the most favorable condition possible for winter wheat. According to climatic and weather conditions, wheat is sown either in the autumn or in the early spring. The heads of the grain come to perfection best in dry, sunny, summer weather. "The ideal climate for wheat is one with a long and rather wet winter, with but little or no frost, prolonged into a cool and rather wet spring, which gradually fades into a warmer summer, the weather growing gradually drier as it grows l This statement is based on The Yearbook of Agriculture. 92 The Geography of Commerce warmer." 1 These conditions are met throughout many regions in the temperate zones. In North America the wheat-growing region extends much farther north than the corn-belt, reaching beyond the northern tier of states into Canada. The soil and climate of the Prairie Region and of the northern portions of the Pacific Slope are especially favorable for wheat culture. With the invention and improvement of farm machinery, the vast wheat crop of the United States is planted and harvested with comparatively little labor and expense. Large quantities of the grain are stored in elevators at various centers, ready for immediate shipment " on call." A vast amount finds its way to 1. D rtfd.8t.tt.. Z. BUM!.. 3. 4. 5. Annri. Hungary. 6. Otrmany. 7. lulj. 8. Argntin.. 9. Spuii 10. Briti.h Isle.. 11. 12. MB PRINCTPAl WHfAT B PRODUCING REGIONS LESS IMPORTANT V PRODUCING 6ION! DISTRIBUTION OF WHEAT the great mills of Minneapolis and Superior, where it is ground between chilled iron and porcelain rollers, and is shipped to the markets of the world as wheat flour. This flour forms the main breadstuff of civilized peoples ; to the world's supply the United States in 1900 (outside of home consumption) furnished 18,699,194 barrels. Wheat is grown to some extent in every region of the north and south temperate zones, and also within the limits of the tropics where soil and climate are favorable. To-day the prin- cipal wheat-growing countries (those producing over 100,000,000 1 Statistics of Agriculture. Tenth Census, pp. 63-64. Resources: Vegetable Products 93 bushels a year) are United States, Russia, France, British India, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Italy, Spain and Argentina. In most countries only enough is produced for home consumption, and in many there is a large deficit which has to be made up by importa- tion from the greater wheat-producing lands. The following diagram shows the comparative output of wheat for 1900 : Wheat presents a great number of varieties, and these depend largely upon the character of the climate. Among the principal features of variation are the amount and character of the gluten (the nitrogenous prin- ciple of the grain) and the hardness of the coats or coverings. The superior quality of certain wheats appears to depend upon the relative amount of sunshine during the period of ripen- ing. American wheats are particularly noted for the brightness of their grain. , , . WHEAT CROP OF THE WORLD APPROXIMATED Hard wheats are drought- m BUSHLS (igoo) resistent, and this feature Total, 2,586,564,000 characterizes many of the Russian wheats which are especially adapted for growth in semi- arid regions, like those in the southwestern United States and in parts of the Russian Empire. The same is true of the macaroni varieties, which besides have a pasty gluten, making them especially adapted to the manufacture of macaroni. The hard wheats pro- duced in various parts of the world have revolutionized milling machinery, the old millstones having been replaced by the chilled iron and porcelain rollers. 67. Rye. The rye crop of the United States in 1901 amounted 94 The Geography of Commerce to only 30,345,000 bushels as compared with the crop of the world which amounted to 1,448,072,000 bushels. Of the United States, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and New York, led as rye-produc- ing states, followed by Nebraska, Michigan, and Minnesota. 1 Rye is capable of withstanding a greater degree of cold than wheat, and is consequently grown farther north. It also thrives in a less fertile soil. It forms the chief breadstuff of many millions of European peoples, and is the most important grain crop of cen- tral and northern Europe, vast areas of which are covered by a sandy soil of very poor quality. It has a wide use for distilling in the manufacture of whisky. 68. Barley. Barley is the most widely ranging of all the cereals, being grown in Norway as high as latitude 70 N. and throughout the Mediterranean countries. Outside of Scandinavia, where it is largely used as a breadstuff, its chief use is for malt in the fermentive process of the brewing industries ; in Scotland and Ireland barley is used in the making of whisky. Out of the 995,466,000 bushels reported for the world at large, for the year 1901, the United States contributed only 109,933,000 bushels, and this chiefly from the states of California, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. 69. Oats. The total oat crop of the United States for 1900 amounted to 809,125,989 bushels, while that for the rest of the world amounted to 3,120,100,000 bushels. The chief states in oat production are Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, and Nebraska. Of these, Illinois and Iowa furnished nearly one- third of the entire crop, while the other states produced more than half of the remainder. Pennsylvania, New York and Texas also produced important crops. 2 Oats thrive best in a moist climate with cool summers. They do well in a variety of soils, but exhibit a remarkable variation in the 1 See United States Yearbook of Agriculture for 1900. 2 See United States Yearbooks of Agriculture, for 1900, p. 773; for 1901, p. 719. Resources: Vegetable Products 95 amounts produced in different localities. Their chief use in this country is as a food for horses, and the same may be said for most of the European countries. In certain regions, however, oatmeal forms an important breadstuff of the peoples, notably in Scotland, where it is eaten in the form of oat cakes and oatmeal porridge. 70. Review of the Cereals. The cereals are grasses, the seeds or grains of which are used as a food. With the exception of \Vest Irom 87 Greenwich 82 Centre of Population 1850-1900 Centre of Wheat Production 1850-1900 Centre of Corn Production 1850-1900 (S) Centre of Manufactures 1850-1900 WESTWARD MOVEMENT OF CEREAL PRODUCTION IN RELATION TO THAT OF POPULATION AND MANUFACTURE maize, those in use to-day are all Old World species, and their cultivation reaches back to a great antiquity. As has already been noted the different kinds vary in their relations to soil and climate, and to some extent, therefore, in their geographical distribution. They are the source of the breadstuffs of the world, and some one of them is cultivated in practically every region of the earth occupied by civilized man. Wheat is undoubtedly the most important and the 9 6 The Geography of Commerce most widely distributed of the cereals ; maize is well adapted to the warmer regions ; rye, barley, and oats are more restricted in their use and distribution. In the United States a very interesting relation is observed between the westward movement of population and the westward extension of cereal cultivation. The map on page 95 shows that while the center of population has advanced slowly westward, and is now located in southeastern Indiana, the center 1850 1870 4300 3800 8300 2800 2300 1800 1300 x^ oo // ^ IU ti& y/ I u /& Y 1 jr I 1 / X 1 z 2 a /^ z z 2 (T Ul ,x /* 2 & v ^ i fc , "/ 1 M^-* ^.X "^ . / I x^ 337>342 tons respectively. 1 72. Buckwheat. The plant producing the buckwheat of com- merce is a member of the same family as the knotweeds and also of the common dock or sorrel. Its seeds resemble the nuts of the beech in their general form, hence the name. Its cultivation in the United States has decreased considerably, as in most regions it is a very uncertain crop. It grows in poor soil and is sown late in the spring ; it is, therefore, adapted to cultivation in mountainous districts. Pennsylvania and New York produce two-thirds of the buckwheat crop, which amounted, in 1901, to 15,125,939 bushels for the entire country. 73. Potatoes. The tubers, or swollen starch-filled portions of underground stems, form the potato of commerce. The plant was originally a native of the Andes, and was introduced into Europe about the middle of the sixteenth century. Its adaptability to a wide range of climate and its ease of cultivation, together with the fact that its starch forms a nutritious food-stuff, make it a staple article of diet among the peasant and working classes throughout many European countries and in the United States. Potatoes form the main food supply of the Irish peoples ; in North- ern Germany, also, they constitute a large proportion of the food of the working classes. Regions dependent upon the potato .are subject to scarcity of food because of the rotting of the crop in seasons of abundant moisture. The potato crop of the United States for 1900 amounted to 210,926,897 bushels, at a farm value of $90,811,167. By far the larger part of the crop is produced by New York, Iowa, Pennsyl- vania, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, and Maine. 2 1 Twelfth Census. 2 United States Yearbook of Agriculture for 1900, p. 796. Resources: Vegetable Products 99 74. Rice. The plant furnishing the rice of commerce is a grass which grows in warm regions in the low-lying, swampy districts of river estuaries and flood plains. In such countries as China and India it forms the staple food supply of millions of people. The nutritious matter is in the seeds or grains, and consists chiefly DISTRIBUTION OF RICE of starch. In the United States only those states lying along the South Atlantic and Gulf border are rice producers. The principal states which grow rice are North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana. The estimated rice crop for 1900 was more than 285,000,000 pounds. 75. Sugar. The sugar of the civilized world is derived from two main sources, sugar cane and beet root. The sugar cane is a grass, allied to the cereals, which grows in low, swampy regions in the warmer parts of the world. Though originally a native of India, it has spread by cultivation throughout the tropical and subtropical lands of both hemispheres. The juice of the cane, which is pressed from the stalks by heavy rollers in a mill, yields a saccharine material from which the raw sugar of commerce is crystallized by boiling, filtering, and chemical processes ; the resi- due forms the molasses of commerce. Louisiana is the only state of the Union producing sugar extensively from the cane. The sugar output for this state for 1901-1902 amounted ^-275,000 (long) tons. The bulk of the sugar of the United States comes from Cuba, the Hawaiian Islands, and Porto Rico, and will be further consid- IOO The Geography of Commerce ered under these heads. The sugar crop of the world amounts to over 10,000,000 tons, including both cane and beet-root production. Beet sugar has become an important item in the world's com- merce. Considerable competition exists between the cane and the beet as sources of sugar. On the side of the cane, the ease of cultivation, the cheapness of labor in the regions where it grows, and the comparatively small cost of the rough machinery for han- dling it, are of advantage as compared with the beet. On the other hand, however, the beet, though requiring more care in cultivation and more expensive machinery in the process of extraction, is pro- duced in the more densely populated regions where it is used, thus obviating the cost of shipment. Furthermore, the residue of AREAS OF BEET AND CANE SUGAR PRODUCTION the beet can be used as a food for cattle, while the crushed stalks of the cane are comparatively valueless. (For relations of produc- tion see p. 387.) The beet sugar industry has been greatly developed in European countries, notably in Germany, Austria, and France. The produc- tion in Europe for 1901-1902 amounted to 6,825,000 tons. In the United States the cultivation of the beet for sugar is carried on principally in California and Michigan, which produce about two- thirds of the entire product in beet sugar. Nebraska, Utah, New York, and Colorado produce over four-fifths of the remainder. 1 A i See United States Yearbook of Agriculture for 1901, pp. 764-765. CALIFORNIA LEMON TREES WHEAT HARVESTING IN DAKOTA Resources: Vegetable Produces ' ^'. small amount of sugar is produced in certain other localities, for example in the southern and central States from sorghum, and in the mountainous districts of New England and the middle States from the sap of sugar maples. 76. Fruit Culture and Garden Trucking. Fruit and garden farm- ing form important industries in many parts of the United States. Apples of many varieties are grown in abundance. In 1900 the shipment of ripe and green apples out of the country amounted to 526,636 barrels, while the export of the dried fruit reached 2,247,851 pounds. The chief peach-growing states are California, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Michigan. The Pacific Slope is especially adapted to fruit culture, its abundant moisture and wide range of climate (embracing both temperate and sub- tropical conditions) being peculiarly favorable for the cultivation of many different varieties. Chief among these are oranges, lemons, raisins, apricots, figs, prunes, and olives. The grape is cultivated to a large extent, and many fine domestic wines are produced, especially in California, and to a limited extent in other localities. Florida, in a subtropical climate, produces lemons, pineapples, and other tropical fruits. The orange crop in Florida has been severely impaired by frosts. The raising of small fruits for the home markets is a very important branch of agriculture in many parts of the country. Chief among these is the strawberry. Vegetable gardening is carried on to supply the home market, the material being in the main too bulky and perishable for export. Peas and beans are grown to a large extent in many localities, also egg plants, squashes, lettuce, spinach, melons, cucumbers, aspara- gus, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes. Cabbages, turnips, and celery are among the important root and stock plants grown on the truck farms. Truck gardening, both for vegetables and fruits, has developed very largely of late years. This is to a great extent due to the TO2 The Geography of Commerce demand for fresh vegetables and fruits out of season. This has been dependent upon development in the means of transportation. Fast freight trains, equipped with refrigerator cars, rush the fresh fruits and vegetables from California and Florida, and vegetables from the great truck farms of the southern States and the Missis- sippi Valley, to the populous cities of the central States and the Atlantic seaboard. Fast steamships, equipped with refrigerators, perform the same service along the coast. Many varieties of fruits and vegetables are also raised under glass during the winter in the neighborhood of the large cities. The principal truck farm districts are the South Atlantic States, the Mississippi Valley, the Gulf border from Alabama to Texas, the Maryland and Delaware Peninsula, New Jersey, and the country about the great eastern cities. II. FIBER PLANTS 77. Cotton. The cotton of commerce is the fibrous down or hair surrounding the seeds of a plant. The cotton plant is now DISTRIBUTION OF COTTON pretty generally cultivated throughout the tropical and warm tem- perate regions of the earth. The plant requires a warm and mod- erately moist climate, an absence of frost, and a comparatively long summer. In the United States these conditions are met in the South Atlantic and Gulf States which constitute the " cotton-belt." Two species are grown : Barbados or " sea-island cotton," and Resources: Vegetable Products /;, ' "upland cotton." In the "sea-island cotton" the " staple " (i.e. the fibrous hairs) is much longer than in the " upland " variety, and it is chiefly used in the manufacture of thread, and the finer sorts of lace and cambrics, while the upland species with shorter " staple " is more frequently used in the manufacture of coarse clothing stuffs. The name " sea-island " comes from the fact that this cotton was first cultivated in the United States on the low, sandy islands that fringe the shores of South Carolina and Georgia ; this locality still produces the best long-staple cotton of the United States. The soil and atmosphere along the coast influence the development of this variety of cotton ; it deteriorates when grown in the interior. From the field the cotton is taken to the " gin," a machine for separating the fiber from the seed. From the gin it is packed in bales, averaging about 500 pounds each ; next it is shipped to the market towns where it is sold by the cotton brokers, on com- mission, to the purchasing agents of buyers both at home and abroad. Formerly the cotton mills were located for the greater part in New England and the middle States, but now a great num- ber of mills have started throughout the southern States, and over 1,000,000 bales of cotton a year are being used directly in the cotton-belt. The cotton crop of the United States in 1899 exceeded the crop of 1866 by 7,045,584 bales, representing an increase of over 17,000,000 acres of the area under cotton. The world's con- sumption of cotton for 1900-1901 amounted to 13,593,000 bales (500 pounds each), more than 10,000,000 of which were produced in the United States. The principal cotton-producing states (those of over 1,000,000 bales) are Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama, followed more or less closely by North and South Caro- lina, Arkansas, Indian Territory, Louisiana, and Tennessee. Vir- ginia, Utah, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, Kansas, and Florida also produce some cotton. TO4 The Geography of Commerce 78. Flax and Hemp. These are plants the stalks of which yield a fiber much used in the manufacture of various materials such as linen, bagging, rope, cordage, and sailcloth. They are produced for fiber to a limited extent in the United States. Flax in the United States is grown chiefly for its seeds which yield the well-known " linseed oil," used in the mixing of paints and in varnishes. The cake left after the oil has been pressed out is used as a food for cattle. Cotton seed likewise yields an oil of considerable importance in the arts, the residual cake being also used in fattening cattle and fowls. The ground flaxseed forms linseed meal, much used in medicine. The flaxseed product for the whole world in 1900 amounted to over 64,000,000 bushels, of which the United States furnished nearly one-third. Hemp is chiefly grown in Kentucky, but has little commercial value ; its chief use is in the place of jute for cordage. The cost of land, however, and the heavy labor attending its reaping and " break- ing " preclude the present cultivation of hemp on an extensive scale, though there is a prospect that it may be developed on new lines by the use of more suitable varieties, better machinery, and improved methods of cultivation. III. FOREST PRODUCTS. 79. Important Forest Trees and their Distribution. We have already considered the forests in their general effects (Chapter III) ; it remains under this head to consider forests as a timber-pro- ducing crop. The forest trees of the United States belong to two distinct groups or classes : (i) the evergreens or conifers, having needle-shaped leaves ; and (2) the deciduous or broad- leafed trees. The latter are often distinguished from the former by the term " hardwood" trees, because of the harder and more dense character of the woody tissue. To the first group belong all the different varieties of pine, spruce, fir, and hemlock, while to the second belong the other forest trees of the country, as oaks, chest- Resources: Vegetable Products 105 nuts, walnuts, hickories, ashes, maples, etc. Broadly speaking, the evergreens or conifers characterize the more northern region of the country the spruce and fir forests of northern New England and the " pineries " of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota are illustrations of this fact. A distinction is to be made in the use of the terms " timber " and " lumber." Timber is collectively the trees themselves and their unsawed logs after being felled ; while lumber, strictly speaking, means the same material sawed. Of the pines there are a number of species, valuable both on account of their timber and for the protecting effects of their shade in relation to the soil and to the water supply of streams. The white pine, the most important conifer in the United States, is abundant throughout the northern tier of states, reaching its best development in the region about the Great Lakes. Its wood is soft and light, easily worked and free from resin. It is used in immense quantities for lumber. This tree grows best in light, sandy soils of good depth, and under these conditions it is of rapid growth. The best quality of pine lumber is from trees at least one hundred years old. The white pine extends southward to the mountains. The red or Norway pine has a similar range, reaching its best development from Michigan to Minnesota. These two trees form the pineries of this region. Red pine is lighter, harder, and stronger than white pine, but much more resinous. It is handled in commerce with the white pine. In the middle and southern States are several species of pine, valuable for their timber and also for the resin which they contain ; from the resin is manufactured commercial turpentine, tar, and pitch. These include, among other species, the yellow and the long-leaf pines. On the western Pacific Slope the sugar pine is quite similar to the white pine, and is used for the same purposes. The spruces are chiefly used for wood pulp in the manufacture of paper, and for lumber. They are mainly northeastern in their distribution. In the Rocky Mountain Region and on the iOO The Geography of Commerce Pacific Slope the Douglas spruce or Oregon pine is an important source of lumber. The two species of hemlock from the northeast and the northwest sections of the country produce lumber of second grade. The bark of the northeastern species is an im- portant agent used in tanning. In the southern States the bald cypress, growing in swamps, forms an important source of lumber. The western larch, or tamarack, is used to some extent in the region where it grows. In the eastern United States the red juniper, cedar, or savin, as it is differently called, is used for a number of purposes, one of which is in the making of lead pencils. The yellow cedar and the red- wood, both from the Pacific Slope, are a valuable source of lumber. Among the hardwood or deciduous trees, the various species of oak are conspicuous for their usefulness. The white oak of the central, northern, and eastern States, supplies a tough, strong, and heavy lumber, largely used in shipbuilding, for cooperage, the making of agricultural implements, and a variety of other purposes. The tree attains its best development on the western slope of the Alleghanies and in the valley of the Ohio. In the southern States the swamp chestnut, and cow or basket oak are quite the equal of the white oak as a source of lumber supply. The basket oak reaches its best development in the rich bottom lands of Arkansas and Louisiana. The tan-bark oak, best developed in the California redwood belt, is chiefly valuable for the tanning qualities of its bark. The black oak, the red oak, and the post oak are all valuable species occurring east of the Rocky Mountains. The two former, best developed in New England, are also used for tanning. The beech is an important timber tree, growing abundantly throughout the region east of the Mississippi River. The black walnut, the shagbark hickory, the pecan, the black cherry, and the tulip tree or yellow poplar, are all wide-ranging species of the eastern United States (some, as the pecan and tulip, being more southerly than the others), and their wood is valuable io8 The Geography of Commerce for a great variety of purposes. The forests of the eastern United States also supply lumber from the ash, maple, elm, and basswood or linden. Besides the species above mentioned there are many other trees, both conifers and hardwoods, that produce valuable lumber of the second and third grades. 1 80. The Lumber Industry. As has already been said, the forest is a crop, and its returns will depend on the intelligence exercised in its planting, tending, and harvesting (see p. 29). Millions of dollars' worth of lumber is cut each year in the United States to be used at home and abroad. A forest is equal to a grain crop in its importance to civilized life. We have but to look about us to see the manifold uses of wood and to realize that without it our present life would be hardly possible. Much of the lumber used in building, comes from the pine region of the northern States, where lumbering is one of the chief industries. Lumber is difficult of transportation, and in many regions natural conditions are taken advantage of in getting it out of the woods, and starting it on its journey to the markets. The deep snows in the northern woods are of great advantage to the lumberman, for during the winter the logs can be more easily hauled out. The rafting of logs on the upper courses of the rivers during the spring freshets was at one time extensively practiced. The chain of Great Lakes forms a highway for the movement of lumber from the pine region. Formerly the saw mills were run by the water power of the streams, and the logs had to be hauled or floated to them to be worked up ; but with the increase of railroad facilities, and the improvements in machinery, steam saw mills are now set up in the woods and the logs worked up near the lumbering operations. The United States not only produces enough wood for its own consumption, but exports a vast quantity as well. In 1900 the 1 Yearbook of Agriculture for 1897, pp. 644-669. Resources: Vegetable Products 109 value of the lumber export amounted to more than thirty-seven millions of dollars, and of wood manufactures to over ten millions more. This export was sent to all parts of the world. IV. OTHER VEGETABLE PRODUCTS 81. Tobacco. The tobacco of commerce is the dried leaves of a plant belonging to the same family as the white potato. It is a native of America, where it was found under cultivation and in use by the native peoples at the time of the dis- covery. The plant is now widely grown throughout the warmer regions of the world. A crop of tobacco has an impoverishing effect upon the soil, reduc- ing its fertility in a short time unless the The Tobacco Producing Section. of the United States a SCALE OF MILES. SO 100 200 .300 DISTRIBUTION OF TOBACCO IN THE UNITED STATES proper means are taken to enrich the land by fertilizers. A number of varie- ties of the plant are cultivated, each adapted to peculiarities of soil and climate, and differing widely from one another in the quality of their leaf. From the returns of the Twelfth Census (1900) upwards of 9,574,000 acres of land in the United States are under tobacco. Kentucky is the leading tobacco-producing state, both in the amount produced and in the area under cultivation. In 1900 the domestic tobacco consumed" and exported amounted to upward of 668,000,000 of pounds. Though widely grown throughout the HO The Geography of Commerce United States, the regions of greatest tobacco cultivation and larg- est production are Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, and Wisconsin. In Louisiana the famous perique tobacco is grown, principally in the St. James Parish. The tobacco from each of these different sections has its own peculiar qualities and its special uses in manufacture. 82. Hops. The hops of commerce are the flowers of a climb- ing plant largely used to impart the bitter flavor to malt liquors. In 1899 the hop production of the world amounted to 1,286,460 bales (180 pounds each), of which the United States furnished 235,300 bales (latest statistics available). Hop production, like that of tobacco, has a deteriorating effect on soils. The chief hop-growing states are New York, Oregon, California, and Washing- ton. The Pacific coast production has steadily increased during the past five years, while that of New York has decreased. Austria, England, and Germany are the largest hop-growing countries of Europe. 83. Plants that might be cultivated in the United States. In the eighteenth century the cultivation of the indigo plant was carried on to a considerable extent in the southern States and considerable quantities of indigo were manufactured, but the industry gradually declined, and has disappeared. The cultivation of indigo might be again introduced. The tea plant can be grown in the United States in a region where the temperature rarely falls below 25 F., and never below zero, and where a sufficient rainfall is assured. Even with the abundant rainfall of the South Atlantic States, however, irrigation must be re- sorted to. The United States Department of Agriculture is conduct- ing a series of experiments in tea growing at Pinehurst plantation, South Carolina, which bid fair to be a success. The conclu- sions are that tea culture can be made profitable in the United States in two ways : (i) by conducting it on the scale of the Pinehurst experiment ; and (2) by cultivation in the garden for Resources: Vegetable Products in home use. 1 The cultivation of the opium poppy has been at- tempted in some sections of the United States, but the high price of labor renders its production under present conditions unprofit- able. Egyptian cotton of a superior quality has been grown in this country. The date palm is now being raised experimentally in Arizona ; no doubt the cultivation of many other vegetable prod- ucts will be introduced into the United States. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 58. Distinguish between the earlier use of the word "corn" and the current use in United States. What is the appropriateness of the title "King Corn" ? 59. State the climatic conditions under which different varieties of wheat (in- cluding macaroni) may be grown. 60. Compare the increase of cereal production in the United States with the increase of population. (1850-1900, Twelfth Census.) 61. Is buckwheat a cereal ? What is the origin of the name ? 62. Ascertain the total value of the hay crop for 1900. Compare it with the value of other leading products. 63. "Describe the sugar trade of the world, having regard to the various sources of raw sugar, the position of the refineries, and the degree to which each of the chief countries is an importer." Contrast the total world's production of cane and beet sugar. (Monograph of Bureau of Commerce and Finance, Treasury Department, The World's Sugar Production and Consumption, see p. 205.) 64. In the total value of exports from the United States, how does cotton com- pare with other leading commodities ? 65. Enumerate the principal vegetable fibers for the textile industries. Select one and write a brief account of its production, uses, and trade. 66. The Secretary of Agriculture (Report 1901) says that the United States is paying millions of dollars annually for productions of the tropics that might be grown within her own territory without interfering with industries already estab- lished. Discuss this statement with thought of its bearing on the future trade of the United States. 67. Take an outline map of the United States and fill in the principal vege- table products of the different regions. l Bulletin No. 61, Tea, Culture^ United States Department of Agriculture, H2 The Geography of Commerce Books to be Consulted ** Publications of the United States Department of Agriculture, Yearbook and Bulletins. * Twelfth Census, Reports on Agricultural Products. Crookes, The Wheat Problem, New York and London ; 1900. Stevenson, The Trees of Commerce. London edition. * Rocheleau, Products of the Soil. Vol. II of Great American Industries. Flani- gan Company, Chicago. Elementary, but a good introduction. ** Yeats, Natural History of the Raw Materials of Commerce, Part II, London. Philip & Son. * Edgar, The Story of a Grain of Wheat, New York ; 1903. CHAPTER VIII RESOURCES : ANIMAL PRODUCTS 84. Cattle and Dairy Products. The history of extensive cattle raising in the United States is a part of the westward movement of population. The mixed breeds of cattle that originated on the eastern seaboard from the stock of the early English, Dutch, and Swedish settlers, gradually improved as more abundant pasturage opened westward. Cattle raising on a large scale must always be outside the older settled districts. In the early part of the nineteenth century, the prairies of the Ohio and Mississippi basins were the great grazing grounds, and it was here that the native stock showed its first marked improvement. In the beginning of the latter half of that century the Great Plains west of the Mississippi, for ages the pasture land of the immense bison herds, were invaded by the cattlemen, who first opened up these vast grazing " ranges " from Montana to Texas. Subsequent to tfeis invasion, was the building of the railroad and the establishment of a market for the western stock in the more densely populated districts of the East. At first it was only a question of home consumption; but with improvements in the means for the shipment and preservation, a market was created for American meat products in the manufac- turing countries of western Europe. For a time the cattle were shipped by train from the stock yards of the western cities to the Atlantic ports, and there put aboard "cattle ships" for the ocean voyage ; but with the improvement in preserving meats by cold storage, the shipment of live cattle has been largely super- seded by the shipment of fresh meat. Refrigerator cars and cold i 113 H4 The Geography of Commerce storage compartments of steamships, now carry most of the meat products transported. Cold storage is effected either by chilling or freezing with ice, or by lowering the temperature through the ex- pansion of compressed air. Various other methods of preserving meat are also employed, as drying, smoking, salting, and canning. Most of the meat sent across the Atlantic is kept by the expansive process, but ice is necessary in shipment across the tropics. The great ranch states are Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, and these all lie for the most part in the arid region, where crop growing is confined to the smaller areas which are under irrigation. Notwithstanding the great ranges of " buffalo grass " in the West, the cattle raised in the corn-belt are fatter from the more abundant supply of forage and grain, and the more nutri- tious qualities of these foods. Much of the prosperity of such cities as Chicago, Kansas City, and Omaha has been from cattle and cattle products. In these cities are the great slaughter-houses and the beef-packing establishments, famous throughout the world. In the twenty years from 1880 to 1900 the average annual production of beef cattle in the United States amounted to over 32,000,000 head. The refuse from the slaughter-houses (hoofs, horns, bones, sinews, etc.) is used in various manufacturing industries, and the hides are converted mto leather. The dairy industry is mainly confined to the corn-belt and the eastern States. During the last half of the nineteenth century the various breeds of milch cows were greatly improved by careful selec- tion and crossing with the best foreign stocks. Butter making also received a wonderful stimulus with the invention of separator machines, by which the cream is taken from the milk by centrifu- gal force the heavier milk being thrown outward from a rapidly revolving cylinder while the cream remains at the center. Both the separators and the churns are driven by steam ; the old process of " setting " and " skimming " and of hand churning on any large scale has been done away with. On January i, 1900, there were Resources: Animal Products 115 in the United States over 16,000,000 milch cows, representing a value of more than 514,000,000 dollars. Of this number New York, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa each had over 1,000,000 head, while Pennsylvania had nearly 1,000,000, and Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Texas more than 500,000 each. The total butter production for 1899 amounted to about 1,430,000,000 pounds; and over 20,000,000 pounds, or between i and 2 per cent of this, were exported in cold storage. The production of cheese amounted to 300,000,000 pounds, of which over 38,000,000 pounds were exported. A substance made from various animal fats, and known as oleo- margarine, is used as a substitute for butter, and its manufacture is an increasing industry. A law, however, requires it to be marketed under its own name ; its sale as butter is unfair to the consumer and would materially affect the dairyman's interests. With the increased use of cold storage the exportation of butter should increase, and larger foreign markets be secured for the United States. 85. Hogs and Hog Products. The United States is the largest hog-producing country in the world, supplying about one-third of the world's market, and raising more swine than Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary combined. Next to the United States the countries last named produce most largely of swine. The center of the hog-producing industry is the western portion of the corn- belt, and fully one-third of the entire corn crop is converted into pork. The chief pork-packing centers are Omaha, Kansas City, and Chicago, while Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Cleve- land, Buffalo, Boston, and some other cities in the East also do a large business in this line. The meat-packing establishments in these cities do more work in pork than in beef or mutton, since the latter are now kept and transported in cold storage which has done away, to a large extent, with the various curing methods. Very little of the hog goes to waste. The fat is made into lard ; the bones are ground up for use as fertilizers, or when burnt to The Geography of Commerce charcoal are utilized in the sugar-refining process ; the gut, cleaned and filled with the finely ground mixture of beef and pork and twisted into links, constitutes sausage ; the hair is used in the mixing of mortar; the tough connective tissues, as the tendons and ligaments, are used in the manufacture of glue ; while the flesh becomes ham, bacon, and pork, prepared by various cur- ing processes, smoking, salting, pickling, etc., as well as being cold-stored and used as fresh meat. The total of swine in the United States in 1900 was 62,876,000 head, which was an increase of 9.5 per cent over the number in 1890. DISTRIBUTION OF SHEEP 86. Sheep and Wool. The number of sheep in the United States in 1900, was 61,837,112 head. By far the larger por- tion of these were on the great sheep ranches of the West. Mon- tana, Wyoming, and New Mexico each contributed over 4,000,000 head, while Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and Oregon had each over 2,000,000 head. East of the Mississippi, Ohio and Michigan are the leading sheep-raising states, the former having over 4,000,- ooo and the latter over 2,000,000 head. 1 The chief breed of sheep raised in this country is the merino or varieties of it. i Twelfth Census, larger than figures in the Yearbook of Agriculture. Resources: Animal Products 117 The wool of the merino is especially adapted for the manufacture of strong staple fabrics. Though sheep are slaughtered to some extent in the great meat- packing centers and for local consumption, the principal use of the animal is for wool. This material is, with cotton, chiefly used in the textile industries of the world. The manufacturing countries do not raise enough for their own supply, but draw mainly upon the great sheep-raising regions of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Argentina. The United States imports the finer grades of wool for its more costly manufactures. Because of the absence of alkali the water in certain parts of the country is better adapted for wool cleansing than in other districts, and this has to some ex- tent, determined the growth of woolen industries in certain sections. Philadelphia, the largest center of woolen manufacture in the United States, is peculiarly favored in water that is suited for cleansing wool. The chief materials into which American wool enters are woolen cloths, worsteds, carpets, and felts. Outside of Philadelphia and the neighboring towns of Camden, New Jersey, and Chester, Penn- sylvania, the New England towns are the chief centers of the woolen industries. Boston is the largest wool market in the coun- try. The total wool production for the United States during 1901 amounted to 302,502,328 pounds, of which only 199,565 pounds were exported. Over one hundred and three million pounds, how- ever, were imported. 1 87. Horses and Mules. Horses and mules are the chief trac- tion and draught animals. The ox and the ass are still in use, however, where the requirements of work are not such as to demand a combination of strength and quickness of movement in a single animal. The mule is peculiarly adapted to certain sorts of work, and is, moreover, an immune to some diseases which affect the horse. There are two main purposes in raising horses in the United States : for draught and farm use, and for driving 1 From Statistics of National Association of Wool Manufacturers, Boston, Ma^s. n8 The Geography of Commerce and saddle animals. The breeding of mules is chiefly for the supply of work animals. The number of native horses in the United States, on June i, 1900, amounted to more than 21,000,000 head, while the number of mules was 3,445,029. Horses and mules are raised in most of the states, especially on the larger farms of the South and West. In the East the principal states producing horses are New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, Maryland, and Virginia ; compara- tively few mules are raised in this section. Horses in the United States have been much improved for draught purposes by the im- portation of heavier stock from abroad, as the Clydesdale, Norman, and Percheron breeds. The American bred horse is gradually finding its way into foreign markets, and is in considerable demand in Great Britain and other European countries. A war between foreign powers stimulates horse and mule raising in the United States, as the large area of country and abundant forage produce a large number of animals of superior quality at a lessened cost. The carcass of the horse is not permitted to go to waste. The con- nective tissue is turned into glue ; the bones make fertilizer ; the hair is used for upholstery, and the hide is converted into leather for various purposes, notably for gloves, razor strops, and shoe uppers. 88. Poultry and Eggs. The Yearbook of Agriculture for 1901 reported upward of 233,000,000 chickens on farms throughout the United States, and more than 17,000,000 fowl of other sorts, as ducks, geese, and turkeys. The value of eggs produced in 1899 amounted to more than $144,000,000, The raising and fatten- ing of poultry is chiefly for the home market, but large exports of eggs are made from the United States. The industry has received considerable stimulus from the importation of fine breeds of fowls, and by intelligent selection and crossing on the part of farmers and fanciers. 89. Food Fishes and the Fisheries of the United States. The three great fishing regions of the United States are : (i) the North Resources : Animal P'roducts 119 Atlantic banks and adjacent coast waters ; (2) the Pacific coast and the Columbia River ; and (3) the Great Lakes. The most im- portant species of food fishes are the cod, herring, salmon, shad, FISHERIES OF EASTERN SOUTII AMERICA SCALE OF MILES 100 500 300 400 600 mackerel, halibut, sturgeon, and whitefish. The various species of fishes congregate in vast " schools " at certain times of the year in order to spawn or deposit their eggs in the bays and river estuaries and along the shallower parts of the sea bottom. Some of them, I2O The Geography of Commerce such as the salmon and shad, ascend rivers for long distances to accomplish this, even stemming rapids and leaping falls in follow- ing their instinct to spawn in cold, fresh water. The headquarters of the Atlantic fishing industry is Gloucester, Massachusetts, from which port a large fleet of vessels is engaged in cruising the fishing grounds and the offshore " banks " that stretch from Newfoundland to Cape Cod. (See map.) The fishing rights of a nation extend for three miles from shore, beyond which the " deep-water fishing," as it is called, is open to all nations. On the fishing grounds of the banks, the fishermen from France, Canada, the United States', and other nations, meet and ply their trade. The most important food fish of the North Atlantic coasts is the cod, of which vast numbers are annually caught. Commercially it is the most valuable of all the food fishes, and is sold either fresh, or salted and dried. The fishing vessels carry small boats called dories, in which the crews go out when the fishing grounds are reached, and catch the fish with hand lines. Heavy fogs contin- ually hang over the banks, and gales are of frequent occurrence, making the fishing in these parts a very dangerous business. The risk is increased from the danger of being run down by steamers, or of the dories getting lost from their vessels. The larger part of the fish are salted on board and taken to port where they are sun-dried, and they are then ready for the mar- ket as " salt cod." A small portion have the bones removed and are packed in boxes as " boneless cod." The haddock, a species closely related to the cod, and inhabiting the waters nearer the shore, is locally an important food fish. The cod is valuable also from the oil which is obtained from its liver, " cod-liver oil" being of especial value in medicine. Next to the cod the herring and the mackerel are the most important food fishes. They are gen- erally caught nearer the coast than the cod, the herring being taken in close-meshed nets or seines which are set and hauled by the fishermen. Both these fish are sold salted and dried, as well as Resources : Animal Products 12 1 fresh. The small herring called " sardines," though not the true sardine (which is found in the Mediterranean), are packed in oil and salted. This forms an important branch of the fishing industry on the Maine coast, and American sardines are largely taking the place of the Old World product. Shad are mainly caught by sein- ing in the spring, in the rivers of the Atlantic seaboard, while they are running up to spawn. The same is true of the Atlantic salmon, a very superior food fish, the flesh of which is considered a great delicacy. ( The main feature of the Pacific coast fishing is the capture and canning of several species of salmon, which differ from the Atlantic salmon in their appearance and habits. These salmon are taken in great numbers in the Columbia River while running up to spawn in the head streams among the mountains. They are also caught in vast numbers in more northern waters, in the rivers of British Columbia, and along the coast of Alaska ; the salmon canning industry in Alaska is very important. The early explor- ers found the Indian peoples along the Columbia engaged in spear- ing and catching salmon and drying them. Catching of them has continued until the present; they are caught mostly in large traps or weirs into which the fish run and cannot escape, some- thing after the manner of a rat trap, and also by " wheels " which scoop the fish out of the water. Many large factories have long been established on the Columbia, where salmon are cooked and canned and sent out to all parts of the world. Much fresh salmon from this region is also shipped by refrigerator cars. The principal fish of the Lakes are the whitefish, the Lake trout, and the sturgeon. Little fishing is now done in Lake Ontario, the commercial Lake fishing being wholly west of the Niagara River. A large industry in sturgeon is in the preparation of "caviare" from the salted roe or eggs. The eastern cities and coast towns of the United States are collectively the greatest fish market in the world. The United 122 The Geography of Commerce States Fish Commission is actively engaged in looking after the fishing interests and industries of the country, improving the con- ditions of the important fishes in the matter of their food supply and reproduction. The government has also established fish hatcheries at various convenient places. The small species of fish which swarm on our coasts, and which are fed upon by the cod and other food fishes, are under government protection. Along the rocky shores of New England, lobster catching and canning form a very important industry. The oyster and clam are commercially the most important shellfish of the United States coasts. Oyster culture is mainly carried on along the bays of the Middle Atlantic States, and to some extent southward along the Atlantic shores. Here there are grown in immense beds, in the shallow waters of estuaries and bays, the largest and finest oysters in the world. Baltimore is an important oyster center, and does a big canning business to supply the interior cities and towns. Though once an important industry, whale fishing and the marketing of the products, has gradually declined. This has come from the growing scarcity of whales and the introduction of petroleum and other products as celluloid, steel, and rubber, which have almost entirely taken the place of whale oil and whalebone. To-day comparatively few whales are" caught, and these mostly in Baffin Bay and Bering Sea. The right or Greenland whale inhabits the Arctic seas ; it is the species that supplies the whalebone (a horny substance from the upper jaw) and train oil from the fat or blubber under the skin. The sperm whale, a native of the south- ern oceans, yields sperm oil (a valuable lubricant for machinery) and spermaceti (a mass of white substance found in a large cavity of the skull), which is used as the basis for ointments and in the manufacture of sperm candles. The principal ports now engaged in whaling are Dundee, in Scotland, and San Francisco in the United States. 90. Sponges. The sponge is a colony of animals of a low Resources : Animal Products 123 grade of organization, inhabiting the waters of the warmer parts of the world. The whole mass or colony is fastened to the sea bottom at a varying depth of from one to two hundred feet. In the shallow waters of the Florida grounds, sponges are torn loose by a three-pronged fork. The commercial sponge is the dried fibrous skeleton or framework of the colony, from which the jellylike living matter which formed its body has been rotted away. Most of the sponges of commerce come from the Mediterranean region. A considerable fishery, however, is carried on in the waters about Florida and the Bahamas. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 68. Contrast the Eastern and Western Hemispheres in the supply of native animals capable of domestication. Make a similar comparison for the supply of indigenous plants. (See Shaler, Nature and Man in America, p. 145.) 69. Discuss the economy of nature by which mineral matter in the sea, feeds vegetable life, which nourishes a lower order of animal life, which is fed upon by a higher order of marine animals, which are in their turn food for men. Apply the same method of reasoning to soil constituents, grass, cattle, and men. 70. Compare the relative proportion of vegetable to animal commercial products from the sea, with the proportion of these upon the land. 71. Indicate how the cattle and meat trade of the present day are largely de- pendent upon certain inventions and scientific discoveries. 72. What are the special qualities of the merino wool ? How and where were these qualities secured and how have they been introduced into the United States? 73. What are the chief by-products of the meat-packing industries ? 74. What are the principal animal oils and what are their uses ? Books to be Consulted ** Publications of the United States Department of Agriculture, Yearbook and Bulletins of Bureau of Animal Industries. * Twelfth Census Reports, Animal Products, Part I of Agriculture. ** Yeats, Natural History of the Raw Materials of Commerce, Part III. London, Philip & Son. * Simmonds, Commercial Products of the Sea. New York, Appleton & Co. Animal Products, Their Preparation, Uses and Value. London, Chapman & Hall. CHAPTER IX INTERNAL COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES 91. The Basis of Internal Commerce. Two facts are necessary to explain the exchange of goods : differences in aptitudes and in- clinations of men, and differences in the regions where men live. These may be termed, in brief, differences in skill, and differences in locality. Local trade grows most largely out of the first, international trade out of the second. No other country is so well adapted to the support of its population as is the United States. Wide diversities in soil, climate, and topog- raphy, were noted in Chapter V ; there are also marked differences in the tastes and powers of the people in the several sections. Indus- trially the United States is like a number of nations rather than one nation. Differences in the inhabitants, and in the resources and pro- ductions of the several parts of the country have tended to make trade, and this has been further increased from the comparative nearness of the different areas with facilities for the transfer of goods. Natural highways, such as rivers and lake chains, extend in various directions, affording easy means of transportation. The different regions have been bound together by the most extensive system of railroads in the world. (See p. 386.) Thus there has come about within the United States, trade of great variety and extent. 92. Distribution of Trade and Manufacture. Population is drawn to the centers of trade and manufacture. The location of these cen- ters is largely determined by geographic conditions, which are mainly to be resolved into : raw material supply, power facilities, and trans- portation facilities. In the early history of the country the location of an industry was almost entirely dependent upon local sources of 124 PRODUCTIVE AREAS OF THE UNITED STATES SHOWING- PREDOMINANT AND MINOR INDUSTRIES. SCALE OF MILES 101 Longitude West from Greenwich 93 Internal Commerce of the United States 125 power. Thus New England became a region of manufacture largely because of its abundant water power ; but with the advent of steam- driven machinery the manufacturing industries spread out over wider and wider areas, conditioned only by the facilities for transportation and the proximity of coal and iron. Another factor determining the location of special industries is the presence of a raw product available for manufacture. Places like Minneapolis grew up as a result of the presence of water power (St. Anthony's Falls) in prox- irdty to the pine belt, the saw mill being the first industry in the region. Transportation facilities have, however, extended the indus- tries of the region, the chief feature to-day being flour milling, as a result of the nearness of the hard-wheat belt, though water is no longer the only source of power. Pittsburg was at first a disbursing center for the Ohio traffic; but with the utilization of the coal and iron in the region it became a modern vulcan in the steel and iron industry. Birmingham, Alabama, prior to its great boom as the result of the discovery of coal and iron deposits, was the site of a cotton plantation. The industrial history of the country is a record of the distribution of manufactures from- certain productive centers where available power compelled localization, and where difficulties of transportation narrowed the industries largely to the use of raw materials immediately at hand. To-day no manufacturing industry is absolutely restricted to any particular region, though certain manufactures predominate and give color and character to certain regions, partly as a result of existing physical conditions, and partly as a result of practices in- herited from earlier times. New England is preeminently a region of general manufacture, as a result, not only of its original water power facilities, but of its seaboard position as well, raw cotton from southern ports being brought to its mills through an extensive coastwise traffic. The 'Middle Atlantic Slope is a region of general manufac- ture, first because of its river facilities, for both navigation and water power, and later from its close proximity to the coal and iron of the Appalachian region. The iron and coal of the southern Appalachians 126 The Geography of Commerce are rapidly changing the South from a purely agricultural region into one of manufacture. The region of greatest manufacture lies east of the Mississippi River, while the vast extent of western territory is given up mainly to crop growing, stock raising, and mining operations. It has already been shown that the geographical center of agriculture 16 90 80 7O 50 rS60 1870 1880 189O 19 oo 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 hOOO / INCREASE OF COTTON PRODUCTION COMPARED WITH INCREASE OF POPULATION UNITED STATES / ' */ / / 60 50 40 30 20 10 1 g A ^ / V) Q Z 3 4 IN MIL / \ // x^ X JS OF PC 'ULATIO / \ . &// MILLIOI V ^ H Z o I- ^ ^ YE VRS 50 1860 1870 1880 189O 19OO keeps in advance of the center of population. In the westward movement the center of manufacture, on the other hand, is in the rear of the center of population, being located (1900) somewhat to the northeast of Columbus, Ohio. (See map page 95.) 93. Population and Trade. Purely agricultural regions are sparsely peopled as compared with manufacturing districts ; the better Internal Commerce of the United States 127 chance for work, and the profits of trade, increasing the population of the latter at the expense of the former. The larger the population of a country, the greater is likely to be the demand for variety of manufac- tures. At the same time, in large populations there is usually the best chance for the development of inventive genius, since a great diversity of mind exists as the result of the commingling of many different individual elements. Without this vital factor our industry could never have attained its present development, notwithstanding the abundance of natural resources. The invention of labor-saving machinery has increased the output and reduced the cost of manu- factures of all sorts. 94. Reasons for the Localization of Industries. Certain factors are recognized as influencing the localization of various industries. Among the causes for localization, seven are enumerated in the Twelfth Census 1 as follows : (i) proximity of raw-material supply; (2) readily accessible markets; (3) presence of water power; (4) favorable cli- mate ; (5) availability of labor ; (6) availability of capital ; (7) the momentum of an early start. The first four of these are distinctly geographical causes, while the three remaining ones are more or less de- termined by the first four. The data for these observations are based on the relative values of an industry in a state or city as compared with the total value of the same industry for the United States at large. Fifteen different industries are selected to illustrate the principle. For example, it is shown that the manufacture of agricultural imple- ments is localized chiefly in Illinois, Ohio, and New York, and fur- ther, that it has increased remarkably in Illinois, and has declined in Ohio and New York. The factors operating in the localization of this industry are first, the situation in the heart of the great agricultural section, making a ready market. This fact has caused the move- ment of the agricultural implement industry from New York west- ward on account of the cost of transporting the finished goods. A second fact is the nearness of the Ohio and Illinois districts to ex- 1 F. S. Hall, The Localization of Industries. Census Bulletin. 128 The Geography of Commerce tensive hardwood forests, while a third factor is the nearness of the iron supply. The manufacture of boots and shoes is another industry largely local- ized ; Massachusetts is credited with upward of 44 per cent of the total United States factory output in 1900. The establishment of the industry goes back to the early days of the colony, as a result of the centering of population in New England, and also from the fact that the largest production of leather was in that section. The industry drew capital and expert labor (hand workers) and has continued by virtue of the momentum of an early start. Massachusetts shows over 32 per cent of all the cotton goods manu- factured in the country; this is a result of the early utilization of water power and the presence of a moist climate. Its supremacy to- day is clearly due to the advantages of an early start. The southern States have advanced in cotton manufacture during the last decade, particularly North and South Carolina, which show a combined increase during this period of upward of two million spindles. Over fifty new mills were completed in the two states in 1900. Accessibil- ity to the raw-material supply is here an important factor, coupled with water power, cheap fuel, and the comparatively low cost of living. Pennsylvania produces 54 per cent of all the iron and steel of the country from the proximity to the coal, and because of iron ore, and limestone (flux) deposits of the Alleghany Plateau. In the early days it also had the advantage of the great forests of the region for fuel. The center of the industry has migrated westward from the anthracite region of eastern Pennsylvania to the western part (Con- nellsville region) and to eastern Ohio as a result of the use of coke (a bituminous product) in the blast furnaces, and also because of the use of large quantities of Lake Superior ore. The increase of the industry in Illinois is the result of the great market for steel goods, the supply of fuel and proximity to the ore fields. The center of leather manufacturing (dependent upon tree bark for tanning) has migrated with the disappearance of forests in New Internal Commerce of the United States 129 England and New York to the hemlock region of Pennsylvania ; of late the industry has shown a tendency toward a further westward movement, following the cutting away of the Appalachian forest. The paper and wood-pulp industry is likewise dependent upon the forest as a source of raw-material supply, and also upon the presence of water power as a cheap means of running the heavy machinery for manufacture. New York, Massachusetts, and Maine lead in this industry, because of the proximity of the spruce and poplar timber which are the kinds chiefly used in wood-pulp manufacture. The centering of the pottery industries at Trenton, New Jersey, and East Liverpool, Ohio, is again the result of an early start due originally to local deposits of clay suitable for the purpose. The Trenton potteries found a market in the eastern seaboard states, while the Ohio potteries supplied the country west of the Alleghanies. Both cities are favorably located in regard to river transportation. Each drew a large number of skilled workmen from the Staffordshire district in England. Modern railway transportation has rendered more distant clay deposits available, and the material is now brought to these centers from a distance of from fifty to a hundred miles. The slaughtering and meat-packing industry had its origin at Cin- cinnati, Ohio, as early as 1818, incident to the live stock and corn production of the surrounding region, and the transportation facilities of the Ohio River. The center has migrated westward with the west- ward extension of the corn-belt and the cattle ranges, and it is now in Illinois ; the Chicago packing industry has an output of over 35 per cent of the total United States product. This centering of the industry rests upon the fattening power of the corn-belt food supply, and railroad facilities which bring live stock from the more distant western ranges, as well as upon the perfected development of the cold-storage process of shipment. These illustrations show the nature of the localizing process and the reasons therefor. The following table indicates some of the chief industries of the United States in regard to their localization : 130 The Geography of Commerce LOCALIZATION OF SPECIFIED INDUSTRIES BY STATES: SUMMARY, 1900' SPECIFIED INDUSTRIES Value of products in the United States States Value of products in the state named Per cent of the United States in the state named Collars and cuffs $15,769,132 New York $15,703,541 99.6 Plated and britannia ware 12,608,770 Connecticut 9,53^,397 75-7 Oysters, canning and pre- serving 3,670,134 Maryland 2,417,331 65-9 Leather gloves and mittens 16,721,234 New York 10,854,221 64.9 Clocks 7!57,856 Connecticut 4,545,047 63-5 Coke 35,585,445 Pennsylvania 22,282,358 62.6 Safes and vaults 3*927,867 Ohio 2,407, 6 55 61.3 Whips 2,734,471 Massachusetts 1,651,221 60.4 Liquors, vinous 6,547,310 California 3,937,87! 60. i Brassware 17,140,075 Connecticut 9,269,159 54-1 Iron and steel 803,968,273 Pennsylvania 434,445,200 54-o Carpets and rugs, other than rag 48,192,351 Pennsylvania 23,113,058 48.0 Corsets 14,878,116 Connecticut 6,846,946 46.0 Boots and shoes, factory product 261,028,580 Massachusetts 117,115,243 44.9 Agricultural implements 101,207,428 Illinois 42,033,796 41-5 Slaughtering and meat packing, wholesale 698,206,548 Illinois 279,842,835 40.1 Turpentine and rosin 20,344,888 Georgia 8,110,468 39-9 Cotton, ginning 14,748,270 Texas 5,886,923 39-9 Liquors, distilled 96,798,443 Illinois 38,208,076 39-5 Glass 56,539,712 Pennsylvania 22,001,130 38.9 Hosiery and knit goods 95,482,566 New York 35,886,048 37-6 Silk and silk goods 107,256,258 New Jersey 39,966,662 37-3 Silverware 10,569,121 Rhode Island 3,834,408 36.3 Salt 7,966,897 New York 2,698,691 33-9 Cotton goods 339,200,320 Massachusetts 111,125,175 32.8 Jewelry 46,501,181 Rhode Island 13,320,620 28.6 Leather, tanned, curried, and finished 204,038,127 Pennsylvania 55,615,009 27-3 Fur hats 27,811,187 Connecticut 7,546,882 27.2 Pottery, terra cotta, and fire-clay products 44,363,386 Ohio 11,851,225 26.8 Paper and wood pulp 127,326,162 New York 26,715,628 21.0 1 Twelfth Census, Vol. VII, Internal Commerce of the United States 13 1 95. Geographical Basis of the Movement of Commodities. As has already been stated (Section 64), the entire area of the United States may be divided into six great industrial sections, in each of which certain staple agricultural industries are fundamental to its prosperity. To recapitulate briefly, these sections with their domi- nant agricultural features are as follows : (i) The New England and New York section, characterized by small farming and dairying inter- ests; (2) the corn and winter- wheat belt, lying between the parallels of 43 and 35, from the Atlantic seaboard to western Kansas and Nebraska; the raising of live stock in this region is an essential feature ; (3) the cotton-belt, south of parallel 35, and west into Texas ; (4) the spring-wheat belt, north of 43 and reaching from the Lake Region to Montana and Wyoming; (5) the Plateau States, with stock raising and wool production as the chief industries ; and (6) the Pacific Coast States, largely given over to agriculture and the lumber interests. The cardinal fact involved in this industrial division of the country is that no one section is self-sufficing, but each is dependent upon the other sections for its maintenance, as to food supply, the raw mate- rials for manufacture, and the finished products. From this fact there has originated a movement of commodities from one region to another, which has become organized into the extensive internal com- merce of the country. The characteristic industry of each section determines the nature of the materials entering into this movement. Thus the industrial sections, comprising New England, New York, and the Middle Atlantic region, draw upon all the other sections for food supplies and raw materials, and in return, send out manufactured products to the country at large. Each section sends out its surplus into the channels of trade. This surplus may be greater or less according to the nature of the product, the facilities for manufacture, and the population. The entire wool clip and the vast bulk of the live stock is shipped away from the Plateau sec- tion ; similarly, the greater part of the California fruit finds an east- 132 The Geography of Commerce ern market. The larger portion of the staple of the cotton-belt forms a surplus. The centralizing of the live stock and grain in the corn- belt calls for such a vast movement that most of the great trunk lines are concentrated within its borders. The bulk of the internal trade of the country is made up of the movement of a few great staple products, grain, live stock, cotton, lumber, fruits, and coal and iron. The carrying of manufactures is a small item in comparison with the movement of these few staple commodities. Agriculture, stock raising, mining, lumbering, and the fisheries are the fundamental or extractive industries, and form the basis of national prosperity. The outgoing or foreign trade, likewise, depends upon these industries, whether the material exported be in the raw state or as a manufactured product. The underlying principle of internal commerce is largely a physiographical one ; the diversity of products which characterizes the different sections of the United States is the result of contrasted physical conditions of the several regions. 1 96. Transportation. The distribution of commodities depends upon transportation facilities which are largely conditioned by geog- raphy (topography). Rivers and lake chains are everywhere the natural highways of commerce. The river valley has always" been a line of travel. Trails lead over mountain ranges by way of their passes. These trails may have been formed originally by various wild animals, as buffalo and deer, followed by the Indian and later by the frontiers- man and the packhorse. The wagon road has naturally developed on the earlier trail, and later the railroad followed the same line. The features of transportation in the United States require some notice of river traffic, canals, steam and electric railroads, wagon road, and coastwise commerce. 97. River Traffic. The natural channel of the river must, in many instances, be deepened by dredging and by dams, and locks at various points, in order to facilitate shipping movements. For 1 O. P. Austin, Geographical Basis of Internal Commerce. In Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance for January, 1901, pp. 1629-1630. Internal Commerce of the United States 133 this work the United States annually appropriates millions of dollars (River and Harbor Bill). The larger rivers of the United States form extensive lines of waterway for the movement of its internal traffic, and were very early utilized. River traffic is prac- tically continuous by way of the Ohio and the Missouri, from Pitts- burg, Pennsylvania, to the mouth of the Yellowstone, on the border of Montana. The Mississippi affords a waterway from St. Paul, Min- nesota, and from Pittsburg by way of the Ohio, to the Gulf of Mexico. rigable Interior Water Routes in which the water is three feet deep or over. .SCALE OF MILES^ 115 M 10 **> 4M 1ft NAVIGABLE WATERWAYS OF THE UNITED STATES Many of the Atlantic rivers are navigable for some distance inland (to the "fall-line"), and tributaries of the Ohio afford traffic facili- ties with the western slopes of the southern Appalachians. Trans- portation by water, though slower, is much cheaper than by land, owing to economy in motive power. The advantages of water trans- portation are thus set forth in a recent bulletin of the Treasury Bureau of Statistics : " With a few well-known exceptions, the river and canal traffic of the United States has been allowed to stand, in point of equipment, very much where it was fifty years ago, while railways 134 The Geography of Commerce have shown an equally wonderful versatility in emancipating them- selves from their mistakes in policy and uncommercial methods of management, which kill rather than encourage traffic. One of the exceptions in the development of river traffic is seen in the case of the Ohio River and its tributaries, where navigation has been greatly promoted by the construction of a series of dams, giving the city of Pittsburg a deep-water harbor throughout the entire year. During times of high water barges are floated down-stream at the cost of guidance and towing. Thus, at an outlay of about. $1,000,000, many millions have not only been saved each year in freights, but markets have been retained for coal and iron from this locality, which would other- wise have been lost long since to other coal-producing and iron- making localities." 1 Facts like the above serve to illustrate the important features of river commerce. 98. Lake Commerce. The chain of Great Lakes forms a re- markable highway of commerce, especially so since the construction of the ship-canal at St. Mary's Falls. Like many rivers, the Great Lakes are not open to traffic for several months during the winter season on account of the ice. The relation of the Great Lakes to traffic is thus well described by O. P. Austin in his report on internal commerce : " Several factors distinguish the commerce of the Great Lakes from all other water-borne traffic in which American vessels are engaged, not even excepting the movement of freights on the Mississippi River and tributary waters. ... In the first place, the carrying trade of the Great Lakes not only embraces, almost exclu- sively, raw material, but is made up principally of a limited number of commodities. Secondly, it is to a great extent a through traffic that is, the number and volume of cargoes transported from a lower to an upper Lake port, so called, or vice versa, greatly exceed the short coastwise hauls. Coal, both anthracite and bituminous, is shipped from the various ports on the south shore of Lake Erie to ports on Lakes Superior and Michigan, while flour and grain, iron 1 See Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, January, 1901, p. 1695. Internal Commerce of the United States 135 ore, copper, and lumber make the trip from Lake Superior and Lake Michigan ports to unloading docks on Lake Erie. The movement of unclassified freight, by no means an inconsiderable item in itself, makes up, to a very large extent, the interchange of commodities between ports in close proximity." Certain Lake ports are closely related to areas of production and are consequently the points at which staple commodities are concen- trated. Thus, Du- luth, Superior, Mil- waukee, and Chicago are points for a large wheat and other grain shipment. Some half- dozen Lake points are the chief- centers for the shipment of iron ore. As regards des- tination, much of the grain reaches the ele- vators at Buffalo for further disbursement by rail and canal, while the proximity of the south shore of Lake Erie to the great iron and steel manufacturing centers causes most of the iron ore to be unloaded at a half-dozen ports on this shore. (See illustration opposite p. 64.) In the past twenty-one years from 1881-1902 the registered tonnage (net tons) that passed through the St. Mary's Canal increased more than 1500 per cent, while the total freight (in net tons) increased more than 1750 percent. In 1902, 22,659 vessels passed through the canal. The total volume of freight that passed through the canal in the same year amounted to 35,961,146 net tons. (See p. 147.) 99. Canals. The utilization of canals as a means of transporta- tion was begun early in the last century. The navigability of the Hudson River from New York to Albany, coupled with the opening of the prairie region, led to the building of the Erie Canal which PRODUCTIONS OF THE LAKE REGION 136 The Geography of Commerce connects the Hudson, by way of the Mohawk Valley and other streams and lakes, with the Great Lakes at Buffalo. By this means a contin- uous waterway was opened from the Atlantic seaboard to the great interior region, and a steady stream of trade was established be- tween the East and the West. Since then many other canals have been built, notably the Champlain Canal, which connects the Hud- son River with the St. Lawrence drainage, and the " Soo " canals (ship-canals built by the United States and Canada) at Sault Ste. Marie (St. Mary's Falls), between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The Welland ship-canal between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, in Canadian territory, affords a continuous passage by way of the St. Lawrence, from the Lakes to the ocean. Besides those above men- tioned, many small canals have been constructed in various parts of the country. The economic effect of canals is of vast and far-reaching impor- tance. For example, the St. Mary's Canal has not only affected com- mercial movements, but has likewise influenced the movement of population and has affected various industries, notably that of iron and steel. Both the "Soo" (St. Mary's) and the Suez canals have greatly increased the production of wheat by facilitating transporta- tion. Cheaper rates to the markets of Europe have followed and large areas of new land have come under wheat cultivation, both of which factors have resulted in the reduction of the price of the cereal, and removed in large measure the possibility of famines. 100. Railroad Traffic. At the present day the railroad is the most important carrier in the internal trade of the country. As the volume of traffic has increased, freight rates have tended to decline. Aside from the rapid strides in railroad building (bridge-work, tunneling, rolling of rails, etc.), probably one of the most important factors in the development of the American railway is the use of the swiveling truck, which enables the locomotive and its train of cars to take curves of comparatively short radii. In the early days this was an essential feature in following the windings of a river valley or in Internal Commerce of the United States 137 crossing a mountain region. The ease of construction on the com- paratively level plains and prairie lands of the central and western States was no small factor in the rapid advance of railroading. The consolidation of various railroad lines into single systems is a marked tendency in the United States. A comparatively few sys- tems hold a controlling interest in more than 150,000 miles of rail- road, or over three-fourths of the total mileage of the country. The principal railroad interests of the United States are thus grouped into five great systems, each of which consists of various lines formerly independent. Each sys- tem operates throughout a vast territory and controls a wide area of production. Freight was moved over the several lines in 1901 as follows : INCREASE OF MILES ( COMPARED WITH IN POPULATION. UNITED STAT >F RAILWAY CREASE OF 200 175 150 125 100 75 50 29 CO z 2 ES ^ i z ^ ^ 'a) 2 5 ^ V i ^x tf / ^^ 2 s 9*/> YE/ RS IBUO CLASS OF COMMODITY Tonnage reported as originating on line Per cent of aggregate Products of agriculture Products of animals .... Products of mines .... Products of forest .... 56,102,838 iSMSW 269,372,556 60,844,933 71,681,178 10.76 2.91 5!-67 11.67 17.71: 21,607,603 4.16 26,403,^8 5.08 Grand total .... 521,337,833 IOO * 1 Statistics of Railways, Interstate Commerce Commission Report, 1901. 138 The Geography of Commerce 101. Standard Time and the Time Belts. In running trains across such a broad stretch of country as the United States, it is of the utmost importance to have a uniform system of time over certain " belts." For convenience railroad companies have adopted a system of " Standard Time " by dividing the United States from east to west into four time belts, as follows: (i) The region of Eastern Time reckoned on the 75th meridian ; i.e. when the sun is on this meridian, it is 12 noon for all places within this belt, no matter what may be the " local time " of such places ; (2) Central Time, reckoned on the poth meridian ; (3) Mountain Time, TIME BELTS reckoned on the io5th meridian; and (4) Pacific Time, reckoned on 1 20th meridian. Each of these four meridians runs approximately through the middle of its time belt, though the boundaries of the belt are irregular, since, for certain railroads in a given district, it is more convenient to keep the same time than to change for a short distance into the next belt. Thus the eastern belt includes all the territory between the Atlantic coast and an irregular line drawn from Buffalo to Charleston ; the central belt from this line west to an irregular line running through Bismarck, North Dakota, to the Rio Grande at the western border of Texas; the mountain Internal Commerce of the United States 139 belt west from this to an irregular line running through western Mon- tana, Idaho, western Utah, and the western border of Arizona ; the Pacific belt from this to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. There is one hour's difference between adjacent time belts. Thus, when it is nine o'clock A.M. for all places in the eastern time belt, it is eight o'clock A.M. for all places in the central time belt, seven A.M. for all places in the mountain belt, and six A.M. for all places in the Pacific time belt. In passing from one time belt to the next in going west, watches are set back one hour ; and in going east they are set for- ward one hour. The local or actual sun time of a place differs somewhat from its standard time, varying according to its distance from the meridian. Thus the actual time at New York is four minutes faster than the standard. 102. Electric Roads. In recent years the trolley has become an important short-distance carrier. In many instances it reaches re- gions into which the railroad has not penetrated and it has stimulated trade by the development of localities which before had been out of touch with the centers of commercial activity. The chief economic features of electric road are rapid and cheap transportation. In this way they have cut into the suburban traffic of the steam roads. Con- tinuous trolley transportation is now in operation between many cities through systems of connecting lines. The cost of building and maintaining the roadbed is much less than in the case of steam roads, and public highways are utilized in many cases. A decided advantage has been effected by the trolley in developing suburban life and preventing the overcrowding of the large cities. Electric lines in various parts of the country have become important carriers of market produce, milk, butter, etc., from outlying districts to the centers. This phase of their activity will undoubtedly be of growing importance in the future. 103. Wagon Roads. The question of good wagon roads is a vital one in the problem of transportation. It has been demonstrated 140 The Geography of Commerce that it often costs more to move a ton of hay, or a bushel of wheat, ten miles over an ordinary country road than to transport it five hundred miles by rail or two thousand miles by water. Bad roads are a menace to the trade of a region, for the farmers frequently let their crops go to waste from inability to get them to market. As Mr. Dodge of the Office of Public Roads Inquiries says : "To those who follow the trade reports of the newspapers, the announcement of a rise in the price of some staple, ' due to inability to market the crop on account of the impossible condition of the country roads,' is familiar reading at certain seasons of the year. It has happened that the success or failure of a skillfully manipulated ' corner ' has depended likewise upon the dominance of ' King Mud,' and that the bottomless state of rural highways, making country trade dull and wholesale collections slow, has been responsible for a serious strin- gency in the money market." The Good Road Movement that is now being pushed in many states, aims to bring before the public the advantage of well- constructed highways, not only from an industrial and purely busi- ness point of view, but also from their effects on the general welfare of communities. The use of the bicycle and, more recently, of the automobile, have contributed to the interest in the movement for good roads. 104. Coastwise Commerce. The carrying of merchandise from one port to another has always been an important feature of the com- merce of the seaboard states. By this means the New England fac- tories gained cheap transportation for the raw cotton of the South. An increase in the number of sailing schooners built on the Atlantic coast (notably in Maine) is an important commercial fact of recent years. This type of vessel is the one most in use as a carrier in the coasting trade of the Atlantic and Gulf seaboard, while the " steam-driven schooner " is the one most in vogue on the Pacific coast. Coal, lumber, cotton, etc., are among the more important commodities handled in this way. Boston depends upon the coast- MASSACHUSETTS ROAD BEFORE IMPROVEMENT MASSACHUSETTS ROAD AFTER IMPROVEMENT Internal Commerce of the United States 141 wise transportation of coal for its supply of fuel. This is due to the fact that the economic movement of coal from its area of production is first toward the seaboard by the shortest line of hauling. The use of steam machinery in manipulating sails and in loading and unload- ing cargoes, is increasing of late the prominence of the sailing craft at the expense of the steamship. 1 Only vessels flying the American flag can engage in the coastwise trade, and this has been a very important factor, ,not only in the development of the trade itself, but in fostering the ship-building industry on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Maine has always had a prominent place in ship-building for the coast trade, owing to the nearness of the lumber supply. The same advantage is enjoyed by the states of Washington and Oregon. 105. The Movement of Grain. The importance of corn as a food for stock has already been alluded to (p. 90). Various experi- ments tend to show that the money return from a corn crop is in- creased by converting it into fat animals. This twofold demand for the product i.e. for stock raising within the corn-belt and for ship- ment has increased its importance. If meat is relatively high, it will obviously be to the advantage of the producer to convert his corn into meat ; but if, through failure of foreign crops or other causes, the value of corn is relatively increased, the advantage will be in selling it direct. These facts have a definite bearing on the movement of the surplus. Eight or ten of the largest primary grain markets of the country are located in the corn and winter-wheat belt, and this, together with' the centers of live stock concentration in the same area, has determined the centralizing of the railroad lines in this section. The western half of the corn- belt is the area of greatest production, while in the eastern half are located the great centers of consumption. The movement is thus largely an eastern one for both grain and live stock products. A great corn center like St. Louis will serve to illustrate the general l Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, January, 1901, p. 1693. 142 The Geography of Commerce movement. At this market, in 1899, 23,300,000 bushels of corn were received, of which more than 20,000,000 bushels were disbursed as a surplus. Of this surplus shipment, over 52 per cent found its way to the markets of the Atlantic seaboard by rail, 39 per cent was dis- tributed throughout the eastern and southern sections of the country, and only 8 per cent entered into export trade by way of New Orleans. These facts clearly illustrate the important place of home consump- tion in the case of corn. 1 The commercial value of wheat lies in the fact that it is wholly a breadstuff and almost never, like corn, used as a stock food. For this reason it enters more largely into the world's cereal movement and is in close competition with the foreign wheat supply, particularly that of Russia, India, Australia, and Argentina. The hard-grained spring wheat, unless concentrated for manufacture at the great milling centers of Minneapolis and Superior, finds its way into the channels of trade, mainly through Duluth and other upper Lake ports, to lower Lake ports, from which it is disbursed by canal and railway to the eastern and seaboard centers of consumption. The development of the milling industry follows closely upon the spread of wheat growing. Not only the large mill, but the small one as well, finds an increasing market for its flour, and the competition thus involved benefits both producer and consumer. The spread of wheat tends to widen the industry, and its concentration at particular points is determined by the best facilities for distribution. The demand for wheat at such milling centers as Minneapolis and other Minnesota towns causes some movement of the grain from the north- western area of Washington and Oregon, as well as from Canada. The extreme northwest is rapidly becoming an important wheat- producing section, and is also introducing some milling industries of its own. Columbia River and Puget Sound afford lines of outlet, and the surplus of the crop finds an export trade to Asiatic markets, in addition to what is sent to Hawaii and southern Pacific coast points. 1 Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, January, 1901, p. 1635. Internal Commerce of the United States 143 The chief centers for the concentration and distribution of the grain crop of the United States are the large Lake and river ports of the middle section of the country. These are advantageously situated in relation to the corn-belt and wheat-producing areas. There are eleven principal markets, several of which have vast eleva- tor capacity for storage : Chicago (elevator capacity over 5 7,000,000 bushels); St. Louis (11,000,000 to 12,000,000 bushels); Kansas City (over 6,000,000) ; and Minneapolis, Duluth, Superior, Milwau- kee, Detroit, Cincinnati, Peoria, and Toledo. Farther east, Buffalo is an important center of the Lake grain trade, because of its relation to the Erie Canal and various lines of railroad. Most of the corn con- sumed at Peoria is used in the distillation of alcoholic products. 106. The Movement of Live Stock. Three principal areas are sources of the cattle supply: (i) The southern, including Texas, Oklahoma, and Indian Territory; (2) the western ranches of Colo- rado, Wyoming, Montana, and North and South Dakota; and (3) the corn-belt states. From these areas the cattle are moved by train to the central markets, which, with the exception of Chicago, are on the Missouri River. The rate of concentration at these cen- ters is enormous. Thus, for example, at the five principal points Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, St. Louis, and St. Joseph, upwards of 185,000 head of cattle, 466,000 hogs, and 193,000 sheep were received in one week during the year 1900. Of late years a heavy western movement of live stock has also taken place from the Rocky Mountain States to the Pacific coast, because of the inflow of settlers and the growth of towns in the northwest. The establishment of the meat-packing industry at various points on the Pacific coast bids fair ultimately to compete with the packing centers of Chicago and the Missouri River points. These meat-packing establishments in the far West are in part the result of the development of Asiatic and Pacific trade. The stock movement from the Mountain States is thus in two directions, eastward and westward, with a resulting advantage to the producer and a general development of the section. 144 The Geography of Commerce Following on the demands of the market, the general tendency of cattle raising at present is toward the improved breed for fattening, with the gradual disappearance of the long-horned type of Texas steer. Large numbers of range cattle now find a sale for fattening on the farms of the corn-belt states. Just as the increased demand for the Minnesota milling industry draws wheat from Canada and the far northwest, so the packing industries exhaust the country's supply, TRIANGULAR TERRITORY IN WHICH THE GREAT PROVISION CENTERS 4, ARE LOCATED. SCALE OF MILES 100 200 300 400 500 600 BORMAt * CO.. and regularly draw cattle from beyond the Mexican border to be fattened in the corn-belt. The great provision centers which are dependent upon live stock products, are included within a triangular territory, formed by the Missouri and the Ohio rivers on two sides, and on the third by a line reaching from Pennsylvania to Nebraska. 1 107, The Movement of Cotton. The distribution of cotton is first from its areas of production to the Atlantic and Gulf sea- l Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, January, 1901, p. 1663. Internal Commerce of the United States 145 board, its movement from thence being by water. More than half the cotton of Texas and Indian Territory reaches Galveston as a centralizing and distributing point. The Mississippi River and its tributaries gather the crops of Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and other parts of the region and centralize the product at New Orleans. The cotton from Alabama and the South Atlantic cotton States, finds its way by rail to the South Atlantic seaboard, chiefly Charleston and Savannah. A certain amount of cotton is moved by rail from the areas of production to northern and eastern factories; some of the cotton from Texas thus comes a distance of 2000 miles. The bulk of the move- ment, however, is towards the South Atlantic and Gulf sea- board. Upwards of 10,000,000 bales of cotton are yearly produced, (1901-1902), approximately one-tenth of which is consumed within the area of production. Quite a proportion of the cotton manufac- tures of the country are now in the cotton growing states. It is not unlikely that these states may yet manufacture the bulk of their product. Of the surplus about 2,000,000 bales go to the northern manufacturing centers, the remainder (over 6,000,000 bales) enters into foreign trade. The increased growth of the cotton- mill in- dustry in the South is attended by an increased stimulus to various other departments of trade throughout the country at large. In nine southern States, during the year 1900, 131 cotton mills were built, against 40 new mills in nine northern States. "The influence of this fact on the cotton movement is far-reaching. In the first place it changes the haul of the raw materials from a long to a short one, and therefore reduces the proportion of expense which enters into the cost of the manufactured product. It furthermore increases the pur- chasing power of the southern communities in which this raw cotton is manufactured, and thus quickens commerce from every quarter of the Union ; upon this commerce southern communities become more dependent. The general effect, therefore, is to increase the demands 146 The Geography of Commerce of the South, on the northern and western manufacturing centers and farm communities." 1 108. The Movement of Coal and Iron. The position of the coal fields calls for coal movement by rail. It is obviously desirable to make this as short as possible on account of the cost of rail transpor- tation. Two divisions occur in the main distribution of coal from the mines, first, rail haulage to near-by Atlantic seaboard and Lake ports, and second, water transportation to more distant coastwise and Lake points for consumption and further distribution. The shipments of coal to the Atlantic seaboard cities is one of the largest items in the entire yearly internal trade of the country. Large quantities of coal are shipped to lower Lake ports for consumption and for further distribution, notably through Buffalo, Erie, and Cleveland. The source of this supply, both to the Lakes and the seaboard, is in the coal-producing areas of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Mary- land, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. The southern coal trade is supplied to a growing extent by Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Wyoming are the chief coal- producing states west of the Mississippi, while Washington is the only state on the Pacific coast that produces coal of commercial value in any quantity. The movement of iron is intimately related with the movement of coal. The Pittsburg district of western Pennsylvania produces ap- proximately one-half of the total pig iron made in the United States. This calls for a supply of ore which comes mainly from the Lake Superior region by a long water and rail haulage. Important centers of pig iron production also occur in Ohio, Illinois (South Chicago), and Alabama (Birmingham). The above facts serve to show some of the features of the movement of these two great commodities. Not only are coal and iron important in themselves, but they serve as a basis for more general industrial activity. 109. The Movement of Lumber. There are several important 1 Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, January, 1901, p. 1660. Internal Commerce of the United States 147 areas of distribution in the lumber trade, in each of which, one or more markets receive the bulk of the products. In 1900 New York City handled a quantity of lumber aggregating over a billion feet. There were four main movements: (i) From the South, the products being chiefly yellow pine which was transported by water; (2) from Maine and other points to the eastward, likewise coming by water ; (3) a movement by rail from the interior which is second in importance to the southern movement ; and (4) a movement by way of the canals and the Hudson River. St. Louis is an important lumber market of the central region, having cheap transportation and being conveniently situated in relation to both the northern and southern areas of the Mississippi Valley. Chicago is an important center in the Lake Region. The white pine and hemlock timber of the pine belt finds its way through the upper Lake ports, and by way of the Mississippi, into the general com- mercial movement. On the Pacific coast there are two main move- ments, one by rail and the other by water. Fully one-third of the cargo shipment of lumber from British Columbia, for 1900, was to eastern points by way of Cape Horn. This region is adjacent to the Washington timber area. The rail movement from Washington is mainly eastward, reaching to the Mississippi Valley. SUMMARY OF LAKE COMMERCE 1901 AND 1902.1 COMMODITIES RECEIPTS SHIPMENTS 19O1 1903 1901 19O2 Flour 14,257,020 I53,58,9 28 9.205,764 20,770,447 2,475,430 4,238,178 16,765,550 130,700,987 8,255.117 27,898,424 2,500,797 5,458,647 14 028,140 150,870,192 9,480,541 20,872,470 2,454.060 4,275,208 16,292,560 126.207.984 9,632.966 27,854.152 2.399-958 5,132,556 Grain and flaxseed . . . bushels Coal net tons Ore and minerals . . . gross tons Lumber and logs . . . . M feet Unclassified freight . . . net tons Total freight reduced to net tons 45,007,019 54,074,729 45,138,420 55,045,636 1 Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department. 148 The Geography of Commerce SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 75. The following occurs in Washington's Farewell Address (1796): "The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, finds, in the productions of the latter, great and additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same inter- course, benefiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. The East, in like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior communications by land and water, will more and more find a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influences, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation." Explain the preceding as a statement of the benefits of internal commerce. Consider it under the heads of prophecy already fulfilled, and prophecy to be fulfilled. 76. What were the percentages of rural and urban population of the last three censuses ? How do you account for the change ? 77. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of the centralization of manufactures and different branches of commerce ? 78. Take an outline map of the United States and draw boundaries for the chief trade areas. Mark on this map the principal raw products and manufac- tures in each area. 79. President Grant is said to be the only national executive to make a pun in an annual message. It was, " Agriculture is the groundwork of our national re- sources." How largely is this statement true to-day? For the last census year what proportion of the total wealth produced in the United States was in agri- cultural products ? 80. Locate the " Iroquois trail," the "Kittanning path," and other portages of the Alleghanies. What is indicated by the succession of buffalo trail, Indian path, pack train and wagon road of frontiersmen, and later of canal and railroad, along one of these lines ? (Hulbert, Historic Highways, Vols. I and II.) 81. What is meant by the "canalizing" of a river ? Upon what does the commercial value of a river depend? (See p. 220, Question 152.) What are the chief advantages of your nearest important commercial river ? 82. What are the peculiar qualities of the Lake steamers termed " whale-backs " ? 83. The governor of Minnesota in a public address (Minneapolis, 1902) claimed a greater freight shipment from Duluth and its neighboring port of Superior, than is shipped from any other port in the United States. Substantiate or disprove' this claim. How do you account for the large shipments from Duluth ? Internal Commerce of the United States 149 84. How many vessels on the average passed through the " Soo " Canal for every day of the last season of navigation ? Compare with shipping through the Suez. 85. In railroading usage what is meant by " coaler " ? By " granger " ? By " trunk line " ? Illustrate each of these, showing the termini, the chief cities served, and the commodities moved. 86. Consider the relation between electric roads and steam roads as " great arteries "and "feeders." Can you see any good reason why there should be rivalry between these as instruments of transportation ? Investigate the experi- ments with the " freight trolley " about Cleveland, Ohio, and in Massachusetts. (Special Report of the Massachusetts Railway Commission on the latter.) 87. Get documents from the Public Roads Inquiries Office of the Department of Agriculture, consult magazine articles, and prepare an essay on The Recent Movement for Good Roads. 88. What have been the effects on ships and shipping from reserving coastwise commerce of the United States to American ships ? Compare our merchant fleet engaged in domestic commerce with our fleet engaged in foreign trade. (See p. 153.) 89. Consider the commerce of the following cities : Boston, Pittsburg, Savannah, New Orleans, St. Louis, Kansas City, Portland, and San Francisco. Study each city according to the following plan: (a] the raw materials for which it is a distributing point; () the manufactures carried on in or close about the city; and (<:) its transportation advantages. 90. What three routes are available for the shipment of Minnesota grain ? What will determine choice of routes ? 91. Can you account for the prevalent "small shop " industries of New York City and the large industrial establishments of Philadelphia ? 92. Discuss the statement, " no nation is so near to starvation as the one that gives itself solely to the raising of food products." 93. Sketch the industrial development of the South since 1870. To what has this " New South" been due ? Twelfth Census, Vol. VII. Books to be Consulted """Treasury Department, Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, January, 1901. *Rocheleau, Manufacturing. Great American Industries, Volume III. Flani- gan Company, Chicago. Elementary. *Lawson, American Industrial Problems. Chapters XIV and XV, Railways, and XXIV to XXIX, Typical Industries. "Johnson, Inland Waterways. Publications of American Academy of Political and Social Science. *Twelfth Census on Manufactures. CHAPTER X WIDER TRADE OUTLOOK OF THE UNITED STATES " The era of exclusiveness is past" WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 110. New Trade Outlook. The crowning and closing words of President McKinley's life marked the ushering in of a new com- mercial era. The rapid de- velopment of the means of transportation since the com- pletion of the first great trans- continental railroad in 1869, has caused an enormous increase in production, particularly in agriculture. For example, the increased transportation facili- ties have doubled the yearly production of wheat in the past thirty years, and more than EUROPE $215,000,000 - 52$ NORTH AMERICA $96,000,000. - 23$ ASIA $34,000,000 . 8* OCEANIA $29,000,000 7* SOUTH AMERICA AFRICA $27,000,000 STTTTOCTOOO 7* = tt UNITED STATES' EXPORTS OF MANUFAO doubled the annual corn pro- TURED PRODUCTS FOR 1901, APPROXI- duction during the same period. MATED IN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS In three deca des cotton pro- Total, $412,000,000 duction has increased I50 per cent, and the yearly production of wool has advanced from 150,000,000 pounds to more than 300,000,000 pounds. The growth in the production of mineral products has been even more rapid. At the same time there has been a marked fall in the transportation '5 Sewing Machines, Agri. MfM Agricultural! TooU.^lJles. Scientific Appara " Typewriters, Fur _ Furniture. Cotton and Woolen Goods. Iron and Stee! Goods, Hour, Shoe.. Paper, P,.ints and India Rubber Goods. UNITED STATES IN Macl.inerr, Vehicles, Clocks Be Apparatus, Washes To rare. Cotton Goods, Shoes, WORLD'S MARKETS Wider Trade Outlook of the United States 151 rates, the cost of shipping wheat by rail from Chicago to New York, for example, having declined upwards of 20 cents per bushel. One striking effect of this increased production of raw material has been enormously to increase manufacture. Upwards of 5,500,000 persons are npw engaged in the various manufacturing industries as against 2,000,000 in 1870. The money in circulation has also increased from $17.50 per capita to $28.66 per capita. As Mr. O. P. Austin of the Bureau of Statistics has remarked in a recent paper, all this has come about within the short space of thirty years, during which time the population increased 100 per cent. 1 111. Commercial Expansion. The effect of this immense increase in both raw and manufactured products is to create a surplus which must find a market outside of the United States. In 1902, the United States stood second only to Great Britain in the value of exports, and very nearly equaled that country. The United States' exports in 1900 and 1901 were larger than for 1902, and in the former years this nation took first place in the value of the export trade. Germany stands third as an exporting nation. As an import- ing nation, the United States occupies third place, Great Britain and Germany having a larger import trade. It is estimated that nearly 45 per cent of the United States' imports is raw material for use in the various manufacturing industries, which require more material than the country itself supplies ; much of this is returned as finished goods to the world's markets. The demand for American goods in foreign markets is due to their cheapness and excellence. Increase in our foreign sales is also affected by the variety of the goods produced. As a British writer has recently said, " From shaving-soap to electric motors, and from shirt-waists to telephones, the American is clearing the field." "Noth- ing could well be more gratifying," says Mr. Frederic Emory, of the Bureau of Foreign Commerce, " than the picture of our foreign trade as it is to-day by comparison with the figures of very recent years. 1 The World's Work, August, 1902. 152 The GeograpJiy of Commerce EUROPE $844,000,000 - 90# It is all the more remarkable because our progress has been achieved with but little effort, and by means not directed specifically to the promotion of foreign trade, but is largely fortuitous, and springing from our intense absorption, for many years, in domestic industry and internal development. In other words, we have reached a surprising eminence in the exportation of manufactured goods, not because we were seeking that goal, but because, in developing our resources, and in manufacturing for the home market, we attained an excellence and comparative cheapness of pro- duction which, to the astonish- ment of ourselves as well as of the world at large, has suddenly made us a formidable com- petitor, perhaps the most for- ' midable of all, in the great international rivalry for trade." ] Viewed in this light, foreign trade is, after all, only the expan- sion of the internal commerce of the country the doing well UNITED STATES' EXPORTS OF AGRICUL- of what lies nearest at hand. TURAL PRODUCTS FOR 1901, APPROXI- There are cer tain other fac- MATED IN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS . L tors, however, to be taken into Total, $943,000,000 consideration in the review of our commercial expansion. One of these is the establishment of favorable trade agreements, and another the increase of the merchant marine. Special trade agreements have at various times been brought into force between the United States and several other countries. The establishment of an American merchant marine on a larger scale is a necessity, if we wish to secure the full advantages of foreign commerce. The subsidizing of steamship lines by the 1 Introduction to Review of the World's Commerce for 1900, Department of State, Vol. I, p. 21. NORTH AMERICA $58,OOO,OOO = ALL OTHER COUNTRIES $41 OOO.OOO Wider Trade Outlook of the United States 153 government has of late been urged as an important aid to secure regular steamship service. One of the chief obstacles to the building up of a large merchant marine is the difficulty of securing regularity of shipment, and return cargoes. Experience has shown that in several instances an increase of trade has developed in both directions by putting into operation a line of steamships as regular carriers between certain foreign ports and the United States. This is illustrated in the regular communi- gerf- Z** * S 30 ^ <2<$ CURVE A-DECREASE, IN PER CENT OF UNITED STATES COMMERCE CARRIED BY AMERICAN SHIPS CURVE B-INCREASE OF TOTAL FOREIGN COMMERCE OF U.S. cation established with various countries. The excellence of our consular service is another factor in the growth of American com- merce abroad. The consular reports submitted to the Bureau of Foreign Commerce, indicate with tolerable accuracy the character and volume of trade in different parts of the world and keep our producers and business houses in touch with the needs of foreign markets. 112. Fundamental Principles. The underlying principle of for- eign trade is the same as that which underlies the internal trade of 1 54 T/ie Geography of Commerce the country. It was seen in reviewing the different industrial sections of the United States that no one of them is economically self-sufficient, and that the demand for outside products and the ability to furnish products of its own, in the case of each of the sections, based on the physiographical features of the cultivated regions, were the vital principles that have expanded into organized commercial life. The same principles hold in the relations of the country as a whole to the world at large. Though the United States might exist in a state of 1800 1810 1890 1900 self-sufficiency for a greater or less length of time, it would do so at the expense of its national vitality. The demands of the industrial life regularly overreach the country's capacity for production and draw its raw material from outside of the national domain. This was seen to be the case in the milling and cattle industries (see p. 144), and it is true of other branches of industry. The physical contrasts between different countries, the want of self-sufficiency, the varying industrial activities, and the surplus of production over consumption, Wider Trade Outlook of the United States 55 call into existence a world movement of commodities which has been organized into the foreign commerce of nations. The great contrast that exists between the temperate zone and the tropics is a fundamental factor in the world's trade to-day, and the devel- opment of commercial activity with this in mind calls for careful consideration on the part of governments, and the establishment of a sound policy based on the reciprocal advantages of trade. 113. Tropical Colonization and Control. The statement above made concerning the trade between tropical and temperate lands, leads naturally to a question of the control of the tropics. That tropical lands will come more and more under the control of outside peoples, is apparent from the present efforts toward expansion on the part of the leading nations, and also from recent experiences in the tropics. The Dutch and Por- tuguese in the East, the Spanish influence in tropical America, the British control of India, the French in Indo-China and Ton- quin, the Russian invasion of China, the partition of tropical Africa, the United States in the West Indies and the Philippines, are familiar. These facts do not imply that tropical colonization has ever taken place or is ever likely again to take place in the same way as North America was colonized by Europeans, or as Siberia is being colonized by Russians to-day. It is true that tropical America has become Spanish America, but only through widespread inter- marriage with the native peoples and the universal employment of a peasant class in labor, not by colonization in the strict sense of the GREAT BRITIAN $624,000,OOO - 42 1 /2g GERMANY $188,000.000 = 12 1 /2* CANADA $99,OOO,OOO 7* NETHERLANDS $83,OOO,OOO 6% FRANCE $76,000.000 s-f, BELGIUM $48,000,000 "NTEXTCO ~ 35,OOU.('CO l^pf ITALY S34.UUU.UOO ALL OTHER. COUNTRIES $273,000,000 1951 COMMERCE OF UNITED STATES (1900- 1901). EXPORTS BY COUNTRIES, APPROX- IMATED IN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS Total, $ 1,460,0x20,000 5 6 The Geography of Commerce word. For reasons already pointed out (p. 24) permanent resi- dence in the tropics by white peoples is hardly possible on the scale to establish permanent settlements. The tropics can probably best be controlled from the outside, by increasing the advantages of trade to the peoples of dissimilar environments. The increasing demand among peoples of the temperate zone for tropical products, tea, coffee, cacao, tobacco, sugar, spices, rubber, oils, drugs, dyestufTs, fruits, woods, hemp, cotton, jute, rice, and even wheat (where conditions of growth are favorable), has been and is the cause of this wide- spread invasion of the tropics. " What the European wants is raw products, not territory, and he goes to the tropics, not for settlement, but to obtain tropical products." 1 The in- habitants of the tropics most need the manufactured prod- ucts of the temperate zone. IMPORTS INTO UNITED STATES BY COUNTRIES Such being the case, the con- (1901-1902), APPROXIMATED IN MILLIONS trol of the tr0 pi cs i s b es1; se _ OF DOLLARS .. cured by the establishment of Total imports, $903,320,948 reciprocal trade rather than by conquest. Tropical possessions call for a wise policy on the part of the home government by establishing the native peoples on a firm basis of prosperity, by creating and diffusing a commercial interest which will further the development of resources, and by the establish- ment of a trade advantageous to both. By this means only can tropical possessions be profitably held. 114. Effects of Commercial Expansion. The geographical posi- UNITED KINGDOM 167.7 18* GERMANY 1O2 1135 FRANCE 83 9* BRAZIL 79 8.7* BRITISH NORTH AMERICA 48.8 5.3* ALL OTHER COUNTRIES 424.8 48* 1 Major Younghusband in Monthly Review, February, 1902 ; also Kidd, The Control of the Tropics. Wider Trade Outlook of the United States 157 tion of the United States gives it an advantage in the commercial rivalry of nations. Situated between the two great oceans, with Europe on one side and Asia on the other, a vast territory under a single government, the United States is in a position to hold an increasingly larger share of the world's commerce. The markets of Japan, China, and Asiatic Russia are nearer to us than to any European country. The completion of the Isthmian Canal will give us a still greater advantage. With our increased commercial supremacy and the advantage of geographical position, we shall undoubtedly have a decided influence in future international affairs, for commercial suprem- acy means more than an ability successfully to compete in the world's market. It is a potent factor in the question of the balance of power, and as such may be used to secure inter- national peace. The attempt to force com- petitors out of the market in every department of trade is of APPROXIMATED VALUES OF EXPORTS FROM doubtful advantage. Its ten- dency in the long run would be to destroy markets rather than to build them up. The under- lying principle in international trade is the territorial division of labor. Trade policy should recognize the adaptability of certain regions and peoples for certain lines of work. A particular people by their inherent qualities and the conditions of their environment may be better fitted than any other people for carrying on a certain industry. This should be recognized and the particular industry fostered. The student of the Geography of Commerce will readily see by a THE UNITED STATES (1900-1901) Total exports, $1,460,000,000 158 The Geography of Commerce survey of a country in what directions the activities of the people should tend. The extractive industries, such as agriculture, mining, lumbering, and the fisheries, have usually been the basis of prosperity. As this prosperity increases, the manufacturing industries will assume importance, varying according to the character of the people and 1850 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 14,000 T 2,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 2,000 INCREASE OF MANUFACTURES COMPARED WITH INCREASE OF POPULATION UNITED STATES / CO z > / 4 o _J _l 5 7 / / / / 3 O D Z o g / / / / O CO z o :D Q. O Q. vo^ <$?> /^ / / _l i z ^ ^ w lH or5SS- ^ / ACTURE5 ^L ^ IVIANUF ^^ .^- ^ YE; RS 1.860 1870 1880 1890 1900 the resources at their command. At first manufacturing will be for home consumption ; but later, if the. people possess commercial vital- ity, the growth of manufacture will draw raw material from outside sources, and the manufactured products will find an ever increasing sale in the world's markets. Such, in brief, has been the industrial and commercial evolution of the United States. Wider Trade Outlook of the United States 1 59 MANUFACTURES AND EXPORTS OF THE UNITED STATES 1 COMMODITIES MANUFACTURES (1900) EXPORTS (1901) PER CEN r OF MANUFACTURES EXPORTED Pottery, terra-cotta .... $ 44,000,000 204,000,000 $ 600,000 29,790,000 I. 4 14.6 Wool 297,000,000 1,500,000 Iron, steel . . 835,000,000 1 1 7,000,000 Cotton goods Carpets, rus 339,000,000 48,000,000 32,000,000 105,000 9-4 .2 Packing-house products Carriages, wagons .... 699,000,000 122,000,000 35,8OO,OOO 185,000,000 2,790,000 5,500,000 26.4 2-3 15 Boots, shoes ...... 261,000,000 6,000,000 2.3 Silk IO7,OOO,OOO 3O I. OOO a Furniture . I2C OOO OOO 4IOO OOO ?2 Glass s6.ooo.ooo 2.OOO.OOO 3.5 VALUES OF PRINCIPAL COMMODITIES IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED STATES 190O-19O1 2 1901-1903 2 Sugar & QO 4.8? 8OO & 55 o6l.OQ7 Coffee 62,861, 3QQ 7O,Q82,I55 Chemicals, drugs, and dyes c-i ,508, 1 57 57,723,622 Hides and skins .... . 4.8 2 24. 4 7O 58,011,168 Cotton, manufactures of 4O 246 03 5 A A 46O 126 Vegetable fibers and textile grasses, manufactures of Silk, unmanufactured ... . . 32,762,608 30,051,365 393 6 >3 6 4 42,635,000 India rubber and gutta-percha 28,835.178 25,652,077 Silk, manufactures of 26 842,138 32,640,242 Vegetable fibers, textile grasses, unmanufactured . Precious stones 22,932,506 2O 425 7^6 31,545,962 23 348.225 Wood, and manufactures of 10,71:4,205 24,44 5, 5 QQ Fruits and nuts 10,586,70^ 2I,48o,525 Tin IQ,8O5,55I IQ,46l,85O Tobacco, and manufactures of . . ... l8,77O,526 I7,7O6,4Q3 Iron and steel, manufactures of . . . 17.874,780 27,l8o 247 'Wool, manufactured . . 14,585 306 17,384,463 ^ T ines and liquors . . 14 266 600 15.246 640 Total of all imports . $823.172.165 SoO3.32O.Q48 1 Report of Philadelphia Commercial Museum. 2 Fiscal year ending June 30. 160 The Geography of Commerce SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 94. What is the meaning of the phrase "trade follows the flag" ? Discuss this in its relation to the foreign commerce of the United States. 95. Consider cost of production and excellence of product in their bearing on international trade. 96. What was the general relation of imports and exports for the United States before 1875 ? What since ? Are the totals for imports affected by our system of tariff? (See p. 154 and Reference to Question 122, p. 186.) 97. Is the United States most largely an agricultural or a manufacturing coun- try ? Compare the values of agriculture and manufactured products for 1850, 1880, and the latest year for which statistics are available. 98. Name in the order of their importance the five principal foreign trade seaports of the United States. Discuss the trade of each. (See Question 89, p. 149-) 99. What proportion of the manufactured products of the United States is consumed at home and what is exported? 100. Write an essay on the Consular Service of the United States and point out its influence on foreign trade. (Examine the Consular Reports. See Conner, noted below.) 101. Investigate the subject, Ship Subsidies in their Influence on Fostering Foreign Commerce. (See Poolers Index to Periodical Literature, under " Ship Subsidies.") 102. What are the different methods of tropical control? (See Kidd, Control of the Tropics; also The Forum, July, 1899.) 103. What was the influence of opening up the West upon sea-faring life in the United States? 104. Consult a standard work on political economy for the idea of the inter- national division of labor. Make clear that the foreign commerce of the United States is but an enlargement of the same principles that underlie the domestic commerce. 105. Make a study of the organization and work of the Department of Com- merce and Labor of the Federal Government. 106. What is the difference between " calendar " year and " fiscal " year ? What is the fiscal year of the United States ? Can you ascertain any good reason for this ? Books to be Consulted Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nattire and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. ** Commercial Relations of the United States. Issued annually by Bureau of For- eign Commerce, Washington, D,C. Wider Trade Outlook of the United States 161 * Benjamin Kidd, The Control of the Tropics. Macmillan Co. * Lawson, American Industrial Problems. Chapters XX to XXIII, The Tariff; Exports and Imports and America's Best Markets. ** Vanderlip, American Commercial Jnvasion of Europe. Three Papers, Scrib- ner's Magazine, beginning January, 1902. * Publications of Foreign Market Section of the Department of Agriculture, Washington, B.C. * Conner, Uncle Sam Abroad. Rand, McNally & Co., 1900. * Marvin, American Merchant Marine. New York, 1902. **The World's Work: Emory, The Greater America, December, 1901; and Austin, Will our Commercial Expansion Continue ? August, 1902. Laughlin & Willis, Reciprocity. New York; 1903. CHAPTER XI OUTLYING POSSESSIONS OF THE UNITED STATES 115. The Philippine Islands. The Philippines form an archi- pelago of about 2000 islands extending between 4 and 21 north latitude. They are separated from the continent of Asia by the South China Sea. The archipelago extends practically from Borneo to Formosa. The greater number are small islands, and they are sepa- rated from one another by comparatively narrow channels. The islands are volcanic ; earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are of fre- quent occurrence. The surface of the various islands is rugged and mountainous ; the mountains are interspersed with wide valleys, which are watered by numerous streams. The climate and vegeta- tion are tropical, and the soil, of volcanic debris, is extremely fertile. This, together with the abundant natural irrigation of the soil, gives to the islands the appearance of gardens of luxuriant growth. The area of the entire archipelago is equal to about the area of the New England States, New York and New Jersey com- bined. The largest and most important island is Luzon, about equal in area to New York State. Mindanao is nearly as 'large. Between Luzon on the north and Mindanao on the south are the smaller islands of Mindoro, Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, and Samar. South of Mindanao lies the Sulu Archipelago, and to the west the long island of Palawan, both of which are geographically more nearly related to Borneo, though they are included in the Philippine group. The population of the Philippines (about 8,000,000) is of very mixed character, consisting for the most part of peoples of Negritic and Malayan stock with an infusion of Chinese. Much diversity 162 Outlying Possessions of the United States 163 of language exists among the various tribes. About 25,000 whites and 100,000 Chinese are resident in the islands, and these, in the main, control the industrial interests. The United States at first held the islands by military force, but has instituted local government in a large number of towns and is rapidly establishing schools throughout the various districts. There are already in the islands upwards of 700 miles of telegraph and more than 600 miles of railroad. The entire group of islands is divided into three separate governments Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao which together constitute the colony. The industries are mostly agricultural and the products altogether tropical. The mean annual temperature is 81 F., the extremes rarely going below 61 or above 97. The rainfall is abundant, and the year is divided into three seasons, a dry temperate season from November to February, a dry hot season from March to May, and the rainy or wet temperate season from June to October. Sugar, hemp, and tobacco are the principal crops of export value, while rice and maize are also raised as food crops for native consumption. Coffee and cotton were formerly very important products. Cacao and indigo are also grown to a considerable extent. The hemp, or more properly speaking, the Manila hemp, is the fiber from the long leaves of a native tree closely related to the banana and plantain. It is of great value in the manufacture of rope, cordage, and sacking. Cocoanuts, pineapple fiber, copra (the dried kernel or meat of the cocoanut), and certain native woods are also important products. The forests of the Philippines are destined to be a source of great wealth in the future. Numerous varieties of valuable timber occur, some of them being very hard and capable of resisting the attacks of the ship worm. These are useful for sea-piling work and for railroad ties. Some varieties of wood also take a very high polish. The 385 species of timber-producing trees in the archipelago are classified in groups according to their economic value. A great variety of trees yield valuable gums, rubber, gutta-percha, essential oils, and dyestuffs. 164 The Geography of Commerce Seventeen different kinds of dyewoods are found throughout the islands. It is estimated that not less than 40,000,000 acres of the land are forest-covered. The United States government has estab- lished a forestry bureau which regulates the utilization of the forest products on the state lands. There is known mineral wealth throughout the islands, though, as yet, little has been done to develop it. Gold, copper, silver, lead, and iron have been reported from various places. Coal and petroleum are said to exist in Cebu and Panay, and sulphur in Leyte. The richest district in mineral deposits is embraced in the provinces of Benguet, Lepanto, and Bontoc. Much of the copper ore contains veins of gold-bearing quartz. The assay of this ore gives an average of 8 per cent copper, and the deposits are of very great extent. The gold outlook is equally favorable. The Philippine coal deposits are mainly lignites and compare favorably with other coals of the same grade for steaming and domestic purposes. The Philippine coals do not form clinkers to the same extent as do those of Japan and Aus- tralia. The development of the iron deposits will undoubtedly attend the future exploitation of the coal. Hemp, copra, tobacco, hides, and sugar form 80 per cent of the value of Philippine exports. Under normal conditions, raw sugar is, next to hemp, the most important Philippine export; the output of sugar, prior to* the Spanish-American war, amounted to over 400,000,000 pounds annually. Most of the hemp is shipped to the United States and England. Leaf tobacco, cigars, and copra (which supplies an oil used in the manufacture of soap) go mainly to Euro- pean countries. Sugar and sapan wood are sent into China and Japan. The imports are chiefly flour, rice, wines and liquors, dress goods, coal, and petroleum. Of imports from the United States, bottled beer and other liquors have a leading place. Flour and breadstuffs ; cloth, thread, and yarn ; iron manufactures ; beef, ham, and meat products ; watches, bicycles, and paper follow in the order named. MANILA TOBACCO FACTORY MANILA SUGAR REFINING Outlying Possessions of the United States 165 Manila, the capital and chief commercial city of the islands, has a population of over 300,000 ; it commands a fine harbor on the south- western coast of Luzon. The entrance to this harbor is guarded by the fortifications of Cavite. The town is lighted by electricity and has undergone rapid improvement in its sanitary conditions. Iloilo, on the island of Panay, is next to Manila in size and importance. Cebu, on the island of the same name and Zamboanga, on Mindanao, are also towns of some note. 116. Guam. This is the largest island of the Ladrone or Mari- anne Archipelago and was ceded by Spain to the United States in the Treaty of Peace at Paris in December, 1898. The island is in direct line between San Francisco and the Philippines, upward of 5000 miles from the former, and about 900 miles from Manila. It has an area of about 200 square miles, with a rich and productive soil, well watered and well forested. The inhabitants, numbering about 9000, are mostly immigrants from the Philippines and nine-tenths of them can read and write. Both Spanish and English are spoken. The capital is Agana, with a population of about 6000. The principal pro- ductions are sugar cane, rice, maize, cacao, tobacco, and coffee. A great profusion and variety of native fruits occur. Among these are the cocoanut, which gives rise to the only important industry of the island that of copra production. Several kinds of breadfruit, figs, custard apples, yams (a tuber much like the sweet potato), lemons, oranges, shaddocks, citrons, limes, pineapples, mangoes, and egg plants are also cultivated. Among timber trees and fiber plants, may be mentioned the pandanus, or screw pine, the long and slender leaves of which are used in the making of hats and mats, the " ifil " or "ipil," a native tree yielding a very hard and durable but brittle wood, the cotton tree used for making pillows, but not woven into cloth on account of the poor quality of the staple, and numerous others. Arrowroot, turmeric, ginger, and peppers are also found in abundance. The island is destined to be a coaling station of growing impor- 1 66 The Geography of Commerce tance, and is also a station of the Pacific submarine telegraph. It rains on Guam almost every day because of the abundant vapors of the ocean, which are condensed in passing over the island. 117. Tutuila (Samoan . Islands) . The Samoan or Navigator Group lies near the i4th parallel of south latitude and about 172 west. It is directly in the line of the trans- Pacific trade routes from New Zealand and Australia to the United States. The island of Tutuila and near-by islets have been virtually under the control of the United States for a number of years, but became an actual possession by the Anglo-German agreement of 1899. Tutuila is mountainous and volcanic, well wooded and fertile, with an area of about 54 square miles ; it has a population of some 2000 inhabitants. The produc- tions are tropical, chief among which are cocoanuts, cotton, sugar, and coffee. Copra production is the most important industry, but the output has varied, owing to native disturbances during which the cocoanut palms have been destroyed. Copra is exported to the United States and to European countries, Germany taking the larger share of the whole. The island is chiefly important as a naval base and coaling station ; the harbor of Pago Pago is the most commodious roadstead of the entire group. 118. Hawaii. The Hawaiian Islands are a volcanic group lying in the Pacific between the parallels of 19 and 22 north, and the meridians 155 and 160 west. Eight islands form the group with a total area of 6740 square miles. The islands were annexed by the United States in 1898, and created a territory in 1900. The popu- lation is mixed, consisting of native and half-breed Hawaiians, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, British, and Americans. The Twelfth Census reports a total population of 154,001. The islands enjoy a remarkably salubrious and equable climate owing to oceanic influ- ences and to the fact that they lie entirely in the belt of the. trade winds (northeast trades). The mean yearly temperature is about 74 F. and the rainfall copious, being heaviest in winter. The gen- eral surface of the islands is mountainous, and they are well forested 1 68 The Geography of Commerce in parts. The soils of the islands are of volcanic origin and are of re- markable fertility. The so-called " sedimentary " soils are the debris of volcanic lavas that have accumulated on the lower coastal lands and river deltas. It is on these soils that a large portion of the sugar cane is grown. Sugar is the chief production of the islands, employ- ing the greater part of the capital and labor of Hawaii, and being the chief export and source of wealth. A number of large estates have productive capacities varying from 1000 to 20,000 tons of sugar per year, and are equipped with modern mill machinery for sugar refining. Two years are required on an average to pro- duce a crop of Hawaiian sugar, while but one year is required in Louisiana. Rice is the second most important Hawaiian crop ; the production is largely in the hands of the Chinese who appear to be immune to the fevers of the rice swamps. Coffee is cultivated quite extensively on the four larger islands. It appears to be a native of Hawaii, having been long known and used in the wild state. The chief fruits grown are bananas and pineapples, which form a consid- erable item of export. Vegetables are also raised to a limited extent. The forests of Hawaii contain a great variety of useful trees and plants, but much of the island area has been deforested owing to clearing away for cultivation without replanting, and to neglect in caring for the forests. The destruction of these forests has undoubt- edly influenced the cultivation, causing disastrous droughts, and forc- ing planters to resort to irrigation. Active measures for restoring and conserving the Hawaiian forests should be a prominent department of governmental work. Large areas are given over to ranches where cattle and sheep are grazed to supply meat for home consumption. The grazing industry, however, has diminished with the increased spread of sugar planting, incident to the relatively high price of sugar, thus making it pay to plant on even the thinnest soils. But hides and wool still form a considerable item of export. Many new products and industries are possible for Hawaii. Outlying Possessions of the United States 169 Cereal production is promising, especially maize and wheat. The cinchona tree would undoubtedly thrive on the upper forested slopes of the mountain ranges. Grape culture and wine production, silk culture, the rubber industry, tobacco, market gardening and fruit growing, the growing of orchids, and many other industries are being considered in Hawaii to-day. The land is adapted for great diversity in agricultural pursuits, and agriculture will be the basis of Hawaiian industry and prosperity. Honolulu, the capital (on Oahu Island), with a population of nearly 40,000 souls, commands a good harbor and is the calling port of several trans-Pacific lines of steamers and numerous other vessels engaged in trade. It is essentially an American city with many fine buildings and all the appliances of modern civilization. The busi- ness of the islands is mainly in the hands of English and American houses. The central position of Hawaii in relation to the Pacific trade routes has been largely responsible for its growing commercial importance. Honolulu is a station for the new American cable to the Philippines. 119. Porto Rico. The island of Porto Rico was acquired by the United States from Spain in the treaty of December, 1898. It has an area of some 3600 square miles (about three-fourths the size of Connecticut) and a population slightly over 950,000, over one-third of whom are negroes and mulattoes. The soil is fertile and the climate entirely tropical, the island lying about 18 north and within the trade-wind zone. The rainfall is abundant from the great quantity of moisture that is condensed on the high mountain slopes ; it is heaviest in November and lightest in February. During the late summer and in the autumn the island is peculiarly liable to the passage of severe tropical hurricanes because of the equatorial calms. A central core of mountain ranges, with forested slopes, extends nearly the entire length of the island. These slopes are broken to form the divides between numerous streams that flow through the rolling hill country and across the coast plain, I/O The Geography of Commerce watering the land abundantly. The upper courses of these streams afford an ample source of power. The climate, though tropical, is not characterized by extreme heat, being tempered by the never failing trade winds. The humidity is somewhat enervating, but the climate is on the whole healthful ard there is a remarkable freedom from epidemic diseases. Cultivation is carried on to a large extent by the peasant population on the small interior farms, where fruits and vegetables of various sorts form the chief 'produce, though there are numerous large coffee and sugar estates and tobacco plantations, as well as land given over to grazing. Coffee, sugar, and tobacco are the staple products of the island. In 1900-1901, 166,000 acres were under coffee, the annual yield of which is about 60,000,000 pounds. The coffee bushes are grown in the shade of banana and guava trees/ Porto Rican coffee is of fine quality, and after the berries have been polished and slightly colored, it finds a good market in the United States and European countries. Eighty thousand acres are under sugar with a yield of about 160,000,000 pounds, while the 13,000 acres of tobacco yield some 12,000,000 pounds annually. Pine- apples, bananas, oranges, guavas, maize, rice, and cotton are also important crops, and cocoanuts grow abundantly, especially on the sandy shores. The raising of cattle is a considerable industry ; the chief cattle districts are on the northern side of the island. Much valuable timber is found in the forests, including ebony, cedar, and sandalwood, and many varieties useful for building, as well as dyes, tanning stuffs, spices, etc. Among minerals, nagnetite, copper ores, and gold exist in considerable quantities. Salt, also, forms an impor- tant product, the commercial output of which amounts to about 10,000,000 pounds a year. Large quantities of marble and other building stones occur. Coffee forms over 63 per cent of the entire export value, and sugar 28 per cent. The remainder is made up of tobacco, honey, cacao, molasses, cotton, cattle, timber, rind hides. The export trade of the Outlying Possessions of the United States 171 island to the United States for 1900-1901 amounted to upwards of $8,000,000, and the imports from the same country upwards of $10,000,000. The chief imports are provisions, cotton goods, and rice. Codfish and rice form the chief food of the working classes, the former being imported largely from Canada. The trade with foreign countries in 1900-1901 was nearly $2,000,000 for imports, and slightly over $3,000,000 for exports. Of this foreign trade the larger part was with Spain. The chief manufacturing interests at present are in the preparation of chocolate, tobacco, wax, rum, bay rum, matches, soap, and straw hats. The development of manu- factures and better use of resources, the construction of wagon roads, railroads, and telegraph lines, the improvement of harbor facilities, and the furthering of educational interests are important forms of progress. Labor is cheap, and new industries need to be started in order to support the working classes. Cattle raising affords a supply of hides which could readily be tanned by the use of the mangle tree, and leather manufacture might be made an im- portant industrial feature of the island. The fibers of many native plants can be used in textile and cordage manufacture. Starch fac- tories could be started with prospects of good returns. The fishing industries have as yet been but little developed. The European beet sugar has caused the decline of the cane sugar industry in Porto Rico as in other West Indian islands. What is needed in the island is capital, better transportation facilities, and more general education. A number of commercial towns occur along the seacoast at favor- able harbor points. San Juan, the capital (population 32,000), is on the north shore, 1411 miles from New York. Ponce (population nearly 28,000) is on the south shore. Steamers ply from port to port around the coast, and several lines connect the island with other West Indian islands, as well as with United States and European ports. 120. Commercial Prospects of Our Tropical Possessions. The future outlook for trade with our tropical possessions must be fcased on the development of their resources and the creating of a demand for 172 The Geography of Commerce our manufactures and- food-stuffs. All of the possessions are agricul- tural. A comparatively few staple products have heretofore character- ized the industries of these regions : hemp and sugar in the Philippines, sugar in Hawaii, and coffee, sugar, and tobacco in Porto Rico. There is every indication, however, that a much greater variety of tropical products may be successfully cultivated with prospects of good returns. One obstacle at present to the development of the resources and commerce of the several islands in question is the inadequacy of the means of transportation throughout their interior parts. Good wagon roads and railroads are a necessity for increased commercial enterprise. At present the annual importations of the United States' tropical possessions amounts in round numbers to about $50,000,000. This is divided about equally between manufactured and agricultural products. This consuming power is no index to the producing capacity of the islands. Increased areas in cultivation and in- creased productivity, such as the reclaiming of waste land, etc., mean that more goods will be bought from the outside. Recent developments have, in fact, decidedly stimulated trade. The value of United States' imports into Hawaii increased upwards of 57 per cent in one year, and the value of imports into Porto Rico upwards of 78 per cent in the same time. The United States spends on an average upwards of $250,000,000 annually in the importation of tropical pro- ducts. More of these might be grown with profit in her own outlying possessions. In the- fiscal year ending June 30, 1902, the United States secured about four and one-half per cent of her total imports from her own islands. 121. Alaska. The territory of Alaska was acquired from the Russian government by purchase in 1867. I ts area (590^84 square miles) is about one-sixth that of the entire United States. The habitable portion of the territory is the coast strip and numer- ous islands of the Alexander Archipelago, extending southward for about 500 miles. Back of the coast ranges the interior of Alaska Outlying Possessions of the United States 173 is a frozen waste, covered with dense beds of moss and a stunted vegetation. The Yukon River and its valley is the only natural highway into the interior, but navigation on this river is only possible for a short time during the summer, and its mouth is situated too far north to make it easily accessible. The Twelfth Census reports a total population (including Indian peoples) of 63,592, which was nearly double that of the preceding census. Sitka, the capital, is situated on Baranoff Island, where it has an open winter harbor. The chief resources of the country are in the fur-seal and salmon fisheries, and in the gold fields of the upper Yukon Valley (Klondike region). The invasion of Alaska by gold hunters is likely to further develop the resources of the country, especially its mineral wealth. A railroad has been built over the White Pass leading to the upper Yukon gold districts. Gold has also been discovered in the sea sands at Cape Nome. The salmon fishery is one of the prominent industrial features of Alaska. Salmon swarm along the coast and in the rivers and are especially abundant in Bristol Bay and the Bering Sea region. It is estimated that the Alaskan salmon fisheries now supply more than half of the United States product. Fifty-five canneries and twelve salteries were reported in operation in 1901, with a total output of about 100,000,000 pounds of salmon packed and shipped, represent- ing a value of nearly $7,000,000. The cod fisheries also are of grow- ing importance. The mild character of the southern coast strip of Alaska seems to justify the belief that a variety of vegetables might be grown for local consumption. Live stock raising might also prove successful on a small scale, as there is a supply of grass in many places. The introduction of reindeer from Siberia, for food and transportation purposes, has so far met with fair success, and some 3000 head have been distributed in the northwestern section. Valuable timber exists, especially in the southeast; this can be made available for local consumption, and might also furnish a small export. 1 74 The Geography of Commerce The fur- seal has suffered a decrease in recent years as a result of reckless slaughter. The breeding grounds of the herd are on the Pribyloff Islands, which lie to the north of the Aleutian chain. It is estimated that the total value of seal skins from this region since the purchase of Alaska by the United States amounts to about $35,000,000. The value of furs, other than the seal, which were taken in Alaska during the same period, is estimated at some $17,000,000. The gold output of Alaska for 1901 is estimated at $3,460,000. The chief gold districts are the Seward Peninsula (including Cape Nome), the Yukon River, southeastern Alaska, Cook Inlet, and the Copper River. 1 SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 107. Make a study of the Ordinance of 1787 as a basis for the colonial policy of the United States. 108. What were the occasion and the terms under which the United States secured the Philippine Islands? 109. What will be the results of the American cable in the Pacific, upon the political and commercial union of the United States and her dominion ? 1 10. Take a map of the Pacific and draw the trade routes from Vancouver to Australia, from San Francisco to the Philippines, and from the Isthmus of Panama to Japan. What do you discover about the Hawaiian Islands ? What can you say of the importance of these islands in the trade of the Pacific? in. Should the Chinese Exclusion Act of the United States be retained for the Philippines and Hawaii? Why? (See Jenks, Economic Questions in Colo- nies, etc., Bureau of Insular Affairs, War Department.) 112. Consider the strategic and commercial importance of Porto Rico. Are these likely to increase or diminish? Why ? 113. What are the advantages of nations situated in temperate regions hold- ing tropical colonies? Consider this statement, " It is as impossible to establish republican institutions in the tropics as it would be to plow the sea." Is repub- lican form of government most largely a matter of climate or of race? 1 Commercial Alaska in rqor, Summary of Commerce and Finance for May, 1902, Treasury Department. For 1899 the estimated value of Alaskan gold production was $5'459>5' Mineral Resources of the United States (1901), p. 124. Outlying Possessions of the United States 175 114. Why is a stable government in colonies a requisite for commercial pros- perity? 115. Compare the development in Alaska following the incoming for gold with the development in California. Why the difference? 116. Contrast the climate and natural productions of Alaska with those of the other outlying possessions of the United States. How does the United States herself compare with the regions contrasted ? Books to be Consulted *Articles on Porto Rico, Hawaii, Alaska, Philippine Islands, Samoa, Ladrone Islands, in The International Geography. **Special numbers of Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, Treasury Department, also Regular Issues, Commerce with Non-contiguous Terri- tories of United States. Kidd, The Control of the Tropics; Worcester, The Philippine Islands. Mac- millan Co. Carroll, Porto Rico, its Population, Commerce, Industries, etc. Treasury Department, Washington, D.C. *R. T. Hill, Cuba and Porto Rico with Other Islands of the West Indies. New York and London, 1898. *War Department, Publications of Bureau of Insular Affairs. Washington, D.C. Conant, The United States in the Orient. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin & Co.; 1900. Ireland, Tropical Colonization. New York, Macmillan Co.; 1899. PART III TRADE OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE OTHER THAN UNITED STATES CHAPTER XII THE DOMINION OF CANADA 122. Regional Geography. The Dominion of Canada embraces the region from the United States northward, and from the Atlantic westward to the Pacific and the boundary of Alaska. The territory thus included covers an area somewhat greater than that of the United States (including Alaska) and a little smaller than that of Europe as a whole. Four physical regions are included in this area : (i) the hills and lowlands of the eastern part of the country which are a continuation of the Appalachian Highlands ; (2) a low V- shaped plateau of crystalline rocks inclosing Hudson Bay in its center and extending southward to the Great Lakes. The Lake Superior hill region in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and the Adirondacks in New York, are outlying portions of this in the United States ; (3) the inland plains and prairies, a northward extension of the Great Plains of the United States ; and (4) the Cordilleran Highland of the western part, similar in features to the same area in the United States, and reaching northward along the boundary of Alaska, where it rises into the highest summits of the system. The entire area is drained into four basins : (i) the Atlantic drainage, mainly through the St. Lawrence ; (2) the Hudson Bay drainage through the Saskatchewan and Nelson rivers ; (3) the N 177 178 The Geography of Commerce Arctic drainage through the Mackenzie and smaller streams ; and (4) the Pacific drainage mainly through the Frazer River. The St. Lawrence system is a vast navigable waterway through the lakes into the heart of southern Canada. Beyond the lakes the Winnipeg waters connect with the Saskatchewan, leading to the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains. These waterways, both in eastern Canada and in the Northwest, played a very important part in the early his- tory of the fur trade of the interior. The entire Dominion presents three climatic areas : (i) eastern, characterized by abundant rainfall ; (2) central, characterized by a wide range of yearly temperature, and slight rainfall; and (3) western or Pacific coast region, of slight temperature range and abundant rainfall. Canada lies in the zone of coniferous forests which stretch north- ward to the tree limit on the southern edge of the Barren Grounds. The liiriit of tree growth is determined by the relative length of the summer. The tree line in the interior bends to the south, owing to the continental character of the climate and the immediate influence of the cold waters of Hudson Bay. On the western side it reaches into Alaska as the result of the warmer oceanic influence of the Pacific, while on the eastern side it is much farther south. This vast forest area has fostered two industries which have been fore- most in the history and development of Canada, the fur trade and lumbering. The characteristic trees of the region are the two species of spruce, the balsam fir, and the larch or tamarack. Among hardwoods, the birches and aspens are the prevailing forms. The sable, ermine, marten, otter, beaver, and other fur-bearing mammals have their home throughout this forest region. 123. The Provinces. Politically the Dominion of Canada is a federation of seven provinces and nine districts or territories. Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick form the Maritime Provinces, bordering on the Atlantic. The Province of The Dominion of Canada 179 Quebec lies between the southeastern end of Hudson Bay and Labrador, extending southward to the northeastern border of the United States. West of this, the Province of Ontario extends along the northern shores of the Great Lakes for about a thousand miles, reaching northward to the 52d parallel. West of this, again, lies the Province of Manitoba, occupying the center of the continent. British Columbia is the western province, bordering on the Pacific and includes Vancouver Island. Between British Columbia and Manitoba are the organized districts, embracing the interior constituting the treeless plains of the eastern Rocky Mountain slopes. Other unorganized territories comprise fully one-third the entire area of Canada. 124. Resources and Indus- tries. Of the vast area of Canada (the total land area being over 3,000,000 square miles) less than one-seventh is improved land. The average density of the population throughout the Dominion is TOTAL COMMERCE OF NORTH AMERICA BY less than two to the square COUNTRIES (1900), APPROXIMATED IN mile. One reason for this, aside from the vast area of unprofitable land, is the proximity of the United States. A per- centage of the population of Canada is attracted to the more lucra- tive centers of trade in the latter country. The area covered by forests is a little less than one-third of the entire region. Lum- bering, agriculture, mining, and fisheries are the principal indus- tries. The value of forest products in 1891 amounted to upward of $80,000,000, nearly one-third of which was exported. 1 Wood pulp is 1 Statesman's Yearbook, 1903. UNITED STATES $2,282 -73 3 /4$ CANADA $386 1 2 MEXICO $135 - 4 * CUBA $115 % - 33/4 OTHER COUNTRIES $183 MILLIONS OF DOLLARS Total for all, $3,101,000,000 180 The Geography of Commerce of growing commercial importance, the United States and Great Britain taking the surplus, which amounts in recent years to more than a mil- lion dollars annually. The forests are controlled by the several provin- cial governments, except, the forty-mile wide " Railway Belt " in British Columbia, and the Manitoba and Northwest Territory forest tracts, which belong to the Dominion. In New Brunswick lumbering was earlier the chief industry, but has declined with the growing scarcity of pine timber ; the spruce is at present the chief forest tree. In British Columbia the Douglas fir is prominent in the lumber trade, supplying the saw mills along the Pacific coast and entering largely into export. The fur trade, once the main source of Canada's wealth, is still carried on in the forest region of the North, where the Hudson Bay Company has old established posts at various points ; to these the Indian and other trappers, still bring their pelts for barter. Edmon- ton on the Saskatchewan, and also connected by a branch line with the main Canadian Pacific Railway, is the centralizing point of the fur trade and the disbursing town for the traders' supplies. The largest percentage of the population of Canada is engaged in agriculture. This is carried on throughout all the provinces, but especially so in Quebec and Ontario, where it is the chief occupation of the people. Ontario is essentially a region of farms, being known as the " Garden of Canada." Fruit culture is largely carried on in this district. Corn, wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, and hay form staple crops. Stock raising and dairying are carried on to a large extent, and in the latter industry cheese making is of growing im- portance. Canada is at present the largest cheese-exporting country in the world. Farther west, on the plains of Manitoba and beyond, spring wheat is the great crop, similar conditions prevailing as in the contiguous spring wheat belt of the United States. In the drier western portion of the plains region are the great live stock ranches, the raising of horses, cattle, and sheep there being a prominent in- dustry. Fruit culture, agriculture, and the raising of live stock are largely carried on in British Columbia. The Dominion of Canada 181 The mineral wealth of Canada is largely in coal and gold. The estimated output of each in 1900 was upwards of 5,000,000 tons of coal, and gold to the value of nearly $28,000,000. Copper, silver, lead, nickel, iron, petroleum, and asbestos are also produced. Coal occurs in Nova Scotia (Cape Breton), in British Columbia, and in an immense undeveloped area in the Northwest Territory. Copper and nickel are found associated in the Superior region of Ontario, but petroleum forms the most considerable mineral product of this prov- ince. Gold occurs in Nova Scotia, in the Chaudiere River alluvium of Quebec, in British Columbia, and throughout the Northwest Terri- tory and the Yukon district (Klondike). The value of the mineral products of the Dominion in 1901 is given at upwards of $69,000,000. The fisheries of Canada form a very prominent feature in the in- dustrial returns of the country ; they are centered in the Maritime Provinces, on the Pacific coast, and to a smaller extent on the interior lakes and rivers. Deep sea and coastwise fisheries, and the catching of lobsters are the principal features in the economic life of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The oyster trade is prominent in Prince Edward Island. The total value of the fisheries in 1900 amounted to $11,557,639. Many native Nova Scotians sail in the fishing fleet from Gloucester, Massachusetts ; but the captains of the vessels are naturalized citizens of the United States. A large bulk of the catch of the Maritime Provinces goes to the canning factories of the United States, there being no duty on fresh fish, though the canned goods are dutiable. The fisheries of British Columbia are a very important source of wealth, especially the salmon fishery. Under the general head of fisheries is included the pelagic sealing in North Pacific waters ; the fleet for this is largely owned in British Columbia. The manufacturing interests of Canada are of minor importance when compared with the production of raw materials ; though vari- ous manufacturing industries are carried on, their products are chiefly for domestic consumption. 182 The Geography of Commerce UNITED STATES $179,000,000 -80* 125. Commerce. The United States shares largely in Canadian trade, chiefly because of the close geographical relation of the two countries. There can be no better illustration of the result of proximity of countries in trade than that afforded by the commerce between the United States and its next-door neighbor. Both are large producers of raw material, but one is distinctly a manufacturing country as well, while the other is not. This is clearly shown in the summary of countries entering into trade with Canada, where the United States heads the list of imports (chiefly manufactures) which enter the Dominion for con- sumption, while it stands sec- ond in the list of countries to which Canadian products are exported, though a consider- able amount of raw material, lumber, and wheat are regu- larly drawn from Canada for use in manufacturing in the United States. Great Britain heads the export list because of a commercial policy where- OF by Canadian goods are allowed IN to enter British ports free of duty. Canada imposes a duty of one-third less on imports from Great Britain than from any other country (" preferential tariff "), yet the nearness of the United States gives its goods a precedence, and more than half the imports of Canada come from the United States. The Dominion is well equipped in the ways and means of internal communication. The rivers and lakes are great natural highways of commerce, which have been made available for sea-going ships from the head of navigation on Lake Superior to the ocean, a distance of GREAT BRITAIN $152,000,000 < ALL OTHER COUNTRIES $30,000,000 ~ 8% COMBINED IMPORTS AND EXPORTS CANADA (1900), APPROXIMATED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS Total, $361,000,000 The Dominion of Canada 183 over 2700 miles. This has been effected by the building of ship canals the most famous of which are around the Lachine rapids just above Montreal, the "Welland Canal between Lakes Erie and Ontario, and the St. Mary's Canal at Sault Ste. Marie. The Canadian Pacific Railway from Montreal to Vancouver, a distance of 2906 miles, is a main artery of trade through the most productive districts, and handles enormous quantities of Canadian wheat and live stock. A subsidized line of steamers in connection with this great railway, gives regular communication between Montreal and Yokohama. An Aus- tralian line also connects with the road at Vancouver. The Grand Trunk Railway traverses the rich agricultural region of southern Ontario and has extensions of the line into United States territory with a terminus at Chicago and one at Portland, Maine. Through this road the latter city becomes the winter port of Montreal when the ice has closed the St. Lawrence to navigation. Trade through Portland is. by passing goods through customs under seals, known as bonds. Upwards of 18,000 miles of railway are in operation through- out the Dominion (1901). Ottawa is the seat of government. Montreal, at the confluence of the Ottawa River with the St. Lawrence, is at the head of ocean navi- gation, above which begins the extensive system of ship canals and natural waterways leading to the interior. Montreal is the chief sea- port and the largest city of the Dominion. Quebec, nearer the ocean, commands a fine harbor, but has never attained the commer- cial importance of Montreal ; the situation of the latter at the head of navigation and in relation to the Ottawa country in the days of the fur trade, made it the most important disbursing and receiving center of the entire region. It has, furthermore, closer connections with the United States by rail than has Quebec. Toronto is an important Lake port on the north shore of Ontario. Halifax, in Nova Scotia, is the main seaport of the Maritime Provinces and is, moreover, a center of British military and naval power. It has an open winter harbor, but the distance by rail to the interior provinces is too great to make it of 184 The Geography of Commerce commanding commercial importance. Winnipeg, Manitoba, on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, is the great disbursing center of the Northwest, and is connected by rail with the United States. Vancouver and Victoria are the chief cities of British Columbia and important centers of the Pacific trade. 126. Newfoundland. The island of Newfoundland, lying at the north of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is not a part of the Dominion ,of Canada, the government being administered by a governor appointed by the British crown and by an executive council. Under this government is included also the eastern portion of Labrador which is separated from Newfoundland by the narrow strait of Belle Isle. Newfoundland covers some 42,000 square miles, is mountain- ous and forested, with a rugged coast line forming many bays which afford good harbors. The climate is influenced by the Labrador ice current, the southern and eastern coasts being frequently enveloped in dense fogs, which, however, do not reach inland to any great dis- tance. Fishing is the chief industry ; the value of dried cod exported in 1900 was upwards of $5,000,000. Cod-liver oil, canned lobster and pickled herring are important items of the export trade. St. John's, commanding a fine land-locked harbor on the southeast coast, is the capital and the headquarters of the Arctic sealing fleet ; seal oil and seal skins are exported from this port. Copper and iron ore, and iron pyrites are mined and exported, the latter go- ing mainly to Great Britain. Coal, lead, and nickel are said to exist. Manufactures and food-stuffs form the bulk of the imports ; the United States is third, ranking after Great Britain and Canada, as a source of supply. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 117. Compare the climate on the east and west coasts of British America. Why the difference in the same latitude? 1 1 8. What is a " port of entry "? What port of the United States is a port of entry for Canadian commerce during a part of the year? Why? The Dominion of Canada 185 119. What are "bonded goods" in customs regulations? How does the arrangement operate in the trade of the United States through Canada, and of Canada through the United States? 1 20. Consider the advantages of free trade between Canada and the United States. Which country would probably realize the greater advantage, and why? 121. What is a "preferential tariff" and how does it operate in the trade of Canada? 122. Give the meaning of the following terms: "general tariff system," " general and conventional tariff system," and " maximum and minimum tariff system." (See " Modern Tariff Systems," published by Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department.) 123. The imports and exports of Canada have increased ninety-six per cent within ten years' time. What does this indicate about the present trade outlook in that Dominion? 124. Make a study of the governmental relations of Canada to the British Empire. 125. What is the prevailing language in Quebec? 126. Discuss this statement from the London Chronicle, " There is room on the North American continent for two great nationalities, of which Canada may well be one." Books to be Consulted **Tyrrell, Colonial North America. Chapter XXXVIII, in The International Geography. *Dawson, Canada and Newfoundland, in Stanford's Compendium. London; 1897. British America, in British Empire Series. London; 1900. *Statistical Yearbook of Canada. Issued annually by the Government Printing Bureau. Ottawa, Canada. ** Statesman 's Yearbook, Annual Issues. **Smith, Canada and the Canadian Question. Macmillan Co. ; 1891. 1 86 The Geography of Commerce COMMERCE OF THE WORLD IN 1902 The following table shows the imports and exports of the countries for which statistics were received at the United States Bureau of Foreign Commerce : COUNTRY IMPORTS EXPORTS United States United Kingdom Germany $ 969,270,000 2 >5 73. 6 98,6oo $ 1,360,696,400 a 1,379,847,300 I ( IQI.CQ7,2OO France ........ Russia (9 months) ..... 852,234,900 I QO, c 38,000 817,725,200 303,1 1; 2,200 Belgium (n months) a . 402,099,000 321,381,000 Spain (10 months) b . . . . . Italy (10 months) a .... 98,309,000 288,147,000 89,882,000 222,04.8,000 Austria-Hungary (10 months) a Switzerland (6 months) .... Canada*: 381,600,000 93,007,300 202,791,600 64 6^6 ooo 423,699,000 77,815,300 211,725,800 78 O7O OOO Argentina (9 months) ..... 7C,i2,QOO I 3I.Q23,OOO British India c ...... Japan (10 months) Cape Colony (9 months) .... 323,581,400 109,604,600 99,476,100 425,367,600 IOI,O59,OOO 5O,738,IOO a Special commerce. b Principal articles only. c Fiscal years 1901-1902. CHAPTER XIII MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA . I. MEXICO 127. The Region. The Republic of Mexico, which occupies the narrowing southward extension of North America, has an area of over 767,000 square miles, or is nearly equal to the area of the United States east of the Mississippi River. The surface of the country appears as a continuation of the Cordilleran Highland of western United States, and presents a vast elevated plateau, from 4000 to 8000 feet above sea level. This plateau rises in a series of terraces from the low tropical coast strips on either side. The plateau is flanked by two great mountain ranges, one trending along the Pacific border (Sierra Madre Occidental) and the other along the Gulf of Mexico (Sierra Madre Oriental). From these primary axes numerous secondary ranges branch, separating the broad, elevated valleys of the plateau surface. Besides the mountain topography, numerous large volcanoes produce characteristic features of relief in certain portions, some of them reaching above 17,000 feet. The soil over wide areas of the volcanic districts is a deep accumulation of material that has been poured out from numerous volcanic vents. A number of rivers drain the various portions of the Republic, but they are of little value to navigation. Numerous lakes also occur, but none of them are of large size. The coast line is nowhere deeply indented, though there are several large bays and a number of offshore islands on both the Pacific coast and that of the Gulf of Mexico. From the tropical position of the country, and the altitude of the plateau region, the Republic of Mexico enjoys a remarkable range of 187 1 88 The Geography of Commerce climate. The narrow coast lands are entirely tropical, and the same is true of the interior valleys below 3000 feet elevation. A mild temperate climate prevails on the lands lying from 3000 to 5000 feet above the sea, and this embraces the larger area of the plateau. This portion of Mexico is said to enjoy one of the finest climates in the world. The lands that lie at an altitude of over 7000 feet are in a zone of cold temperature. With such a range of climate, charac- teristic zones of vegetation exist in the direction of altitude, corre- sponding to a similar change over wide extent of latitude. Palms, rubber trees, and other forms of tropical growth, flourish in the torrid belt of the low coast lands and on the lower terrace slopes. These gradually give way on the upper slopes and the higher valleys of the plateau, to a subtropical and temperate vegetation. In the latter region, numerous species of oaks are characteristic. These in turn are succeeded by the coniferous forests of pine, spruce, and fir as representatives of the higher and colder regions. These zones of climate are recognized by the native Mexicans as three distinct belts : the lower hot zone (tierra caliente), the middle or temperate zone (tierra templada), and the upper cold zone (tierra /n'a.) In general two well-marked seasons characterize the climate of Mexico : a rainy season from about May to October, and a dry season during the other half of the year. Throughout the wet season downpours of rain are of almost daily occurrence. When good drainage is secured, the mild temperate region of the Mexican plateau is one of the most healthful in the world. 128. Resources. Mexico presents three agricultural zones, corresponding in a general way to the three climatic zones referred to above. The lowland tropical belt comprises the sugar cane and rubber region. The terrace slopes of the tierra templada include the zone of coffee cultivation, while in the upper valleys of the plateau in the same belt, Indian con, r^nd the more northern cereals are grown. Mexico stands third as a corn-producing country, the United States and Austria-Hungary outranking it in this respect. MEXICAN MAGUEY PLANTS MEXICAN PULQUE SHOP Mexico and Central America 189 The production of cacao is an industry of growing importance, as is also that of tobacco ; Mexican tobacco holds a prominent place in the world's markets. Cotton is raised to some extent, but the Republic has to import a considerable quantity to meet the increased demand of its factories. There are several distinct cotton belts in the country. Alfalfa is an important forage crop. The forests, which cover about one-fourth of the territory, yield a great variety of products among which may be mentioned mahogany, cedar, oak, walnut, rosewood, ebony, and other woods, besides tanning barks, dyestuffs, medicinal substances, etc. A wide range of fruit culture prevails, from the tropical pineapples, bananas, mangoes, oranges, limes, etc., to subtropical and temperate species as apples, pears, peaches, apricots, and figs. The orange is the only fruit exported to any extent. Among important fiber plants may be mentioned jute, sisal hemp, and ixtle (from a kind of wild pineapple). Sisal hemp is the fiber from the agave or maguey; this plant also furnishes a variety of other products among which are " pulque " and " mescal " fermented juices largely used by natives as alcoholic beverages. The production of the vanilla bean is an important Mexican in- dustry. The aggregate value of agricultural exports for 1899-1900 amounted to upwards of $50,000,000, more than double that of 1892-1893. The northern and drier portions of the plateau are adapted to grazing, especially to the raising of sheep ; sheep raised here pro- duce a fine grade of wool. Upwards of 80,000 head of cattle were exported during the first six months of 1900. Horses and mules, sheep, goats, and hogs are also a source of profit. The mountainous nature of Mexico makes it an abundant source of mineral wealth. For a distance of 1600 miles along the western chain there are rich mineral deposits. Both gold and silver are mined, but the value of the latter exceeds that of the former on account of the larger profits involved. Of late years the output of gold has shown a marked increase. The silver production is approximately 190 The Geography of Commerce one-third of the total world output of that metal ; the great producing mines are centered in Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and Catorce. Rich and extensive deposits of iron occur, and copper, lead, tin, and cinnabar are mined with profit. Coal, petroleum, and asphalt occur in several localities, but have not been exploited to any extent. Rock salt oc- curs in crystalline form, and there are abundant stores of marble and other building stones. Jasper and the justly celebrated Mexican onyx are important products, besides gems of various sorts agate, topaz, opal, amethyst, emerald, etc. which occur in rich deposits. 129. The People. The population of the Republic is made up of whites, chiefly of Spanish descent, native Indians, and an admixture known under the general name of native Mexicans. The entire population is upwards of 12,000,000, representing a density of about 1 6 persons to the square mile. The people are largely engaged in agriculture or are employed in the mines. Manufacturing is carried on to some extent, chiefly in the production of woolen and cotton fabrics, leather goods, hats, and pottery ; the bulk of the manufac- tures are for domestic uses. 130. Commerce. Mexico enters more largely into trade with the United States than does any other American country excepting Canada. The facilities for trade are well developed in each, but Canada pur- chases a larger proportion of her imports from the United States than does Mexico. This is undoubtedly due in part to a difference in lan- guage (Spanish being the language of Mexico) which acts, in many cases, as a barrier to the establishment of the fullest trade relations. In the decade from 1888 to 1898 there was an increase of 114 per cent in the exports from the United States into Mexico. During the same period Great Britain increased her exports in this direction only 26.12 per cent, and France 39.37 per cent; while Germany, with commendable push and energy, and an intelligent regard for the demands of the country, reached an increase of 163 per cent. These facts speak for themselves as to the need of studying foreign countries in every detail, both as to language, manners and customs, 1 92 The Geography of Commerce and the wants of the people. The United States' exports are chiefly iron and steel manufactures (including locomotives), cotton (both raw and manufactured), gunpowder and other explosives, and lumber and wood manufactures (furniture, etc.). Of the exports from Mexico into the United States, the chief items of value are gold and silver (the latter in both coin, bullion, and ore), sisal hemp, coffee, cattle, tobacco, hides, and wool, with some lead and copper. The imports from the United States nearly balance the exports. Railroad, telegraph, and telephone communications connect the principal centers of Mexico with one another and with the United States. There were upwards of 9600 miles of railway in the Republic in 1901. A large coasting trade is carried on between Mexico and the United States' ports. On the Gulf coast the chief ports are Vera Cruz and Tampico ; the latter furnishes a much safer anchorage than the former. The ports of Progreso and Campeche are in Yucatan. On the Pacific coast are Mazatlan, Acapulco, San Bias, and Manza- nillo. The City of Mexico, the capital of the Republic, with a popu- lation of some 300,000, lies at an elevation of over 7000 feet above the sea. It is a progressive city, equipped with the comforts and conveniences of modern life. II. CENTRAL AMERICA 131. Natural Features. The narrow mountainous stretch of the continent from Mexico to the Isthmus of Panama, includes the five Central American Republics, Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras, Nica- ragua, and Costa Rica. In addition to these there is the colony of Belize or British Honduras. The climate and productions of these countries are essentially the same, being almost entirely tropical. The surface is volcanic, and the eruptive deposits which cover wide areas produce a remarkably fertile soil. The highest mountain range lies near the Pacific, forming the main watershed and producing a bolder coast line than that on the Caribbean side. On the latter the land is comparatively low and the climate is unhealthy. In a general Mexico and Central America 193 way similar zones of altitude occur as in Mexico, though they are not so high, and the conditions are much more tropical. Of the five Republics, Guatemala is about equal in size to the state of Georgia, Honduras to Virginia, Salvador to New Jersey, Nicaragua to Louisiana, and Costa Rica to West Virginia. Belize is a trifle larger than Sal- vador. The entire area covered by these countries is considerably larger than that covered by the New England and Middle States as a whole. 132. Productions and Commerce. Agriculture is the chief source of livelihood among the people of the several Republics. A very im- portant industry is the gathering of forest products. The character of the products, both wild and cultivated, depends upon the altitude of the districts. Cacao and indigo are cultivated in the torrid low- lands, the former in the more moist districts. Coffee, sugar cane, rice, tobacco, and cotton grow throughout the torrid and temperate belts. In the colder regions of the higher altitudes, the more north- ern grains and the potato and apple flourish. Sheep and cattle raising are important industries on the high plateaus. The Guatemala high- lands are good sheep pastures, while cattle raising is carried on most ex- tensively in Nicaragua and Honduras. Rubber, mahogany, logwood, vanilla, sarsaparilla, and the balsam of Peru are among the chief forest products and form considerable items in the export trade of the sev- eral countries. Bananas and other tropical fruits are also produced. Maize and beans form the staple food of the people and are grown throughout all three of the climatic belts. Coffee is the largest export, chiefly from Guatemala and Salvador ; coffee plantations are charac- teristic of the warm temperate slopes. The plantations of Guatemala are under the control of Germans, and Germany is the largest im- porter of Guatemala coffee. Hides are exported in considerable quantities. As yet the mineral resources of the region are but little exploited. Manufacturing is done on a small scale in a few localities, chiefly in cotton, wool, and silk weaving. The principal imports are cotton o 194 The Geography of Commerce goods, breadstuffs, provisions, and beverages. In catering to the trade of these Central American countries and to South American countries as well, it should be borne in mind that the manufacturer needs to consider the peculiar demands of each country in regard to the use of articles, styles of dress, etc. A study of the people with a view to supplying their demands is a step in the right direction in establishing trade relations. 133. Population and Chief Towns. The white population of the Central American Republics is mainly of Spanish descent with an in- fusion of other European stocks. Native Indians and negroes, and the general mixture resulting from these three types, form the larger proportion of the population. Spanish. is the prevailing language of the different countries. The best harbors are on the Pacific coast. San Jose", Champereco, and Oc6s, in Guatemala, are Pacific ports carrying on a considerable trade in coffee. Acajutla, Triumfo, and La Union are Salvador ports on the Pacific, and Amapala is on the Pacific coast of Honduras. Punta Arenas is the Pacific port of Costa Rica, and Corinto and San Juan del Sur of Nicaragua. On the Atlantic (Caribbean) side are Belize (British Honduras), Livingston and Puerto Barrios in Guate- mala ; Puerto Cortez in Honduras ; Bluefields and Greytown in Nicaragua, and Puerto Limon in Costa Rica. The trade of the Pacific ports will be greatly developed when the proposed ship canal is completed, for it will bring these fine harbors on the most healthful side of the country into closer relation with the eastern United States and European ports. Railroads are contemplated and some partially built between the Atlantic and Pacific seaports, and to the principal centers of coffee production. 134. Trade Relations. Notwithstanding the great natural advan- tages which the Central American Republics possess in the way of productions, their trade is backward, owing to the rugged and densely forested character of the region, and also to the compara- tive sparseness of the population. What the region needs is the Mexico and Central America 195 development of its resources through enterprises from the outside. This is shown in the case of the Guatemala coffee trade with Ger- many already alluded to. The native Central American lacks the initiative that is needed to develop the land. The country needs good roads, and only a small area is under cultivation. In the main, the country is a vast extent of virgin forest. The average of population through the entire region is 16 to the square mile, but this varies greatly in different localities. In the salubrious highlands it reaches a density, in some instances, of 285 per square mile, while in the lower torrid belts, it falls to scarcely more than one or two individuals per square mile. Statistics involving the decade from 1887 to 1897 show that during that time the United States increased its total amount of exports to Central American countries nearly 200 per cent, while the increase of British exports was less than 7 per cent. Germany appears to have held her own during this decade, but France and Spain have lost. 1 The higher slopes of the templada belt are health- ful, and Europeans have established plantations here on which they reside. One of the chief drawbacks to placing capital in the region is the unstable political condition of these Republics. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 127. Is " Middle America " a suitable name for the territory lying between the United States and South America? 128. Trace the correspondences of altitude, climate, and productions in Mexico and Central America. 129. Study the mineral resources of Mexico indicating the probable future of mining in that country. 130. What has been the influence of railroads in the commercial union of Mexico and the United States? 131. What is the relation of cattle raising in Mexico to meat-packing industries in the United States? (See p. 144.) 1 See Summary of Commerce and Finance for August, 1901, page 507. 196 The Geography of Commerce 132. With Canada, Mexico, and Central America as examples, what can you say about nearness of a country as a factor in trade ? Summarize this under the head, Trade with Neighboring Countries. !33 What were the chief reasons that led to the abandonment of the Nicara- guan route for an Isthmian Canal (1903) ? Books to be Consulted *Keane, Central and South America, 2 vols. Stanford's Compendium. **Chapters XL, XLI, and XLII in The International Geography. **Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, Treasury Department. American Commerce. August, 1901. Lummis, The Awakening of a Nation (Mexico). Harper and Brothers. Rodway, The West Indies and the Spanish Main. London; 1896. **Mexico, A Geographical Sketch. Bureau of American Republics, Washing- ton, D.C.; 1900. ^Statesman's Yearbook, annually. Romero, Mexico a nd the United States. New York, Put nams; 1898. CHAPTER XIV THE WEST INDIES 135. Cuba. A close commercial relation exists between Cuba and the United States, tending to mutual advantage. This advantage is a natural result of differences in geographical position. Cuba, the largest of the West India Islands, is situated just within the tropics. It has an area of 36,000 square miles and a population of over a million and a half, made up of mixed races and different nationali- ties, though people of Spanish descent, and negroes, predominate. Three physical areas characterize the surface of the island : ( i) an eastern mountainous region; (2) a central plain region, with scat- tered hills ; and (3) a mountain axis in the western part, the sides of which slope into valleys. The coast line is irregular and in many parts bold, descending steeply to a narrow strip or beach of fringing coral. The irregularity and boldness produce many land-locked harbors which have played an important part in the military defence of the island. Cuba is watered by numerous rivers which are remarkable for their volume. Areas of swamp land exist in which many streams disappear, the most notable being the Zapata, a brackish swamp covering some 600 square miles along the southern coast. The tropical character of the climate produces fairly uniform conditions, and there is an abun- dant rainfall, a rainy season prevailing from May to October. The island lies in the northern trade-wind zone, and these winds cause heavy downfalls of rain on the higher windward mountain slopes. The island, like others of the West Indies, is in the path- way of tropical hurricanes which are liable to do much damage 197 198 The Geography of Commerce along the coasts. The rich soil and the abundance of heat and moisture sustain a luxuriant tropical vegetation. It is estimated that about one-tenth of the entire area of Cuba is under cultiva- tion and that about one- fourth is covered with forests. The chief vegetable products are sugar cane, tobacco, coffee, ba- nanas, maize, oranges, and pineapples, named in the order of their importance. Cuba stands first among all countries of the world as a producer of cane sugar; the great crop of 1893-1894 amounted to over a million tons, the vast bulk of which was exported. In 1901 the crop reached 600,000 tons. The upland soils of Cuba are peculiarly adapted to the growth of sugar cane, being exceedingly fertile and producing a sugar of very superior quality. A single planting yields a crop for successive years, and no fertilizers are used. Tobacco, though not so large a crop as sugar, is more profitable for the extent of land cultivated. Though grown throughout the island, the chief center of tobacco cultivation is the Vuelta Abajo district on the southern slopes of the Sierra de los Organos, in the Province of Pinar del Rio. The peculiar aroma of this tobacco has created a market without competition. The tobacco export of the island (1900-1901) amounted to $16,055, 295. Besides this the manu- factures of tobacco amounted to over $12,000,000. Upwards of 300,000 bales of tobacco are exported, and the remainder made into cigars and cigarettes in the factories of Havana. Besides the great sugar and tobacco estates there are many small farm holdings, devoted to the raising of fruit, mainly pineapples, ba- nanas, and oranges. Coffee production has declined under the com- petition with other coffee-producing countries. Horses and cattle are raised to some extent on the grazing lands of the central and south- eastern provinces. The forests of Cuba contain valuable timber trees, also fiber plants, with dye, resin, gum, and oil-yielding species. Mahogany, lignum-vitse, cedar, cocus wood (used in the manufacture of reed instruments), and Cedrela (used in cabinet ware and cigar boxes) are among the timber trees. Logwood and fustic are important The West Indies 199 dyewoods. Aside from the forests included in private estates, the government controls over a million acres of forest land. Iron ores, manganese, copper, asphaltum, and salt are the chief minerals which have been developed, though in earlier times some silver and gold were mined. Iron ores, chiefly red and brown hema- tite, are the most important metallic products. Salt deposits occur in pans or shallows along the northern keys where large quantities of the substance are prepared. Limestone is the chief building mate- rial used throughout the island ; it is widely distributed as an ancient coral base and forms the capping of extensive plateaus. Lime products, as cement and plaster, are also extensively used. Politically, Cuba is divided into six provinces, Pinar del Rio, in the extreme west, Havana, Matanzas, Santa Clara, Puerto Principe, and Santiago de Cuba, the last forming the southeastern portion of the island. Upwards of a thousand miles of railroad connect the principal cities of the island and reach through the great sugar and tobacco districts. Many of the large sugar estates have private rail- ways, and the cane is thus carried to the mills on the estates, where it is crushed, the juice pressed out and converted into crystalline sugar and molasses by the most improved methods. The numerous good harbors have developed an extensive sea-going trade. Havana (Habana), the capital, on the northern coast in the western part of the island, is the commercial center of the West Indies. It has a population of upwards of 235,000. Matanzas and Cardenas are ports of some note on the northern coast. Santiago is on the southern coast near the eastern end of the island. It is con- nected by rail with Havana. Farther west, on the northern shore, is Cienfuegos. Puerto Principe is an important interior town in the province of the same name. Many smaller seaports are scattered along the coasts of the island. Cuba holds a peculiar position in regard to trade from the fact that though an agricultural country of remarkable fertility, it yet draws its food supplies mainly from without. Food-stuffs formed 5 1 per cent 2OO The Geography of Commerce of the total imports into Havana in 1899. This is undoubtedly owing largely to the long years of its dependency when sugar was grown to the exclusion of food crops, to replenish the coffers of Spain. The future welfare of the island probably lies in the direction of in- creasing the productive area devoted to maize and other food plants. The bulk of Cuban trade is with the United States. More than half of the combined value of imports and exports are with this country. The United States furnished a little less than half of the Cuban imports (1900-1901). England and Spain each furnished a little over 15 per cent of the value of imports for the fiscal year of 1899-1900. England received over 10 per cent of the value of ex- ports, and Germany and trance each about 5 per cent. A consider- able number of cattle are imported from Colombia, and dried beef from Uruguay. Porto Rico supplied the bulk of the coffee. Being a purely agricultural country, Cuba imports nearly all manufactured products. The bulk of the cotton and linen manufactures comes from England, woolens from both England and France, silk goods from France, engines, machinery, and wheat flour from the United States. The United States takes nearly a third of the cigars exported, while Spain takes over a third of the cigarettes. A large amount of Cuban leaf tobacco is made up into cigars at Key West, Florida. The bulk of the sugar finds its way to the United States. Fruits, honey, wax, wood, cacao, and iron ores form minor exports. With enter- prise and capital directed to the developing of resources, the outlook for Cuba in the world's trade is most promising. 136. The Caribbean and its Islands. The Caribbean Sea has been not inaptly termed, the "American Mediterranean." From the coast of. Florida to the mouth of the Orinoco there stretches a rampart of island clusters, volcanic and coral in formation, which shuts this almost land-locked sea from the deeper waters of the Atlantic. The great island of Cuba stretches across its northern border, nearly shutting off the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. This island and that of Haiti, Porto Rico, and Jamaica are collectively s -p 202 The Geography of Commerce known as the Greater Antilles. North of them and approaching the Florida coast is the Bahama group, while to the eastward, strung like a bent bow toward the Atlantic, is the chain of the Lesser Antilles, comprising the Danish ^st Indies of the Virgin group ; Curacao and others of the Du West Indies ; the Lee- ward chain (including the Virgins and other British islands, Antigua, TRACKS OF STORMS PROCEEDING FROM THE TROPICS IN AUGUST PATHS OF WEST INDIA HURRICANES Dominica, Montserrat, St. Kitts, and others) ; the French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique ; the Windward chain (including St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Grenada) ; the Barbados (the most eastern of the West Indies) ; Tobago, and Trinidad. Many smaller members of the group are mere rocky islets or cays (keys). All are mountainous, and some intensely volcanic. The whole world was horrified at the recent destruction of life in Martinique. The JAMAICA PINEAPPLE PLANTATION TRINIDAD ASPHALT LAKE The West Indies 203 entire archipelago represents the highest ridges of a sunken mountain axis that once rose from an extended land surface. The climate is altogether /tropical, tempered by the northeast trade winds which blow continuously and with force from October to March, falling away somewhat through the summer months. The trades hurl the surf against the windward coasts of the islands, while the western or leeward coasts are protected and calm. All the islands of the West Indies lie in the hurricane track and are frequently devastated by fierce storms. 137. Productions and Trade. Tropical fruits, cacao, coffee, spices, tobacco, woods, and various other products are abundant, but the culture of the sugar cane is the most important enterprise in all the islands. As Rodway remarks, "The future of the West Indies is bound up with the future of cane sugar; other tropical products seem likely always to remain of secondary importance." Depending so largely upon the cane, it is not surprising that the commercial life of the West Indies received a setback from the bounties offered by several European governments to encourage the development of beet sugar production. This, together with civil strife and misgovernment, has brought many of the islands to a very low financial status. The chief imports of the West Indies are food-stuffs, beverages, and general manufactures, including hardware, machinery, cotton goods, and furniture. The United States' share in the trade is considerable. The West Indian imports in 1897 amounted to upwards of $137,000,000, of which the United States contributed about 23 per cent. The volume of trade with the Bahamas amounts to more than $1,000,000 annually; the principal imports into the United States from these islands are pineapples and other tropical fruits, preserved fruits, sisal hemp, sponges, and tortoise shell. A great variety of manufactured products are exported there from the United States. More than one-half of the entire products of 2O4 The Geography of Commerce Jamaica is exported to the United States. Coal and a variety of manufactured products are imported from this country, and there has lately been a marked increase in the imports of raw materials of various sorts. All this is in the face of direct competi- tion with Great Britain which has a subsidized line of steamships in the trade with her own colony. The United States sends a variety of manufactures and food-stuffs (including canned goods) to the Leeward Islands. With Haiti our trade for the fiscal year of 1899 exceeded $2,000,000 worth of goods, the exports to this country in the same year amounting to little more than half this sum. A vast field is open for the introduction of American machinery in the sugar industry of the island. Trinidad, aside from sugar and cacao, is commercially important from its great lake of asphalt, the material being an export of importance. (See illustration opposite p. 202.) There has been a decline in the trade between the West Indies and the United States, especially in the exports from the islands, during the past few years, owing undoubtedly to the reduction in the price of sugar (as a result of the growth of the beet sugar in- dustry) and also to the long period of war in Cuba which resulted in the destruction of vast areas of sugar cane and other products. The West Indies as a whole are densely populated, the islands being peopled by some 6,000,000 inhabitants, representing an average of 647 persons to the square mile. The various islands are connected by telegraph with one another and with North and South America. Numerous steamship lines are in operation be- tween the important ports of the islands and those of the United States and Europe. A large number of sailing vessels are also engaged in the trade. The islands are divided up as colonial possessions of several European countries with the exception of Cuba and Haiti; the latter contains the two negro Republics of Haiti and Santo Domingo. 138. Bermudas. The Bermuda Islands are situated on a coral The West Indies 205 bank 580 miles off the eastern coast of the United States. The islands are of coral formation; and they are well to the north in the surface drift of warm water known as the Gulf Stream. The Bermudas have an area of 20 square miles with a popula- tion of some 15,000 souls; they form a colony of Great Britain. Hamilton, the capital and chief seaport, is a British garrison and naval station. Owing to the mild oceanic influences, even though the soil is poor, the islands have developed an important industry in the growing of early vegetables and the cultivation of various sub- tropical products. The exports are potatoes, onions, and lily bulbs, which are shipped mostly to New York. The Bermuda trade, both export and import, is almost altogether with the United States and Canada. A regular line of steamers runs between New York and Hamilton, a distance of 677 miles, and the islands are connected by telegraph with Nova Scotia and with Turks Island and Jamaica. THE WORLD'S PRODUCTION OF BEET AND CANE SUGAR YEARS BEET CANE l87I-l872 Tons I,O2O,OOO Tons I.CQQ.OOO 1879-1880 1,4.02.000 1. 8C2.OOO 1880 1800 ?,6 7^,000 2 060 OOO 1899-1900 5,510,000 2,904,000 SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 134. Why should there be special reciprocal advantages in trade between Cuba and the United States? 135. What is the total consumption of sugar per capita in the United States, and what proportion of this is imported? How much is imported from Cuba ? 136. What advantages does Cuba enjoy in the raising of sugar as compared with Louisiana? 206 The Geography of Commerce 137. Show how better sanitary conditions in Havana have largely eliminated the dangers from yellow fever. What does this indicate about the occupation of the tropics? 138. What proportion of the trade of the British West Indies is with the Mother Country, and what proportion is with the United States? What deduc- tion can you make ? 139. Compare the Caribbean with the Mediterranean as a trade center. What will be the effect of an Isthmian Canal upon trade in the Caribbean region ? 140. What are the special qualities of Cuban tobacco, and can these be secured in tobacco raised in other parts of the world? 141. Make a comparison of the volcanic nature of the West Indies with that of the neighboring regions of Mexico with Central America. 142. Make a study of Asphalt; its Uses and Sources of Supply. Books to be Consulted ** Statesman 's Yearbook. *Clark, Commercial Cuba. **Cul>a in The International Geography. Porter, Industrial and Commercial Cuba. Washington; 1899. *R. T. Hill, Cuba, Porto Rico, etc. New York and London; 1898. Rod way, The West Indies and the Spanish Main. London; 1896. Heilprin, The Bermuda Islands. Philadelphia; 1889. * World's Sugar Production and Consumption. (1800-1900.) Monthly Sum- mary of Commerce and Finance, Treasury Department; November, 1902. ** American Commerce. Monthly Summary, etc.; August, 1901. CHAPTER XV SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRIES 139. General Features of South American Trade. It is a notice- able fact that at present, commercial relations between the United States and other American countries become less satisfactory the farther we proceed southward. Our trade with Mexico is growing on a firmly established basis, and .a tolerably close connection exists between the two Republics through the medium of the railroad and the telegraph. With the Central American Republics, commercial relations, though by no means unsatisfactory, are still open to improve- ment, and the same is true of the West Indies. In the case of South American countries, however, there is a marked falling off in trade with us as compared with that with European countries. The expla- nation of this is in the failure of the United States to meet a geo- graphical fact by proper means of communication, and, likewise, a failure to become more generally acquainted with the needs, lan- guages, and customs of South American peoples. As to the geographical fact, it will be noticed that the eastern por- . tion of South America juts out like a huge elbow, with Cape St. Roque at its extremity. This point is at least 2600 miles east of the meridian of New York, and renders the distance traversed by steamers between New York and the South American trade centers beyond this projection only a trifle less than the distance between them and the ports of Germany and England. In the absence of any direct communication across the Isthmus, the countries on the western side of South America are practically as far removed from the eastern manufacturing portion of the United States as they are from Europe. This renders necessary the long and arduous Cape Horn route, or the 207 208 The Geography of Commerce vastly more expensive railroad transportation to the Pacific coast, and reshipment from thence to western South American ports. The bare fact of being located in the same hemisphere is thus offset by geo- graphical barriers, and puts the United States, so far as distance is con- cerned, on practically the same footing as are the countries of western vs BARBADOS "aSt ^ S54& r v TB*!k~- r //4f^ a r' ' TRADE^MAP H SOUTH TMERICA RAILWAYS IN OPERATION \ RAILWAYS PROJECTED STEAMSHIP LINES DISTANCES ON STEAMSHIP ROUTES ARE GIVEN IN NAUTICAL MILES SCALE_OF MILES >0 o 200 400 600 800 90 y yf BORMAV * CO., N.T Europe. With the countries that border on the Caribbean Sea Colombia, Venezuela, and Guiana our trade relations are more favorable, showing clearly the effects of the barrier of greater distance in trade. Yet even with Caribbean countries, our trade is far from satisfactory. South American Countries 209 This unsatisfactory relation is due in part to the failure of the United States to meet the conditions by putting into operation lines of steamships between our ports and those of South America, and, in part, to the neglect of merchants in not studying the requirements on which South American trade is based. The United States turns out manufactures which for excellence of quality, and abundance and variety are unsurpassed. The things needful are to get the goods to the mar- kets and to create a demand for them. The exports of the United States to European countries are far in excess of the imports from those countries. To offset this disadvantage, many steamers, after discharging goods of the United States at European ports, bring out full cargoes of English, German, and other European manufactures for South America, where they reload with tropical products for the United States, thus making the triangular voyage with full cargoes and conse- quent profit to the owners. Again, ships that have carried our goods to Europe bring back return cargoes of South American products that have formerly been imported. Thus we lose the best market for our manufactured goods and buy South American products at the greatest disadvantage. It is readily seen that by this method the United States' manufactures tend to be excluded from South American markets or to reach them only through foreign hands. What is needed for South American trade is regular steamer service coupled with an intelligent understanding on the part of our merchants and manufacturers, as to the life and needs of the different peoples. It is only by such means that we may hope to gain a fair share of the South American trade, and to increase our exports to this continent ; they now amount to only about one-third of our imports from the same territory. 140. Regional Geography of South America. The continent of South America has an area of 7,000,000 square miles, being some- what smaller than North America. The greater portion lies within the tropics ; the narrowing southward extension only is in the temperate zone. The coast line is remarkably even, there being p 2io The Geography of Commerce nowhere any deep inlets or gulfs, excepting the Darien and Vene- zuelan gulfs on the northern coast, a few baylike indentations on the eastern coast, and the Gulf of Guayaquil on the western side. The entire continent presents three well-marked physical areas : (i) the Eastern Highlands; (2) the Central Lowlands; and (3) the Andes Highland or Western Cordillera. (1) The Eastern Highlands form two comparatively low pla- teaus, the Guiana Highland and the Brazil Highland ; these are separated by the valley of the lower Amazon. They consist of ancient crystalline and stratified rocks, representing a very old land surface which has been much denuded. The average eleva- tion is between 1000 and 5000 feet above sea level. (2) The Central Lowlands, except the Pampas and Patagonia to the south, are occupied by the three great river basins, the Orinoco, the Amazon, and the La Plata. These three rivers and their tributaries form a remarkable series of waterways, flowing through the interior of the continent and across its long eastern or Atlantic Slope. The Orinoco rises in the higher western portion of the Guiana Highland, receiving tributaries also from the eastern and southern slopes of the Cordillera in Colombia and Vene- zuela, and skirting the western and northern base of the high- land, empties into the Atlantic through a vast delta. One of its upper tributaries, the Cassiquiare, is remarkable for its connec- tion with the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon. The Amazon Basin, the largest in the world, occupies a vast area in the equato- rial portion of the continent. The main river is formed by the union of two large rivers which flow from the Peruvian Cordillera. It is joined along its course by numerous other streams almost as large as itself, which swell its waters into a mighty flood that rolls seaward through a dense forest tract, known as the selvas, and empties into the Atlantic by an enormous delta at the equator. South of the Brazil Highland, and lying between it and the Western Cordillera, is the La Phata Basin, drained by two rivers, South American Countries 211 the Uruguay and the Parana. The former drains the southern part of the Brazil Highland, while the Parana and its tributary, the Paraguay, rise in the central part of the Highland and the Matto Grosso heights (the water parting of the La Plata and the Amazon basins) at no great distance from the head streams of the Madeira and other southern tributaries of the Amazon. (3) The Andes or Cordilleran Highland may be divided into two portions, the Southern or Main Cordillera of the An- des, extending from the southern extrem- ity of the continent to the Gulf of Guaya- quil, and the North- ern Cordillera beyond this. The Main Cor- dillera consists of two ranges, an eastern and a western, between which runs a great parallel valley. To- ward the south, a de- pression of the land has given entry to the sea at various points, producing a rugged coast line, with many fjord-like inlets. A complete severance of the continental land mass at one place forms the Strait of Magellan. The Northern Cordillera, in the Andes of Ecuador, consists of two parallel ranges, inclosing a lofty plateau-like valley. These two ranges 212 The Geography of Commerce divide into four ranges with deep valleys between them. In Colom- bia one range flanks the Gulf of Maracaibo, and the other trends eastward as the Caribbean Highland. This latter, submerged, forms the chain of the West India Islands. The entire extent of the Cordillera is lofty and of a volcanic nature ; numerous high volca- noes rise from the ranges. 1 The countries of South America may be grouped, roughly, into two main divisions, those of the Atlantic Slope and those of the Andes Highland. The former includes Venezuela, Guiana, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina; the latter, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. I. COUNTRIES OF THE ATLANTIC SLOPE 141. Venezuela. Venezuela borders on the Caribbean Sea and presents three physical regions, the ranges of the Cordillera and Caribbean Highland on the west and north, the llanos or plains of the Orinoco, and the Guiana Highland. The climate is tropical, though the mountain slopes furnish the conditions of higher lati- tude, as in Mexico and Central America, and produce vegeta- tion of the temperate regions. The entire area is a little larger than Texas, Indian Territory, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona combined. The country is for the greater part covered by a virgin tropical forest. The population consists of native Indians, whites and negroes, with an average density of about four to the square mile. Spanish is the language spoken. According to the natural features of the different districts, the industries are either agricultural, pastoral, or the gathering of the forest products. Of the agricultural industries, coffee forms the chief product ; the area under coffee cul- tivation is about 200,000 acres (divided into some 33,000 estates). The yearly export of coffee is about 100,000,000 pounds. Cacao is also an important item, both in cultivation and shipment ; there are about 5000 estates which grow this product. Sugar cane 1 International Geography, pp. 813-818. South American Countries 213 is cultivated to a considerable extent, but the removal of a prohibi- tion on sugar importation has reduced the output. Cereals are grown in the higher districts. The llanos of the Orinoco and the grassy savannas throughout the region, furnish an abundant pasturage for vast herds of cattle and horses. Sheep, goats, and pigs are also raised. This stock-raising industry, together with the agricul- tural pursuits in general, employ about one-fifth of the population. The chief of the wild forest products which are gathered by the natives, are vanilla, tonga beans, caoutchouc (India rubber), and copaiba. The mineral wealth of Venezuela is considerable. Gold is worked in certain districts, and silver, copper, and iron occur abundantly. Other metals, as lead and tin, -also exist, as well as several important non-metallic substances, as sulphur, petroleum, coal, asphalt, salt, kaolin, etc. Most of these mineral resources are undeveloped. This is especially the case with petroleum and the great lakes of asphalt. Salt mining is at present a government monopoly. An American company is engaged in opening up iron mines on the lower Orinoco. On the north coast the natives are engaged in pearl fishing and in the gathering of sponges and tortoise shells. There are no manu- facturing industries worthy of note, manufactures being almost alto- gether imported ; the exception to this is in the making of hats, garments, and the like,' for local consumption, but these articles are of inferior quality. Coffee, cacao, and hides form the chief exports. Coffee is the staple. Other exports are goat and deer skins, rubber, copra, tobacco, copaiba, fustic, sugar, cattle, etc. Iron and textile manufactures, machinery, timber, cement, coal, and coal oil are the chief articles of import. The volume of Venezuela's trade is divided between the United States, France, Germany, England, and Spain. Of this 2 7 per cent of the imports are from the United States, the larger proportion of the remainder are from 'France. This percentage of import trade with the United States is larger than that of any other South American country excepting Colombia. 214 The Geography of Commerce Like all other South American countries, Venezuela is poorly equipped with highways ; the roads are mostly primitive, and goods must be transported into the interior on pack animals. Upwards of 500 miles of railroad are in operation, mainly between the productive agricultural districts and the ports on the Caribbean. Only Venezuelan vessels are allowed to engage in the coasting trade. Caracas, the capital, and Valencia are situated on the slopes of the Caribbean range in the midst of the most productive agricultural districts. La Guaira (the port of Caracas), Maracaibo (on Lake Maracaibo), and Puerto Cabello are the chief seaports. Ciudad Bolivar is the only important town an the Orinoco. The Orinoco offers a magnificent highway for traffic into the interior. The future prosperity of Venezuela probably depends on the development of the country and its resources, by outside capital and enterprise. 142. Guiana. Guiana, with an area of about 200,000 square miles, is divided into the three colonies of British, French, and Dutch Guiana. Though not bordering directly on the Caribbean Sea (its coast being to the eastward of the chain of the Windward and Leeward islands) it is essentially within the domain of West Indian commerce. The boundaries of the three Guiana colonies, both among them- selves and with neighboring countries, have been the subject of con- troversy, which seems to have been largely based on the location of the gold deposits. Of this nature, was the recent so-called "Venezuelan Boundary Dispute" between Venezuela and British Guiana. British Guiana has an area of 104,000 square miles (almost as large as Great Britain and Ireland), only about the one-hundredth of which is cleared for cultivation; the rest is virgin forest. The climate is hot and moist, the country being situated but a very few degrees north of the equator. A belt of low alluvial coast land is succeeded by a white sandy strip which passes into the South American Countries 215 rough and hilly back country, forest-covered, with here and there open savannas in the interior. To a marked degree the productions are dependent upon the physical features of the regions. Only the low coast strip (which was reclaimed by dikes at the hands of the early settlers) is under cultivation, and the chief crop is sugar cane. The main exports are sugar, molasses, rum, balata gum, charcoal, and woods. The country has rich gold deposits, and there are also diamonds, both of which form items of export. The gold export is valued at upwards of $2,000,000. The imports are food- stuffs, machinery, tobacco, coal, etc. More than half the imports are from England, and 1 2 per cent from British colonies ; the United States contributes about 25 per cent of the imports into British Guiana. Somewhat less than half the value of exports goes to the United States. Georgetown is the capital of the colony and the most important town. Dutch Guiana, or Surinam, borders British Guiana on the east, and possesses similar physical features. Sugar, cacao, and coffee form the chief agricultural products, and gold is mined to some extent. The capital and chief town of the colony is Paramaribo at the junc- tion of two small rivers ten miles inland. French Guiana, or Cayenne, is the most eastern of the Guiana colonies. Cacao is the principal crop grown, but rum, coffee, phos- phates (from the near-by islands), anatto (a plant material used for coloring butter), various woods and gums are also items of export. Gold is the most important mineral, and its mining is a prominent industry of the colony. The capital and chief town of French Guiana is St. Louis, on an island just off the coast. The United States takes more than half the value of the exports of Dutch Guiana, but only contributes about 1 7 per cent of the im- ports. French Guiana trades largely with the Mother Country, but England sends cotton and woolen goods, and the United States food- stuffs, petroleum, and lumber ; the imports from the United States are about 6 per cent of the whole. The trade between the United 216 The Geography of Commerce States and the Guiana colonies is, like that of Venezuela, relatively larger than is the case with other South American countries from the fact of their position, fronting north, and being practically, as already pointed out, within the area of the West Indian trade. II. BRAZIL 143. Physical Features. The vast domain of the United States of Brazil covers an area of 3,218,130 square miles, including one-half the area of the. entire continent of South America, and greater than that of Europe as , a whole, or of the entire United States. Of this enormous territory, but a small fraction is improved land ; the greater part of the Republic is a trackless and almost unin- habited wilderness, consisting of mountains and river valleys largely covered by dense and impenetrable primeval forests. The moun- tainous region is that island-like portion of the Eastern Highlands of the continent, fronting on the Atlantic and lying between the Amazon Valley on the north and the valleys of the Paraguay and the Parana on the south and west. The river valleys of Brazil belong to two great systems, the Amazon, and the Parana and Uruguay drainage of the La Plata Basin. The Amazon Basin (in- cluding its tributary drainage) includes an area of 1,900,000 square miles, more than one-half of the entire territory of Brazil. 144. Population. The population of the Brazilian Republic is upwards of 14,000,000 (about equal to the population of New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania combined), representing an aver- age density of about 4.5 inhabitants to the square mile. Of this population, 38 per cent are Europeans of relatively pure blood, de- scendants of the original Portuguese settlers ; another 38 per cent are of mixed Indian, negro, and white blood ; 4 per cent are pure Indian and 20 per cent negro. Portuguese is the language spoken throughout Brazil, while in all other South American countries, Span- ish is the prevailing language. The sparseness of the population of Brazil, when compared with the population of the United States, is a CURING RUBBER, AMAZON VALLEY LOADING CATTLE, SOUTH AMERICA South American Countries 217 forcible illustration of differences between tropical and temperate regions. 145. Resources and Industries. The resources of Brazil are nu- merous and varied, almost every variety of tropical cultivation being possible and the forests yielding an unlimited supply of useful prod- ucts. Brazil is the greatest coffee-producing country in the world, representing about 60 per cent of the entire world supply. Fully one-half of the Brazilian coffee export comes to the United States ; the remaining half is distributed to European countries. In the twenty years following 1880 the export of coffee from Brazil amounted to over 100,000,000 bags (averaging 132 pounds). 1 More DISTRIBUTION OF COFFEE recently the average annual export of coffee is from 10,000,000 to 16,000,000 bags. Next to coffee, rubber is the most important export of Brazil; the export of rubber increases constantly. The increase of the latter exceeds the relative increase of the coffee export in value, though less in actual amount. Of this product, the United States purchases the larger portion; the export of rubber in 1895 from Brazil to this country amounted to upwards of 11,000,000 kilograms (24,000,000 pounds), while that to Europe was 9,000,000 kilograms. Tobacco, hides, and cacao are other items of considerable impor- tance in the list of Brazilian exports. Sugar, cotton, and mat6 or 1 Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance ; August, 1901, page 511. 218 The Geography of Commerce Paraguay tea are also extensively cultivated. The different districts are characterized by the production of certain commodities. Thus in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the cattle industry is a prominent feature, incident to the elevated grass lands bordering on the Uru- guay frontier. In this district, also, the preserving of fruit, tanning, and brewing are among the more important industries. In the Rio de Janeiro district and the neighboring states of San Paulo and Minas Geraes, coffee is the main product, there being upwards of 15,000 plantations in the former state and 2000 in the latter with an average of over 1 70,000 trees for each plantation. In 1 90 1- 1902 the estimated yield of export coffee in the Rio de Janeiro district was upwards of 12,000,000 bags. In the Amazon Valley, rubber pro- duction is the characteristic industry; the 1900 export of this district was estimated at THE WORLD'S PRODUCTION OF COFFEE upwards of 26,600 tons. In (1900), APPROXIMATED IN BAGS OF Pernambuco the manufacture 132 POUNDS EACH of ^ ^ & inent industry ; the total output Total, 15,285,000 bags of Brazilian sugar for 1900-1901 was estimated at 250,000 tons. Cotton is likewise grown in this state, the yield in 1899-1900 being upwards of 289,000 bales. There is a noticeable increase of late in Brazilian cotton manufacture, 155 mills being in operation. The mill- ing industry has likewise extended to wool, silk, and flour, the supplies for the latter being mainly drawn from Uruguay and Argentina. The vast mineral and forest resources of Brazil are comparatively undeveloped. Gold and diamonds are worked in the states of Minas Geraes and Bahia, and a variety of mineral products are found, South American Countries 219 notably lead, zinc, silver, copper, mercury, iron, and manganese. The great bulk of the metal deposits occur in the mountain region of the Eastern Highlands. Some coal mines are being operated in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, but the product is mostly of the nature of lignite. Scarcity of fuel operates against the development of the vast iron deposits of the country. 146. Commercial Features. In 1899 there was a total length of 8718 miles of railroad in operation, and in addition nearly 5000 miles under construction. The government is acquiring control of several lines, and likewise controls the telegraph system. A large coasting trade is carried on by Brazilian vessels between the various ports. The Indian population is chiefly in the Amazon Valley and the northern provinces, while the white population (a number of them immigrants from Germany, Italy, and other European countries) is largely centered about the seaports and in the agricultural districts of the southern portion. As a consequence of this, the most pro- ductive region of Brazil is in the southern half, with Rio (Rio de Janeiro) as its seaport and commercial center. This city, with a population of 750,000, is the federal capital, and the largest city in South America. It is the greatest coffee market in the world. Rio is situated on a bay of the same name which affords a splendid harbor. Its situation south of the projecting portion of the continent places it at practically the same distance from the United States as from the ports of western Europe. On the other hand, the city of Para (Belem), commanding the trade of the Amazon Valley, and holding the first place in the world's rubber markets, is, by its situation north of the above mentioned projection, brought into much closer connec- tion with the United States. As a result, the purchases of Para from the United States are relatively much greater than are those of the ports farther south. The more productive centers, however, being in the southern part, call for direct steamship communication between this part of Brazil and the United States. Pernambuco, or Recife, south 220 The Geography of Commerce of Cape St. Roque, is another port, doing a large trade in sugar, coffee, and cotton. There are numerous other more or less important commercial towns throughout the settled parts of the Republic. Brazil imports cotton and woolen textiles, iron and hardware, machinery, coal, petroleum, provisions, cattle and dried beef, bread- stuffs, codfish, pork, lard, olive oil, butter, tea, candles, salt, timber, wines, etc. Of the total imports at Rio for 1900, which amounted to upwards of $45,000,000, Great Britain furnished about 35 per cent, Germany 10 per cent, and the United States nearly 9 per cent. The yearly imports of the United States from Brazil represent an excess over our exports to that country of upwards of $46,000,000. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 143. What are the explanations of the failure of the United States to develop favorable trade relations with South America ? (See Emory, noted below. ) 144. Why has Europe been more successful than the United States in securing and holding South American trade ? (See Schoff, below.) 145. With a sketch map of South America, show the prevailing winds, dis- tribution of rainfall, and the characteristic vegetation of the different regions of the continent. 146. Does it seem better in the long run to educate foreign countries into the use of a better grade of goods and improved methods of trade, or servilely to sup- ply the things they demand and in the ways they demand them ? What nation generally follows the first method ? What one the second ? 147. Find the distance from Rio Janeiro to London and from Rio Janeiro to New York. What are the advantages of location ? 148. What is the per capita consumption of coffee in the United States ? What in Great Britain ? 149. Great Britain is considered a free trade country and the United States a high tariff country. What are the facts for the import duty on coffee in the two countries ? How do you account for the facts, and how do the policies affect trade of the two nations with Brazil ? 150. What part of Brazil is best suited for settlement by people from the United States and Europe ? Why ? 151. What is the present commercial "sphere of influence" of the United States in South America ? 152. Compare the commercial advantages of a navigable river flowing north and south with "one flowing east and west. Illustrate this, using the Amazon and the Mississippi. South American Countries 221 Books to be Consulted ** International Geography, Chapters XLIII, XLVI and XLVII. **American Commerce. Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, Treasury Department. August; 1901. * Coffee, Information and Statistics on. Bureau of American Republics. Wash- ington, D.C.; 1902. Rodway, In the Guiana Forest. London; 1885. *Keane, Central and South America. Stanford's Compendium. New Issue. ** The United States of Brazil. A Geographical Sketch. Bureau of American Republics. Washington, D.C. ; 1901. * The United States and Latin America, Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Meet- ing of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, The Annals of the Academy; July, 1903. See especially the papers of Frederic Emory, on The Causes of our Failure to develop Latin- American Trade, and Wilfred H. Schoff, on Development of European Trade Relations with Latin America. CHAPTER XVI SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRIES (continued} III. COUNTRIES OF THE LA PLATA BASIN 147. Argentina. The Argentine Republic is the second in size of the South American countries, and is somewhat more than half as large as the United States. Argentina has a population of nearly 4,000,000 (about equal to that of Illinois). The country is almost wholly within the south temperate zone, only the northern portion possessing a tropical climate. Four climatic regions are recognized: (i) the northern low plains, tropical in character; (2) the central plains region, warm temperate, and temperate ; (3) the Patagonian plains, south of the Rio Negro, a cold and inhospitable desert of loose stones and shingle ; .and (4) the Andes region, embracing the eastern slopes and foothills of the Cordillera up to the Chilian frontier on the crest line, the climate varying according to the latitude, altitude, and time of year. Possessing a vast expanse of grassy plains (the pampas), Argen- tina has turned its attention mainly to stock raising and grain growing. Sheep and wheat are the most important products of the country. In 1897 there were 105,000,000 sheep in Argentina, and they produced an average of 4.5 pounds of wool each. During the last forty years the number of sheep has increased eleven-fold, while the wool clip has increased fifteen fold, showing a steady improvement in the wool-producing qualities of the stock. 1 Cattle are second only to sheep in their importance, though their increase has not been so marked. In connection with this production of 1 Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance; August, 1901, p. 510. 222 South American Countries 223 live stock, is the freezing of meat ; large packing-houses for this pur- pose have been established by a company of British capitalists. The shipping of frozen meat is an important branch of Argentine trade. Wheat is grown extensively; the area under wheat in 1899 was estimated at 5,500,000 acres, with a yield of upwards of 82,500,000 bushels. More than two-thirds of the wheat is exported. Other productions are flax, corn, and sugar (in the northern warmer regions) . Fruits of various sorts are also largely cultivated, grape culture and wine making being important agricultural features. Argentina is rich in economic mineral deposits which await exploitation. Copper, gold, and silver ores are abundant in the Andes provinces of the Republic ; alluvial deposits of gold occur along the coast as far south as Tierra del Fuego. Other metals and non-metallic substances are more or less abundant, among which may be mentioned coal (chiefly lig- nite) , petroleum, salt, nitrates, iron, sulphur, borax, etc. The country is covered in parts with extensive forests which yield a variety of valu- able products, timber of various kinds (including the heavy quebracho wood), mate* or Para- guay tea, etc. There is little done in the line of manufacturing, though there is some flour milling, wine making, distilling, and brewing. Nearly all the needful manufactures are imported. The chief exports are live animals and animal products (including wool, frozen meat, cheese, butter, hides, tallow, etc.), wheat, corn, linseed, mineral products, GREAT BRITAIN 63 -31* GERMANY 37 - 18* FRANCE 30 -14* BELGIUM 26 -13* UNITED STATES 20 - 10* ITALY 19 - 9* BRAZIL 1O - 5* COMBINED IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF AR- GENTINA (1900), APPROXIMATED IN MIL- LIONS OF DOLLARS Total, $ 205, 000,000 224 The Geography of Commerce and native woods. 'Of the imports Great Britain supplies about 29 per cent and the United States only about 10 per cent; Germany, France, Italy, Brazil, and Belgium make up most of the remainder. The exports from Argentina were over $200,000 in excess of the imports in 1901. Over 2,500,000 sheep are now slaughtered in a year and the carcasses shipped frozen, representing a value of about $2,000,000 in gold. 1 The bulk of exports go to European countries. Buenos Ayres, on the right bank of the La Plata estuary, is the capital and largest city of the Republic. It commands a fine harbor, which has been greatly improved by engineering skill. It is con- nected by rail with various towns of the interior. The railway system of Argentina is being rapidly extended, and the union of this with the Chilian system, now about being effected, will make a transcontinental line across the pampas and the Andes from Buenos Ayres on the Atlantic, to Valparaiso on the Pacific coast. About 10,000 miles of railroad are in operation throughout the Republic. No other South American country is more progressive a fact due to climatic influences and the preponderance of Europeans in the population. Many Italian immigrants have come into the country in recent years. Argentina is a magnificent country with a great future ; but what it needs most is capital and enterprise rather than further colonization by unskilled laborers, cheap labor being already at hand. As in most other South American countries, the language is Spanish and the state and church Roman Catholic. 148. Uruguay. The Republic of Uruguay, lying between Brazil on the north and Argentina on the south and west (from which latter it is separated by the La Plata estuary and the Uruguay River), is similar in physical features to its southern neighbor. It lies entirely within the south temperate zone, covering an area about equal to that of Ohio and Indiana together. It has a scant popula- tion of 964,600 ; seventy per cent of the population are native-born white persons the rest are immigrants from southern Europe. The 1 Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance; August, 1901, p. 510. South American Countries 225 climate is mild and healthful, and the surface of the country a well-watered, undulating plain of grass land, affording a wonderfully luxuriant pasture. There is but little timber throughout the country. Like Argentina, the chief industries are stock raising and grain growing. Besides these, grape and olive culture and the growing of tobacco are important occupations. The value of live stock (including sheep, cattle, horses, and mules) is estimated at upwards of $73,000,000. The wool clip in 1901 amounted to over 96,000,000 pounds. In 1900 the yield of the wheat crop was 33,000,000 bushels. Over 740,000 head of cattle were slaughtered in the same year. The chief exports are wool, hides, dried beef, beef extracts, and tallow. The mineral resources are developed to some extent. The imports are proportionally larger per individual than is the case with Argen- tina. The Republic has a considerable trade with both Brazil and Argentina ; but Great Britain furnishes the bulk of the manu- factures imported, the United States standing sixth in the list from which imports are received (1901). Montevideo is the capital and chief city, situated on the north bank of the La Plata ; it is the commercial rival of Buenos Ayres. Rail- roads connect it with the principal towns in the interior. 149. Paraguay. The Republic of Paraguay is entirely inland, having no communication with the sea except through the La Plata system. It covers a territory about as large as New York and Pennsylvania taken together, and has a population of only 600,000, not counting the Indian peoples. The northern portion of the Republic is tropical, and the northwest section embraces a part of the Gran Chaco, a wild, undeveloped region. The forests of Paraguay yield a variety of products, timber, gums, dyewoods, etc. The chief industries are the cultivation of the yerba mate" (a species of holly from which Paraguay tea is made) and oranges. The cultivation of the rubber tree is being attempted. Sugar cane, tobacco, coffee, indigo, cotton, and other tropical products grow well wherever the attempt has been made to cultivate them. Q 226 The Geography of Commerce Cattle and sheep raising is an industry of some importance in the open plains of the Chaco region. The chief exports are Paraguay tea, oranges, tobacco, timber, and hides. Many valuable mineral deposits occur throughout the region, but as yet they are compara- tively undeveloped. The imports are chiefly manufactured goods (cotton and machinery) and provisions. Being entirely inland, the trade of Paraguay with outside countries is small; that with the United States in recent years has been less than $1000 a year. Asuncion, the capital, is situated on the left bank of the Paraguay River. It commands the steamboat traffic of the La Plata, and is regularly visited by steamboats of several lines. The city is connected by rail with the most important interior towns. Telegraph lines connect it with other more important centers, and with the world at large. IV. THE ANDES REPUBLICS 150. Colombia. The United States of Colombia lies in the northern portion of the Northern Cordillera, and includes also the Isthmus of Panama. It thus has a seacoast fronting on both oceans, and as a consequence, and because of its relation to the Caribbean trade, it does a relatively larger business with the United States than is the case with most South American countries. The area of the Republic is about equal to that of all the southern States east of the Mississippi. It has a population of some 4,000,000. The country presents a surface of lofty mountain ranges in the western part, the eastern part being grass- covered plains or llanos. Four zones characterize the mountain slopes, the tierra caliente, templada, and fria, and above these, the paramos from 10,000 to 13,000 feet altitude a bleak and uninhabited region. In the first zone the purely tropical products, as cacao, bananas, and sugar cane, are grown ; in the templada, coffee and maize are important crops ; in the cold temperate (fria), the cereals, potatoes, and northern fruits are raised. Large herds of cattle are pastured on the llanos. In certain districts tobacco South American Countries 227 is an important crop. A large area of the Republic is forested, especially the low, hot plains, the forests abounding in a great variety of wild products, including vegetable ivory, divi-divi wood, rubber, tolu, and other gums and dyestuffs. Palms of many sorts, including the cocoanut, flourish in the hot, moist districts, while the cinchona tree, the bark of which yields quinine, grows on the mountain slopes. Valuable mineral deposits abound, gold, silver, copper, iron, coal, salt, and emeralds, but as yet little has been done in the way of developing these resources. The busi- ness of the country is in a very backward state, owing to the fre- quent civil wars, and the primitive means of internal communication. In the main, the roads are only mule tracks. The chief highway of commerce is the Magdalena River, which flows northward from the mountainous interior into the Caribbean Sea. Steamers ascend the river for about 900 miles, and the tributary streams are like- wise navigable for some distance along their courses. The work of building canals and clearing the river channels is now under way. The industries are almost altogether agricultural, although but a small portion of the fertile soil is .under .cultivation. Mining is carried on to a slight extent in certain districts. Bogota, the capital of the Republic, is situated on a lofty por- tion of the Cordillera. Two seaports are on the Caribbean coast, Cartagena and Barranquilla on the Magdalena River with Puerto Colombia as its entry port. Panama is on the Pacific stde of the Isthmus and Colon on the Caribbean side ; these two places are connected by a railroad of importance in the trade between the two oceans. The Isthmus is the site of a great ship canal as yet not completed. The population of Colombia is chiefly centered about the towns and seaports. Of the import trade of Colombia, the United States supplies about 30 per cent, principally textile manufactures, petroleum, breadstuff's, and beverages. Coffee forms the export of largest value. Forest products, minerals, cattle, hides, tobacco, and rubber are also ex- 22 8 The Geography of Commerce ported. In the past ten years the United States and Great Britain have held their own in Colombian trade ; Germany has shown an increase, while France has fallen off. 151. Ecuador. The Republic of Ecuador consists of a lofty mountain-rimmed plateau which is divided by mountain knots or spurs into a series of " basins." On the east the Cordilleran slopes embrace the Amazon watershed, while on the west the slopes de- scend more steeply to the Pacific coast strip. Though located on the equator the great altitudes produce a moderate climate through- out a considerable area of the country. The low coast lands are hot and unhealthy ; the eastern slopes are subject to a heavy rainfall, a wet and dry season being the characteristic feature of the lower portions. Ecuador is about equal in area to the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois taken together; it has a population of over a million. The region is volcanic, earthquakes being frequent ; numerous giant volcanoes rise from the Cordilleran ranges. The eastern slopes are heavily forested as the result of the abundant rainfall. A great variety of tropical products are found on these forest slopes, both on the eastern and western side. Among the many kinds of forest trees are the " red bark " cinchona trees (rich in quinine), the Castilloa rubber, and much valuable timber, besides gum and dye-yielding trees and plants. In the drier Andean basins of the plateau, the vegetation is scanty, being chiefly cactus forms. Agriculture of various kinds is the chief industry, but it is in a backward state. Cacao is the staple product, the number of trees being upwards of 40,000,000. Coffee, sugar, and cotton are also grown. Ivory nuts, Peruvian bark, sarsaparilla, orchilla, and rubber are among the wild forest products gathered and exported. Attention is now being directed to the cultiva- tion of rubber trees, as the original supply is being rapidly ex- hausted. Wheat, barley, and maize are grown in the Andean basins for local consumption only ; in some districts a consider- able number of cattle are raised. Ecuador is rich in gold deposits, South American Countries 229 some of which are worked, and many other ores and minerals are abundant throughout the region, though little has been done in the way of their development. Insufficient population and want of good roads are the chief causes of the Republic's backward state. Quito, the capital, at an elevation of over 9000 feet, is about 115 miles from Guayaquil, the seaport of the country, and is connected with it only by an indifferent highway. Most of the transportation is done on pack animals. A region of such natural wealth needs but the influence of outside enterprise and capital to develop its resources and open up the means of communication. The population of Ecuador is largely Indian. One of the chief industries of the country is the manufacture of " Panama hats," so called from the fact that they entered into commerce through the hands of Panama merchants. They are made by hand, the grass being plaited under water. Cacao is the chief export, and cinchona bark, Panama hats, sarsaparilla, rubber, coffee, sugar, 'and hides are items of some importance. Fronting on the Pacific, the trade with manufacturing sections of the United States is small, and the purchases are mainly from European countries. The share of the United States in the import trade has never reached a million dollars a year. 152. Peru. The Republic of Peru lies south of Ecuador in the main Cordillera. It covers an area about the same as the three Pacific states, Washington, Oregon, and California, and contains a population of 4,609,000 souls. More than 50 per cent of the population are native Indian peoples; 20 per cent are of mixed blood, while the remainder is made up of white persons of Spanish descent, and immigrants from Europe, China, and the United States. Spanish is the language spoken, and the state and church, as in other South American countries, are Roman Catholic. The Peruvian Andes consist of three parallel ranges : The Mari- time, the Central, and the Eastern Cordilleras. The first two are vol- canic in nature and inclose between them a lofty and cold tract of country known as the Puna lands. The Eastern Cordillera or the 230 The Geography of Commerce Andes proper is separated from the Central Cordillera by a wide plateau called the Sierra, the surface of which is diversified by lofty mountain spurs and broad plains and valleys. The land rises in height toward the southward, and on the Bolivian frontier is the basin of Lake Titicaca, covering an area of 16,000 square miles, at an elevation of over 12,500 feet above the sea. The eastern slopes of the Cordilleras embrace the upper Amazon Basin and are heavily forested and deeply cut by numerous ravines in which flow the feeders of the upper Amazon. The narrow coast strip is some 20 miles in width. The western slopes are dry in contrast with the eastern or Andean slopes. The prevailing winds are from the east, and are deprived of moisture in crossing the lofty ranges. The Puna lands extend from 12,500 to over 14,000 feet altitude, and are practically uninhabited. The staple products of Peru are cotton, sugar, and coffee. In 1901 the value of the cotton export reached $1,630,000, and that of coffee over $327,000. Cinchona bark, coca leaves (cocaine) and other medicinal plants, dyestuffs, and rubber also figure prominently in Peruvian commerce ; cacao, rice, and tobacco, are also of more or less importance. Wool forms a leading item of export, and is obtained both from sheep and from the native alpaca and llama. Cattle are raised and hides exported to some extent. From the offshore rocky islands, guano is collected and exported in considerable quantities. Peru is rich in valuable minerals ; gold, sil- ver, lead, zinc, copper, and mercury among metals, and coal, petro- leum, salt, borax, and sulphur among non-metallic substances. Gold mining has declined. The shipment of ores, especially of silver and copper, forms a considerable item in Peruvian trade. Like other South American countries, Peru needs capital. The means for internal communication are still imperfect, though upwards of a thousand miles of railroad are in operation, involving some remarkable feats of engineering in overcoming mountain obstacles. Much of the trade on the eastern side, especially the rubber output, South American Countries 231 finds its way by boat down the Amazon. Manufacturing is carried on to some extent, chiefly in the making of straw hats, coarse woolen fabrics, beverages, shoes, soap, candles, and cigars. Lima is the capital and chief city, and is connected by rail with the near-by seaport of Callao. The trade of Peru is mainly with Great Britain. In 1899 there were entered and cleared at the port of Callao 306 British vessels, 90 German, and 17 from the United States. Textile manufactures, iron, and machinery form the bulk of imports, Great Britain supplying over one-third, Germany one-sixth, and the United States about 9 per cent, the latter country showing a slight increase in recent years. A considerable trade is carried on between Peru and the neighboring countries. 153. Bolivia. The Republic of Bolivia borders Peru on the south and east, and is entirely an inland country, having no seacoast and no outlet except through other countries. It is larger than the southern States east of the Mississippi, with a population of about four per square mile ; one-half of the population is Indian, one-quarter mixed blood, and the other quarter whites of Spanish descent. The country, though rich in resources, is in a very backward state. Agri- cultural pursuits form the chief occupation, but mining is carried on in certain parts, notably in the famous Potosi district ; silver, tin, and copper are the most important ores produced. Coffee and rubber form the chief vegetable products. Sugar is produced mainly for the purpose of distillation. The northern grains and vegetables are grown on the lofty table-lands, and cattle, sheep, and llamas are also raised in large numbers on the high pasture lands. The wool of the two latter animals is woven into coarse native cloth. Most of the transportation is done on the backs of llamas and mules. The east- ern part of Bolivia embraces the upper watersheds of the Amazon and La Plata basins. The fertile slopes and valleys of these districts are heavily forested, producing a luxuriant tropical vegetation. This region is the home of several varieties of cinchona trees, which pro- duce the famous Bolivian bark, rich in quinine. Coffee and cacao of 232 The Geography of Commerce fine quality are cultivated here, and the production of India rubber is a growing industry. The river valleys afford highways of trade toward the east. Rail- road construction is being carried forward to connect with the Argen- tine system and also with that of Peru. About 500 miles of road are now in operation, by which the chief city, La Paz, is connected with the Chilian port of Antofagasta. Sucre is the capital of the Republic, but La Paz is the largest city and most important commercial center. A steamer service is maintained on Lake Titicaca, which is on the Peruvian frontier. Bolivian trade is largely with neighboring countries, though some trade with the ^outside world is carried on. Coffee, cacao, rubber, silver, tin, and copper * form the chief exports. The im- ports consist of clothing, tex- tiles, hardware, provisions, and liquors. 154. Chile. The Republic of Chile occupies a narrow strip along the western side of the continent from Peru to Cape Horn. It embraces the Strait of Magellan and the western portion of Tierra del Fuego. Chile borders the Argentine frontier along the high crest line of the Cordillera. The Republic lies almost wholly within the south temperate zone. It is about equal to California, Oregon, and Washington in size, and supports about 3,000,000 peo- ple, an average density of about ten to the square mile. More than one-third of the people are engaged in agricultural pursuits. Wheat is the most important crop raised ; the annual yield of wheat is about GREAT BRITAIN IBS 61* GERMANY 5'5 - 20% UNITED STATES 18 ^= 6.5* FRANCE 17 = 6% PERU 8 3% ALL OTHER COUNTRIES 9 = 3. 5% COMMERCE OF CHILE FOR 1900, APPROXI- MATED IN MILLIONS OF PESOS Total, 273,000,000 pesos MOUNTAIN PACK TRAIN VALPARAISO HARBOR South American Countries 233 28,000,000 bushels. Other cereal crops amount to over 8,500,000 bushels. Fruits and vegetables are also largely grown. Sheep, goat, and cattle raising form a very important branch of Chilian agricul- ture. The foremost industry of the country, however, is the extrac- tion of nitrate of soda (saltpeter) , which occurs in great abundance in the northern portion of the rainless region. This material is largely used as a fertilizer, and more than 400,000,000 tons have been ex- tracted and shipped, for the most part to European countries. More than two-thirds of the exports of Chile are nitrate of soda. Chile is rich in mineral deposits. Copper is the most important metallic ore produced, but gold, silver, zinc, tin, nickel, cobalt, and manganese ore are also worked. Coal deposits occur, the output in 1900 amounting to upwards of 325,000 tons. The gathering and shipment of guano, from the neighboring rocky islands, is another important feature of Chilian industry. The country is mountainous throughout ; it is sparsely wooded in the dry northern sections. The agricultural lands are the coast strip and the mountain valleys and slopes of the middle and southern por- tions. The climate of the middle region is one of the finest in the world, and the good drainage secured by the slopes makes the coun- try exceedingly healthful. The people are largely a mixture of whites with the aboriginal inhabitants. They are fairly progressive, the temperate climate undoubtedly exerting an important influence in this direction. Chile possesses nearly a thousand miles of navigable rivers and upwards of 14,000 miles of public highways. About 3000 miles of railroad are in operation. This was the earliest of the South Ameri- can countries to build railroads. Santiago, the capital, is beautifully located at the western base of the Andes. It is connected by rail with the chief city and commer- cial seaport, Valparaiso. The latter city commands a fine harbor and roadstead, a comparatively uncommon feature on this portion of the coast. Valparaiso is in fact the most important commercial center 234 The Geography of Commerce on the western side of South America, being the terminal port for several steamship lines from Europe. Other ports are located at favorable points ; Punta Arenas commands the Magellan passage. Chile is more forward in manufactures than is the case with other South American countries. Among the more important of the manu- factures are the products of machine works, saw mills, carriage factories, sugar refineries, breweries, etc. The principal exports are nitrate, metallic ores, minerals, guano, wool, hides, leather, wheat, and barley. The chief imports are coal, sugar, dress goods, hardware, illuminating oil, etc. Chile has considerable trade with neighboring countries, but Great Britain has the bulk of the foreign trade. During 1898, ARGENTINA 264 - 32* BRAZIL 246 29.7* CHILE 107 13* URUGUAY 52 6^3* PERU 32 4% OTHER COUNTRIES 121 - 15* COMMERCE OF SOUTH AMERICA BY COUN- for example, 239 British ves- TRIES (1900), APPROXIMATED IN MILLIONS se l s , 99 German, 68 Chilian, OF DOLLARS Total, $821,000,000 and 7 vessels from the United States entered and cleared at the port of Valparaiso. The United States has less than 7 per cent of the import trade of Chile. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 153. What was the "line of demarcation" (1493)? (American Colonial History.) What was the influence of this on colonizing in South America ? 154. What language is spoken in Brazil ? What in the rest of South America? 155. In what month is Argentina "waiting for the harvest" ? 156. Compare the soil of Argentina with that of the Mississippi Valley ; com- pare the climate of the two regions. What are the chief products of each ? 157. At a recent Trade Congress, the representatives of Argentina seemed less solicitous for the trade of the United States than did the representatives of other South American Countries 235 Latin American countries. How do you account for this ? Why should there be less advantage in trade between the United States and Argentina than be- tween the United States and other regions of South America ? 158. How do you explain the comparative coolness of South America, con- sidering its position in the torrid zone ? 159. A project of the Pan-American Congress, proposed in 1889 (Washington) and re-affirmed in 1901 (Mexico), is to connect the three Americas by rail. The total distance from New York to Buenos Ayres is 10,229 rniles, of which 6500 miles of railroad are already in operation or in course of construction. What will be the commercial effect of the completion of this connection ? 1 60. What will be the effects of the Isthmian Canal upon trade relations of the United States and western South America ? (See Smith noted below.) 161. What is the special packing of goods that are to be unloaded by " lighter- age " ? What when they are to be transshipped by " pack train" ? 162. Make an investigation into the Resources of Chile. 163. Write a short essay on The Trade Outlook of the United States in South America. Books to be Consulted ** The International Geography, Chapters XLIV and XLV. ** American Commerce. Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, Treasury Department; August, 1901. Hudson, 7'he Naturalist in La Plata. London; 1892. *Markham, Peru. London, 1880. *Smith, Western South America and its Relation to American Trade. Annals of American Academy; November, 1901. ** Statesman's Yearbook. PART IV TRADE OF THE EASTERN HEMISPHERE CHAPTER XVII THE CONTINENT OF EURASIA : EUROPE AND ASIA 155. Physical Features. The continent of Europe appears as a peninsular extension of the greater Asiatic land mass, and as such the two grand divisions are frequently referred to under the single com- prehensive term "Eurasia." The geographical boundary between the two was recognized by the early historic peoples in the Mediter- ranean region as the straits which connect the Black Sea with the Mediterranean. These straits the Dardanelles, the Sea of Mar- mora, and the narrow Bosporus have always denned an Occidental civilization from an Oriental one, and have made Europe and Asia separate political units. North of the Black Sea, the sparsely inhab- ited steppes of the Caspian region and the low ranges of the Ural Mountain system formerly existed as a barrier which has been over- come in recent times by the eastward expansion of the Russian Empire and the two lines of railroad, the Siberian and the Transcaspian. "" The most conspicuous feature in the physical geography of Europe, and the one that has played a prominent part in the economic devel- opment of western European peoples, is the deeply indented shore- line, whereby almost every portion of the continent is brought within comparatively easy reach of some inland sea the highway of communication. The greater land mass of Asia, on the other 237 The Continent of Eurasia 239 hand, is strikingly devoid of these inland-reaching bodies of water. The central bulk of Asia is fringed with peninsulas and flanked with chains of offshore volcanic islands ; but it is nowhere deeply pene- trated by the ocean as is the case with Europe. The relief features of Eurasia as a whole are (i) a broad northern lowland which slopes gently toward the basins of the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans from (2) a southern highland mass. This SCALE OF RAI'NFALL IN INCHES L _,. I UNDER 10 INS. H 10-20 INS. Zj 20-40 INS. RAINFALL OF EtJ ROPE northern lowland forms the so-called Central Plain of Europe, which is continuous with the Siberian Plain of Asia. Its surface is much broken by groups of low mountain ranges. The drainage features of the continent conform in the main to the broad features of relief. The southern highland mass in Europe is broken by several de- pressions which have played a very prominent part in the history and commercial development of European peoples. These are : (i) the 240 The Geography of Commerce basin of the Danube River between the Alps and the Carpathians, reaching eastward to the Black Sea ; (2) the Rhone and Saone Valley, affording a highway from the Mediterranean into the heart of Europe ; (3) the Middle Rhine Valley, opening into the Rhone- Saone Valley across a low divide the so-called Burgundy Gate; (4) the valley of the Po in northern Italy; and (5) the low divide separating the Garonne and Aude basins, and making an easy high- way of communication across southern France between the Medi- terranean and the Atlantic. 1 The Asiatic portion of the continent is again contrasted with the European portion by the greater elevation of its few mountain passes. This has made communication between the peoples dwelling on either side of the lofty ranges extremely difficult, and has hindered commercial development. 156. Climate. Western Europe is dominated by the prevailing 1 The International Geography, pp. 124-125. The Continent of Eurasia 241 southwesterly winds which come from the Atlantic and are there- fore laden with moisture. No great north and south mountain bar- rier exists to deprive these winds of moisture, and the rainfall is abundant, decreasing with remarkable regularity toward the east as the continental character of the climate becomes more and more pronounced. The temperature is relatively high from this oceanic influence, and the various crops are grown farther north than in similar latitudes in regions where a more continental climate prevails. The southern portions are dry from the influence of the Sahara and also from the fact that the region is in the northern trade-wind belt which tends to draw northeasterly winds from a land area toward the ocean. 1 The greater portion of Asia is dominated by a continental climate, characterized by wide annual ranges of temperature. The vast area of land, together with the extraordinary altitude of wide areas in its central part, produces characteristic pressure changes which deter- mine the direction of the prevailing winds at different seasons. Thus, the intense cold of the winter produces a condition of high pressure over the Mongolian Plateau and the central Asian land mass in general, with dry winds blowing outward from this area. In summer a low pressure area is developed over the land from the effects of increased insolation, and winds blow into this from the surrounding regions of higher pressure. This low pressure summer area is most marked in the desert regions of the Indus and Arabia. These seasonal variations of pressure and change in the direction of the winds determine the matter of rainfall. In winter the winds are dry from their anti-cyclone source, and but little rain falls over wide areas. In summer, on the other hand, the winds, especially those coming from the ocean, are moisture-laden, and cause heavy rainfall on the windward slopes of mountains. The monsoon region lies on the south and southeastern coast lands and peninsulas. Its climatic features result from the periodic winds above noted,, 1 The International Geography, pp. 130-131. 1 242 The Geography of Commerce 157. Economic Features. The present economic life of Europe is a necessary result of the segregation of peoples into separate states under the influence of geographical conditions. An Alpine barrier long shut off Italy from France, and nurtured the republic of Switzerland in its fastnesses. The Iberian Peninsula, isolated from the rest of Europe by the Pyrenees, fostered the outlying civilization of Spain. The Middle Rhine Valley was a frontier of Roman power and a line of demarcation between primitive Frank and German; these primitive tribes developed into the modern nations of France and Germany. The Rhine delta fostered the kingdom of the Netherlands. Great Britain was insular, and Scan- dinavia and Italy peninsular. Slavonic peoples occupied the Central Plain and developed into the Russian Empire. The king- dom of Austria- Hungary became a political unit in the Danube The Continent of Eurasia 243 Basin. Diversity of language grew out of this geographical segre- gation of peoples, and helped still further to augment national differences. One striking characteristic of European civilization is the development of dense populations as separate political units, in comparatively limited areas. As a result, the struggle for existence has been greatly intensified, and the nations of western Europe have held their own only through a spirit of commercial activity that was the necessary outcome of their environment. By virtue of commercial enter- prise these nations have be- come great powers. To-day the most commercially aggres- sive nations are the English- speaking peoples, the Germans, the French, the Swiss, the Italians, the Belgians, the Dutch, and the Russians. A belt of territory between the 45th and the 55th parallels COMMERCE OF EUROPE (1900), APPROXI- of north latitude, and extend- MATED IN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ing from the Atlantic east- Total, #14,234,000 ward to southern Russia, is the most intensely industrial region in the world. This industrial zone includes England (the Clyde coal field lies just outside of its northern limit), Germany, cen- tral and northern France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, north- ern Italy, Austria, and Poland. On either side of this belt lie regions like southern France, Spain, the Italian and Balkan pen- insulas to the south, and the Scotch Highlands, Denmark, Scandinavia, and- the greater area of Russia on the north. The latter are eminently agricultural in contrast to the manufacturing activity of the central zone. The concentration of population GREAT BRITIAN 8,910 27.5% GERMANY 2,608 IS* FRANCE 1,714 12* NETHERLANDS 1,485 10* BELGIUM 805 6* AUSTRIA HUNGARY 736 5.5% R USSIA 612 4% ITALY 59O 43! OTHER COUNTRIES 1,774 13* 244 The Geography of Commerce within this central zone has focused commerce from all parts of the world. Of the materials poured into this region, breadstuffs form by far the most important item. In exchange for food, a great variety of manufactured goods are sent abroad to the more purely agricultural regions, both near and remote. The underlying explanation for this concentration of the manufac- turing industry and population within such narrow limits, is the presence of coal and iron. Coupled with this is the facility for internal communication and oversea shipping, due to the numerous river systems (the low relief over a wide area enabling their easy connection by canals), and the many excellent harbors of a sunken shore line. Next to breadstuffs the raw materials for textile manufacture form a large item in the European import list. Without them the coal and iron would be of less value. Notwithstanding the increased facilities for wage earning as a result of the intense industrial activity, large numbers of the population in this densely crowded zone of Middle Europe are forced to emigrate into lands of larger area where the conditions of life are more favorable. The geographical barriers to inter- European commerce have been largely overcome by means of the extensive system of railways that now exists throughout the continent, and that connects the various countries with one another and with the Orient. Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and St. Petersburg have become great centers of railroad lines. (See map opposite.) Conspicuous among these is the Russian system, leading to the great Siberian railroad. Rapid communication is secured by the Indian mail from London via Dover and Calais or Boulogne to Paris and from thence through the Mont Cenis tunnel to Turin and Brindisi, at which point a connection is made with steamers for India via the Suez Canal. This makes the time from London to Bombay less than two weeks. The Northern Express route runs from Paris, through Berlin, to St. Petersburg, and the Orient Express from Paris via Vienna, 246 The Geography of Commerce Budapest, and Belgrade to Constantinople. The once almost insurmountable barrier of the Alps is pierced by tunnels, among them being those at Mont Cenis, the Brenner, the St. Gotthard Pass, and the Arlberg. The continent of Europe is a network of railroads and telegraph lines, a fact which in itself indicates the marvelous commercial development of the last century. 1 The United States is one of the countries that furnish industrial Europe with food-stuffs and raw products for manufacture, though her European export trade is by no means limited to these com- modities. She draws from Europe a large amount of man- ufactured goods. In variety and volume of trade from the United States, Europe surpasses any other part of the world or all other parts of the world combined. The configuration of Asia, as we have seen, has opposed com- TOTAL IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF ASIA mercial development by isolat- (1900), APPROXIMATED IN MILLIONS OF i n g its centers of civilization. DOLLARS Its vast areas of plateaus, walled Total, $1,988,000,000 . . , . , in by mountain ranges which are embraced in the central highlands, and the barrier zone of moun- tain desert and brackish steppe, extending through Baluchistan and Afghanistan into the Siberian Plain, for long centuries shut the Oriental civilizations from one another and from the commercial centers of Europe. Many Asiatic peoples are nomadic, leading a pastoral life, the con- ditions of which necessitate a frequent change of residence. Only on the alluvial flood plains of the southern and southeastern rivers, and 1 Chisholm, The International Geography, p. 137. INDIA 737 - 37$ STRAIT SETTLEMENTS 279 - 14* CHINA 259 - 13* JAPAN 250 - 1 2 1 /2* DUTCH INDIES 182 91/4* CEYLON 64 3V41 OTHER ASIA 217 - 11* The Continent of Eurasia 247 on the islands of the Japanese Archipelago, have civilizations worthy the name, with their attendant train of commercial activities, been developed. Until within very recent times Asiatic commerce may be said to have been confined almost entirely to the peninsulas, fer- tile delta lands, and the islands of the south and east ; the vast interior area, with its untold wealth of natural resources, was prac- tically beyond the reach of the newer civilization. Where Euro- pean power has gained a foothold, as in India, and where the railroad has found its way, as in Siberia and the Transcaspian region, there commerce has prospered. Asia with its records of antiquity is only beginning to feel the quickening influence of the modern commercial spirit. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 164. What are the natural geographical divisions of Europe and Asia, and what trade areas result from these? 165. Trace the mountain wall of the Old World from western Spain to the Bering Sea. How is this continued in the New World? 166. The Rhine and the Danube are called "international rivers." Why? Do you think rivers tend to become more or less common, as boundaries of countries? 167. Show the influence of monsoons in southern Asia. 168. Account for the difference between isotherms and parallels across Eurasia. (See Map, p. 12.) 169. In many parts, the climate of Europe changes more from west to east than from south to north for the same distance. Why is this ? 170. What historic event made the Mediterranean Sea less important commer- cially? What later event increased its importance? 171. Locate on a map the principal passages from the Mediterranean Basin into Middle Europe. What commercial cities have developed as a result of these passages ? 172. Contrast the following features of Europe and North America, keeping in mind the commercial effects: (a) contour and inland seas; () height and direction of mountains and position of passes; (V) position and direction of great plains; and ( a * AUSTRIA HUNGARY 1,235,000,000 - 1 1V 2 * RUSSIA 1,089,000,000 = 10* S.AMERICA & W.INDIES 735,000,000 - 7* NETHERLANDS 611,000,000 - 5%# FRANCE 593,000,000 bVi% BELGIUM 474,000,000 - v/ t % SWITZERLAND 462,000,000 4'/4* ALL OTHER COUNTRIES 2,279,000,000 -Mf MANY (1900), IN MILLIONS OF MARKS Total, 10,795 >ooo ,000 Marks The German Empire 287 Germany is next to Great Britain the most important country doing business with the United States, buying largely of food-stuffs and raw materials for manufacture. Its share in the export trade of the United States amounts to some 12 per cent of the whole, while the imports from Germany into this country amount to about n per cent of the entire import trade (1901). SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 207. From the physical features of Germany, show why there developed several small states. 208. Compare the agricultural products of Germany with those of the United States. 209. What are the termini of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, and what is its com- mercial importance ? 210. Contrast the characteristics of German business men with the traits of English and American business men. 211. Write an essay on The Development of Manufactures and Trade in Ger- many since 1870, also one on Germany's Consular and Colonial System. (British Consular Report noted below.) 212. What have schools and universities had to do with the progress noted in the preceding topic ? 213. Investigate the introduction of the beet sugar industry into Germany. Books to be Consulted Miscellaneous Series *Kirchhoff, The German Empire, The International Geography, Chapter XVII. ** Germany. British Diplomatic and Consular Reports, No. 490. London; 1899. **Pogson, Germany and its Trade. New York and London; 1902. Sime, Geography of Europe, Chapter VII. Macmillan's Geographical Series. *Chisholm, Handbook of Commercial Geography, pp. 246258. *Arndt, Germany in International Commerce, International Monthly, May 1902. ** Commercial Relations of the United States. Bureau of Foreign Commerce. * The Statesman's Yearbook, CHAPTER XXIII SWITZERLAND AND ITALY 183. Industrial Switzerland. The Republic of Switzerland lies wholly within the Alpine Highland, covering an area of 15,976 square miles, with an average density of population of about 207 to the square mile. Though scarcely twice the area of New Jersey, with practically no coal and iron within its limits, and for the most part with a thin, barren soil, the country presents a remarkable picture of industrial development. Two features of environment lie at the foundation of Switzerland's industrial life lack of home-grown food- stuffs and raw material, and the presence of an abundant water power. The latter was early taken advantage of, and numerous in- dustries were developed. Work in Switzerland was specialized to a remarkable extent by division of labor. The water power is further turned to account in the generation of electricity for various purposes. Switzerland lies in the gateway of traffic between the populous centers of Middle Europe and the productive lands of Italy and the Medi- terranean region. The piercing of the Alps by several tunnels, and the passage of the railroads through Swiss territory, have stimulated the industries of the country to a marked degree. Raw materials are now brought in with comparative ease as against the old laborious and costly method of wagon transportation over the Alpine passes. 184. Resources and Manufactures. Notwithstanding the diffi- culty under which agriculture is pursued because of the disadvantages of soil and climate, certain crops are raised, though they are insuffi- cient to meet the demands of home consumption. Wheat is grown 288 Switzerland and Italy 289 in the Alpine valleys as high as 2500 feet, and wine grapes are raised on the lower slopes ; but the chief agricultural wealth of Switzerland is in its pastures. The manufacture of cheese and condensed milk are characteristic Swiss industries, and these commodities form the leading agricultural exports. Among the more prominent occupa- tions are cotton and silk weaving, the manufacture of embroideries, buttons, various trimmings, and watch making. Zurich and Basel are the centers of the silk industry, the raw material coming in from Italy. Watch making is carried on largely in the valleys of the Alpine Jura, where the soil is poor ; a comparatively large portion of the people turn their attention to the making of different parts, each specializing along certain lines of work. The cost of manufacture is thus greatly reduced, and Swiss hand-made watches have competed successfully with the machine-made watches of other countries. 185. Trade. Switzerland is forced to send out her manufactures to obtain food-stuffs and raw materials. As a consequence, the Republic maintains an active trade with the outside world. Ger- many holds the largest share of Swiss trade, both in exports and imports. France is second on the import list, while Great Britain is second in the value of the export trade. Of the total imports of the United States less than two per cent are of Swiss origin; the exports of the United States to Switzerland are inconsiderable. 186. Agricultural and Industrial Resources of Italy. The area of Italy is less than half that of the state of Texas, and the average density of population is upwards of 293 to the square mile. The northern portion embraces the southern ranges of the Alps, while the peninsular portion is formed by the ranges of the Apennines and their coastal forelands. The Alps and the Apennines are separated from each other (except in a narrow mountainous neck at the head of the Gulf of Genoa) by the deep, alluvial Plain of Lombardy, which ^extends westward from the Adriatic shores to beyond the locality of Turin. At the southwestern end of the peninsula, and separated from it by the narrow Strait of Messina, is the mountainous island of 290 The Geography of Commerce Sicily, while to the west lie the two islands of Sardinia and Corsica, the latter of which belongs to France. The Plain of Lombardy lies in the basin of the Po, and is one of the most densely populated portions of the Kingdom. Italy occupies a unique position among European countries in its relations to the Mediterranean trade, and to the commerce of the Suez Canal. The peninsula has a shore line that fronts east, west, and south. With such an extensive coast line and the advan- tages presented by foreign traffic, a considerable proportion of the people naturally follow the sea. Venice, near the head of the Adriatic, was once the commercial center of the world, and is to-day a seaport of note. 1 The climate is of the Mediterranean type, with hot and dry summers ; the rainfall is variable, being influenced locally by the position of mountain ranges and the prevailing winds. Irrigation is extensively practiced, the abundant water supply of the numerous 'mountain streams being utilized for this purpose. Italy is a remarkably productive region, as the climate and soil support a great variety of growth, from tropical to temperate forms ; but agriculture is in a backward state, owing to primitive methods. The population, however, depends mainly upon agricultural resources. Wheat is the chief cereal crop ; the hard-grained wheat of Apulia, in the southeastern part, furnishes the material out of which the characteristic Italian food macaroni is made. Next to wheat, Indian com is the most important grain crop. Quantities of hard wheat are now imported from India to meet the deficiency caused by the poor methods generally practiced in the country. In the Plain of Lombardy, rice is grown extensively in the irrigated fields, and in all areas under irrigation grass and forage crops grow in remarkable luxuriance. Cattle raising and dairying are relatively important industries ; the manufactures of cheese form a consider- able item of export. Other important Italian exports are poultry and 1 Fischer, The International Geography, pp. 353-354. Switzerland and Italy 291 eggs. Sheep are raised in some districts, the wool of Apulia being especially noted. Oranges, figs, almonds, and olives are grown in great abundance ; viniculture and wine- making are also characteristic Italian occupations, though the wine is of inferior quality. Italy pro- duces more olive oil than any other country in the world, and though the home consumption is very large, a considerable export goes to other countries, particularly to France. The chief fiber crops are flax and hemp. Silk culture is extensively carried on, especially in the northern portion, and the reeling of silk is an Italian industry of con- siderable importance. Silk, raw and " thrown," i.e. made into yarn, is by far the most valuable single item of Italian export. Another industry of commercial importance is the plaiting of straw ; the Leg- horn product of this industry is especially famous. 187. Manufacture and Commerce. Most of the Italian textile in- dustries are of the domestic type, and they are carried on locally throughout the country, yet certain sections are distinguished by the development of the modern factory and the centering of industries at special points. A factor in the industrial life of Italy is the cheap- ness of labor, which enables the country to carry on certain manu- factures to advantage. Italy lacks fuel ; beds of lignite form the only material of this nature. The water power of the mountain streams, however, is made available in many places, and various textile indus- tries have developed in the valleys of the Piedmont. Iron ore of good quality is abundant, and under government encouragement the iron industry has of late been developed in various sections. 1 Some iron ore is shipped to the United States. The most im- portant mineral product exported from Italy is sulphur, obtained chiefly from Sicily, where it occurs as a volcanic deposit. Boracic acid is also prepared in the volcanic districts. Italy is famous for its statuary marbles, particularly those quarried at Carrara and Massa. Lead and zinc are also of some commercial importance. A feature of Italian industry is the production of artistic wood work, earthen- 1 Chisholm, Handbook of Commercial Geography, p. 294. 292 The Geography of Commerce ware, tiles, coral, cameos, mosaics, leather, alabaster, etc., for all of which the city of Florence is a noted center. Notwithstanding Italy's extensive seacoast and excellent harbors, most of the export trade is carried on by rail. Since the com- pletion of the Alpine tunnels, the nature of the material handled (oil, eggs, wine, etc., produced in the northern provinces) makes it cheaper and easier to ship overland than to transship the goods both at home and in foreign ports. Venice and Genoa are the two most important seaports of the Kingdom, the former doing the largest export trade to the Mediterranean, while Genoa stands first in the value of imports from its nearness to other European ports. The export trade from Genoa is comparatively small. Naples has a fine harbor and com- UNITED KINGDOM 513 = 18* GERMANY 425 = 15* UNITED STATES &. CAN. 350 -12* FRANCE 336 -12* AUSTRIA 336 -12* SWITZERLAND 264 = 10* RUSSIA 145 = 5* ARGENTINA 103 - 4-4 BRITISH ASIA 91 - 3* ALL OTHER COUNTRIES 254 = 9* mands a large import trade ; the chief exports from Naples are raw materials (flax and hemp), live stock, etc. Pa- lermo, Messina, and Catania are Sicilian ports, prominent COMMERCE OF ITALY (,900), APPROXIMATED sh i pm ent of oranges, IN MILLIONS OF LIRE wines, and sulphur. Brindisi, on the Adriatic, is the port of transshipment for the Indian mail. Turin is the Italian terminus of the Mont Cenis Railroad. Milan is the most important inland trade center of northern Italy. It is situated in the fertile Plain of Lombardy, and was the focal point of the earlier trans-Alpine roads and is now a terminus of the St. Gotthard Railroad. A canal is projected from the mouth of the Tiber in order to make Rome a seaport. Italy is mainly an exporter of raw materials, little if any manu- Switzerland and Italy 293 factured goods (except those of an artistic nature) being sent out of the country. It thus holds a somewhat unique position. It is an important source of supply for the Swiss silk industry. Its largest imports are wheat, raw cotton, and coal. The largest import trade is from Great Britain, the United States being second, Germany third, and France fourth. The greatest value of exports goes to Germany, Switzerland being second (silk), and France third, followed by Great Britain and United States (1901). The total of United States' trade to Italy is small, amounting to little more than two per cent of the whole trade of this country. In the diagram opposite the commerce of the United States and Canada are taken together. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 214. What language is spoken in Geneva ? What in Zurich ? What are the official languages of Switzerland ? 215. Mention the principal "Gates of Italy." What are the railroads passing through them ? 216. What are the climatic conditions on the Mediterranean that make it so well suited to the production of the olive ? 217. What uses does the olive serve in the economy of Mediterranean peoples ? 218. With a map, show the peculiar appropriateness of the following : " Greece looks toward the rising and Italy toward the setting sun." 219. Note the diversity of natural features in Italy and see how this is reflected in the products. 220. A reported difficulty in the securing of Mediterranean trade is to get a return cargo. Discuss this. 221. Trace the parallel of Rome across the United States. What dissimilari- ties in the regions ? Books to be Consulted **Chaix, Switzerland, Chapter XVI, Fischer, Italy and Malta, Chapter XX, The International Geography. Sime, Geography of Europe, Chapters III and VIII. Macmillan's Geographical Series. *Chisholm, Handbook of Commercial Geography. London and New York. ** The Statesman's Yearbook. * Foreign Commercial Relations of the United States. CHAPTER XXIV AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 188. Physical Features. Two distinct physical areas are united under the name of Austria- Hungary. These correspond fairly to the divisions of the compound name. Each is, moreover, a separate political unit, but under a single Monarchy. The boundaries of the Monarchy embrace for the larger part, the basin of the Middle Danube, and the entire area presents a great variety of surface features. The western or Austrian portion, is largely mountainous, including the Tyrol, the rugged region of Carinthia and Styria, the ranges of Upper and Lower Austria, the Plateaus of Bohemia and Moravia, the Carpathian ranges to the north and east, and the Dinaric Mountains along the narrow Adriatic strip. The eastern or Hungarian portion, consists for the most part, of a vast expanse of grass-covered plains or steppes, which belong in the same physical area with the plains of Russia and western Asia. The climate of the two areas is in contrast, that of Hungary being decidedly continental in character with great yearly ex- tremes of heat and cold, while the Austrian section has the more oceanic climate of western Europe with a larger rainfall. 189. Resources and Industries. As a result of this difference in physical conditions, the two sections of the kingdom present a decided contrast in their resources and in the resulting activities of the population. Austria, from its mountainous nature, holds a vast store of mineral wealth which has given rise to great manufacturing industries. Hungary, on the other hand, is emi- nently an agricultural region, its extensive plains being given over to crop growing and stock raising. 294 A ustria-Hungary 295 The area of the Austrian Empire is upwards of 115,000 square miles, with an average density of 226 persons to the square mile. The Kingdom of Hungary has an area of about 125,000 square miles, with an average density of 153 per square mile. The difference in the density of population in the two sections is the difference be- tween a purely agricultural region and one of manufactures. As in the neighboring German states, rye and oats form the principal grain crops of Austria, while on the Hungarian plains, wheat and maize are the chief crops. Hungarian wheat enters commerce largely in the form of flour of a high quality, milling methods being far advanced ; the dryness of the climate is favorable to the manufacturing of flour. Agriculture in Hungary has made rapid strides in the use of machinery, fertilizers, etc., with a resulting increase in the yield per acre. The sugar beet is grown, particularly in northern Bohemia. In the same region hops are also grown. The production of silk and wine is carried on in western Hungary, and in the Alpine provinces of Austria. Nearly 28 per cent of the area of Hungary and over 34 per cent of the area of Austria are forest-covered, the forests yielding a variety of valuable timber. Over 23 per cent of Hungary is in meadow and pasture land, stock raising being an important feature of the country's economy. Cattle are also largely raised in the Alpine provinces of Austria. Coal and iron are the most important mineral deposits, but though abundant, are not associated together ; coal is found chiefly in Bohemia and Moravia (contiguous to the Silesian and Saxony coal fields of Germany), while iron occurs in the Alpine districts. In the latter region lignite is found. Rich salt deposits are mined in the Alpine provinces, in western Galicia, and also in the Hungarian province of Transylvania. Austria-Hungary is prominent among European countries as a gold producer ; silver and mercury (quick- silver) also occur in deposits of some value. 190. Manufacturing Centers and Internal Communications. The chief centers of manufacture are the coal areas in Bohemia, Moravia, 296 The Geography of Commerce and the Austrian province of Silesia. Various textiles, as woolen, linen, cotton, and jute fabrics, are manufactured here. Iron and steel making is carried on chiefly in the iron-ore districts. Glass making is a characteristic Bohemian industry of considerable antiquity and prominence. The glass industry became prominent because the potash of the forests of Bohemia and the silica of the soil were con- tiguous to the coal fields. Porcelain ware is also made at places where kaolin occurs (Karls- bad, etc. 1 ). Sugar refining and brewing ^are prominent industries of Bohemia. Vienna, the capital of the Monarchy, is the most im- portant industrial and com- mercial center. It is situated on the Danube, in Lower Austria, at a point where natural features have made it a center of European traffic. The series of gaps between the Carpathian and Alpine ranges, where the Danube enters the Plain of Hungary (the Hungarian Gate), lie just to the east. North of it the Moravian Gap opens a way to the great European Plain. The Southern Rail- way carries trade over the Semmering Pass into Italy. Through the narrow depression between the Alps and the Plateau of Bohemia, known as the Austrian Gap, there is a trade route into southern Germany. All together, Vienna stands at the crossing of trade routes and owes its importance as one of the first cities of Europe, largely to this fact. 2 GERMANY 1672 - 47.4* GREAT BRITAIN 352 - i.o* ITALY 261 =- 7.4* UNITES STATES 191 = 5.4* RUSSIA 161 4.5 ' K1 Vr* /^vJsV^T V - L - S -KmA *r7 Jlyithy oLl^A, ^c tt " Mandal B l/RfM KEY ** Treaty Ports. Ports of Foreign Control. Railways, in Operation. Railways, in Construction," or Proposed. 95 / f^" H \^\w in !7 s i s?\fss$i XTONK&rf^^T)*^^^?*^- !_\. Hanoi) v xC L2j /tJap' 1 A M " i( 5 ^^"S 115 . .ks ^^ 125 Tea and silk (both raw and manufactured) form by far the largest value of the export trade, while opium and cotton goods are the chief imports of value. Kerosene oil, sugar, metals, and rice are also largely imported. Of the tea export in 1900 about 9 per cent went to Great Britain, about 18 per cent came to the United States, and The Chinese Empire 323 nearly 50 per cent went to Russia. Russia imports tea from China largely in the form of " brick " and " tablet " tea, i.e-. pressed into blocks, the latter being a finer variety. Of the total trade of China (both export and import) some 15 per cent of the value is with Great Britain, about 8 per cent with the United States, 4 per cent with Russia, 1 2 per cent with Japan, 6 per cent with India, 10 per cent with the continent of Europe, exclusive of Russia, and 44 per cent with the British colony of Hong- Kong (1900). Not all of the Chinese ports are open to foreign trade, but a number of treaty ports have been established where foreign commerce is actively prose- cuted (see map). Of these treaty ports (exclusive of the British crown colony of Hong- Kong and the Portuguese treaty port of Macao) that of Shanghai does the largest for- HONG-KONG 159 -44* GREAT BRITAIN 55 15* JAPAN 42 -12* EUROPE (RUSSIA EXCLUDED) 35 10* UNITED STATES 31 =- 8.5* INDIA 20 6* RUSSIA 17 f-5* COMBINED IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF CHINA (IQOO), APPROXIMATED IN MILLIONS OF TAELS Total, 359,000,000 Taels eign trade, followed by Canton, and others of less importance. There were thirty-four treaty ports in 1901. China offers a vast field for commercial enterprise. Her enormous mineral resources, especially coal, and the great variety and abun- dance of her productions, invite foreign capital. Add to these facts, a population of 400,000,000 souls throughout the Empire, and it is evident that a share in the commerce of China is a golden oppor- tunity for the peoples of Europe and the United States. Spheres of influence are being extended for the furthering of trade, notably by Russia, Germany, and England. The rigid conservatism of the Chinese is gradually giving way to 324 The Geography of Commerce European methods of work. Considerable coal is being mined and factories pf various kinds are being built and operated success- fully. At the same time, railroad lines are being laid to reach the productive areas, and are projected to connect the numerous popu- lous centers of the Empire. From the facts as they exist, it is fair to predict a brilliant future for Chinese commerce. 211. Korea. Korea, on a peninsula of the same name, obtained its independence in 1895 as a result of the Chinese-Japanese War. It is largely an agricultural country, and exports considerable quanti- ties of rice, beans, and ginseng. Korea raises grain crops and tobacco. Coal, iron, and copper abound also in the country, and several foreign companies are working gold mines. The trade is largely with China, Russia, and Japan. 212. Hong-Kong. The British crown colony of Hong-Kong is an island of about thirty square miles in area, situated at the mouth of the Canton River. With the island is included a neighboring peninsula, which is a part of the mainland of China. Victoria is the chief city, commanding a fine harbor on the northern shore of the island. The population of the' colony amounts to upwards of 221,000 souls, the largest proportion of which are Chinese; about one-third of the Chinese are British subjects. Nearly one-half of the white population is of Portuguese origin. The chief trade of the colony is with Great Britain, which holds fully one-half of the total value of exports and imports. The remain- ing half is chiefly in the hands of India, Australia, the United States, and Germany. Hong- Kong is a free port, and is one of the most important naval and coaling stations in the East. The export trade is mainly in tropical products tea, silk, sugar, hemp, and opium, being among the more prominent items. Com- merce is largely transient, the bulk of the silk and tea trade of China being in the hands of Hong-Kong houses. Cotton manufactures for China form a large proportion of the imports. The Chinese Empire 325 SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 248. Compare the area of the Chinese Empire with that of the United States; with that of Germany. 249. Compare the total population of China with that of Great Britain and Ireland ; of Russia; of the United States. 250. What is meant by "the Eastern question" ? 251. What is a "treaty port" ? \Vhat relation do these sustain to the com- merce of China ? 252. What is meant by "the dismemberment of China"? What by "the integrity of the Chinese Empire " ? What has been the attitude of the United States to these respective policies ? 253. Brooks Adams said that the Chinese trouble of 1900 began in the city of Pittsburg in 1897. Can you explain this? 254. How do you account for the very large proportion of Chinese trade which is with Hong-Kong ? What is a " crown colony " ? 255. What natural features have tended to the isolation of China, and how has that country been able to sustain herself so long without dependence on other nations ? Can China have much development while her people live chiefly on rice ? 256. What is " the hermit nation " ? Books to be Consulted *Chisholm, The Chinese Empire. The International Geography, Chapter XXVIII. ** Commercial China in 1900. Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance for June, 1901. Sven Hedin, Through Asia. 2 volumes. London ; 1898. Bishop, Korea and Her Neighbors. 2 volumes. London ; 1897. **Parker, China, Her History, Diplomacy, and Commerce. New York and London ; 1901. Adams, Russians Interest in China, in American Economic Supremacy. (See p. 382.) CHAPTER XXX JAPAN 213. The Japanese Islands. The Japanese Archipelago forms the largest group of islands in the volcanic mountain chain that rises from the submarine platform of the eastern coast of Asia. The group consists of four main islands and a number of smaller ones. The largest island is Honshu. Yezo, the next in size, lies just north of it, while Shikoku and Kiusiu are to the southeast and south. The islands are separated from one another by narrow straits. Between the islands and the mainland of Asia is the Japan Sea, opening into the Sea of Okhotsk on the north, and on the south through the Strait of Korea into the Tung Hai or Eastern Sea. Besides the archipelago proper, the island of Formosa, the Loochoo Islands, and the Kuriles, also belong to Japan. The surface of the islands is mountainous and the entire group is volcanic, subject to frequent earthquakes, and with numerous active volcanoes. The soil of the valleys and lowlands is fertile, and the climate excessively moist, the rainfall being abundant as a result of the influence of the mountain ranges. The streams are mostly torrents and unnavi- gable, but there are many excellent harbors. The southern portion of the archipelago lies on the edge of the tropics, while the northern portion reaches beyond the parallel of 45 and is subject to severe winters. 214. Resources and Industries. The area of Japan (exclusive of Formosa) is 147,655 square miles, with an average density of population of nearly 300 per square mile. Less than 16 per cent of the land is under cultivation, owing mainly to the mountain- ous nature of the surface. The cultivated area, however, is highly 326 WEAVING RICE-STRAW MATS (JAPAN) DRY DOCK AT NAGASAKI Japan $27 productive as a result of careful fertilizing with fish refuse, etc. The area under cultivation is well tilled, though the methods used are primitive. Rice is the chief food crop raised, both for home consumption and export. Wheat, rye, barley, and beans (soy-bean) are of considerable importance. The mulberry tree is widely cultivated, and silk is the export of greatest value. Tea is raised largely in the southern provinces. The lacquer tree is also grown extensively ; lacquering or "japanning" is a celebrated Japanese industry. Gum camphor (from the camphor tree) is a product of importance. Live stock raising forms an unimportant feature of Japanese agriculture. Of the mineral products, coal, iron, and copper are the most abun- dant, and of the greatest value ; the two former are only partially developed, though the output is steadily increasing. The mining of coal was formerly under government control, but is now in the hands of a private corporation, and improved methods in the raising and transporting of the output have been introduced. The most impor- tant mines are in Yezo and Kiusiu ; stations for the Japanese coal trade have been established in China, the Philippines, Burma, and the Straits Settlements. Antimony is mined, and the output of the Shikoku mines is of considerable value. Copper mining in Japan is an important industry, the metal being remarkably pure. The manufacturing industries, especially of textiles, have of late years advanced quite rapidly. Fifty-nine cotton mills were in oper- ation in 1900, with an annual output of 260,000,000 pounds of cotton yarn. Silk manufactures are also well advanced. Some $50,000,000 worth of silk, raw and manufactured, are exported annually. A few woolen mills are in operation, though Japan has no home supply of wool. The Japanese artisans have long been famous for their design and execution, both in wood and metal. Their work in paper is also of a high quality. These, however, are all domestic industries, and are probably destined to play but a small part in the future commercial development of the country. 328 The Geography of Commerce 215. Commerce. Japan is a large importer of manufactured goods and of certain raw materials for manufacture. Iron and steel, raw cotton and cotton seed, wool, flax, hemp, and jute textiles, machinery, fire- arms, sugar, and petroleum are among the imports of greatest value. The chief exports are raw silk and silk manufactures, cotton yarn, tea, coal, and copper. The manufacture of matches is a growing industry ; already these have displaced Swedish matches in neighboring countries. Porcelains and earthenware, matting, straw plaits, pigments, and rice are among the export articles of minor importance. Great Britain heads the Japanese import list, with the United States a good second, followed by British India, Germany and China. In the export nations the United States stands first, tea forming the larger proportion of the value. The Japanese are wide- awake to the advantages ,of foreign trade, and have established an Imperial Commercial Museum for forwarding the interests of Japanese commerce. The Empire offers a wide field for the intro- duction of foreign goods, and since the Japanese are favorable to United States' materials and manufactures, there is every reason why American merchants may hope to introduce their goods, especially by catering to native taste. For instance, by the placing of durable labels of fancy design on all small wares, the foreign merchant takes an important step in securing trade. American goods are finding a growing market in Japan. The American locomotive has proved its superiority, and has been introduced successfully. Raw cotton from the United States has gained an important place in Japanese manu- facture, and there is an increasing use of American flour, railroad iron, hardware (nails, bolts, and screws), and machinery for cotton spinning, mining, paper making, and dynamos for electric purposes. All together, Japan is a thoroughly progressive nation ; the popula- tion is thrifty and industrious, and labor is cheap. The resources of the country are sufficient to insure future notable industrial and commercial development. The United States' trade with Japan will be greatly stimulated by the opening of an Isthmian Canal. Japan 329 The roads and means of conveyance are still somewhat primitive. Railroads are in operation in certain parts, amounting to a total length of 3915 miles. The coastwise traffic is still largely carried on by junks. Oversea trade is from the treaty ports of which there are several. Yokohama and Kobe hold the largest volume of foreign trade. Tokio, the capital, is also a treaty port. Nagasaki, command- ing a fine harbor on the southwest of Kiusiu Island, is near the coal fields, and is an important coaling port. Osaka is another open port. Hakodate, on the island of Yezo, is the chief trade center of the north, especially in fishing and coal. There are also a number of other minor treaty ports. In 1901, 7489 vessels traded at different Japanese ports, 2998 of which were foreign steamships, and 3042 Japanese steamships. Of the total number of foreign vessels entering Japanese ports in 1901, only about 6 per cent were American, while 53 per cent were British, and more than 12 per cent German. These facts are signifi- cant, and indicate the need of establishing trade in American ships. COMMERCE OF JAPAN (1900) Approximated in Millions of Yen IMPORT AND EXPORT PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL United States Great Britain China Hong-Kong 115,000,000 83,000,000 62,000,000 50,000,000 32,000,000 23-7 I 7 .I I2. 7 10.3 6.6 32,000,000 6.6 27,000,000 re I9,OOO,OOO 4.0 Russian Asia ....... All other countries 9,000,000 56,000,000 2.O n-5 Total 485,000,000 33O The Geography of Commerce The island of Formosa produces a variety of tropical products, chief among which are camphor, tea, rice, sugar, and hemp. The oversea trade is carried on mainly by the British. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 257. What is the total extent of the Japanese Empire (including Formosa) from north to south? 258. Compare the Japanese Islands with the British Isles with regard to their relation to the continent. Has the separation been of advantage? Why? 259. What is meant by "the occidentalizing of Japan," and how have its re- sults been manifested ? 260. Give an account of the industrial and commercial development of Japan during the past thirty years. 261. What are the present relations existing between the United States and Japan? 262. What are some of the distinctive industries of the Japanese? What is the nature of their workmanship ? 263. What has been one favorite and successful method by which Japan has introduced western civilization? Books to be Consulted *Mason, Japan, Chapter XXIX. The International Geography. ** Commercial Japan in iqoo. Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance for December, 1901. Murray's Handbook to Japan. London ; fourth edition, 1895. ** The Statesman's Yearbook. Droppers, Economic Transition in Japan. The Nation, Vol. LXVI. ** Commerce of Japan. United States' Consular Report, November, 1902. CHAPTER XXXI INDIA 216. Physical Features. The Peninsula of Hindustan, is a well-defined physical region. The great Himalaya range, and the mountainous frontier of Afghanistan, wall it off from the rest of the Asiatic continent on the north, northeast, and northwest; the Assam-Burmese ranges define its boundary in the extreme east, while the mountain border of Baluchistan, beyond the Indus Val- ley, marks its western limit. Everywhere else it is peninsular and en- compassed by the sea. Within the area three well-marked physical regions are recognized: (i) the hill country and mountain slopes of the north; (2) the Deccan table-land of the peninsula proper ; and (3) between these two, the plains formed by the Ganges-Brah- maputra system in the east, and the Indus in the west. The Deccan table-land is a rugged country flanked by mountain ranges. The climate, except in the extreme northwest, is essentially tropical in character, and is dominated by the monsoon. (See p. 14.) The southwest monsoon (May to October) causes a RAINFALL OF INDIA, SHOWING THE EFFECTS OF THE SOUTHWEST MONSOON 332 The Geography of Commerce heavy rainfall on the western side, and generally throughout Bengal, central India, and the Ganges Plain. The heaviest rainfall in the world occurs in this region. India is entirely dependent for its rain upon the southwest monsoon, the failure of which causes the most appalling famines, with far-reaching economic effects. A desert region exists in the northwest as a result of the great mass of continental highland which deprives the winds of their moisture. 217. Resources and Industries. India is essentially an agricul- tural country, the vast population being engaged mainly in culti- vating the soil. As a result of the uncertain nature of the monsoon, and the dryness of the land when not under its influence, irrigation is resorted to over wide areas. The rain water is collected in tanks for future distribution, and in many districts canals have been built for taking the water from rivers. The average density of popula- tion throughout India is upwards of 180 per square mile. The land is mainly in small holdings ; the British government has been active in its endeavors to promote agriculture by the establishment of experimental farms, schools of agriculture, etc. Millet, rice, and peas (chick peas) are the staple food crops of India. Oil seeds of several kinds are also largely raised, and wheat forms an important crop, especially in the Punjab and the northwest Provinces. Other leading crops are cotton, tea, jute, sugar cane, indigo, and tobacco. Coffee is extensively cultivated, and the cinchona tree is grown successfully on the mountain slopes, and quinine forms an item in the export list. Pepper, lac, and silk are also produced. The opium poppy is grown in the Ganges Valley and in central India. Cattle are also raised extensively in the drier regions of the northwestern part. Many valuable prod- ucts are obtained from the forests, which are under careful gov- ernment supervision. Teak is the most widely used tree for timber purposes. Oak is found in the Punjab, and the deodar cedar and other conifers on the Himalaya slopes. The cocoanut palm and the bamboo, supply a great variety of useful materials for the DENSITY OF POPULATION AND PRODUCTS OF INDIA. INDIAN OCEAN 334 The Geography of Commerce native peoples, and the mango and other tropical fruits are largely used as food. India possesses valuable mineral resources. Coal is abundant, especially in Bengal and central India, but is only partially devel- oped. Iron is also found in large quantities throughout the moun- tainous districts, and the smelting of the ores with charcoal is a native industry. Gold and copper are also abundant. Pure salt- peter (nitrate of potash) is found in the plains region and rock salt in the Punjab, where it forms vast hills. The native manufacturing industries of India are mostly handi- crafts, but these have greatly declined, owing to the introduction of cheap factory goods, especially certain textiles from Europe ; modern factories have also been established in many parts where hand-weaving and spinning were formerly practiced. Modern methods are now employed on a large scale, in silk, jute, and cotton manufacture. Carpets, rugs, and shawls are still exported, many of the latter (the celebrated cashmere shawls) coming from Kashmir and the Punjab. Indian artisans have long been famous for exquisite work in metals and ivory. 218. Commerce. India is a British dependency, under the rule of a Viceroy or Governor General. The commerce of the country has prospered in the past half century, the oversea trade showing a remarkably steady increase since 1834. Great Britain holds the largest share of the trade both in exports and imports. China and Germany each take a larger proportion of Indian produce than do other countries outside of Great Britain. The imports of India from the United States amount to only about one- seventh of the value of the exports which the Empire sends to this country. Of the total imports of India in 1902, 70 per cent was from Great Britain and the British colonies, while the United States stood eighth in the list with only 1.4 per cent. Of Indian exports in the same year 6.9 per cent went to the United States. Among the chief items of value on the Indian export list may India 335 be mentioned rice, raw cotton, oil seeds, opium, hides, raw jute, tea, indigo, coffee, lac, woods, etc. Cotton manufactures form a large proportion of the value of imports, which include also a variety of raw and manufactured articles. The bulk of the rice shipment is from the provinces of Bombay and Madras, that of wheat from Bengal, Bombay, and Sind, opium mainly from Bengal and Bombay, indigo from Bengal and Madras, cotton from Madras and Sind, and seeds from Bombay and Bengal. Calcutta, on the Hugli branch of the Ganges delta some thirty miles from its mouth, is the largest city in India, with a population of over a million ; it is the chief trade center of the east- ern portion of the Empire. About 41.5 per cent of the total imports of India enter at Calcutta. Bombay, the sec- ond city in size, located on an island close to the main- land on the western side of the peninsula and command- ing a fine harbor, is the chief port for the oversea trade with Europe via the Suez COMMENCE OF INDIA (1900), APPROXIMATED Canal; 34 per cent of the IN MILLIONS OF RUPEES import trade is . through this Tota1 ' I - 68 9. 000 - 000 Ru P ees port. 1 Bombay ships a large quantity of wheat from the Punjab and Northwest Provinces. Karachi, a seaport near the northwestern border of the peninsula, does a large trade in exporting wheat. Madras, on the east coast, is also a port of considerable importance in the oversea trade of India. An overland trade of considerable value is carried on with neighboring countries, principally through the northwestern mountain passes. l Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance ; December, 1902, p. 1680. UNITED KINGDOM 801 47..5# CHINA 142 8.5* GERMANY 118 6.5* STRAIT SETTLEMENTS 91 5.5* UNITED STATES 84 5* FRANCE "BELGIUM 71 TS k AUSTRIA-HUNGARY SIT- = wxt CEYLON 55 = 3.5% OTHER COUNTRIES 210 12.5/o 336 The Geography of Commerce There are about 26,000 miles of railroad in operation throughout the Empire, all the important productive districts and trade centers being thus connected with the large cities on the coast. Canals afford lines of communication, especially in the southern part of the peninsula* The Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Indus form natural highways for commerce, though on the latter river navigation is somewhat difficult, owing to shallows and rapids. 219. Burma. Burma is a British province in Indo-China or Farther India, and lies mainly in the basin of the Irrawaddy. It is largely forest-covered and supplies the bulk of the Indian teak export. Rice and rubber are other important products. There are in Burma several good coal fields, and a supply of petroleum which has considerable value. Jade, rubies, and gold are mined in upper Burma. Rangoon, near the mouth of the Irrawaddy, is the chief port of Burma. Mandalay, on the same river in the interior, is also a trade center of some importance. The country is in a backward state as regards means of communication. 220. Ceylon. Ceylon is a crown colony of Great Britain, with an area of 25,000 square miles, and an average density of population of about 140 to the square mile. The southern por- tion of the island is mountainous, while the northern portion is a heavily wooded plain. The rainfall is abundant under the in- fluence of the monsoons ; those from the northeast and southwest both bringing rain to Ceylon. Rice and cocoanuts are grown ex- tensively on the lower mountain slopes and in the level plain coun- try. On the upper slopes and terraces, European residents have established large tea, coffee, cinnamon, cinchona, cacao, and tobacco plantations. Live stock is also raised. Of the mineral products, graphite (which occurs in a remarkably pure state) is the most im- portant. There are also mines of precious stones, and the pearl fishery has been extensively carried on along the coast. Colombo is the chief seaport and trade center. India 337 SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 264. Consider the geographical relations of India to the rest of Asia. 265. Compare the native people of India with those of China. 266. Why are famines so disastrous in India? (See p. 149, Question 92.) 267. Consider the introduction and present status of tea culture in India and Ceylon. 268. Compare the total population of India with that of Great Britain and Ireland. 269. In what direction does the best commercial development of India lie? What is the " caste " system, and why does it persist in India ? 270. What influence have the monsoons had on the trade of India? Books to be Consulted * India and Ceylon, Chapter XXVI. The International Geography. ** Commercial India in 1902. Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance ; December, 1902. Treasury Department. * Foreign Commercial Relations of the United States. ** The Statesman's Yearbook. CHAPTER XXXII OTHER ASIATIC COUNTRIES 221. Asiatic Turkey. Under Asiatic Turkey are embraced the countries of Anatolia, Syria, and Mesopotamia. Anatolia (Asia Minor) is the western peninsular extension of the Iranian Plateau, between the Black and Mediterranean Seas. The surface is rugged and mountainous and there are few rivers. A railroad runs from the Bosporus into the interior, and another from the seaport of Smyrria. Syria (including Palestine) lies south of Anatolia, border- ing on the eastern Mediterranean, and consists of a coastal strip backed by mountain ranges. Mesopotamia (literally the land be- tween the rivers) is the basin of the Euphrates-Tigris drainage, the waters of which rise in the Anatolian Plateau. Asiatic Turkey has in general a remarkably fertile soil, and the people are mainly engaged in agriculture ; but methods of agriculture and means of communication are in a backward state. The most important products of the country are various cereal crops, tobacco, cotton, olives, figs, almonds and various other fruits, wine, grapes, valonia, opium, coffee, madder, and gums. Fishing is extensively carried on, the Mediterranean sponge fisheries yielding a large return. Mother-of-pearl is obtained on the Red Sea coast and in the Persian Gulf. There are many valuable mineral deposits throughout the dependent provinces, but as yet little has been done in the way of their development. Chrome, silver-lead, zinc, manganese, anti- mony and copper ores, corundum (emery), asphalt, meerschaum, borax, coal, and lignite are among the more important mineral prod- ucts. The manufacturing industries are mainly domestic in character 338 Other Asiatic Countries 339 and are carried on by hand. The celebrated " mohair " cloth is woven from the fleece of the Angora goat. Carpets and rugs woven on hand looms are prominent in Turkish industry and commerce. The much prized Oriental rugs are manufactured almost exclusively in Turkey, and the names by which rugs are known to the connois- seurs, are the names of cities and provinces in the Ottoman Empire. Constantinople is the great Oriental rug market of the world. Vari- ous domestic articles of beaten copper and turned brass are also man- ufactured. Silk production was at one time a prominent industry, but has fallen off, owing to a disease which destroyed the silk worms. Smyrna is the chief port of Asiatic Turkey, and next to Constanti- nople the largest city of the Empire. It is the great opium mart of the world, and is also noted for its shipments of carpets, rugs, tobacco, etc. Beirut is another Mediterranean port of some prominence. Aleppo is an important inland trade center. Trebizond and Samsun are Black Sea ports. Mosul and Bagdad, on the Tigris (with a large transit trade) and Bassora (the point of transshipment between river and sea traffic), above the head of the Persian Gulf, are prominent trade centers of the Mesopotamian region. The last-named town is noted^ for its shipment of dates. The island of Cyprus produces cotton, cereals, olive oil, wines, leather, sponges, salt, etc. It was formerly an important source of copper supply, and from this was derived its name. The government of Cyprus is administered by Great Britain. The trade of Turkey as a whole (both European and Asiatic Turkey) is largely with Great Britain, Austria, France, and Russia. The United States holds a very small share in the import trade of Turkey ; the proportion of Turkish goods imported by this country is much greater. Our purchases from Turkey are mainly Oriental rugs and carpets, with other textile, metal, and leather goods that are handmade. 222. Arabia. The peninsula of Arabia is mainly a desert table- land surrounded by a broken rim of mountain ranges and fringed by 34 The Geography of Commerce a narrow strip of low-lying coast land. The surface of the table-land is rather rugged ; ia the central part (Nedjed) is a pasture region, the deep valleys between the ridges being covered with gardens and plantations made fruitful by irrigation. The country is supplied with wells, but there are no rivers of any size. The narrow western por- tion of Arabia along the Red Sea includes the two Turkish provinces of Hedjaz and Yemen. Aden, on the southwest coast, and the island of Perim in the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb are British settlements. Oman is an independent state in the southeastern extremity of Arabia. The chief products of the different sections are coffee (from the fertile Yemen district), cereals, vegetables and fruits, senna, indigo, dates, balsam, henna, incense, betel, etc. Goats, sheep, cattle, camels, horses (the celebrated Arabian stock), and asses are raised on the pasture lands. Hodeida is the chief port of Yemen and is noted for its coffee shipment. Mocha, a seaport farther south, has given its name to the Yemen coffee export. Muscat is the chief port and trade center of Oman, its exports being dates, pearls, and mother- of-pearl, fruits, fish, salt, etc. The town is in weekly communication with Bombay. 223. Persia. The Plateau of Iran is embraced by modern Per- sia. It forms a mountainous table-land, about one-third of the sur- face being desert. The higher mountain ranges increase the rainfall which is favorable to agriculture. Of the two principal rivers, one flows from the central mountain ranges into the Persian Gulf and the other into the Caspian Sea. These have an important bearing on the existing commerce with India and Russia. The latter country is pro- jecting a line of railroad through Persia to connect with its Trans- caspian road. Several telegraph lines which operate in the interests of the Indian government, run across Persia. Among the chief productions may be mentioned silk (southwest of the Caspian), gum tragacanth, wheat, barley, rice, fruits, cotton, wool, tobacco, and opium. The coastwise fisheries, notably the pearl fisheries of the Persian Gulf, are important. There are many valuable Other Asiatic Countries 341 mineral deposits which lack development, owing to the absence of near-by markets and difficulty of transportation in the present back- ward state of the country. Salt is found abundantly in pits ; naph- tha also occurs in the western part. Precious stones are mined to a considerable extent in Persia. Tabriz is the chief commercial center of the country, in the north- western part. Bushire and Bendar-Abbassi are ports on the Persian Gulf. There are also several Caspian ports of some commercial prominence. The principal trade of Persia is with Russia and Great Britain, both in exports and imports ; the former country has one-half of the total value of Persian commerce. 224. Afghanistan. This mountainous country is an independent state, lying between the frontiers of British India and Russia. The population consists of numerous partially civilized tribes, and the commerce of the country is an overland traffic carried on between neighboring countries. Being entirely an inland country and hemmed in by high mountain ranges, transportation is difficult ; communication is principally by wagon road over high mountain passes, such as the Khyber and Gomul passes into the Punjab, the Bolan Pass into the Sind Province of India, and the Bamian Pass through the Hindu Kush range. 1 The cereals are raised, also peas, beans, rice, and a great variety of temperate zone fruits. Castor oil, madder, and assafoetida are also produced in large quantities, the latter forming a considerable item of export. Sheep-skin goods, silks, felts, carpets, and textiles of camel's and goat's hair are among the chief industries. The country is said to be rich in mineral deposits and precious stones, notably lapis lazuli. Kabul and Herat are the chief towns and trade centers. Baluchistan, a wild, sparsely inhabited desert tract, is under British control and* is unimportant commercially. 225. Indo-Chinese Countries. The Indo-Chinese Peninsula, or 1 The Bolan and Nari passes are traversed by railroads ; see Chisholm, Handbook of Commercial Geography, p. 316. 342 The Geography of Commerce Farther India, lies wholly within the tropics in the monsoon region. Besides Burma, already considered, the peninsula embraces the King- dom of Siam, the French possessions of Tongking, Annam, Cambodia, and Lower Cochin China, and the Shan states (under British in- fluence). The two main river basins of the peninsula are the Menam and the Mekong. Rice, pepper, fish (both salt and dried), teak (the cutting of which is under British control), sesame, cattle, and various tropical fruits are among the important Siamese prod- ucts. Bangkok, near the mouth of the Menam River where it empties into the Gulf of Siam, is the port of the country, but is under the disadvantage of having to " lighter " all goods by flat, shallow draught boats, owing to a bar at the mouth of the river. The commerce of the country is mostly in the hands of foreigners, chiefly Chinese immigrants. A considerable trade is carried on with China (Province of Yunnan) through the Shan states in the north. Siam is rich in mineral deposits, including copper, gold, tin, coal and iron, antimony, zinc, quicksilver, manganese, and in certain localities, diamonds, rubies, and sapphires. Numerous concessions have been granted to foreign mining companies. The productions of French Indo-China are varied, and include raw silk, pepper, cinnamon, rice, betel, indigo, coffee, tobacco, cotton, salt fish, metals, etc. Coal is mined in some parts, and factories for cotton manufacture have been established at certain places. Tourane (Annam), Hanoi, and Hongay (Tongking) are the chief ports of French Indo-China. 226. Straits Settlements. This is a British crown colony at the end of the Malay Peninsula and includes Singapore (island and town of the same name), the island of Penang, Malacca, Wellesley Province, and three territories under British protection on the mainland of the peninsula. Singapore is the commercial center and* has a large transit trade. The chief agricultural products of the territory are pep- per, rice, sugar, and tapioca. Tin is the most important commercial product, vast deposits being found in the mountains of the peninsula,. Oilier Asiatic Countries 343 and in adjacent islands. The metal forms 50 per cent of the exports from Singapore. Other exports of value are spices, gums, gambier, rattans, tapioca, sago, copra, etc. Singapore is a port of call, and up- wards of 8900 vessels (not including native shipping) entered and cleared at the Straits Settlements in 1901.- Rice, cotton goods, opium, fish, coal, tobacco, and petroleum are among the chief items of import. A railway and steam ferries connect Singapore with near- by districts. 227. The Malay Archipelago. This region includes the islands of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes, the Moluccas or Spice Islands, and other smaller islands of the group. The larger number belong to Holland and are known as the Dutch East Indies. Java and the near-by island of Madura are the most important commercially. All of the islands are intensely volcanic, which feature adds greatly to the fertility of the soil. They are all essentially tropical in character and lie within the monsoon region. Coffee is the chief product of Java, though tea, cinchona, indigo, tobacco, rice, and sugar cane are also cultivated. Coal is mined in some localities, and there are valu- able tin mines on the islands of Banka and Billiton, the bulk of the product being sent to Singapore. The productive lands and the commerce of the islands are largely in the hands of the Dutch gov- ernment. Batavia, on the northwest coast of Java, is the chief com- mercial center. Surabaya, a port in the northeast, is in the center of a large sugar cane district. Outside of the government possessions the land is largely in the hands of Europeans and Chinese. Sumatra has large tobacco and coffee plantations, the former prod- uct being prominent in the world's markets. The volcanic soil of certain districts is especially adapted to its cultivation. Bencoolen and Padang are the chief ports of the island. The Moluccas or Spice Islands (one of the objective points in the era of discovery) are noted for the production of spices, especially cloves and nutmeg ; the latter are grown chiefly in Amboyna and the Banda Islands. British North Borneo furnishes a variety of forest products which 344 The Geography of Commerce are important commercially. Sago is the chief product cultivated, though considerable tobacco is grown ; coal and gold deposits are found in the region. The peculiar edible bird's nest (a species of :wift that builds in caves), which is esteemed a great luxury by the Chinese, is found in large numbers in a cave in this region and is an important export. The chief trade center and port is Sandakan, which commands a fine harbor on the east. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 271. Account for the decadence of the regions that have come under the control of Turkey. 272. Why are the products of the looms of southwest Asia so famous? 273. What are the characteristic features of the Mesopotamian Valley? Com- pare the present of this region with its past. 274. Is Cyprus a European or Asiatic island? Trace the successive changes in its colonial history. Why so many changes ? 275. What part of Arabia was long known as " Happy Arabia " ? Why? 276. What position does Singapore occupy in the trade between Europe and eastern Asia ? 277. What is meant by the " Levant trade " ? What is the character of this trade? 278. Compare the coffee-producing regions of Arabia with those of Brazil. 279. What is the commercial importance of the date palm, and what regions are suited to its cultivation? Books to be Consulted ** The International Geography, Chapters XXIV, XXV, XXVII, and XXX. * Wallace, The Malay Archipelago. London; New Edition, 1890. James Bryce, Transcaucasia and Ararat. London; Fourth Edition, 1896. Murray's Handbook for Asia Minor. London ; 1895. *Norman, Peoples and Politics of the Far East. ** The Statesman's Yearbook. CHAPTER XXXIII COMMERCIAL AFRICA 228. Regional Geography. Africa is peninsular rather than con- tinental ; its fundamental structural feature is that of a large table- land with a narrow coastal margin like that of Arabia and the Deccan. The coast line is strikingly even, presenting no great inlets, and the large rivers, in their descent from the higher plateau to the lower coast- plain region, form a series of dangerous rapids which i mpede navigation. The de- termining feature in African drainage is the presence of a line of elevation along the eastern side of the contin- ent, extending from the Isthmus of Suez southward to beyond latitude 10 S., where it turns westward across the narrower portion of the land mass. This line of water parting throws the drainage into two primary areas, that of the northern-central (by far the larger of the two) with such great rivers as the Nile and the Kongo, flowing into the Atlantic drainage, and the smaller southern part, 345 is. TroDTrnfr^ra*- ^ ~r~-\~\ Equator _ CD Deserts VEGETATION FEATURES OF AFRICA 346 The Geography of Commerce with rivers like the Zambesi and the Limpopo, flowing into the Indian Ocean. 1 The Niger basin results from a secondary line of elevation in the west. Africa extends thirty degrees on either side of the equator. It therefore presents a central tropical climatic zone with smaller northern and southern regions of temperate conditions. The most striking feature of the northern portion of the continent is the vast stretch of deserts (the Sahara and Libyan) which belongs to the great desert belt of the Old World (including Arabia and the Central Asian deserts). The cause of this arid waste of shifting sands, loose rocks, and scanty vegetation, is the fact that in winter it is a high pressure area, while in summer, though a low pressure prevails, the incoming winds are dried, and thus rendered practically rainless by the intensely high temperature. The small amount of rain that actually does fall throughout the year sinks deeply into the thirsty soil and reappears, often at a distance, in desert wells or springs, marked amid the surrounding barren waste by spots of verdure (oases). The topography of Africa determines, in the main, its peculiar vegetation features. On the north the desert passes into the steppe region which is characteristic of the Mediterranean or Barbary States, except in the region of the Atlas Mountains. On the south the desert likewise passes into a steppe which gradually merges into the grass lands of the Sudan and East African Highlands ; this is a region of broad savannas with thickets and clumps of trees giving to the landscape a park-like appearance. Among the more characteristic forms of vegetation in this region, are the baobab tree, numerous varieties of acacia, tree lobelias, and giant groundsels. Among animals, the elephant is still found in the wooded districts and throughout the great equatorial forest ; herds of zebra, giraffe, antelopes of many kinds, and other big game animals wander over the open pasture lands. In the western part 1 Heawood, The International Geography, pp. 890-891. Commercial Africa 347 of the continent the equatorial rains produce a zone of dense tropical forests which extends ten degrees north and south of the equator and disappears toward the east with the increasing elevation of the land. The heavy rainfall of this region is a result of the enormous condensation of moisture on the Ruwenzori range and the high plateaus of East Central Africa. South Africa is essentially a region of grass lands and steppes, with areas of decided aridity (the Kalahari Desert) . The southeast trades bring rain along the eastern border where the land is sufficiently elevated. 229. The Division of Africa. The future development of the continent is in the hands of several of the great European Powers. British dominion is established over a wide area in South and Central Africa (Cape Colony, Natal, the recently acquired Boer Republics, Bechuana- land, Rhodesia, and the Uganda, British East Africa, and Somali coast protectorates), the Niger territories in the western Sudan, and districts on the west coast. Germany claims territorial rights in Ger- man East Africa, Ger- man Southwest Africa, Kameruns, and Togoland. French control is confined mainly to districts on the west coast, in the western Sudan, in Obok on the Gulf of Aden, and in Algeria. Italy claims dominion over two districts in the northeast, while Portuguese influence extends along the east coast for some distance on either side of AFRICA. Density of Population I 1 Less than 1 pec Square Mile." EZJ 1-25 " " 125-500 everoOC 348 The Geography of Commerce the Zambesi, and in Angola in the southwest. The Kongo Free State occupies the immense area of the Kongo Basin in the equa- torial forest region. Liberia is a negro Republic (founded with freed American slaves) on the west coast. The island of Zanzibar on the east coast is under the rule of a sultan, though practically within the sphere of British influence. Abyssinia is a small native kingdom in the northeast. Egypt controls a large area of the Nile drainage, including the eastern or Egyptian Sudan. Northern Africa is divided into several states (the so-called Barbary States), of which Morocco has an independent sultanate, Algiers and Tunisia are French colonies, and Tripoli is a Turkish protectorate. 230. Productions. The wide variations of climate throughout the African continent, incident to the extension of the land mass on either side of the equator, and to the high plateaus of the eastern and southern portions, give rise to a remarkable variety in vegetable pro- ductions. In the equatorial forests there are numerous kinds of rubber-producing trees and vines. The crude rubber is collected by the natives and brought to the river stations, where it is bought by the dealers at a low price. This African rubber is of the finest quality, and the supply is practically unlimited, since the gathering of the product does not destroy the plant. The profit of the African rubber trade is said to be higher than is the profit of South African gold mining. Palm oil is obtained from the nut of a species of palm that grows throughout the continent. The oil is exported chiefly for use in soap manufacture, as a cheap lubricant, and for culinary purposes. Each tree yields an average of about twenty pounds of oil yearly and a square mile of savanna land supports upwards of a thousand trees yielding annually ten tons of oil. Africa is destined to be an important source of the future lumber supply of the world. More than a million square miles in the heart of the continent are heavily forested. Among the more impor- tant timber-producing trees are the African teak and the African mahogany, ebony, acacia, ironwood, bamboo, redwood, etc. On KEY Railroads in Operation. -, Railroads Proposed. Head of Navigation. _ Steamship Lines. Distances for Steamship Lines are in. Nautical Miles. SCALE OF STATUTE MILES 200 400 600 800 1.000 1,200 TRADE MAP OF AFRICA BORMAY & CO., N. 350 The Geography of Commerce the higher slopes and plateaus, junipers, yews, and other conifers occur. There are numerous dyewoods ; also drug, gum, and resin- yielding plants in the African forests. Among gums may be men- tioned copal, shellac, acacia, and incense. A vast number of fiber plants are found native throughout the continent, many of them being suitable for rope-making. Oil seeds of various sorts abound, including sesame, castor oil, and ground nuts. Many varieties of spices are abundant. Coffee grows wild in many parts, and tobacco has spread widely by native cultivation. Perennial cotton grows in some localities, and the sugar cane nourishes in the lower valleys and coast lands. The soil and climate over wide areas are well adapted for cereals and other temperate zone food plants. Maize has spread by cultivation throughout the parts of the continent where there is sufficient rainfall. The soils over wide regions are remarkably fertile and this, together with the abundant moisture, insures enormous crops, 100 bushels of corn per acre being an ordi- nary yield. At least two crops are gathered in a year. Sorghum, millet, and eleusine (a grass, the grains of which are used for food) grow in like profusion. The higher plateau lands of East Central and South Africa are adapted to the growth of wheat and oats. Various root plants, like the manioc or mandioca (which yields cas- sava meal and tapioca), grow abundantly in the tropical parts. The potato likewise produces indefinitely without the need of replanting. Bananas, plantains, and other fruits grow in rank profusion. It is probable that tea, coffee, cacao, rice, beans and many other plants will form an increasingly important feature of African agriculture. Animal products are abundant and of various kinds. The African elephant, both male and female, furnish tusks of valuable ivory. The teeth of the hippopotamus are likewise of considerable value and form an item of export. Zebras and a variety of antelopes give hides of value. The recent efforts toward the preservation of big game in the central African States will greatly enhance the trade in native animal products by allowing the animals to increase under Commercial Africa 351 normal conditions. As Sir Harry Johnston has remarked, there is no reason why the African elephant (at least the females) and the several varieties of zebra, should not be domesticated. Ostrich farming and the export of feathers is a growing African industry. Wild bees produce quantities of honey and wax ; in some instances the bees are practically domesticated about the native villages. The grass lands of East Central and South Africa afford one of the most magnificent pasture regions in the world, and sheep and cattle raising are destined to be among the most important industries in the development of the continent. The immensity of the mineral wealth of Africa is as yet scarcely realized. The resources of vast areas are practically untouched and in many parts unexplored. In the upper Zambesi basin there is an enormous coal field, sometimes reckoned the largest in the world. Undoubtedly this coal field will be reached by the railroad within the next few years. Petroleum is obtained from mineral springs in several localities. Iron ore deposits (chiefly hematite and black magnetic ore) are of wide extent, and the natives in many regions have long been famous as primitive iron workers. A recent writer records the discovery of a solid mountain of black magnetic iron ore which deflected the compass at the distance of a quarter of a mile. 1 Copper is very abundant throughout Africa and is in wide use among the native peoples. Gold has been exploited in South Africa, but there still exists an enormous extent of territory in which the precious metal will probably be found in rich abundance. The African gold output now reaches a large yearly total. Diamonds and other precious stones are also found in great abundance in various localities. 231. Commercial Outlook. Railroad development is one of the factors upon which the commercial future of the continent must rely, for the rivers as already observed, are not continuously navigable to the sea. A railroad is in operation around the rapids of the Kongo, 1 S. P. Verner, Forum ; November, 1901, p. 366. 352 The Geography of Commerce from Matadi to Leopoldville, 250 miles in length, thus connecting the lower waters with a navigable highway to the interior. The Kongo Free State, with an area of nearly 870,000 square miles and an estimated population of 30,000,000 persons, and lying as it does in one of the greatest regions of tropical production in the world, with the advantages of a great natural highway of transportation to the seacoast, is destined to hold a place of first importance as a source of raw material supply. The Nile Valley, the ancient trade route into eastern Equatorial Africa, is now the site of a railroad from Cairo to beyond Khartum in the Egyptian Sudan, about 1200 miles. The railroad system of South Africa extends as a trunk line from Cape Town to Bulawayo in Rhodesia, a distance of some 1500 miles, with numerous side branches to the eastern seaboard at such terminal points as Port Elizabeth, Port Alfred, East London, Durban, and Lorenzo Marquez. The Bulawayo line has already opened up a vast productive territory on the plateaus of Rhodesia (Matabeleland), where such towns as Bulawayo, Salisbury, Victoria, Umtali, etc., are already in a flourishing condition ; here the climate is favorable to European residence and the growth of cereal crops. The pro- posed extension of this railroad northward across the Zambesi basin to Lake Tanganyika, and from thence by the Victoria Nyanza to the upper Nile to meet the line that is projected from Khartum south- ward, is the scheme that when accomplished will complete the " Cape-to-Cairo " railroad, and will open up a vast interior territory of agricultural and mineral wealth. Already a line has been built from the coast town of Mombasa (British East Africa) to the Victoria Nyanza in the Uganda protectorate, which will form an important branch line connecting the "Cape-to-Cairo" route with the east coast at that point. The Portuguese are operating a railroad in Angola which extends for upwards of 200 miles through a rich agri- cultural region from St. Paul de Loanda on the west coast, to Ambaca in the interior. This line, along with others to be built, will be extended ultimately to connect with the " Cape-to-Cairo " route Commercial Africa 353 when the latter is completed. Steamers already ply the navigable portions of many of the African rivers and are on the lakes of East Africa. The Postal Union has effected arrangements by which regular post offices are established in the interior, and mail is carried from New York to the heart of Africa in twenty-five days. Until very recent years the interior of Africa has been practically inaccessible, owing to the cataracts, the deadly climate of the lower valleys and coast lands, and the hostility of the native peoples. These barriers have been in part overcome by the building of railroads and the pacification of the various tribes. As Mr. S. P. Verner has said in a very v suggestive article: "Scores of steamboats ply the waters of the rivers, railways are being built in every part, commercial com- panies operate all over the land, the natives have turned from eating each other to working on the railways and in the mines and buying Armour's beef; and the men who chased Stanley down the Kongo are now piloting steamboats up." The overcoming of the climatic barrier must be met to a great extent by modern hygienic methods. The writer above cited further says : " With ice factories, electric fans, waterworks, scientific plumbing and sanitation, and all the accompanying means of making life comfortable which will follow the development of Africa's natural riches, the Caucasian will be able to live and prosper in the wisely selected parts of the continent not only in safety, but in great comfort and happiness, and from these central stations, to operate the whole of Africa."' 1 The healthful stations here meant are the elevated plateaus of the interior. Africa is still, for the greater part, an undeveloped continent. Only the northern and southern portions may be regarded as of pres- ent commercial importance. Three-fourths of the import trade is through the seaports of the Mediterranean, Natal, and Cape Colony. As a result of this, the trade is largely in British hands ; Egypt in the northeast is mainly under British influence. Large areas in the densely populated Sudan are still reached only by the trans-Saharan caravans. 1 Verner, Forum ; November, 1901. 2A 354 The Geography of Commerce In the Mediterranean countries the imports are mainly cotton tex- tiles, tobacco, spirituous liquors, clocks, and minor articles of trade (trinkets, etc.) ; in South Africa the mining interests demand a much greater variety and a higher class of manufactures, as machinery and tools, explosives, clothing, meat, and flour. From the predominating character of the exports, Africa may be divided into three commercial areas : the northern, the tropical, and the southern. In the former, agricultural products, as cotton, coffee, dates, cacao, spices, etc., predominate. The resources of the tropical area are largely native forest products, as rubber, gums of various sorts, palm nuts, palm oil, and ivory. In South Africa, live stock raising and crop growing are of increasing importance, and are destined to be among the chief factors in the region's future- devel- opment ; up to the present, however, the mining resources, chiefly gold and diamonds, form the largest value in the export trade from South Africa. 232. Commercial Centers. Certain sections lying within these three areas of production stand out prominently as centers of African trade. Egypt is the most important commercial region of the north, controlling the trade of the eastern Sudan and the Nile Valley. Zanzibar is a prominent east coast trade center. French Senegal, Liberia, the British and German West African colonies, and the stations on the Lower Kongo are the leading trade, points of the west coast. Beyond the Zambesi, British South Africa is fast assuming the position of the most important commercial unit of the continent. Africa holds a position of strategic importance in the political and commercial affairs of the world at large. The strait of Gibraltar has the northwestern corner of the continent on one side. Egypt and the Suez Canal at the northeastern, and Cape Colony at the southern end of the continent, control the commercial routes from the Atlan- tic to the Indian Ocean and Australia. The recent efforts of Great Britain to extend her sphere of influence throughout South Africa, Commercial Africa 355 and to connect the Cape with Cairo, is a recognition of the strategic importance of Africa. 233. Egypt. Egypt is essentially an agricultural country, the rich alluvial deposit from the Nile overflow rendering the land extremely fertile. The country is a tributary state of Turkey, governed by the Khedive ; but the commercial and financial affairs are mainly in the hands of Great Britain. Cotton forms the bulk of the value of Egyp- tian exports, cereals and vegetables holding a second place. Cairo, at the head of the Nile delta, is the capital of Egypt and the largest city on the African continent. Alexandria is the most important commercial center, and the chief port of the country. The Suez Canal, eighty-seven miles in length, connects the Mediterranean with the Red Sea and has been an important factor in the commercial development of the East and of Australia. Port Said and Suez are towns at either end of the canal. On an average ten vessels a day pass through the canal, seven out of which are British. The canal is neutral and is governed by an international commission; each vessel pays a toll for transit. Khartum, at the junction of the Blue and the White Nile, is the chief commercial center of the Egyptian Sudan, and is connected by rail and telegraph with Cairo. 234. South Africa. The vast area of South Africa (Africa south of the Zambesi), offers an inviting field for future commercial enter- prise. Rich deposits of coal have been discovered in the Zambesi basin, iron and other metals undoubtedly exist in great quantities, and the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi are scarcely second to Niagara as a source of power. The temperate parts, on the higher plateaus of Rhodesia and the land farther to the south (in Cape Colony, etc.), are adapted to stock raising and grain growing. The gold and diamond mining interests already form leading industries in several sections of South Africa. Kimberley is the center of the greatest diamond-producing region yet discovered (furnishing 98 per cent of the diamonds of commerce). Johannesburg and other towns are in a gold field (the Witwatersrand, or more commonly 356 TJie Geography of Commerce called the "Rand"), the output of which since 1884 is upwards of $300,000,000, and with " gold in sight " amounting probably to $3,500,000,000.* This is to say nothing of the gold fields of Rhodesia. The South African gold is in vein quartz or "reef," and requires costly machinery for its extraction. Cape Town (Cape Colony), by virtue of its position at the south- ern end of the continent, is destined to play much the same part in the commercial development of the interior as New York has done in the United States. It will undoubtedly always be the chief commercial and dis- bursing center of the region. Other British ports of impor- tance (all on the eastern coast) are Durban (the port of Natal), Port Elizabeth, Port Alfred, and East London. Lorenzo Marquez, on Delagoa Bay, is CAPE COLONY $135 = 18* OTHER BRITISH AFRICA $177 = 24* EGYPT $153 =21* ALGERIA $104 = 14* OTHER FRENCH AFRICA $72 =-10* PORTUGUESE AFRICA $42 - 6* OTHER AFRICA $55 - 7* a Portuguese port of some COMMERCE OF AFRICA (1900) APPROXI- prominence. Owing to the MATED IN MlLLIONS OF DoLLARS Total, $738,000,000 general aridity of the western portion of South Africa, there are comparatively few settlements along the Atlantic seaboard. 235. Other Commercial Centers. Of the several divisions of North Africa lying outside of Egypt, Tangier, on the northwest coast of Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli are the most important com- mercially. Tripoli is the terminus of a large caravan trade across the Sahara. Zanzibar, on the island of the same name lying off the coast of German East Africa, carries on a considerable trade with the interior region of eastern Equatorial Africa. It was at one time a center of the Arab trade in slaves and ivory. Banana and Boma are ports 1 Summary of Commerce and Finance, Commercial Africa. Commercial Africa 357 of the Kongo Free State. Other West African ports are St. Paul de Loanda (Angola), Libreville and Loango (French Kongo), Lagos (Niger Territories), Monrovia (Liberia), Free Town (Sierra Leone) which commands the best harbor on the west coast, Bath- urst (Gambia), and St. Louis at the mouth of the Senegal River. Timbuctu is an important center of the caravan trade. It is situated on the upper Niger in the French Sudan. 236. Trade Relations. Of the total import trade of Africa, the United States furnishes about five per cent. The latest reports show a marked increase, in part a result of the growing demand for American mining and agricultural machinery. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 280. Why has Africa, which was the seat of a civilization among the earliest, remained the " dark continent " ? 281. Compare the physical features of Africa with those of South America. 282. Make a contrast between Europe and Africa with regard to natural advantages for trade. 283. What European nations have possessions on the north cost of Africa? What on the west coast? What on the east coast? (See map opposite p. 367.) 284. "There are three regions in Africa; the region of firearms, of cotton, and of slaves." Explain this and try to locate the regions. 285. What is meant by " the partition of Africa " ? What are the interested nations? 286. Give an account of the irrigation methods used in Egypt. What is the influence of irrigation on this region? 287. Trace the " Cape-to-Cairo " railroad. 288. What is the importance of South African possessions to the British Empire? 289. Compare the advantages of England's communication with India via the Suez Canal, and via South Africa. 290. Write a brief essay on The Commerical Future of Africa. Books to be Consulted * The International Geography, Chapters XLVIII to LIII. Bryce, Impressions of South Africa. London ; 1897. Drummond, Tropical Africa. London; 1888. 358 The Geography of Commerce *Keltie, Partition of Africa. London, Second Edition, 1895 (especially Chapter XXII on the Economic Value of Africa). ** Commercial Africa in 1900. Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance for April, 1902. Johnston, The Uganda Protectorate. London and New York ; 1902. **Verner, The Development of Africa. Forum; November, 1901. **The Statesman's Yearbook. CHAPTER XXXIV AUSTRALIA AND THE PACIFIC ISLANDS 237. Australian Geography. The Australian continent is an iso- lated land mass lying in the southern or ocean hemisphere, with an area a little less than that of the United States exclusive of Alaska. About three-fifths of Australia lies within the south temperate zone ; the remainder (lesser northern portion) is within the tropics. Australia represents the largest exposed portion of an old sunken land mass that was once continuous with the continent of Asia. Its fundamental physical feature is that of a vast central plain of uneven surface sur- rounded by a rim of highlands, the slopes of which determine a drain- age towards an interior area of depression occupied by a system of salt lakes. This central Australian plain, cut off from the rain-bearing winds by the surrounding mountain ranges, has the characteristics of a desert. As a result of the comparatively short seaward slopes of the mountain ranges, there are no long inland rivers that open to the sea ; the Murray-Darling river system in the southeast is the only one of any extent. The peculiar life features of Australia are a result of long isolation. The vegetation has many ancient types, which have long since passed away in other parts of the earth. Notable among these are the tree myrtles (including the giant eucalyptus or " gum tree "), ferns, and numerous other groups, many of which have become adapted to the excessive evaporation of a dry climate by the development of oils and leathery leaves which tend' to re- tain moisture ; other plants have a twist of the stalk whereby the leaf is turned edgewise, the surface being thus shielded from the effects of direct sun's rays. A great variety of native grasses are 359 360 The Geography of Commerce found throughout many parts of Australia, and this fact largely determined the pastoral occupation of the early settlers. 238. The Australian Commonwealth. The five original colonies of Australia and the adjacent island colony of Tasmania, have re- cently been federated into a single commonwealth by an act of the British Parliament. The six political divisions include Victoria (about one-third larger than the entire New England group of states), New South Wales (nearly twice the size of the Middle Atlantic and New Eng- land States taken to- gether), Queensland (equal to the com- bined area of Wash- ington, Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Ne- vada, and Arizona), South Australia (larger than the whole United States east of the Mis- sissippi) , West Australia (somewhat larger than the last-named division), and Tasmania (about equal to the area of West Virginia). The last named is an island lying about 150 miles south of Australia. The government of British Australasia is termed " self- responsible," and it is laid on similar lines to that of the Dominion of Canada. A system of uniform customs has been established which will greatly facilitate commerce. 239. Production and Commerce. Stock raising and agriculture are the chief industries of Australia. The agricultural returns from each section of the Commonwealth show that out of the total value of production, Victoria contributes upwards of 25 per cent, New South Wales upwards of 22 per cent, South Australia over 10 Australia and the Pacific Islands 361 per cent; Queensland, Tasmania, and West Australia upwards of 7, 3, and i per cent, respectively, while New Zealand, which is included in the returns, being a part of British Australia, contrib- utes nearly 29 per cent of the whole. Of the crops raised, wheat forms the largest proportion (some 25 per cent), hay being the next in order (over 23 per cent). Maize, barley, oats, potatoes, grapes, fruits (orchard and garden), garden vegetables, hops, to- bacco, sugar cane, etc., are other crops of importance. Root crops, such as turnips, are largely raised for feeding stock, especially in New Zealand where more than half a million acres are under turnips, which are fed to sheep. Stock raising has always been the most important feature of Australian industry, since the climate and the pasture are in every way conducive to its best development. Sheep raising and the production of wool lead all other forms of live stock industry. The introduction of the merino sheep into Australia more than half a century ago, greatly increased the value of the wool, and Australian wool now ranks with the best in the world, Australia (including New Zealand) is to-day the greatest wool-producing country in the world; the product for 1901 was upwards of 510,000,000 pounds, while that of Argentina, the second wool-producing country, was some 370,000,000 pounds. The perfecting of methods in the freez- ing and chilling of meat has greatly stimulated the Australian live stock industry ; the exports of meat from British Australia, including New Zealand, amount to more than $18,000,000 annually. The mining interests of Australia are of very great importance, especially in the production of gold and copper. Victoria is by far the greatest gold-producing state in the commonwealth. Tin and silver also occur, and coal is found in New South Wales and in New Zealand. Iron ores abound but are comparatively unworked, owing to the expense of extraction and transportation. The value of goods imported by Australia from the United States amounts to something over $30,000,000 annually. Great Britain 362 The Geography of Commerce holds the largest share of trade with her great southern colony, but the United States has had a marked increase in the export of goods to Australia during the last twenty years. Iron and steel manufactures are the leading items, and the raw and manufactured products of tobacco, wood, paper, leather, also cars, coal oil, cotton goods, instruments, and implements of various sorts, watches and clocks, are among the important articles which Australia imports from the United States. THE WORLD'S PRODUCTION' OF WOOL (1901), APPROXIMATED IN MILLIONS OF POUNDS Total production, 2,699,884,704 pounds Of the total value of pastoral products, including the wool clip, New South Wales and Queensland each furnishes about 30 per cent ; Victoria about 12 per cent, and South Australia about n per cent. Of the total value of mine products, New South Wales and West Australia each furnishes about 28 per cent, Victoria about 15 per cent, and Queensland 14 per cent. The largest cities and chief commercial centers of the common-* wealth are: Melbourne (Victoria), Sydney (New South Wales), Adelaide (South Australia), Brisbane (Queensland), Perth (West Australia and the Pacific Islands 363 Australia), and Hobart (Tasmania). All command excellent har- bors and are connected with one another and with the productive centers by railroads and steamship lines. 240. New Zealand. The British colony of New Zealand, con- sisting of two large islands and a number of smaller ones, is about equal in area to New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware combined. It lies in the South Pacific Ocean, noo miles southeast of Australia. The surface is mountainous and well watered, but the numerous rivers are not generally navigable. The land was origi- nally heavily forested over half its area, but it is now largely cleared. The eastern part of the islands is natural open land, covered with native grasses, one species of which is known as New Zealand flax. The great kauri pine yields valuable timber and resin (kauri gum). A considerable quantity of the gum is obtained from old forests that have fallen and been buried beneath the soil. The chief industries are connected with cattle and sheep raising ; large quantities of frozen mutton are shipped to England. Tanning, the- manufacture of shoes, woolen textiles, etc., are among the impor- tant pursuits dependent upon the pastoral occupation. Tillage is second to stock raising in commercial importance. Considerable coal and gold are mined, and manufactures of various sorts are carried on. The agricultural and pastoral products form upwards of 80 per cent of the total value of productions. The yield of the mining industries amounts to about 1 2 per -cent of the total value, while the remainder is divided between the forest and the fisheries. The trade is mainly with Great Britain and the British colonies. The United States' share in New Zealand trade amounts to about 8 per cent of the total value of the island's commerce, being second to that of Great Britain and the British colonies. New Zealand has a well-organized system of railroad and telegraph communication. Auckland and Wellington (North Island) and Dunedin and Christchurch (South Island) are the chief commercial centers of the colony. All but Christchurch, which is inland, command good harbors. 364 The Geography of Commerce 241. Madagascar and Mauritius. The large island of Madagascar, lying off the east coast of Africa, is a French protectorate. Its com- merce is small, the chief productions being cattle, hides, wax, and rubber. The interior of the island is mountainous and well watered, and affords abundant pasturage. Mauritius, with its dependency the Seychelles, is a British colony, the chief productions of which are sugar and cocoanuts. The island of Socotra, in the Indian Ocean near the eastern extremity of Africa, is a British possession and is chiefly noted for its export of aloes, which are used in medicine. 242. Oceanica. The area of the Pacific Ocean exceeds by some 4,000,000 square miles the entire land surface of the earth. Through- out this vast expanse are scattered some 600 island groups or clus- ters, aggregating at least 5000 islands. These islands collectively (exclusive of Hawaii) equal an area larger than the combined area of the New England States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, Virginia, and both of the Carolinas. The native peoples of the islands belong to the Pacific group and number upwards of 1,600,000 individuals ; they are sepa- rated into the different island communities, isolated from one another by wide stretches of sea. A large number of the islands are under the control of European nations. Great Britain controls 19 islands and island clusters (111,500 square miles with 650,000 population), Germany holds possession in 8 islands and island groups (100,000 square miles, with 645,000 population), France controls 7 islands and groups (12,200 square miles, with 120,000 population), Hol- land possesses one colony on the island of New Guinea (152,000 square miles with 200,000 population) ; the United States' possessions have already been considered in Chapter XL Aside from the large island of New Guinea or Papua, which be- longs in part to the Australian and in part to the Malay region, the Pacific islands are divided into three main groups, based largely on the affinities of the native peoples. These are known as : (i) Micro- Australia and the Pacific Islands 365 nesia, which embraces all of the small island clusters of the western Pacific north of New Guinea; (2) Melanesia, or the island groups that lie between New Guinea and the Fiji Islands ; and (3) Poly- nesia, which includes all the rest of the widely scattered archipela- goes. These islands are of volcanic and coral formation, and are wholly tropical in character; the banana, breadfruit, taro, yam, sugar cane, and cocoanut are the staple native products. Hereto- fore the islands have been of slight commercial value, though a num- ber of the larger groups have been made of some value to the powers which control them. Their importance in world commerce will be greatly increased with the opening of an Isthmian Canal. The Fiji Islands (British) produce various tropical crops; the commerce is mainly with Great Britain, the annual imports amount- ing to more than $1,700,000. Viti Levu is the largest island of the group, the chief port and capital of which is Suva. Levuka is another port on a smaller island. Among the chief crops raised are sugar cane, coffee, maize, tobacco, cotton, and cocoanuts. Copra is an important article of commerce. Gold constitutes a large item in the value of New Guinea's exports ; the other items are pearl shell, sandalwood, copra, India rubber, tortoise shells, orchids, and pearls. The island is capable of develop- ment in the production of a variety of tropical goods. New Caledonia (French) holds the largest portion of its commerce with France and Australia. The United States supplies hardware, tools, cutlery, petroleum, wooden wares, furniture, and provisions. Samoa has already been considered under the United States' out- lying possessions. Pago Pago is the port of call for the American- Australian steamers. There is a regular steamer service between San Francisco and Pago Pago. Great Britain, Germany, and the United States hold the principal trade of the islands. The Tonga or Friendly Islands (British) produce a variety of fiber plants and the natives distill an oil from flowers. Sperm whales are found in the neighborhood of these islands, and pearl fishing 366 The Geography of Commerce is also largely carried on in the near-by waters. Copra is the chief article produced, forming 75 per cent of the export. Tahiti, or the Society Islands, are a French possession and are in direct connection with San Francisco by steamer ; the United States holds the largest share of the trade. The chief exports are copra, mother-of-pearl, vanilla, and cotton. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 291. Have continents an "individuality" ? If so, what is that of Australia ? 292. What are the peculiarities of Australian animals and plants, and what do they indicate about the relation between this continent and the Old World land mass? 293. What is the relation of the Australian government to the British Empire? 294. Where are the Australian gold fields and how have they influenced in the development of Australia? 295. Give an account of the British " penal system." Show its effects on colonizing in Australia and Tasmania. 296. What is " the country without strikes " ? Give some account of its economic organization. (Henry Demarest Lloyd.) 297. What do you understand by colonies with " responsible government " ? By colonies for " exploitation " ? 298. Is Humboldt's prediction that the Pacific of the twentieth century would be an ocean dotted with commercial fleets likely to be realized ? 299. Is there likelihood that the center of maritime operations will shift from the Atlantic to the Pacific as it once shifted from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic ? Why ? 300. The steamships Minnesota and Dakota (building for the Pacific trade, 1903) have the largest carrying capacity of any afloat. They require for a cargo, the freight of one hundred trains of twenty-five cars each. What will be the probable effects of ships of this size in the Pacific trade? Books to be Consulted * '-Australia and Polynesia. Chapters XXXI to XXXVI, inclusive, The Inter- national Geography. ** Commercial Australia in 1900. Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance ; November, 1901. Treasury Department. Washington, D.C. Bates, Australian Experiments in Industry. Publications of American Academy of Political and Social Science. Philadelphia Commercial Museum, Foreign Trade Lists and Commercial Guides. (Furnished to subscribers only.) ** The Statesman's Yearbook. Lloyd, Newest England. New York, 1900. 120 Longitude 150 East 180 THE COLONIZING POWERS OF NEW T H E W O K 1, D AND THEIR POSSESSIONS SXr Lon* : .tU'Je Go' West fr Longitude 30 East 00 BQRMAY 4 CO., N. Y. PART V (Conclusion) REVIEW OF WORLD COMMERCE CHAPTER XXXV WORLD COMMERCE 243. General Principles of World Trade. The division of labor that exists among the members of a community exists also among the nations of the world at large. The people of one country usually produce something, either raw or manufactured, which the peoples of other countries need. Interchange of commodities results in part WORLD'S DISTRIBUTION OF MANUFACTURES from different geographical environments. The greatest contrast lies between temperate and tropical regions, and one object in acquiring territorial control in the tropics is to secure tropical products. Speaking broadly, the manufacturing industries may be said to characterize the nations of the temperate zone, while the production of raw materials is a leading interest of the tropical peo- ples. The presence of water power, and of coal and iron, determines 367 368 The Geography of Commerce a manufacturing population, especially when coupled with favorable conditions of climate and soil. The raw material produced in the immediate vicinity is at first utilized, but the increasing capacity for manufacture, sooner or later draws upon raw material from more remote regions, and commercial interchange is thus established. Illustrations of this fact have already been 'presented. (See Chap- ter IX.) The aptitudes of different peoples for different kinds of industrial activities is another factor in promoting world commerce. This again is largely a question of environment. Generations of men liv- ing under the same conditions, and engaged in the same occupations throughout long periods, become adapted to special lines of work. This principle may be so effective as to give industrial character to a nation. The agricultural Dutch, the weaving and lace-making popula- tions of northern France and Belgium, the silk and tea producers of China, the silk weavers of France and Italy, are a few illustrations of this principle of aptitude, native or acquired. The foreign trade of a country may be simply the expansion of its internal or domestic trade. The surplus of production, in either raw materials or manufactures, becomes an export. The exchange of this surplus for the needed commodities produced by a foreign country, lies at the basis of world commerce. 244. Factors in the Interchange of Commodities. To exchange surplus for the products of other nations, is -the chief end of commer- cial intercourse. The means by which this intercourse is accomplished is through a system of exchange of goods based on their respective values. Value in exchange, as here used, is the quantity of one thing that can be had for a certain quantity of some other thing. The pro- portion of these quantities is the measure of the value of the thing in question. Commodities have two very different sorts of value. One of these is the relative or proportional value of a thing in the system of exchange ; the other is the absolute value of a thing in its practical use. We might purchase many tons of anthracite coal for the price of a World Commerce 3 6 9 single diamond, and yet the absolute value of the coal for use is vastly greater than that of the gem. Money is the measure of value under the laws of supply and demand. In international trade, actual cash payments are com- paratively small, most of the business being done by an extensive system of credit and bills of exchange. Trade between nations is, after all, only the barter of primitive peoples on an extended scale, and the same laws apply alike to nations and individuals. The system of banking and credit involves the establish- ment of financial houses throughout the world ; the business of foreign exchange is largely centered in certain cities. Geographical condi- tions are in many cases respon- sible for the prominence of cities as great financial centers. Thus, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London, Paris, Ber- lin, Vienna, Bombay, Hong- Kong, Canton, Cape Town, Melbourne, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Ayres, Valparaiso, and other cities have become the chief financial centers of their respective countries, largely by reason of their location in relation to productive areas, with reference to river and rail facilities, and the command of ocean-going traffic. These conditions have focused trade, and financial interests have developed as a matter of course. Other factors in the growth of international commerce are the establishment of a definite system of weights and measures, the trans- portation of goods by ship and rail, and the facilities for communica- tion by telegraph (both land and submarine). 2B TOTAL COMMERCE OF THE WORLD (1900), REPRESENTED BY CONTINENTS 370 The Geography of Commerce 245. The Decimal System. A uniform system of weights and measures upon which all nations should agree would be an important gain for international trade. Probably the most logical system yet devised, is that known as the metric. It is in use in almost all the continental countries of Europe, throughout the Spanish-American countries, and in Japan and Java. Unfortunately neither the United States nor Great Britain has as yet adopted the metric system, though generally acknowledging its superiority over what is actually in use. loooth milli looth centi ioth deci Standard 10 times deka ioo times hecto looo times kilo millimeter centimeter decimeter Meter dekameter hectometer kilometer miligram mililiter centigram centiliter decigram deciliter Gram Liter dekagram dekaliter hectogram hectoliter kilogram kiloliter Not all of the above terms, however, are in everyday use. Those most commonly used are the meter, centimeter, decimeter, and kilometer; the gram, decigram, and kilogram; the liter and hec- toliter. It is to be hoped that a decimal system will ultimately supersede the old and irregular methods still practiced in the United States and Great Britain, for this would facilitate the trade of these countries with the world at large. 246. Ocean Trade Routes. Navigation to-day follows regular routes which are clearly marked out. The steamship is the chief ocean carrier and follows these highways of traffic around the world from port to port. A large number of sailing vessels are also engaged in world commerce. The five great ocean thoroughfares of the world are : ( i ) The Trans- Atlantic Route between European and United States ports. The Atlantic Liners follow different paths on the western and the eastern passage, the western route lying to the north of the eastern. This World Commerce 371 is to prevent the danger of collision, and sailing vessels are warned to avoid the great steamer highways. (See Pilot Chart, p. 373.) (2) The Mediterranean Route to the East from European ports, and across the Atlantic from United States ports to Gibraltar, thence through the Mediterranean to the Red Sea via Suez Canal and to India, China, Australia, and East African ports. (3) The Pacific Ocean Route between western North America and Hawaii, the Philippines, Japan, China, New Zealand, and Australia. (4) The Cape Horn Route by the east coast of South America around Cape Horn (or in the case of steamers through the Strait of Magellan) to the ports of western America (both South and North) and also to Australia. (5) The Cape of Good Hope Route down the west coast of Africa and around the Cape of Good Hope to the ports of East Africa, Australia, and the East. Several lines of steamers regularly traverse the two last-named routes, each vessel in its passage making a complete circuit of the world. Starting from London or Plymouth, for example, with the average steamship a run of over 1400 miles is made in five days to Teneriffe (Canary Islands). From this point to Cape Town, a run of 4450 miles is made in fifteen days. The next calling port is Ho- bart, Tasmania, a distance of more than 5000 miles which is made in seventeen days. From Hobart the longest continuous run is made by the eastward across the South Pacific, around Cape Horn, and up the South American coast to Rio de Janeiro, the distance covered being 6820 miles and the time twenty-two days. The homeward run from Rio to London or Plymouth is made in seventeen days, calling at Teneriffe (3000 miles distant from Rio). A total distance of over 25,000 miles is thus covered by these steamers in eighty-one days. A large number of freighters or " tramp " steamers are also engaged in carrying on the commerce of the world between various countries. These take cargoes from a port in any direction. They 3/2 The Geography of Commerce are either owned or chartered by business houses in different parts of the world, but they follow for the most part the five great trade routes. The dangers incident to ocean commerce are vastly lessened by the careful charting of the coasts and the establishment of light- houses, buoys, etc., by the governments of the different maritime nations. A number of different governments also issue at regular intervals, pilot charts which contain information for the masters of vessels, relative to the weather conditions likely to be met with at the time of year for which they are issued, the presence of ice- bergs and field ice, the drift of currents, the position of derelicts, and other objects that have gone adrift. The information is largely based on the data received from the reports of the masters of steamers and other vessels that regularly traverse the commercial routes of the ocean highway. The United States Pilot Charts are issued monthly for the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans, under the direction of the Hydrographic Office in the Bureau of Navigation of the Navy Department. 247. Ocean Cables. Business between different countries is now carried on mainly by means of the submarine telegraph. A house orders goods from a foreign house by using the system of telegraph codes, either words or figures, each word or figure in the code stand- ing for a sentence or portion of a sentence. This greatly reduces the cost of sending messages by minimizing the number of words or characters. There are now upwards of 1750 submarine telegraph lines through- out the world, aggregating a total length of nearly 200,000 miles. More than 6,000,000 messages are sent over these lines in a year. The coast of every continent, outside the Arctic and Antarctic regions, and the southern end of South America, is looped by cables, and with the Pacific cable completed between the United States and the Philippines, via Hawaii, Wake Island, and Guam, there" is continuous telegraph communication around the earth. (See map, p. 375.) 374 The Geography of- Commerce Of the commerce of the great eastern markets the United States now holds less than six per cent. With the Pacific submarine tele- graph already completed, the enlargement of the merchant marine, and the future opening of an Isthmian Canal, our trade with the Pacific lands will be materially increased. It is impossible to calculate the advantages arising from the discovery of the use of telegraphy and its effects upon the commerce of nations. Without this instantaneous transmission of messages to almost every corner of the habitable earth, trade as we know it to-day would be impossible. The vast system of land telegraphs throughout the world, added to the submarine cables, brings up the total length of the world's telegraph lines to the enormous figure of 1,180,000 miles, the total length of single wires amounting to 3,800,000 miles. Over these lines 400,000,000 messages are sent annually, or an average of more than 1,000,000 messages per day. 1 248. International Date Line. The twenty- four hours of the day are reckoned from twelve o'clock midnight to twelve o'clock the following midnight. The change of day is constantly taking place to the westward because of the eastward rotation of the earth ; the new day begins earlier at a given place than at places west of it. Thus, for. example, when it is just past twelve o'clock midnight at London on a Monday morning, it is seven o'clock Sunday evening (the day before) at New York. On the other hand, in Bombay, for example, east of London, midnight comes about seven hours earlier, so that when it is midnight at London on the Monday morning in question, it is about seven o'clock of the morning of the same day at Bombay. From the earth's form and motion there can be no one natural point on its surface where the day can truly be said to begin or end. It has been found convenient to fix upon some line as marking the beginning of each day for the whole earth, without reference to the local day of any one place. The line chosen is the 1 Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance. Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department; July, 1902, p. 19. 376 The Geography of Commerce iSoth meridian, the other half of the great circle that passes through Greenwich, England, and is known as the zero meridian. The iSoth meridian forms the so-called International Date Line which runs north and south across the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The date line as observed, however, does not follow the meridian exactly, but bends once to the west and once to the east to suit certain political conditions. The actual date line passes through the middle of Bering Strait, then turns to the southwest until it reaches the meri- dian of 170 east longitude. By this arrangement the Aleutian Islands are all on the American side of the line. Then it sweeps eastward again to the iSoth meridian, which it follows to the Fiji Islands. As these islands and many others near by belong to Great Britain, and are commercially connected with Australia and New Zealand, the line again swings to the east, giving the British pos- sessions the same calendar day. After this deflection, the line returns to the iSoth meridian, which it follows to the frozen regions of the Antarctic Ocean. For ships, however, the iSoth meridian throughout its length is the date line. A ship in sailing eastward, when crossing the date line, always drops a day out of her calendar, because she passes from the area of the new day into that of the day before. For the same reason a ship sailing westward, when crossing the date line, adds another day, because she leaves the region of the day she was in and enters the area of the new day. If a ship crosses the date line eastward on Monday she drops that day out of her calendar, going back to Sunday again. When crossing to the westward on Monday she immediately takes up the next day ahead, or Tuesday. 249, Inter-oceanic Canals. The Suez Canal was the natural out- come of the trade between western Europe and the Orient. It reestablished the old trade to the Farther East, a trade which in successive eras had enriched the lands lying about the Mediterranean. The volume of traffic through the Suez Canal amounts to a value of some $700,000,000 annually, or approximately one-half the value of the exports of the United States. One striking effect of the Suez PANAMA CANAL IN CONSTRUCTION THE SUEZ CANAL AT PORT SAID World Commerce 377 Canal was the increase of the steamship at the expense of the sailing vessel. Some 2,000,000 tons of sailing vessels were thus thrown out of employment. The long Cape route to India offered poor opportunity for frequent coaling, and the steamer was forced to carry a supply of coal that greatly reduced her cargo capacity. By the Suez Canal a steamer can coal at Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said, and Aden. On the other hand, the sailing vessel did not find it of advan- tage to pay the toll and towage of the canal and so held to the longer voyage around the Cape of Good Hope, and was at a considerable disadvantage. Improvements in steamer construction and in marine engines make longer steamer voyages possible ; but it is quite certain that the opening of the Suez Canal caused a rapid change in the development of the merchant marine and of world commerce in general. With the industrial and commercial ascendency of the United States, and the consequent shifting of so large a part of the financial interests of the world to the western side of the Atlantic, the opening of an Isthmian Canal to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific becomes a question of vital importance, not only to the United States but to the world at large. This projected canal when completed will open a short and direct trade route between the great industrial areas on both sides of the Atlantic and western South America and eastern Asia. 250. Trade Outlook of the Great Nations. The United States, Great Britain, and Germany are to-day the chief rivals in world trade. The two latter countries have the largest merchant marine afloat, while the United States has by far the greatest producing and exporting capacity. In the last decade (1891-1901) the growth of Germany's foreign trade increased upwards of 36 per cent for imports, and upwards of 47 per cent for exports. The United States during the same period showed an increase in her foreign trade amounting to upwards of 9 per cent for imports and over 33 per cent for exports. Great Britain's foreign trade in the same interval increased nearly 20 per cent for imports, and over 13 per cent for exports. 1871 1881 1891 . 1901 4000 / 4000 "J0 ^ X 2800 ^ X" 2400 / 2400 Q w s if J I ^- x ^ ^'" 111 ^ f /' FRANCE .s > *~ ^^^ r R**' 9 & **** 1 ^ -****i '^ I 1200 - ^** n^* S 1200 b^'X "^'* CURVE SHOWING INCREASE OF TRADF OF ^X TH.E FOUR GREAT COMMERCIAL X COUNTRIES. i o n 4^0 CO YE, RS !88t World Commerce 379 These figures reveal the fact that while in the case of Germany and Great Britain the exports and imports have nearly balanced each other (in Great Britain the enormous importation of breadstuff's pro- ducing an excess over the export trade of the country), the differ- ence between the exports and imports is very marked in the case of the United States. This is in large measure the result of a vast terri- tory the productiveness of which has been steadily increased. The comparative sizes of certain European countries and the United States may be seen by a glance at the map on page 53. England and Germany, by utilizing all available territory, by the abundance of coal and iron, and by intelligent development of resources, have made their manufacturing industries so efficient that much of the raw material used in their factories must be imported. Manufactures give to England and Germany the power to purchase a foreign food supply. In order to place their wares in the world's markets and import food-stuffs and raw material from abroad, each has developed its great merchant marine, and exploited and colonized distant lands. This has offset in large measure the small- ness of the home territory. With the enormous production of raw materials and manufactures, that characterizes the recent economic development of the United States, there is a demand for an increased merchant marine to have the advantages that will come when American goods shall be carried in American ships. With this adjunct, and with a more widespread knowledge of foreign lands and of the customs, language, and needs of their inhabitants, the future place of the United States in the world's commerce is assured. European countries rely on the United States to a great extent for their food supply, and for much raw material for manufactures. Many lines of American goods are universally successful in the world's markets. These facts in them- selves indicate the importance of America in international commerce. The expansion of the United States beyond its own vast territory into the newly acquired lands in the Pacific and the Caribbean is of 380 The Geography of Commerce the utmost significance. We have placed ourselves before the gates of Asia on the one hand, and in closer touch with tropical America on the other, and are thus bidding for a large share in 1 ' GROWTH OF POPULATION OF PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD RUSSIA FRANCE GERMANY AUS-HUNGARY ITALY GREAT BRITAIN SPAIN UNITED STATES VERTICAL MILLIONS OF PEOPLE HORIZONTAL*- YEARS EA6ED ON HUBNER'S TABLE OF GEOGRAPHICAL STATISTICS COMPILED Bf DR.FR.VON JURASCHEK 1840 the trade of the Orient and the western tropics. Attention has already been called to the great disparity in numbers of our vessels in South American ports as compared with those of England and Germany. In the keen rivalry for the world's trade we must World Commerce 381 look to American shipping, and maintain that spirit of commercial activity abroad that has played such an important part in the internal development of the United States. With proper attention to the adjuncts of trade; with a utilization of her boundless natural resources ; with the education and stimulation of the industrial and commercial genius of her people, who can undertake to set a limit to the future greatness of the United States ? This country is entering a larger field. A knowledge of her native riches, an account of the part she is already playing in world trade, and familiarity with ways in which she may play a larger part, may well claim a place in the education of her citizens. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 301. What are the general industrial and trade relations of temperate and tropical regions? 302. Describe in detail the methods of international settlement of trade balances. 303. Give an account of the origin and use of the metric system. 304. Investigate the work of the National Bureau of Standards. 305. Get pilot charts of the North Atlantic and North Pacific and trace the great highways of trade. 306. Give an account of the great ship' canals of the world and show the relations of these to the principal branches of trade. (See monograph, Great Canals of the World, Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department.) 307. Contrast the probable advantages of a canal across the American isthmus with those of the Suez Canal. 308. What is the difference between an "active " and a "passive" trade ? 309. Trace the chief cables reaching from the United States to important regions of the world. Get a cable code and practice the condensation of messages. What about the commercial importance of " wireless telegraphy " ? (See Report of Treasury Department's Bureau of Statistics, on Submarine and Land Telephone Systems?) 310. What will be the influence of an Isthmian Canal upon the transcon- tinental railroads of North America ? 311. It is noon at Chicago: What time is it at Boston? at San Francisco? at London ? at Constantinople ? at Manila ? at Honolulu ? 382 The Geography of Commerce 312. What is a " liner " ? What is a " tramp ship " ? 313. On a map, indicate the great natural world divisions for trade. Sum- marize the descriptions of some of them as follows : (a) What countries in- cluded? (b) What products are characteristic? (c) What are the means of transportation ? 314. Take the three great commercial nations mentioned on p. 377, show the whole value of the foreign trade, the principal productions, and exports and imports of each. Compare Russia with these. 315. Contrast the advantages of foreign and domestic commerce. How do the relative advantages differ with different nations ? 316. What are the most promising fields for the surplus raw materials of the United States? What for its surplus manufactures ? Books to be Consulted *Lawson, American Industrial Problems, Chapter XXX, Problem of the Future. ** Commercial Relations of the United States. Bureau of Foreign Commerce. Washington, D.C. *Monthly Summaries of Commerce and Finance, Treasury Department. Wash- ington, D.C. See especially Summary for February, 1903, containing Statis- tical Abstract of the World. Bancroft, The New Pacific. New York ; 1900. *Marvin, The American Merchant Marine. New York ; 1902. Colquhoun, The Mastery of the Pacific. New York ; 1902. Sub- Marine and Land Telegraph Systems of the World. Summary of Commerce and Finance; July, 1902. Adams, America's Economic Supremacy. Macmillan Co.; 1900. **Proceedings of the International Commercial Congress. Philadelphia Com- mercial Museum; 1899. ** Exports of Domestic Manufactures and their Distribution. Monthly Sum- mary of Bureau of Statistics ; April and May, 1903. APPENDIX CURRENCIES OF PRINCIPAL NATIONS * A. Countries with, fixed currencies The valuations are those of the United States Treasury and do not include " rates of exchange.' COUNTRIES STANDARD MONETARY UNIT VALUE IN UNITED STATES GOLD Argentine Republic . . Austria-Hungary . . . Gold and silver Gold Gold and silver Peso Crown Franc $ 0.96, 5 .20,3 .IQ. 3 Brazil Gold Milreis ?A ft Chile do Peso OT- w 16 c Cuba Gold and silver Peso O v > 3 .02, 6 Gold Crown .26 8 Ecuador ...... do Sucre A& 7 do Pounds f loo pias- *t / A QA "I Gold and silver ters.) Franc .IQ "J Germany ...... Gold Mark 21 8 Great Britain .... do do Pound sterling Rupee 4.86, 6| 12 A. Italy Gold and silver Lira IQ 1 Gold Yen AQ S Gold and silver Florin 4O 2 Peru Gold Sol 4.8 7 Portugal ...... do I 08 Russia do Ruble CI C Spain . Gold and silver Peseta J 1 ' J IQ 7 Sweden and Norway . . Gold Gold and silver Crown Franc *y> j .26,8 IQ 3 Turkey Gold Piaster QA A do Peso I O"? J. Venezuela ..... Gold and silver Bolivar IQ 3 4 ;/> J 1 Commercial Relations of the United States ; 1902. Vol. I. 383 3^4 Appendix B. Countries with fluctuating currencies COUNTRIES STANDARD JAN. i, 1903 Haikwan tael $ o.S9, 4 Silver Boliviano 36, i RAILROAD MILEAGE OF THE WORLD (1900) Miles of completed railroad in United States Europe. 176,174 Asia . 37>469 Africa 12,501 Australasia ........... 14,922 North America other than United States 28,245 South America .......... 28,357 The total world's railroad mileage . . . . . . .491,120 Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department. WORLD'S SHIPPING OUTPUT 1 1903 1901 United Kingdom . . Tons 1,644,654 Tons 1,820,368 British Colonies 24,700 7,738 United States 717,771: 324,791 272,719 266,860 189,931 85,971 Holland 95,794 57989 Italy 49,020 27,715 Japan 7C.CC7 20,993 Norway and Sweden 74,314 50,666 Denmark 22,430 20,934 20,911 30,162 IC,977 13,700 China 6,28l 9,888 2,040 327 96; 3,399 200 2,733,024 2,741,701 1 The "Shipping World" Year Book, 1903, p. 744. , . ^ ^ 1 J w g 5 2 W J5 O 1 g * 1 1 . i ^ ^C X 1 g" 2 u o i 35 CC o Q E-i 05 CJ i | ' s g 3 5 Q s g ^ *; H H V 2 D H | S i QC Q 2 sT < jj tf N to 1 1 - P^ O 5 i 9~8 w *" Og ! s < ; || I p o 1 i 1 . a 5 00 1 " 1 . ^ ^> H H ^ t^ r> Q ^ C s Z^ W ^ 2 O " ^ H 15 I s i e" II 2 W s 0( * D ^ i p s M w H c B 1 i ? 1 fl g c ' I p< Z" c K * P * i I i j i 5 \ o s fe 3 1 o o Q g 5 OH S 2 . 1 y 4) a . 1 * H 5 >, '& 2 * > 13 4 W 5 J 1 | " ' 1 1 1 " D C 2C j t- - - ) |J V.? tH t 385 J s/J I 1 f S [ 2 ><~ I I 1 ! | ? i ! i " ^ i r it 5 c i : i 2 1 4 * * * | S g | 1 If c * 1- f S w ! 1 a c B 1 2 S s j i. p I 01 i ? 00 ! i O Pu | i J 4 4 i! i \ i : i 1* fa O Q M *I git 8 S I 5 *; C S g * . : \ i > '- i 4 1 C/3 n ft I- 8. 9 H $ H S 8, " W c & I M M o * & 4 "5 ^J 10 t- fa ^ p w u W S, g. oo oo O O O 10 t^ Ov O oo oo oo ai 386 ^j O3 +* T a! H 1 ^ 2 ^S > o ^ ft ^ S z- x w 3 o w &: ffi > x^ g M 1^ 1 1 C/3 <^ o ^ Q 00 O a < ^> o &i C/2 Q H '5 M i ffi ll 1 s ftl W O J *o ^ W H M H K O t; fc H H . a to X X g . Q & 1 g w Q "-" P W H S *l*o O k ^ s ^ 2 S | P 5 1 a 2 3 Z ~ ( j <^ O f tota j ex p or t s to ) $27,522,797. ' j 80.6 % of total exports to Oceania J $23,472,843. ^ 62.5 % of total exports to South Ameri 90,866. Yo of total exports to Africa. PORTS OF UNITED STATES' DOMES OF THE 6 H X . CD ^ X $ * 1- X os w 8 . fa M T i p .3 | ; w : 4 ; : i : o g : i : : i : : i . . 1 . 387 Q _o - f. D Q < 's 8 *T i-i a 1 S * f. j H - 3 o 5 o ~; tD s> '6-0 | 00 H o ** O ^ p4 *9 O <; < H Q ^ ^ ^ -2 ^ S- s i . 3 1 1 h O M 10 HJ ON h in a^ M 00 ro O f^ <3g H to U'"' PM vO ff) vO VO ^8. N vO i-^ LO to 06" ON Q t^ to "S rf to O\ fO ^ (^ vO ro S 00 O^ 00 iH Dollars 1,958,030,927 00 $ 1-1 CD ~ ci 68,226,061 B c/5 3 o . M a .2 u 3 6l Arizona, 17. as a copper-producing territory, 66. date palm cultivation in, HI. production of silver in, 70. Arizona Copper Mine, the, 67. Arkansas, production in, of bauxite, 69 ; cotton, 103 ; manganese, 74 ; oil- stones, 83. Arms. See Firearms. Art work, East Indian, 334. Italian, 291-292. Japanese, 327. Asbestos, 84, 181. Asia Minor, 338-339. Asphalt, 79-80, 190, 204, 213. Assafoetida, 341. Asuncion, 226. Atacama, Desert of, 14. Athens, 304. Atlantic Coastal Plain, the, 43-45. Atlas Mountains, 346. Attar of roses, 301, 302. Auckland, 363. Australia, 359-363. commerce of, 259, 361-362. inhabitants of, 37. products of, 69, 117, 164, 360-362. Austria-Hungary, 186, 242-243, 294-298. commerce of, with Germany, 286, 298; Great Britain, 298; India, 335; Italy, 298; Turkey, 339. currency of, 383. products of, 65 n., 80, 93, 100, no, 115, 188, 294-295. Austrian Gap, 296. Azores, 272. BAD LANDS, 54. Bagdad, 339. Bahamas, 202, 203-204. sponge industry of, 123, 203. Bahia, 218. Baikal, Lake, 313, 315. Balkan Mountains, 301, 302. Balkan Peninsula, 300-301. Balsam of Peru, 193. Baltimore, 45, 48, 50, 122. chrome industry in, 74. Baluchistan, 246, 331, 341. Bamboo, 332, 348. Banana, 356. Bananas, 168, 170, 189, 193, 198, 270, 365. Bangkok, 342. Banks of North Atlantic, 44, 118-119, 120. Bantu peoples, the, 37. Barbados, 202. Barbary States, 348. Barcelona, 272. Barley, 4, 94, 180, 262, 281, 306, 320, 327. Barranquilla, 227. Barytes, production and use of, 85. Basel, 289. Basins, intermont, 56, 227. Batavia, 343. Bauxite, 69. Bays of Atlantic Coastal Plain, 44. Beaufort, 82. Bechuanaland, 347. Beef packing, 113-114, 129, 143-144, 222 - Beirut, 339. Belem, 219. Belfast, Ireland, 257. Belgium, 186, 274-277. commerce of, with Argentina, 224, 276; France, 268, 276; Germany, 276 ; Great Britain, 259 ; Holland, 276, 279; India, 335; United States^ 276; Uruguay, 276. currency of, 383. products of, 65 n., 69, 275-276. Belgrade, 301. Belize, 192, 193, 194. Bencoolen, 343. Bengal, 335. Benguet, 164. Berbers, the, 36. Berlin, 244, 284, 285. Bermudas, 204-205. Bicycles, American, 164. English, 254. Big Horn Basin, 56. Bilboa, 271; 272. Biltmore, forest reserve at, 30. Bird's nest, edible, 344. Birmingham, Ala., 49, 62, 125, 146. Birmingham, England, 254. Bitter Root Mountains, 55. Index 391 Black Hills, the, 55. gold in, 72. tin in, 69. Blende, 68. Bluefields, 194. Blue grass country, Kentucky, 49. Bog ores, 61, 278. Bogota, 227. Bohemia, 294, 295. Bohol, 162. Bolivia, 69, 212, 231-232, 384. Bolton, 253. Boma, 356. Bombay, 335. Bontoc, 164. Book publishing, 285. Boots and shoes, 128, 130, 159. Boracic acid, 291. Borax, 85, 230. Bordeaux, 262, 266. Borneo, 162, 343-344- Bosnia, 300. Boston, 6, 47, 115, 140, 143. as a wool market, 117. Brahmaputra River, 336. Brazil, 212, 216-220, 224, 383. Brazil Highland, 210. Breadfruit, 165, 365. Bremen, 284. Breslau, 285. Breweries, Austrian, 296. English, 253. French, 262. German, 281. Irish, 257. Russian, 311. South American, 218, 223, 231, 234. Brindisi, 242, 292. Brisbane, 362. Britannia metal, 69, 74, 130. British Columbia, 179, 180. lumber from, 147. salmon fishing in, 121, 181. Brittany, 261. Bromine, production of (U.S.), 85. Brussels, 276. Buckwheat, 98, 277, 317. Budapest, 246, 298. Buenos Ayres, 224. Buffalo, 115, 146. Bug River, 309. Building stones, production of, in France, 264-265 ; Mexico, 190 ; Porto Rico, 170 ; United States, 80-81. Bukharest, 300. Bulgaria, 300, 302. Bulgarians, the, 36. Burgundy Gate, 240, 267. Burma, 336, 342. Burton-on-Trent, 253. Butte, 55, 67. Butter. See Dairying. CACAO, production of, in Central Amer- ica, 193; Ceylon, 336; Guam, 165; Mexico, 189; Philippines, 163; Porto Rico, 170; South America, 212, 213, 215, 217, 226, 228-231 ; West Indies, 203, 204. importation of, to Great Britain, 259. Cadiz, 272. Cairo, 352,355. Calcutta, 335. California, production in, of antimony, 74; asbestos ,84; barley, 94; beet sugar, loo ; borax, 85 ; copper, 67 ; chromium, 74; gold, 72; granite, 80; hops, no; mercury, 73; min- eral waters, 82 ; natural gas, 79 ; oil, 78 ; peaches, 101 ; salt, 84 ; timber, 57, 106 ; tin, 69 ; wines, 101, 130. Callao, 231. Calms, equatorial, 13. Cambodia, 342. Camden, 117. Camphor, 327, 330. Canada, 177-184. commerce of, 90, 182-184, 186, 205. products of, 65 n., 75, 78, 179-181. Canadian Pacific Railway, 180, 183. Canals, Belgian, 274. Canadian, 183. Chinese, 321. Dutch, 278-279. English, 253, 257. French, 267, 268. German, 285-286. Indian, 332, 336. interoceanic, 157, 194, 227, 244, 328, 355, 365, 374, 376-377. United States', 135-136. See Waterways. 392 Geography of Commerce Canary Islands, 272-273. Canton, 323. Canton River, 320. Caoutchouc. See Rubber. Cape Colony, 347, 352, 353, 354, 355,356. commerce of, in 1902, 186. Cape Fear, 44. Cape Hatteras, 44. Cape Lookout, 44. Cape Nome, 174. Cape St. Roque, 207. Cape Town, 356. Cape Verde Islands, 272. Caracas, 214. Carbonate, 61, 64. Cardenas, 199. Cardiff, 254. Caribbean Islands, 200-203. Carinthia, 294. Carpathian Mountains, 240, 299. Carpets, of Afghanistan, 341. American, 117, 130, 159. Indian, 334. Turkish, 301, 302, 303, 339. Cartagena, Colombia, 227. Cartagena, Spain, 272. Cascade Mountains, 57. Cashmere shawls, 334. Cassiquiare River, 210. Catania, 292. Catskill Mountains, 49, 50. Cattle, movement of (U. S.)i 143-144- pasturing of, in forests, 30, 32. Cattle raising, in Central America, 193; Cuba, 198; Hawaii, 168; India, 332; Italy, 290; Mexico, 189; Porto Rico, 170; United States, 56,113-115,144. See Stock raising. Caviare, 121,317. Cayenne, 215. Cebu, 162, 165. Cedrela wood, 198. Celebes, 343. Celts, the, 36. Cements, 81, 199, 264, 300. Central America, 192-195. Cereals, production of, in Hawaii, 169; South America, 213, 226, 232-233 ; United States, 95-97, 142. See Barley, Oats, Rye, and Wheat. Cevennes Mountains, 261. Ceylon, 335, 336. Champagne, 264. Champereco, 194. Champlain Canal, 136. Charleroi, 275. Charleston, S.C., 6, 45, 82, 145. Charting of coasts, 372, 373. Cheese, 115, 180. See Dairying. Chemicals, 159, 275, 277, 284. Chemnitz, 284. Chesapeake Bay, 45. Chester, Pa., 117. Chicago, 52, 54,55, 114, 115, 135, 143, 147. Chile, 66, 212, 232-234, 383. China, 319-324. commerce of, with Great Britain, 323 ; India, 334-335. 34 2 ; Japan, 323, 328, 329; Russia, 323; United States, 323. currency of, 384. production in, of coal, 78, 321, 324; rice, 99, 321; silk, 321-323; tea 321-323. Chinaware, 284, 321. Chinese, the, 36, 162, 163, 166, 168, 319. Chita, 315. Christchurch, 363. Christiania, 307. Chrome steel, 74. Chromium, 74. Cienfuegos, 199. Cincinnati, 115, 129, 143. Cinnabar, 73, 190, 271. Cities, of Atlantic Coastal Plain, 45. effect of position of, on growth, 6. of fall-line, 44, 47. prairie, 52, 54. Ciudad Bolivar, 214. Cleveland, 115, 146. Climate, of Africa, 346 ; Argentina, 222 ; Austria-Hungary, 294; Dominion of Canada, 178 ; Chile, 233 ; Cuba, 197 ; Eurasia, 240-241 ; Guiana, 214; Hawaii, 166; Italy, 290; Mexico, 187-188 ; Philippines, 162, 163 ; Porto Rico, 169 ; United States, 19-20 ; Venezuela, 212. forests and, 28-29. for growing cotton, 102; maize, 90; oats, 94 ; rye, 94 ; wheat, 91-92. relation of, to commerce, 4-5, 9-26. Index 393 Clocks, 130, 284. Clover, 97. Clyde River, 254. Coal, of Africa, 351; Austria-Hungary, 295; Belgium, 275, 276; Brazil, 219; Burma, 336; Canada, 181 ; China, 321,323 ; France, 264, 268; Germany, 77-78, 282-283; Great Britain, 77-78, 251-255; Holland, 278; Japan, 78, 164, 327; Korea, 324; Mexico, 190; New South Wales, 361 ; New Zealand, 361 ; Philippines, 164; Rumania, 300; Russia, 311; Siam, 342; Siberia, 314-315; South Africa, 355; United States, 75-78 ; Wales, 254. distribution of (map), 78. lake commerce in (U.S.), 147. movement of (U.S.), 140-141, 146. world's production of (diagram), 77. Coal oil, 78-79. See Petroleum. Coastal Plain regions, 43-46. Coast line, of Atlantic Coastal Plain, 45. influence of, on commerce, 4, 237-239. Coast Ranges, the, 58. Cobalt, 74-75, 233. Cocaine, 230. Cochin China, 342. Cocoanuts, 163, 165, 166, 170, 227, 332, 33 6 , 364. 365- Cocus wood, 198. Codfish, 120, 173, 184. Coffee, of Africa, 350; Arabia, 340; Brazil, 217-218 ; Central America, 193; Ceylon, 336; Cuba, 198; Guam, 165; Hawaii, 168; India, 332; Java, 343; Mexico, 188, 192; Porto Rico, 170, 172; Samoa, 166; South America, 212, 213, 215, 225, 226, 228, 229, 230, 231 ; Turkey, 338 ; West Indies, 203. distribution of (map), 217. world's production (1900), 218. Coke, 76, 130. Cold storage, 102, 113-114, 129, 223, 224. Collars and cuffs, 130. Colleges, instruction in forestry in, 30. Colombia, 208, 212, 213, 226-228. trade of, with Cuba, 200. Colombo, 336. Colon, 227. Colorado, production in, of beet sugar, 100; cattle, 114, 143; coal, 146; copper, 67 ; granite, 80 ; oil, 78 ; silver, 70; wool, 116. Colorado River, 57. Columbia River, 57, 119, 121, 142. Columbia, S.C., 45. Columbus, Ohio, 126. Commerce, man element in, 34-40. relation between, and climate, 4-5, 9-26; coast line, .4, 237-239; islands, 4; rivers, 2; soil, 3-4; weather, 20-24. Commodities, movement of, 131-147. Comstock Lode, the, 56, 70. Connecticut, industries of, 130. Consolidation of railroads, 137. Constantinople, 246, 301-302, 339. Consuls, American, 153. Copaiba, 213. Copenhagen, 308. Copper, of Africa, 351; Canada, 181 ; China, 321 ; Cuba, 199 ; Germany, 282; Great Britain, 256; India, 334; Japan, 327; Korea, 324; Mexico, 190, 192 ; Norway, 307 ; Philippines, 164; Porto Rico, 170; Russia, 314, 315 ; Siam, 342 ; South America, 66, 213, 218, 219, 223, 227, 230, 231, 233; Spain and Portugal, 66, 271; Sweden, 306; United States, 65-67. derivation of name, 339. uses of, 67. world's production of (diagram), 66. Copper Queen Mine, 67. Copra, 163, 164, 165, 166, 343, 365, 366. Cordilleran Highland, 187. Cordilleran Region, the, 55. Corfu, 304. Corinto, 194. Cork, 257. Corn, 4, 89-91, 150, 180, 188, 223, 299. Corn-belt, the, 52, 87, 89-91, 131. Cornell, forestry taught at, 30. Cornwall, production of tin in, 69, 254. Corsets, 130. Corsica, 290. Corundum, 83, 338. Cossacks, the, 36. Costa Rica, 192, 193, 194. 394 Geography of Commerce Cotton, distribution of (map), 102. Egyptian, in, 355. movement of (U.S.), 144-146. sea-island, 102-103. Cotton-belt, the, 102. Cotton growing, in Africa, 350; Brazil, 217-218; Central America, 193; China, 321; Egypt, 355; India, 332, 335; Mexico, 189; Peru, 230; Porto Rico, 170; Samoa, 166; Turkey, 338; United States, 45-46, 87, 102-103, 150. Cotton manufacturing, 103, 125^ 128, 130, 145-146, 159, 218, 252, 254, 265, 266, 275, 283, 286, 316, 321, 327, 342. Cotton-seed oil, 104. Coventry, 254. Cripple Creek, 55. Crown colonies, British, 324, 336, 342. Cryolite, 69. Cuba, 99, 197-200, 383. Cumberland Valley, the, 48. Curasao, 202. Currants, 302-303. Currencies, national, 383-384. Customs League, German, 286. Cutlery, Belgian, 375. British, 352. German, 283. Cyclones, 20. Cyprus, 339. DAIRYING, in Argentina, 223 ; Canada, 180; Denmark, 307; France, 264; Germany, 282; Great Britain, 256; Holland, 277; Italy, 290; Ontario, 180; Sweden, 306; Switzerland, 289; United States, 88, 114, 115. Dalmatia, 300. Danube River, 240, 281, 296, 299, 300. Darlington, 252. Date line, international, 374-376. Date palm, in, 270. Dates, 339, 340. Deccan table-land, 331. Decimal system of weights and meas- ures, 370. Delagoa Bay, 356. Delaware, granite quarries in, 80. Delaware Bay, 45. Delaware River, 48. Denmark, 307-308, 383. Denver, 55. Detroit, 143. Diamonds, of Africa, 351, 355; Brazil, 218; British Guiana, 215. Dinaric Mountains, 294. Dneister River, 309. Dnieper River, 309. Dominica, 202. Don River (Russia), 310; (Scot.), 252. Dresden, 284. Drumlins, 46. Dublin, 257. Duluth, 135, 143. Dundee, 122, 255. Dunedin, 363. Dunkirk, 265, 267. Durban, 356. Duties, British, 259. Dwarfs, 37. Dyestuffs, 163-164, 189, 227, 230. Dyewoods, 164, 170, 198-199, 225, 350. EAST INDIES (Dutch), 279, 343. East Liverpool, O., potteries at, 129. East London, South Africa, 356. East Tennessee Valley, the, 48. Ebony, 170, 189, 348. Ecuador, 212, 228-229, 383. Edinburgh, 255. Edmonton, 180. Eggs, production of, in United States, 118. sea birds', 308. Egypt, 2, 14, 36, 91, 348, 353, 355, 383. Eider down, 308. Elbe River, 281, 284, 285. Electricity, use of, in separating ore, 62. Electric roads, United States, 139. Eleusine grass, 350. Emeralds, 190, 227. Emery, 83, 338. England. See Great Britain. Ensilage, 89-90. Erie, 146. Erie Canal, 135-136. Eskimos, 25. Esparto grass, 271, 272. Essen, 283. Estuaries, 122. Euphrates River, 338. Eurasia, 237-247. Index 395 FALL-LINE, 44-45, 47, 133. Farming. See Agriculture. Faroe Islands, 308. Fayal, 272. Fertilizers, 81-82, 233, 264. Figs, 101, 165, 189, 271, 291, 302, 338. Fiji Islands, 365. Finger lakes, 50. Finland, 309. Firearms, 253, 275, 283, 301, 321, 328. Fisheries, of Alaska, 173, 174 ; Canada, 181 ; Germany, 283 ; Great Britain, 256 ; Newfoundland, 184 ; Nor- way, 306-307; Siberia, 314; United States, 118-122. Fiume, 298. Fjords, 305. Flagstones, 80. Flax, production of, in Argentina, 223; Belgium, 275, 276; France, 266; Ireland, 257; Italy, 291, 292; Rus- sia, 311 ; United States, 104. Flaxseed, lake commerce in (U.S.), 147. Florence, 291-292. Florida, production of cotton, 103 ; fruit, 101 ; phosphates, 82 ; sponges, 123. Florida Peninsula, the, 46. Flour, lake commerce in (U.S.), 147. Flour mills, of Brazil, 218; Hungary, 295, 298 ; Russia, 311 ; United States, 92, 125, 142-143. Fluorite, production and use of, 85. Flushing, Holland, 279. Food plants of United States, 89-102. Forage crops, 97-98, 189, 258, 301. Forecasts, weather, 21-23. Forest reserves, 30. Forestry, bureau of, in Philippines, 164. in Germany, 30, 283. as a science, 29-32. Forests, 27-32, 49. of Argentina, 223 ; Austria-Hungary, 295; Canada, 178, 179-180; Co- lombia, 227 ; Cuba, 198-199 ; Ha- waii, 168; India, 332; Mexico, 189 ; Paraguay, 225 ; Philippines, 163-164; Russia, 310, 314; Scan- dinavia, 305-306; United States, 57, 87-88, 104-108. products of (U. S.), 104-109, 137. See Timber and Trees. Formosa, 162, 326, 330. Forth, Firth of, 254. Fourmies, 266. France, 36, 65 n., 75, 93, 100, 242, 261-268. commerce of, in 1902, 186. commerce of, with Belgium, 268, 276; Central America, 195 ; Cuba, 200 ; Great Britain, 259, 268 ; Italy, 293; Japan, 329; Mexico, 190; Russia, 262, 268 ; South America, 213, 224, 228 ; Spain, 273 ; Switzer- land, 289; Turkey, 339; United States, 262, 268. currency of, 383. possessions of, in Africa, 347, 348; Oceanica, 364. Franklin Furnace, N.J., 74. Frazer River, 178. Free Town, 357. Freight transported in United States in 1901, 137. Friendly Islands, 365-366. Fruit culture, in Canada, 180; United States, 101-102. Fruits grown in Africa, 350 ; Argentina, 223 ; Central America, 193 ; Cuba, 198; Guam, 165; Hawaii, 168; Mexico, 189 ; Philippines, 163 ; Porto Rico, 170; West Indian Islands, 203-204. Furs, production of, in Alaska, 173, 174 ; Canada, 178, 180; Siberia, 314. Fustic, 198, 199, 213. GALENA, 67, 68. Galveston, 145. Gal way, 257. Ganges River, 236. " Garden of Canada," 180. Gas, natural, 79. Gateshead, 252. Gems found in Africa, 351 ; Burma, 336 ; Mexico, 190; Persia, 341; Siam, 342 ; United States, 82. Genoa, 292. Georgetown, British Guiana, 215. Georgia, production in, of asbestos, 84; bauxite, 69; clays, 81 ; corundum, 83; cotton, 103; granite, 80; man- ganese, 74; rice, 99; rosin, 130; turpentine, 130. 396 Geography of Commerce Germans, the, 36, 50, 242, 243, 280-287. German silver, 75. Germany, 65 n., 74, 75, 77-78, 84, 93, 100, no, 115, 242, 280-287. commerce of, in 1902, 186. commerce of, with Austria-Hun- gary, 286, 298 ; Belgium, 276 ; Central America, 193; Cuba, 200; Great Britain, 259,286; Holland, 279; India, 334-335; Italy, 293; Japan, 328, 329; Mexico, 190; Russia, 286, 317; Samoa, 166; South America, 213, 220, 224, 228, 230,234; Switzerland, 289 ; United States, 286, 287. currency of, 383. dependencies pf, in Africa, 347; Oceanica, 364. forestry in, 30. trade outlook of, 377-379. Ghent, 275. Ginger. See Spices. Glacial period, traces of, 46-47, 52. Glass making, Bohemia, 296. Gloucester, fishing industry at, 120, 181. Glove industry in Denmark, 308. Gobi, Desert of, 14. Gold, of Africa, 351; Alaska, 173, 174; Australia, 361; Austria-Hungary, 295; Burma, 336; Canada, 181 ; India, 334; Korea, 324; Mexico, 189-190; New Guinea, 365 ; Phil- ippines, 164; Porto Rico, 170; Siam, 342; Siberia, 314; South Africa, 355 ; South America, 213, 214, 215, 218, 223, 227, 228-230, 233; United States, 58, 60, 71-73. copper and lead as by-products of, 67. uses of, 73. world's production of (diagram) , 72. Gomul Pass, 341. Good Road Movement (U. S.), 140. Gorlitz, 284. Gothenburg, 306. Grain, lake commerce in (U.S.), 147. movement of (U. S.), 141-143. Grain elevators, 92, 135. Gran Chaco, 225. Grand Canon, the, 57. Grand Trunk Railway, 183. Granite, 80. Graphite, 76, 84, 314, 336. Great Basin, 56. Great Britain, 4, 69, 77-78, 84, 249-259. colonies of, 204-205, 324, 336, 342, 347, 363, 364, 365- commerce of, in 1902, 186. commerce of, with Africa, 353 ; Ar- gentina, 259; Australia, 259, 361- 362; Austria-Hungary, 298; Bel- gium, 259; Canada, 259; Central America, 195; China, 323; Cuba, 200; France, 259, 268; Germany, 259, 286 ; Holland, 259, 279 ; Hong-Kong, 324; India, 259, 334- 335; Italy, 293; Japan, 328, 329; Mexico, 190; Persia, 341; Russia, 2 59, 3 1 ?; South America, 208- 209, 213, 215, 220, 224, 225, 228, 231, 234, 259; Spain, 273; Swit- zerland, 289 ; Turkey, 339 ; United States, 90, 118,259; West Indian Islands, 204. currency of, 383. protectorates of, 339, 341. trade outlook of, 377-379. trade relations of, with Canada, 182. Greater Antilles, 200-202. Great Lakes, fishing industry on, 121. as a highway of commerce, 134-135. Great Plain of Europe, 239, 242, 280. Great Plains (U.S.), 54-55. semi-arid regions of, 97. Great Valley, the, 48, 50. Greece, 302-304. Greenland, 308. Greenock, 254. Grenada, 202. Greytown, 194. Grindstones, 83, 252. Groningen, 279. Guadeloupe, 202. Guam, 165-166. Guanajuato, 190. Guano, 82, 230, 233, 234. Guatemala, 192, 193, 194. Guavas, 170. Guayaquil, 229. Guiana, 208, 212, 214-216. Guiana Highland, 210. Gulf Stream, the, 10,205. Gums, 163, 215, 225, 350, 354. Index 397 Gum tragacanth, 302, 340. Gutta-percha, 163. Gypsum, 81-82. HAITI, 200, 204. Hakodate, 329. Halifax, England, 252. Halifax, N.S., 183-184. Hamburg, 284. Hamilton, Bermuda Islands, 205. Hanley, 253. Hardwoods, 104, 106, 108, 163, 170, 178, 189, 193, 198, 305-306, 348. Hartlepool, 252. Havana (Habana), 199. Havre, 265, 267. Hawaii, 99, 142, 166-169. Hay, 97, 180, 361. Heat constant of plants and animals, 18. Helderburg Mountains, 49, 50. Hematite, 61, 64, 256, 351. Hemp, 104, 163, 164, 172, 189, 291, 292, 299- 3". 330- Herat, 341. Herring, 120-121, 184, 256. Herzegovina, 300. Hexam, 251. Hides, 159, -164, 168, 170, 171, 192, 193, 213, 215, 217, 223, 225, 227, 228, 229, 230, 317, 335, 364. . Highland Rim of Alleghany Plateau, 49. Himalaya Mountains, 331. Passes of the, 341. Hindustan, 331-332. Hoangho River, 319, 320, 321. Hobart, 363, 371. Hog raising, in Germany, 281, 282 ; Great Britain, 256; United States, 115. Holland, 259, 274-279, 343, 364, 383. Honduras, 192, 193, 194. Honey, 170, 301, 302, 351. Hong-Kong, 323, 324, 329. Honolulu, 169. Honshu, 326. Hops, no, 256, 262, 277, 281, 295, 361. Horses, American, 117-118. Arabian, 340. Belgian, 276. Mexican, 189. Huddersfield, 252. Hudson Bay Company, 180. Hudson River, 48, 50, 135-136, 147. Hungarian Gate, 296. Hungary. See Austria-Hungary. Hurricanes, West Indian, 20, 169, 197, 202. IBERIAN PENINSULA, 242, 270-271. See Spain and Portugal. Iceland, 308. Idaho, production in, of antimony, 74; silver, 70; wool, 116. Illinois, production in, of agricultural implements, 127, 130; coal, 76, 146; corn, 89; cows (milch), 115; fluorite, 85 ; hay, 98 ; liquors (dis- tilled), 130; oats, 94; peaches, 101 ; pig iron, 146; potatoes, 98. meat packing industry in, 129. Iloilo, 165. Imperial Commercial Museum, Japa- nese, 328. India, 38, 247, 331-336. . commerce of, 186, 259, 328, 329, 334. currency of, 383. products of, 93, 99, 332-334. sugar a native of, 99. Indiana, center of population of United States in, 96. production in, of coal, 146 ; corn, 89 ; cows (milch), 115; hay, 98; oats, 94 ; oilstones, 83 ; natural gas, 79. Indianapolis, 115. Indian corn, 89-90, 188, 290, 299. Indian meal, 89. Indian Ocean, monsoons in'the, 14. Indian Territory, 103, 143. Indians, American, 37, 50. Indigo, possibilities for growing, in United States, no. production of, in Central America, 193 ; China, 321 ; India, 332, 335 ; Philippines, 163. Indo-China, 155, 336, 341-342. Indus River, 241, 336. Iowa, production in, of barley, 94; coal, 146; corn, 89; cows (milch), 115; hay, 97-98; oats, 94; potatoes, 98. Ireland, 94, 257-258. Irish, the, 36. Iron, movement of, in United States, 146. production of, in Africa, 351 ; Austria- Hungary, 295; Belgium, 274; 398 Geography of Commerce China, 321; France, 65 n., 264; Germany, 65 n., 282-283; Great Britain, 254, 256; India, 334; Italy, 291; Japan, 327; Korea, 324; Mexico, 190; Philippines, 164; Russia, 65 n.,3ii; South America, 213, 219, 227; Spain and Portugal, 271 ; Sweden, 306 ; United States, 61-65, 128, 130 ; Wales, 254. Iron Gates of Danube, 298, 299. Iron Mountain, 51. Iron ore, bog, 61, 278. Iron pyrite, 61, 74. Iron works, English, 253. Irrawaddy River, 336. Irrigation, 15-18, 91, 97, no, 168, 270, 271, 290, 320, 332. Islands, relation between, and com- merce, 4. Isotherms, 11-13. Isthmian Canal, 157, 194, 227, 328, 365, 374, 377- Italians, the, 36, 243. in Argentina, 224. Italy, 91, 93, 289-293. commerce of, 186, 224, 293, 298. currency of, 383. possessions of, in Africa, 347. Ivory, of Africa, 350. fossil, 315. vegetable, 227, 228. Ixtle, 189. JADE, 336. Jamaica, 200-202, 205. Japan, 4, n, 247, 326-329. commerce of, 186, 323, 328, 329. currency of, 383. products of, 78, 164, 326-327. Japan Current, the, 10. Japanese, the, 36, 166. Jasper, Mexican, 190. Java, 38, 343. Jaxartes River, 316. Jewelry, 130. Jews, the, 36. Johannesburg, 355. Jura Mountains, 261, 267. Jute, 189, 332. Jute manufacturing, 265, 296, 328, 334. Jutland, Peninsula of, 307. KABUL, 341. Kafir corn, 97. Kaiser Wilhelm Ship Canal, 286. Kalahari Desert, 347. Kamchatka, 315. Kansas, production in, of coal, 146 ; corn, 89 ; cotton, 103 ; cows (milch) , 115 ; hay, 97 ; potatoes, 98 ; salt, 84. Kansas City, 55, 114, 115, 143. Kaolin, 81, 213, 296. Karachi, 335. Kashmir, 334. Kentucky, production in, of coal, 146; cotton, 103; hemp, 104; natural gas, 79; tobacco, 109-110. Key West, 200. Khartum, 352, 355. Khyber Pass, 341. Kimberley, 355. Kirghis, the, 36. Kittatinny Valley, the, 48. Kiusiu Island, 326, 327, 329. Klamath River, 57. Klondike, 181. Kobe, 329. Kongo Free State, 348, 352, 356-357. Kongo River, 345, 351. Korea, u, 324, 329. Krefeld, 283. Krupp manufacturing plant, 283. Kurile Islands, 326. LABOR, cheapness of, in Italy, 291. conditions, in tropics, 24. Labrador, 25, 184. Labrador Current, 184. Lace, Belgian, 275, 276. Lachine rapids, 183. Lacquering, Japanese, 327. La Guaira, 214. Lake commerce (U.S.), 134-135. Lake Region (U.S.), 51-52. Lake Superior district, production in, of copper, 67; iron ore, 63-64, 128. La Paz, 232. Lapis lazuli, 341. La Plata River, 210-211. La Union, Salvador, 194. Lead, production of, in Canada, 181 ; China, 321 ; Germany, 282; Italy, 291 ; Mexico, 190, 192; Newfound- Index 399 land, 184; Russia, 314; South America, 213, 218, 219, 230 ; Spain, 68, 271 ; United States, 67-68. uses of, 68. Leadville, 55, 68, 74. Leather manufacturing, 128-129, 1 3 I 9i 300, 316. Lebanon Valley, the, 48. Leeds, 252. Leeward Islands, 202, 204. Leghorn straw, 291. Lehigh Valley, the, 48. Leipzig, 285. Leith, 255. Lemons, 101, 264. Lena River Basin, 315. Leopoldville, 352. Lepanto, 164. Lesser Antilles, 202. Levuka, 365. Leyte, 162. Liberia, 348, 353, 357. Libyan Desert, 346. Liege, 275. Lignite, 164, 219, 223, 282, 291, 295, 338. Lignum vitae, 198. Lille, 266. Lily bulbs, 205. Lima, 231. Limerick, 257. Limestone, quarrying and use of, 81, 199. Limoges, 265. Limonite, 61. Limpopo River, 346. Linen, Belgian, 275. French, 265, 266. Irish, 257. Russian, 311. Linseed oil, 104. Lisbon, 272. Liverpool, 252, 253. Livingston, Guatemala, 194. Llano Estacado, 54. Lobsters, 181, 184. Locomotives, American, abroad, 192, 200, 318, 328. French manufacture of, 266. Loess, 319. Logwood, 193, 198. Lombardy, Plain of, 289, 290, 292. London, 252, 253, 256. Londonderry, 257. Long House of the Iroquois, 50. Loochoo Islands, 326. Lorenzo Marquez, 356. Louisiana, production in, of cotton, 103; rice, 99; sugar, 99; tobacco, no. Lucerne (alfalfa grass), 97, 189. Lumber, 44, 108-109, 178, 179, 348-350. distinction between, and timber, 105. lake commerce in (U.S.), 147. movement of (U.S.), 146-147. Luzon, 162. Lyons, 265, 266. MACAO, 323. Macaroni, 93, 290. Mackenzie River, 178. Madagascar, 364. Madeira Islands, 272-273. Madeira River, 211. Madras, 335. Madrid, 272. Madura, 343. Magdalena River, 227. Magnesite, 84-85. Magnetite, 61, 62, 170, 199. Mahogany, 189, 193, 198, 348. Maine, production in, of horses, 118; paper, 129; potatoes, 98. shipbuilding in, 140, 141. Maize growing, in Africa, 350; Central America, 193 ; China, 320 ; France, 262; Guam, 165; Hungary, 91, 295 ; Italy, 91 ; Philippines, 163 ; Porto Rico, 170 ; Russia, 91 ; United States, 90-91. Malacca, 342. Malaga, 272. Malay Archipelago, 343-344. inhabitants of, 37. Malay Peninsula, tin from, 69, 254. Malmo, 306. Manchester, England, 253. Manchester Ship Canal, 253. Manchuria, 315, 319. Mandalay, 336. Manganese, 74, 219, 233, 306, 315, 317. Mangoes, 189, 334. Manila, 165. Manioc (mandioca) , 350. Manitoba, Province of, 179. 4OO Geography of Commerce Manufactures, of Argentina, 223; Aus- tria-Hungary, 295-297; Belgium, 275, 276 ; Canada, 181 ; Chile, 234 ; China, 321 ; France, 264-265, 285 ; Germany, 283-285, 385 ; Great Britain, 252, 253, 254, 255, 385; Holland, 275, 276; India, 334; Italy, 291; Japan, 327; Mexico, 190; Russia, 311,317; Spain, 272; Switzerland, 289; United King- dom, 385 ; United States, 124-126, 130. 159, 385-388. importation of, to Central America, 193-194. moved by rail (U.S.), 137. world's distribution of (map), 367. Manures. See Fertilizers. Manzanillo, 192. Maracaibo, 214. Marbles, production of, in France, 264 ; Italy, 291 ; Mexico, 190 ; Porto Rico, 170; United States, 80-81. Marl, 81. Marne River, 267. Marseilles, 266. Martha's Vineyard, 47. Martinique, 202. Maryland, production in, of coal, 146; granite, 80; horses, 118; oysters, 44. ISO- Massachusetts, production in, of asbestos, 84; boots and shoes, 128, 130; cotton goods, 128, 130; emery, 83; paper, 129; whetstones, 83 ; whips, 130; woolen manufactures, 117. Matanzas, 199. Matches, 171, 306, 328. Mate, 217-218, 223, 225, 226. Mauritius, 364. Mazatlan, 192. Meat packing, 114, 115-116, 129, 143-144, 222-223. Mekong River, 342. Melanesia, 365. Melbourne, 362. Menam River, 342. Mercury, 73, 271-272, 295, 314, 342. Merino sheep, 116-117, 271, 361. Mersey River, 252. Mescal, 189. Mesopotamia, 338. Messina, 292. Metals of United States, 60-61. Metric system, 370. Meuse River, 274. Mexico, 187-192. commerce of, 186, 190-192, 207. Mexico, City of, 192. Mica, production and use of, 85. Michigan, production in, of beet sugar, ico ; bromine, 85; copper, 66-67 ; graphite, 84 ; iron, 63; manganese, 74; mineral waters, 82; peaches, 101 ; pine timber, 105 ; potatoes, 98; rye, 94; salt, 83; sheep, 116. Micronesia, 364-365. Migration of peoples, 37-38. Milan, 292. Milk, condensed, 289. See Dairying. Millet, 97, 320, 332, 350. Millstones, 83, 92, 93. Milwaukee, 115, 135, 143. Minas Geraes, 218. Mindanao, 162. Mindoro, 162. Mine Lamotte, Mo., 75. Minerals, of Africa, 351 ; of Appalachian Highland, 49; Australia, 361; Austria, 294, 295; Balkan Moun- tains, 301; Belgium, 275-276; Canada, 181 ; Ceylon, 336; China, 321 ; Cuba, 199 ; Germany, 282- 283; Great Britain, 256; India, 3341 Japan, 327; Mexico, 189- 190; Newfoundland, 184; Nor- way, 307; Philippines, 164; Porto Rico, 170; Russia, 314; Siberia, 314; South Africa, 355; South America, 213, 218-219, 223, 227, 228-229, 230, 231, 233; Spain and Portugal, 271; Sweden, 306; Tur- key (Asiatic), 338; United States (metallic substances), 60-75, (non- metallic), 75-85. lake commerce in (U.S.), 147. Mineral waters, 82. Mining in United States, 49, 55, 56. Minneapolis, 92, 125, 142, 143. Minnesota, production in, of barley, 94; cows (milch), 115; iron, 63; oats, 94; pine timber, 105; potatoes, 98; rye, 94. Index 401 Missions, Spanish, in California, 58. Mississippi, cotton growing in, 103. Mississippi River, 133. Missouri, production in, of barytes, 85 ; coal, 146; corn, 89; cotton, 103; cows (milch), 115; granite, 80; hay, 97 ; lead, 68 ; potatoes, 98. Mobile, 45. Mocha, 340. Mohair cloth, 302, 339. Mohawk Valley, the, 50, 51. Molasses, 170, 215. Moldau River, 298. Moluccas, 343. Mongolia, n, 241,319. Monrovia, 357. Monsoons, 14, 241, 331-332, 336, 343. Montana, production in, of cattle, 114, 143; copper, 66; corundum, 83; gold, 72; sheep, 116; silver, 70. Montenegro, 300. Montevideo, 225. Montreal, 183. Montserrat, 202. Morava River, 301. Moravia, 294, 295. Mormons, 56. Morocco, 348, 356. Moscow, 310,311. Mother-of-pearl, 338, 340, 366. Moville, 257. Mules, 117-118, 189. Mulhausen, 283. Munich, 284. Muscat, 340. NAGASAKI, 329. Namur, 275. Nantucket, 47, 48-49. Naphtha, 314, 317, 341. Naples, 292. Narbonne, 266. Natal, 347, 353, 356. Natural gas, 79. Navigator Group, 166, 365. Nebraska, production in, of beet sugar, loo ; corn, 89; cows, 115; hay, 98 ; oats, 94; potatoes, 98 ; rye, 94. Negroes, 37. Negros, 162. Nelson River, 177. 2D Netherlands. See Belgium and Holland. Nevada, irrigation in, 17. production in, of borax, 85 ; silver, 70; sulphur, 84. New Brunswick, 178, 180. New Caledonia, 365. Newcastle-on-Tyne, 251. New England, 6, 46-47, 76, 80, 88, 101, 117, 125. Newer Appalachian Belt, the, 46, 48. Newfoundland, n, 184. New Guinea, 364-365. New Hampshire, 83, 85. New Jersey, 62, 68, 80, 81, 130. New Mexico, production in, of cattle, 114 ; copper, 67 ; mica, 85 ; sheep, 116; turquoise, 82. New South Wales, 360, 362. New York City, 6, 50, 147. New York State, agriculture in, 88. production in, of beet sugar, 100; bluestone, 80; buckwheat, 98; cement, 81 ; collars and cuffs, 130; cows (milch), 115; gloves (leather), 130; granite, 80; hay, 97-98; hops, no; horses, 118; hosiery, 130; mineral waters, 82; oats, 94 ; oil, 78 ; paper, 129, 130 ; peaches, 101 ; potatoes, 98 ; rye, 94 ; salt, 83-84, 130. New Zealand, 78, 117, 361, 363. Niagara River, 51. Nicaragua, 192, 193, 194. Nickel," 74-75, 181, 184, 233. Nile River, 345, 352. Nitrate of potash, 334. Nitrate of soda, 233, 234. Norfolk, Va., 45. Normandy, 261. Norsemen, the, 37. North Carolina, production in, of barytes, 85; corundum, 83; cotton, 103; cotton goods, 128 ; mica, 85 ; rice, 99; soapstone, 84; tin, 69; to- bacco, no. North Dakota, 94, 143. ^ North Sea Ship Canal, 278. North Shields, 251. Norway, 94, 306-307, 383. Nova Scotia, 178, 205. Nuts, 264. 4O2 Geography of Commerce OATS, production of, in Austria, 295; France, 262 ; Germany, 281 ; Onta- rio, 180; Siberia, 314; Sweden, 306 ; United States, 94-95. Occupations, varieties of, 39. Ocean cables, 169, 372-374. Ocean currents, 10, 184, 205. Oceanica, 364-366. Ocean routes, 207-209, 370-372. Ocos, 194. Oder River, 281, 284. Odessa, 312. Ohio, production in, of cement, 81 ; coal, 76, 146; corn, 89; cows (milch), 115 ; iron, 64, 128 ; natural gas, 79 ; oil, 78 ; pig iron, 146 ; potatoes, 98; safes and vaults, 130; salt, 84; sandstone, 80; sheep, 116; steel, 128; tobacco, no. Ohio River, 133, 134. Oil, cod liver, 184, 307. copra, 164. cotton-seed, 104. flaxseed, 104. linseed, 104. olive, 271, 291, 339. w palm, 348, 354. petroleum, 78-79, 164, 190, 213, 223, 300, 315, 316, 336, 343. seal, 184. whale, 122, 307. Oilstones, 83. Oklahoma, 103, 143. Old Dominion Mine, 67. Oldham, 253. Oleomargarine, 115. Olives, 101, 225, 264, 271, 291, 302, 338. Omaha, 55, 114, 115, 143. Oman, 340. Onega, 312. Onions, Bermuda, 205. Ontario, Province of, 179, 180. Onyx, Mexican, 190. Opium, 321, 324, 332, 335, 339, 340. Opium poppy cultivation (U.S.), in. Oporto, 272. Oranges, 101, 170, 189, 198, 225, 264, 271, 272, 291. Orchids, 169. Ore, denned, 60. , Oregon, no, 116, 141. Orinoco River, 210-211, 214. Osaka, 329. Ostrich farming, 351. Ottawa, 183. Ottoman Empire. See Turkey. Ouachita Mountains, 46, 51. Oxus River, 316. Oysters, 44, 122, 130, 181. Ozark Mountains, 46. Ozark Plateau, 51. Ozokerite, 80. PACIFIC SLOPE, the, 57-58. fruit culture of, 101. hop-growing on, no. pine timber of, 105. See also California. Padang, 343. Pago Pago, 166, 365. Paisley, 254. Palawan, 162. Palermo, 292. Pampas, 210, 222. Panama, 227. Panama Canal. See Isthmian Canal. Panama hats, 229. Panay, 162, 165. Paper making, 105, 129, 130, 362. Para, 219. Paraguay, 212, 225-226. Paraguay River, 216. Paraguay tea, 217-218, 223, 225, 226. Paramaribo, 215. Parana River, 211, 216. Paris, 244, 265-266. Parks, mountain, 56. Patagonia, 222. Peaches, 101, 189. Pearls, 82, 213, 336, 340, 365. Penang, 342. Pennsylvania, production in, of bluestone, 80; buckwheat, 98; carpets, 130; cement, 81 ; clays, 81 ; coal, 76, 146; coke, 130; cows (milch), 115; glass, 130; granite, 80; graphite, 84 ; hay, 98 ; horses, 118 ; iron, 63, 128, 130, 146 ; leather, 130 ; natural gas, 79; oats, 94; oil, 78; peaches, 101 ; potatoes, 98 ; rye, 94 ; slate, 80; soapstone, 84; steel, 128, 130; woolen manufactures, 117; zinc, 68. Index 403 Peoples, migration of, 37-38. Peoria, 143. Peppers, 165, 332, 342. See Spices. Perim, 340. Perique, i-io. Pernambuco, 219. Persia, 340-341. Perth, West Australia, 362-363. Peru, 14, 212, 229-231, 383. Petroleum, production of, in Burma, 336 ; Mexico, 190 ; Ontario, 181 ; Philip- pines, 164; Rumania, 300; Russia, 78,315,316; South America, 213, 223 ; United States, 78-79. Philadelphia, 6, 44-45, 48, 50, 117. Philippines, 162-165. Phosphates, 82, 215,307. Phosphorite, 272. Pianos, 284. Piedmont Belt, the, 46, 47-48. Pig iron, world production of, 65 n. Pilot Knob, 51. Pinar del Rio, 198, 199. Pineapples, 101, 163, 168, 170, 189, 198, 203, 272. Pine barrens, 44. Pinehurst, tea-growing experiments, no. Pine lands, 44. Pines, varieties of, 105. Piraeus, 304. Pitt River, 57. Pittsburg, 49, 64, 125, 133, 134. Placer deposits, 71. Plains, the Great (U.S.), 54-55. Plaster of Paris, 82, 265. Platinum, 60, 73, 314, 317. Plumbago, 84. Plums, 301. Poitiers, 262. Poland, 309, 311. Polders, 275. Poles, the, 36. Polynesia, 365. Ponce, Porto Rico, 171. Population, of Africa, 352; Alaska, 173; Argentina, 222; Asia (map), 242; Austria-Hungary, 295; Belgium, 275 ; Bermudas, 205 ; Brazil, 216- 217, 219; Canada, 179; Central America, 194, 195; Ceylon, 336; China, 319, 323, 324; Europe (map), 238; France, 262; Ger- many, 28-1; Great Britain, 258; Guam, 165; Hawaii, 166, 169; Holland, 278; Hong-Kong, 324; India, 332, 333 ; Italy, 289 ; Japan, 326; Mexico, 190, 192; Ocean- ica, 364; Philippines, 162-163; Porto Rico, 169, 171 ; Portugal, 271; Russia, 310, 313,314; Samoa, 166; South America, 211, 212, 219, 222, 224, 225, 226, 229, 231; Spain, 271 ; West Indies, 204. centers of, 96, 124-125, 127. increase of, in proportion to increase of cereal production, 96-97. relation between trade and, 126-127. world's increase (1800-1900), 380. Porcelain industry, in Austria-Hungary, 296 ; China, 321 ; Dresden, 284 ; France, 265; Japan, 328. Po River, 240, 290. Pork packing, 115. See Meat packing. Port Alfred, 356. Port Arthur, 315. Port Elizabeth, 356. Port Glasgow, 254. Portland, Me., 47. Canadian trade through, 183. Portland, Ore., 58. Porto Rico, 99, 169-171, 200-202. Port Said, 355. Portsmouth, N.H., 47. Portugal, 270-273, 383. dependencies of, in Africa, 347, 352. Portuguese, the, 36, 166. in Brazil, 216. in Hong-Kong, 324. Port wine, 272. Potassium salts, 283. Potatoes, 98, 180, 193, 205, 256, 257, 281- 282, 306, 310-311. Potomac River, 48. Potteries, American, 129, 130, 159. English, 253. French, 265. Mexican, 190. Poultry raising, 118, 306, 308. Prague, 298. Prairies of the Middle West, 51-52. Precious stones. See Gems. Preston, 253. 404 Geography of Commerce Pribyloff Islands, 174. Prince Edward Island, 178. Progreso, 192. Prunes, 101. Prussia, production of zinc in, 69. Puerto Barrios, 194. Puerto Cabello, 214. Puerto Colombia, 227. Puerto Cortez, 194. Puerto Limon, 194. Puerto Principe, 199. Puget Sound, 142. Pulque, 189. Puna lands, 229. Punjab, 332, 334. Punta Arenas, 194, 234. Pyrenees Mountains, 242, 261, 270. Pyrite, 61, 74. QUEBEC, PROVINCE OF, 178-179. Quebracho wood, 223. Queensland, 360, 361, 362. Queenstown, 257. Quicksilver, 73, 271-272, 295, 314, 342. Quinine, 227, 228, 231, 332. Quito, 229. RACES, distinctive traits of, 39-40. division of men into, 35-37. Railroads, in Africa, 349, 351-352, 384; Argentina, 224; Brazil, 219; Can- ada, 183; Central America, 194; Chile, 233; China, 322; Cuba, 199; Europe, 244-246; France, 262, 263, 267; Germany, 28^; India, 336; Italy, 292; Japan, 329; Philippines, 163; Rumania, 300; Russia, 237, 244, 310, 315, 316, 318 ; Scandinavian Peninsula, 307 ; Si- beria, 244, 315, 318 ; South America, 214, 232, 384; Turkey, 302,338; United States, 52, 124, 137, 384. total mileage of (world) , 384. traffic on, in United States, 136-137. Rainfall, forests and, 28. distribution of, 14-15. Raisins, 101, 271. Raleigh, 45. Ranch states of United States, 114. Rand, the, 355-356. Range states, 88. % Ranges, grazing, in United States, 113. Rangoon, 336. Recife, 219. Redwoods, California, 57, 106. Refrigerator cars, 102, 113, 129. Reims, 266. Resin, 105, 130, 363. Rhea fiber, 321. Rhine River, 240, 242, 281, 282. Rhode Island, 76, 84, 130. Rhodesia, 347. Rhone River, 240, 265, 266. Rice, distribution of (map), 99. Rice growing, in Central America, 193 ; Ceylon, 336 ; China, 321 ; Guam, 165 ; Hawaii, 168 ; India, 332, 335 ; Japan, 327; Philippine Islands, 163; United States, 99. Richmond, 45, 48. Riga, 311. Rio de Janeiro, 218, 369, 371. Rio Grande do Sul, 218, 219. Rio Negro, 210. River and Harbor Bill (U.S.), 133. Rivers, of Africa, 353; Appalachian Highland, 50; Atlantic Slope, 48 ; Cordilleran region, 57; New Eng- land, 47 ; Pacific Slope, 57 ; Russia, 309-310; South America, 210-21 1. relation of, to commerce, 2. River traffic in United States, 132-134. Rocks of the Lake Region, 51 ; New England, 46 ; Newer Appalachian Belt, 48. Rocky Mountain Region, timber of, 105. Rocky Mountains, the, 55. production in, of copper, 66; iron ore, 63 ; lead, 67-68 ; silver, 70. Rose growing, 302. Rosewood, 189. Rotation of crops, 97. Rotterdam, 278. Roubaix, 266. Rouen, 266, 267. Rubber, 163, 193, 213,1217, 218, 219, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 336, 348, 354, 364, 365- Rubies, 336. Rugs, 302, 334, 339. Rum, 213, 215. Rumania, 91, 299-300. Index 405 Russia, ii, 186, 309-318. commerce of, with China, 323 ; France, 262,268; Germany, 286, 3 17; Great Britain, 259, 317 ; Persia, 341 ; Tur- key, 339; United States, 317-318. currency of, 383. productions of, 65 n., 73, 84, 91, 93, 115, 310-311, 314-315, 316-317- Russians, the, 36, 242, 243. Rutland, Vt., marble quarries at, 81. Rye, 4. 93-94- 295- 306, 310, 317, 327. SACRAMENTO RIVER, 57. Safes, 130. Sago, 344. Sahara Desert, 241, 346. St. Anthony's Falls, 125. St. Etienne, 266. St. John's, Newfoundland, 184. St. Joseph, 143. St. Kitts, 202. St. Lawrence River, 177-178. St. Lawrence Valley, 48. St. Louis, French Guiana, 215. St. Louis, U.S.A., 55, 141-142, 143, 147. St. Lucia, 202. St. Mary's Canal, 134, 135, 183. St. Mary's Falls, 134, 136. St. Nazaire, 266. St. Paul, 133. St. Petersburg, 244, 311, 315. St. Quentin, 266. St. Vincent, 202. Sakhalin Island, 314-315. Salmon fisheries, 121, 173, 181. Salt, 83, 130, 170, 190, 199, 213, 223, 227, 272, 283, 295, 300, 315, 339, 341. Salt Lake City, 56. Saltpeter, 233, 234, 334. Salvador, 192, 193, 194, 195. Samai', 162. Samoan Islands, 166. San Bias, 192. Sandakan, 344. Sandalwood, 170, 365. Sandstone, 80. San Francisco, 58, 122. San Francisco Mountain, 57. San Jose, Guatemala, 194. San Juan, Porto Rico, 171. San Juan del Sur, 194. San Luis Valley, 56. Santa Clara province, Cuba, 199. Santiago, Chile, 233. Santiago de Cuba, 199. Santo Domingo, 204. Saone River, 240, 265, 267, 268. Sapan wood, 164. Sapphires, 83. Sardines, American, 121. Sardinia, 290. Sarsaparilla, 193, 228, 229. Saskatchewan River, 177-178. Savannah, 6, 45, 145. Sawatch Range, 55. Saxony, 281, 282, 284. Scandinavia, n, 305-308. Scheldt River, 274, 275. Scotch, the, 36. Scotland, 94, 95, 251, 254. Sealing, pelagic, 181. Seattle, 58. Sebastopol, 312. Seine River, 262, 265. Selvas, 210. Semi-arid regions (U.S.), 97. Semmering Pass, 296. Senegal, 354. Sequoia trees, 57. Serpentine building stone, 81. Servia, 301. Servians, the, 36, 242-243. Seville, 272. Seychelles, 364. Shanghai, 323. Shannon River, 258. Shan states, 342. Shawls, Indian, 334. Sheep, distribution of (map), 116. pasturing of, in forests, 30, 32. Sheep raising, in Argentina, 222, 224, 361 ; Australia, 361; Belgium, 276; Central America, 193 ; France, 265; Great Britain, 249, 252, 256; Iceland, 308 ; Mexico, 189 ; South Africa, 117, 355-356; South America, 222, 225, 230, 231, 233; Spain, 271 ; Transcaucasia, 315- 316; United States, 116-117. Sheffield, 252. Shenandoah Valley, the, 48, 69. Shikoku, 326. 406 Geography of Commerce Shipbuilding, in Great Britain, 252, 254, 257 ; United States, 140-141. Shipping, of Canada, 183 ; Germany, 286, 384; Great Britain, 256, 259, 384; Holland, 278, 384 ; Japan, 329, 384 ; Norway, 307, 384; United States, 140-141, 152-153, 207-209, 384. benefit to, of weather forecasts, 21-23. ocean routes of, 207-209, 370-372. prospects of American, 379-381. total (world) , 384. Siam, 342. Siberia, 25, 36, 239, 247, 313-315. Sicily, 289-290. Siderite, 61, 64. Sierra Nevada Mountains, 57. Silesia, 69, 282, 284, 295, 296. Silk culture, 265, 291, 321, 327, 332, 339. Silk manufactures, 266, 268, 272, 283, 289, 295, 316, 321, 327, 332, 334. Silver, distribution of (map) , 70. lead as a by-product of, 67. production of, in Austria-Hungary, 295 ; China, 321 ; Germany, 282 ; Mexico, 189-190, 192; South America, 213, 219, 223, 227, 230, 2 3 X 2 33! Spain and Portugal, 271 ; United States, 70-71. world's production of (diagram), 71. Singapore, 342. Sir Daria River, 316. Sisal hemp, 189, 203. Sitka, 173. Slate, 80. Slaughter-houses, 114, 129, 130. See Meat packing. Slavs, the, 36, 242. Sligo, 257. Slope exposure, effect on vegetation, 18. Smelting-works, 64. Smyrna, 338, 339. Snake River, 57. Soapstone, 84. Society Islands, 366. Socotra, 364. Soda, production of (U. S.), 84-85. Sofia, 302. Soil, of Atlantic Coastal Plain, 44; China, 319; England, 249-251; Hawaii, 168 ; Holland, 277 ; New England, 46; Pacific Slope, 58; Philippine Islands, 162; Piedmont Belt, 47- 48; the prairies (U.S.), 52. effect on, of hop raising, no. for growing buckwheat, 98 ; maize, 90; oats, 94-95; wheat, 91. impoverishment of, by tobacco, 109. relation of, to commerce, 3-4. " Soo," the, 134, 135, 183. Sorghum, 97, 101, 320, 350. South Africa, 117, 355-356. South America, 97, 207-234, 259. Southampton, 257. South Australia, 360, 362. South Carolina, production in, of barytes, 85 ; cotton, 103 ; cotton goods, 128 ; phosphates, 82 ; rice, 99. South Chicago, 64, 146. South Dakota, production in, of anti- mony, 74; barley, 94; cattle, 143; granite, 80; mica, 85. Southern Coastal Plain, 45-46. South Shields, 252. Spain, 270-273, 383. commerce of, 171, 186, 195, 273. products of, 66, 68, 73, 93, 256, 271. Spanish, the, 36, 242. Spelter, 68. Spice Islands, 343. Spices, 165, 170, 203, 332, 336, 342-343, 35. 354- Spokane, 57. Sponges, 122-123, 203, 213, 338. Spree River, 284. Spring, advent of, 17, 18. Staked Plains, the, 54. Standard Time system, 138-139. Steatite, 84. Steel, 64, 128, 130, 264, 311. world's production of (diagram), 64. Steppe Region (U.S.), 54-55. Stockholm, 306. Stock raising, in Africa, 351 ; Australia, 360-361; Belgium, 276; Central America, 193; Ceylon, 336; Den- mark, 307 ; France, 264 ; Germany, 282; Great Britain, 256, 257; Hol- land, 277; Hungary, 294, 295; India, 332; Italy, 290; New Zea- land, 363 ; Porto Rico, 170; Prov- ince of Ontario, 180; Rumania, 299; Russia, 311; Servia, 301; Index 407 South America, 213, 218, 222, 225, 226, 230, 233 ; Sweden, 306 ; United States, 55-56, 144; West Indies, 198. See Cattle raising. Stockton-on-Tees, 252. Stoke-on-Trent, 253. Stones for building. See Building stones. Storm signals, 21-23. Straits Settlements, 342-343. tin from, 69, 254. Strawberries, 101. Stuttgart, 284. Styria, 294. Sucre, 232. Sudan, 346, 353. Suez Canal, 136, 244, 355, 376-377. Sugar, beet, 99-100, 171, 203, 204, 262, 276, __28i, 282, 295, 311, 317. cane, 99-100, 163, 164, 165, 168, 170, 171, 172, 193, 198, 203, 204, 212-213, 215, 223, 225, 226, 228, 229, 230, 332, 342, 343, 350, 361, 364, 365. maple, lor. production of, in Belgium, 276; Cen- tral America, 193 ; China, 321, 322 ; Cuba, 99, 198; France, 100, 262; Germany, 100, 281 ; Guam, 165 ; Hawaii, 99, 168, 172 ; Hungary, 295; India, 332; Philippines, 163, 164, 172; Porto Rico, 99, 170, 171, 172; Rumania, 299; Russia, 311; Samoa, 166; South America, 212, 213, 215, 217, 218, 223, 226, 228, 230; United States, 99-101 ; West Indies, 203. world's production of beet and cane (1871-1900), 205. Sulphur, 60, 61, 84, 164, 213, 291, 292, 314. Sulu Archipelago, 162. Sumatra, 343. Sunderland, 252. Superior, 92, 135, 142, 143. Surinam, 215. Susquehanna River, 48. Suva, 365. Swansea, 254. Sweden, 65 n., 305-306, 383. Swine, 115, 256, 281, 282. Switzerland, 30, 288-289, 383. commerce of, 186, 289, 293. Swords, Toledo, 272. Sydney, N.S.W. Syra, 304. Syria, 338. 362. TABRIZ, 341. Tacoma, 58. Tahiti, 366. Talc, 84. Tampico, 192. Tan bark, 106, 128-129, ^9> Tanganyika, Lake, 352. Tangier, 356. Tapioca, 350. Tar, 44, 105. Tariff, Canada's preferential, 182. Tariffs, British, 259. Taro, 365. Tasmania, 69, 360. Tea, brick, 323. distribution of (map), 320. planting of, in United States, no. production of, in Ceylon, 336 ; China, 321-323; Formosa, 330; India, 336; Japan, 327. Teak, 332, 336, 342, 348. Telegraph systems, submarine, 169, 372- 374, 375- Temperature, connection between com- merce and, 18. connection between forests and, 28. control, 87. distribution of, 9-11. Tennessee, products of, 82, 85, 103, 146. Teton Range, 55. Teutons, the, 36, 242. Texas, production in, of cattle, 114, 143; coal, 76; cotton, 103, 130; cows (milch), 115; oats, 94; oil, 78. Thames River, 256. Tibet, 319. Tibetans, the, 36. Ticonderoga, N.Y., 84. Tierra del Fuego, 232. Tiflis, 316. - Tigris River, 338, 339. Till, 46, 52. Timber, distinguished from lumber, 105. exportation of, from United States, 108-109. lake commerce in (U.S.), 147. production of, in Alaska, 173 ; Guam, 408 Geography of Commerce 165; Mexico, 189; Norway, 305, 306, 307; Philippines, 163-164; Porto Rico, 170; Rumania, 299- 300 ; Scandinavia, 305-306. Timbuctu, 357. Time belts in United States, 138-139. Timothy grass, 97. Tin, production of, in China, 321 ; Corn- wall, 69, 254, 256 ; Mexico, 190, 192; Russia, 314; South America, 213, 219, 227, 230, 231, 233 ; Straits Settlements, 69, 254, 342-343 ; Tas- mania, 69; United States, 69, 159. Tin plate, 69. Titicaca, Lake, 230, 232. Tobacco raising, in Brazil, 217 ; Central America, 193; Ceylon, 336; Co- lombia, 226-227 ' Cuba, 198 ; France, 262; Germany, 281-282; Guam, 165 ; India, 332 ; Mexico, 189, 192; Paraguay, 225; Peru, 230; Philippines, 163, 164; Porto Rico, 170, 172; Rumania, 299; Russia, 311 ; Turkey, 338 ; United States, 45, 109; West Indies, 203. Tobago, 202. Tokio, 329. Toledo, Ohio, 143. Toledo, Spain, 272. Tonga, 365-366. Tongking, 342. Toronto, 183. Tortoise shell, 203, 213, 365. Tourane, 342. Tourcoing, 266. Trade, relation between, and population, 126-127. Trade routes, 207-209, 370-372. Trade winds, 13, 166, 241. Tramp steamers, 371-372. Transbaikalia, 315. Transcaspia, 313, 316. Transcaucasia, 313, 315-316. Transylvania, 295. Tree claims, 32. Trees, of Africa, 348-350 ; Australia, 359 ; United States, 87-88, 104-108. absence from prairies explained, 52. See Forests and Timber. Trenton, 129. Trieste, 298. Trinidad, 80, 202, 204. Tripoli, 348, 356. Triumfo, 194. -Trolley cars in United States, 139. Tromso, 307. Tropics, colonization and control in, 155. labor conditions in, 24. Tulips, Dutch, 277. Tundra, 310. Tunis, 356. Tunisia, 348. Tunnels, Alpine, 242, 244, 266, 288, 292. Turin, 242, 292. Turkestan, 36, 313, 316, 319. Turkey, 91, 301-302, 338-339, 383. Turks, Ottoman, 36. Turks Island, 205. Turpentine, 44, 105, 130. Turquoise, 82. Tutuila, 166, 365. Tyne, River, 251. Tynemouth, 251. Tyrol, the, 294. UGANDA, 347. Uintah Range, 55. United Kingdom, 249-259. United States, 5, n, 15-20, 43-124. commerce of, with Africa, 357 ; Aus- tralia, 361-362 ; Belgium, 276 ; Ber- mudas, 205 ; Central America, 195, 207 ; China, 323 ; Cuba, 197, 200 ; France, 262, 268 ; Germany, 286, 287; Great Britain, 259; Holland, 279; India, 334-335; Italy, 293; Japan, 328, 329; Mexico, 190, 192, 207; New Zealand, 363; Russia, 317-318 ; South America, 207-209, 213, 215, 217, 219-220, 224, 225, 226, 227-228, 229, 230, 234; Swit- zerland, 289 ; West Indian Islands, 203-204, 207. internal commerce of, 124-147. outlying possessions of, 162-174. trade outlook of, 150-159, 377-381. United States Fish Commission, 121-122. United States Weather Bureau, 21-23. United Verde Mine, 67. Upland terrace, the, 44, 47. Ural Mountains, 237, 309, 314. Uruguay, 200, 212, 224-225, 276, 383. Inde, 409 Uruguay River, 211. Utah, production in, of beet sugar, 100; copper, 67 ; cotton, 103 ; gold, 72 ; sheep, 116; silver, 70; sulphur, 84. VALENCIA, 214. Valleys, of Newer Appalachian Belt, 48. sunken, of Atlantic Coastal Plain, 45; Pacific Slope, 58. Valparaiso, 233-234. Vancouver, 184. Vanilla, 189, 193, 213, 366. Vegetable gardening, 101-102, 168, 205, 256, 262, 273, 277, 361. Vegetable products (U.S.), 87-111. Vegetation, slope exposure and, 18-19. Velvet manufactures, 283. Venezuela, 208, 212-214, 383. Venezuelan Boundary Dispute, 214. Venice, 290, 292. Vera Cruz, 192. Vermont, 80, 81, 83. Verviers, 275. Victoria, Australia, 360, 361. Victoria, B.C., 184. Victoria, Hong-Kong, 324. Victoria Falls, 355. Vienna, 244, 296. Viniculture, in France, 264; Italy, 291; Russia, 311 ; United States, 101. Virginia , production in, of barytes, 85; cotton, 103; granite, 80; horses, 118; manganese, 74; soapstone, 84; tobacco, no. Virginia City, 56, 70. Vistula River, 281. Viti Levu, 365. Vladivostok, 315. Volcanoes, ancient, of the Cordilleran region, 56-57. in Japan, 326; Malay Archipelago, 343 ; Mexico, 187 ; South America, 212, 228. Volga River, 309-310. Vosges Mountains, 261, 267, 283. WAGON ROADS, in South America, 214, 227, 233 ; United States, 139-140. Wakefield, England, 252. Wales, 254. Warsaw, 311. Wasatch Range, 55. Washington, B.C., 45, 48. Washington (state), coal in, 146. hop growing in, no. shipbuilding in, 141. Watches, American, 164, 362. English, 254. Swiss, 289. Waterford, Ireland, 257. Waterways, of Africa, 353 r t China, 321- 322; Canada, 177-178, 182-183; Europe, 244 ; France, 267-268 ; Germany, 284, 285-286; Russia, 309-310; South America, 210- 2ii ; United States, 132-136. Weather, influence on commerce, 20-24. Welland Ship Canal, 136, 183. Wellesley Province, 342. Wellington, New Zealand, 363. Weser River, 281. West Australia, 360, 361. West Indies, 197-205. Westerlies, the, 13. West Virginia, production in, of bromine, 85 ; coal, 76, 146 ; natural gas, 79 ; oil, 78 ; salt, 84. Whale fisheries, 122, 255, 307, 308, 365. Wheat growing, in Argentina, 222, 223 ; Australia, 361; Chile, 232-233; China, 320 ; France, 93, 262 ; Ger- many, 93, 281 ; Hungary, 295 ; India, 335 ; Italy, 93, 290 ; Japan, 327 ; Manitoba, 180 ; Ontario, 180; Rumania, 299; Siberia, 314; United States, 56, 91-93, 142. Whetstones, 83. Whips, 130. Whisky, 94. Wigan, 253. Wilderness, the Appalachian, 49-50. Wilmington, N.C., 45. Wind River Range, 55. Winds, periodic, 13-14. Wines, of France, 264, 268 ; Germany, 282 ; Italy, 291 ; United States, 101. Winnipeg, 184. Wisconsin, production in, of barley, 94; cows (milch), 115; granite, 80; manganese, 74 ; mineral waters, 82; oats, 94; potatoes, 98; rye, 94; tobacco, no. 4io Geography of Commerce Wolverhampton, 253. Wood-pulp, 105, 129, 130, 179-180, 306. Wool, importation of, into United States, 7. 159- production of, in Argentina, 222, 361 ; Australia, 361, 362; France, 265, 268; Great Britain, 252; Hawaii, 168; Mexico, 189; South Amer- ica, 225, 230, 231 ; Spain, 271 ; Transcaucasia, 315-316 ; United States, 117, 150. world's production in 1901 (diagram), 362. Woolen manufactures, 117, 159, 231, 252, 254, 265, 266, 275, 283-284, 296, 300. Wyoming, 114, 116, 143, 146. YALE, forestry taught at, 30. Yams, 165, 365. Yangtse-Kiang River, 319, 320, 321. Yellowstone 'Park, 56. Yenisei River, 315. Yew trees, 350. Yezo, 326, 327, 329. Yokohama, 329. Yosemite Valley, 57. Yucatan, 192. Yukon River, 173, 174. ZACATECAS, 190. Zambesi River, 346, 348, 355. Zamboanga, 165. Zanzibar, 348, 354, 356. Zapata, 197. Zebras, 346, 351. Zinc, 68-69, 219, 230, 233, 271, 282, 291, 306. 342. Zollverein, 286. Zuider Zee, 278. Zurich, 289. MACMILLAN'S COMMERCIAL SERIES EDITED BY CHEESMAN A. HERRICK, Ph.D. Director of School of Commerce, Philadelphia Central High School "GEOGRAPHY OF COMMERCE" (Nmo ready) By DR. SPENCER TROTTER, Swarthmore College, Pa. "RAW MATERIALS OF COMMERCE" By DR. CHARLES S. DOLLEY, Philadelphia Central High School "ECONOMICS OF COMMERCE" By DR. WILLIAM A. SCOTT, University of Wisconsin "HISTORY OF COMMERCE" By the Editor IT is hoped that the whole field of commercial work may eventually be covered by this Series. No pains or ex- pense will be spared to make these books attractive and teachable. They will be adequate to their subjects, authori- tative, and fully equipped with illustrations, maps, and dia- grams. Much that is recognized as established in our educational system will be retained, but new interpretations and applications will be given. The whole idea of the Series is unique. Wherever commercial instruction is given, or wherever it is desired to modernize the curriculum and to add valuable educational features, it is believed that these books will merit serious consideration. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 66 Fifth. Avenue, New York BOSTON CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO ATLANTA STUDENT'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES By EDWARD CHANNING Professor of History in Harvard University WITH SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS By ANNA BOYNTON THOflSON Thayer Academy, South Braintree, Mass. 8vo* Half Leather* $J.40 net COMMENTS High School, Bellows Falls, Vt. " The book grows upon one greatly. It is beyond anything I have seen in its principle, its way of dealing with the vital things. It will be a fine book to put into the hands of a Senior class in the high school." A. B. CRAWFORD, Principal. Worcester Academy, Worcester, Mass. " Your book has given us good satisfaction. It is the best school history I know of to give the student a clear conception of the origin and the development of our institutions. It presents to him lucidly and forcefully the questions which have been either the sectional or the party issues of the past; it portrays in a singularly felicitous manner our wonderful growth in population and resources." M. B. PRICE. English High School, Boston, Mass. " Of Channing's ' History of the United States ' I cannot speak too highly. Like Macaulay, Channing charms us by the story of successes won elsewhere than on the field of battle." CHARLES B. TRAVIS. Cutler School, New York City. " I have read a good many school histories of the United States, and thus far have failed to meet any one at all comparable with Professor Channing's as a text-book to be used in preparation for college entrance examinations. Espe- cially valuable is it in showing the consecutive development or continuity of the history, the political issues, and general cause and effect, what is broadly termed the philosophic element." Rev. ERNEST VOORHIS. University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan. " Professor Channing's book is in every way admirable. I do not believe that any other work gives, in a single volume, so excellent a summary of the whole period of American history. It is a splendid text for High Schools, University Extension classes, and general readers." R. H. HODUER. Amherst College, Amherst, Mass. " One can hardly praise it too highly. It reads like a romance and pictures like a panorama, while at the same time it is accurate and impartial." EDWIN A. GROSVENOR. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 64-66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO ATLANTA UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY