Because the railway is an absolute necessity, and because it has power given neither to individuals nor to other corporations, it is a settled policy that both the State and general Government should have the power to regulate its rates, and should in every way prevent unjust discrimination. Both problems are very difficult, however, and the unintelligent adjustment of rates has frequently resulted in injustice both to the roads and their patrons.

A rate per ton-mile for each class of freight is out of question, because a large part of the cost to the company consists in loading, handling, and storing the goods. Once aboard the car, it costs but little more to carry a ton of freight one hundred miles than to move it one mile. The rates per mile, therefore, are necessarily greater for short distances than for long runs. A mile-rate based on a ten-mile haul would be prohibitive to the shipper if applied to a run between Chicago and New York. On the other hand, were the charges based on the long run, the local rates would be far less than the cost of the service.[19]

As a result freight rates are based very largely on the cost of the service, and this is particularly true of local freights. This practice is also modified by charging what the traffic will bear, and, on the whole, a combination of the two ideas gives the most reasonable and the fairest method of basing charges. Thus, a car filled with fine, crated furniture, which is light and bulky, can afford a higher rate than one filled with scrap-iron. Cars filled with grain, lumber, coal, or ore are made up in train-loads, and form a part of the daily haul; they can afford to be taken at a lower rate than the stuffs of which only an occasional car-load is hauled. In order to adjust this problem it is customary to divide freights into six general classes.



In handling through freights the problems are many, and, if two or more roads have the same terminal points, a great deal of friction of necessity results. The longest roads must either make their through rates lower than local rates between distant points, or lose much of their through business. They cannot afford to do the latter and the statutory laws may forbid the former. As a result the laws most likely are evaded, or else openly disobeyed.[20]

The difficulties in adjusting the matter of the long and the short haul, as has been shown, have caused the formation of pools and various other traffic associations, the object of which has been to prevent rate-wars. To this extent they resulted in positive good, for a rate-war in the end is apt to be as hurtful to the community as to the railway company. The attempt to settle such questions has also resulted in a great deal of legislation. Some of this has been wise and good; but not a little has been hurtful both to the railroads and to the community. The general result is seen in the great combination of competing lines and, more recently, of competing systems.

Passenger Service.—Passenger traffic is more easily managed than the movement of freight. For the greater part the rates are fixed by law. On a few eastern roads local rates are two cents per mile; in the main, however, a three-cent rate prevails, except that in sparsely peopled regions the rates are four and five cents per mile. On many roads 1,000-mile books are sold at the rate of twenty dollars; on some the rate is twenty-five dollars per book.

Long-distance rates involving passage over several roads are somewhat less than the local rates. These rates are determined by joint passenger-tariff associations. Each individual road fixes its own excursion and commutation rates; one or another of the joint passenger associations determines the rates where several roads divide the traffic. The latter are usually one, or one and one-third fares for the round trip.

Except on a few local roads in densely peopled regions the passenger service is much less remunerative than freight business, and not a few railways would abolish passenger trains altogether were they permitted to do so. Rate-cutting between competing roads has not been common since the existence of joint passenger associations. It is sometimes done secretly, however, through the use of ticket-brokers, or "scalpers," who are employed to sell tickets at less than the usual rate; it is also done by the illicit use of tickets authorized for given purposes, such as "editors'," "clergymen's," and "advertising" transportation.

In many instances, where several roads have the same terminal points, it is customary for the road or roads having the quickest service to allow a lower rate to the others. Thus, of the seven or eight roads between New York and Chicago, the two best equipped roads charge a fare of twenty dollars on their ordinary, and a higher rate on their limited, trains. Because of slower time the other roads charge a sum less by two or three dollars for the same service. This cut in the rate is called a "differential."

Railway Mileage.—The railways of the world in 1900 had an aggregate of nearly four hundred and eighty thousand miles distributed as follows:

North America 216,000 Europe 173,000 Asia 36,000 South America and West Indies 28,000 Australasia 15,000 Africa 12,000

In western Europe and the eastern United States there is an average of one mile of railway to each six or eight square miles of area. In these countries railway construction has reached probably its highest development, and the proportion seems to represent the mileage necessary for the commercial interests of the people.

The railways of the United States aggregate 193,000 miles—nearly one-half the total mileage of the world. Over this enormous trackage 38,000 locomotives and 1,400,000 coaches and cars carry yearly 600,000,000 passengers and 1,000,000,000 tons of freight. They represent an outlay of about $5,000,000,000. Owing to the absence of the international problems that have greatly interfered with the organization of European railways, the roads of the United States have developed "trunk-system" features to a higher degree than is found elsewhere.

In the United States and Canada the farms of the great central plain, together with the coal-mines, are the great centres of production, while the seaports of the two coasts form great centres of distribution. Most of the trunk lines, therefore, extend east and west; of the north and south lines only two are important. The reason for the east-west direction of the great trunk lines is obvious; the great markets of North America, Europe, and Asia lie respectively to the east and the west.



Railway Ownership.—The ownership of railways is vested either in national governments or else in corporate companies; in only a few instances are roads held individually by private owners, and these are mainly lumber or plantation roads. Thus, the railways of Prussia are owned by the state; most of those of the smaller German states are owned either by the state or by the empire; still others are owned by corporate companies and managed by the imperial government. In their management military use is considered as first in importance.

In France governmental ownership and management have been less successful. Plans for an elaborate system of state railways failed, and the state now owns and operates only 1,700 miles, mainly, in the southwest. Belgium controls and operates all her lines, but as the latter are short and the area of the state small, there are no difficulties in the way of excellent management. In Great Britain all the railways are owned and controlled by corporate companies. The great transcontinental line of the Russian Empire was built by the government, but the latter does not own it.

In the United States the railways are now owned by corporate companies. Some of the western roads were built by Government subsidies;[21] other roads were built by the aid of States, counties, or cities, which afterward sold them to corporate companies. The first transcontinental railways required Government assistance, and could not have been built without it; nowadays, however, corporate companies find no difficulty in providing the capital for any railway that is needed.

Inasmuch as the railway is a positive necessity, upon whose existence depends the transportation of the food daily required in the great centres of population, the charter of the railway gives the company extraordinary powers. Most steam railway companies are permitted by the State to exercise the power of eminent domain—that is, they may seize and hold the land on which to locate their tracks and buildings, if it cannot be acquired by the consent of the owners; they may also seize coal and other materials consigned to them for shipment if such materials are necessary to operate their lines.

Therefore, in consideration of the unusual powers possessed by the companies, the various States reserve the right to regulate the freight and passenger tariffs. They may also compel the companies to afford equal facilities to all patrons, and take the measures necessary to prevent discrimination.

The control of the railways by the government may be absolute, as in the German state of Prussia; or it may consist of a general supervision, as in the case of the Canadian railways. In almost every European state there is a director or else a commission to act as a representative between the railways and the people. In the United States the various States have each a railway commission, while the general Government is represented by the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Electric Railways.—The use of electricity as a motive power has not only revolutionized suburban traffic but it has become a great factor in rural transportation as well. The speed of the horse-car rarely exceeded five or six miles per hour, while that of the electric car is about ten miles per hour in city streets and about twice as great over rural roads. As a result, the suburban limits of the large centres of population have greatly extended, and the population of the outlying districts has been increased from four to ten fold.



From some of the larger cities the electric roads reach out to distances of one hundred miles or more and have become the carriers of perishable freight, such as fruit and dairy products. These are not only delivered just as promptly as though they were sent over the steam roads, but the delivery is more frequent. Indeed, the marvellous success of the electric interurban railway is due mainly to the frequency of its service.

Public Roads and Highways.—Carriages propelled by steam, electric, and gasoline motors have become an important factor in the delivery of goods in nearly every city of Europe and America. They are not only speedier than the horse and wagon, but their keeping costs less. They are economical only on good roads. The bicycle, no longer a plaything, exerted a very decided effect on transportation when the "pneumatic" or inflated rubber tire came into use. Through the bicycle came the demand for good roads; and several thousand miles of the best surfaced roads are built in the United States each year.

The ordinary highways or roads, the paved streets of the large cities excepted, are popularly known either as "dirt" roads or "macadamized" roads, the latter name being applied to about every sort of graded highway that has been surfaced with broken rock. Most of the roads of western Europe are of this character. They are laid out with easy grades, and a thick foundation of heavy stone is covered with smaller pieces of broken rock, the whole being finished off with a top-dressing of fine material. Once built, the expense of keeping them in good order is less than that of keeping a dirt road in bad order.

Most of the country highways of the United States are dirt roads that are deep with dust in dry weather and almost impassable at the breaking of winter. Roads of this character are such a detriment that grain farming will not pay when the farm is distant twenty miles or more from the nearest railway. Many a farmer pays more to haul his grain to the nearest railway station than from the railway station to London.

Since it has become apparent that the commercial development of many agricultural regions depends quite as much on good wagon roads as upon railways and expensive farming machinery, there has been a disposition to grade and rock-surface all roads that are important highways. Intercommunication becomes vastly easier; the cost of transportation is lessened by more than one-half; and the wear and destruction of vehicles is reduced to a minimum. In every case the improvement of the road is designed to increase traffic by making a given power do more work in less time.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

What have been the effects of Bessemer steel on the carrying power of railways?—on cheapening freight rates?

What would be some of the effects first apparent were a large city like London or New York suddenly cut off from railway communication?

What is meant by a tubular boiler?—by a forced draught?—by a switch?—by an automatic coupler?

Ascertain from a railway official the various danger-signals as indicated by lights, flags, and whistle-blasts.

Why should not crated furniture and coal have the same freight rate?

What is meant by a pool?—by long haul and short haul?—by rebate?

If the rate on a given weight of merchandise is one dollar and fifty cents for five miles, should it be three hundred dollars for one thousand miles?

FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE

Hartley's Railroad Transportation.

American Railways.



CHAPTER VII

FACTORS IN THE LOCATION OF CITIES AND TOWNS

The population of the world is very unevenly distributed. Not far from nine-tenths live in lowland plains, below an altitude of 1,200 feet, in regions where food-stuffs grow. The remainder live mainly in the grass-producing regions of the great plateaus, the mining regions or the flood-plains and grassy slopes of the higher montane regions.

Communal Life.—In each of these regions, also, there is a very unequal massing of population. In part, the various families live isolated from one another; in part, they gather into cities and villages. In other words the population of a habitable region may be classed as rural and urban. In the United States and western Europe, agricultural pursuits encourage rural life, each family living on its own estate. In Russia, the agricultural population usually cluster in villages.

The farmer or freeholder who owns or controls his estate, exemplifies the most advanced condition of personal and political liberty. Only a few centuries have elapsed since not only the land but also the life of a subject was the property of the king or the feudal lord, and in those days about the only people living in isolation were outlaws. In most cases the communal system, best exemplified in Russia, marks an intermediate stage between a low and a high state of civilization; in other instances it is necessary in order to insure safety. German farmers in Siberia usually adopt the village plan for this reason.

For the greater part, the non-agricultural population of the civilized world is massed in villages and cities for reasons that have nothing to do with either civilization or self-defence. The causes that bring about the massing of urban population are many and their operation is complex. In general, however, it is to facilitate one or more of several things, namely—the receiving, distribution, and transportation of commodities, the manufacture of products, the existence of good harbors, and the existence of minerals and metals necessary in the various industries.

The Beginnings of Towns and Cities.—The "country town" of agricultural regions in many ways is the best type of the centre of population engaged in receiving and disbursing commodities. The farmers living in their vicinity send their crops to it for transportation or final disposition. The country store is a sort of clearing-house, exchanging household and other commodities, such as sugar, tea, coffee, spices, drugs, silks, woollens, cotton goods, farming machinery, and furniture for farm products. A railway station, grain elevator, and one or more banks form the rest of its business equipment.

Usually the town has resulted from a position of easy access. It may be the crossing of two highways, a good landing-place on a river, the existence of a fording-place, a bridge, a ferry, a toll gate, or a point that formed a convenient resting-place for a day's journey. The towns and villages along the "buffalo" roads are examples almost without number.

The "siding" or track where freight cars may be held for unloading, has formed the beginning of many a town. The siding was located at the convenience of the railway company; the village resulting could have grown equally well almost anywhere else along the line.



In the early history of nearly every country, military posts formed the beginnings of many centres that have grown to be large cities. Thus, Rome, Paris, London, the various "chesters"[22] of England, Milan, Turin, Paris, Chicago, Pittsburg, and Albany were established first as military outposts. The trading post was most conveniently established under the protection of the military camp, and the subsequent growth depended partly on an accessible position, and partly on the intelligence of the men who controlled the trade of the surrounding regions.

Harbors as Factors in the Growth of Cities.—A good harbor draws trade from a great distance. Thus, with a rate of 14-1/2 cents on a bushel of wheat from Chicago, New York City draws a trade from a region having a radius of more than one thousand miles. In its trade with Chinese ports, Seattle, the chief port of Puget Sound, reaches as far eastward as London and Hamburg.

Water-Power as a Factor.—The presence of water-power has brought about the establishment of many centres that have grown into populous cities. The water-power of the New England plateau had much to do with the rapid growth of the New England States. At the time of the various embargo and non-intercourse acts preceding the war of 1812, a great amount of capital was thrown into idleness. The water-power was made available because, during this time, the people were compelled to manufacture for themselves the commodities that before had been imported.

The manufacturing industry at first was prosecuted in the southern Appalachians as well as in the New England plateau. It survived in the latter, partly because of the capital available, and partly owing to the business experience of the people. In the meantime villages sprang up in pretty nearly every locality in which there was available water-power.

Since the use of coal and the advent of cheap railway transportation, steam has largely supplanted water-power, unless the latter is unlimited in supply. As a result, there is a marked growth of the smaller centres of population along the various water-fronts. In such cases the advantages of a water-front offset the loss of water-power.

The Effects of Metals on the Growth of Cities.—The character of the industry of a region has much to do with the character of its manufactures. Thus, coal is absolutely essential to the manufacture of iron and steel; and, inasmuch as from two to eight tons of the former are necessary to manufacture a ton of steel, it is cheaper to ship the ore to a place to which coal can be cheaply brought.

The coal-fields are responsible for the greater part of Pittsburg's population, and almost wholly for that of Scranton, Wilkesbarre, and many other Pennsylvania towns. Iron and coal are responsible, also, for many cities and towns in the vicinity of the Great Lakes. Birmingham, Salford, and Cardiff in Great Britain, Dortmund and Essen in Germany, and St. Etienne in France have resulted from the presence of coal and iron.

In many instances man is a great factor in the establishment of a centre of population. Chicago would have been quite as well off in two or three other locations; its present location is the result of man's energy and is not likely to be changed. St. Louis might have been built at a dozen different places and would have fared just as well; the same is true of St. Paul, or of Indianapolis.

Leavenworth at one time was a more promising city than Kansas City, but the building of an iron bridge over the Missouri River at the latter place gave it a start, and wide-awake men kept it in the lead. It has grown at the expense of Leavenworth and St. Joseph, neither one of which has become a commercial centre. Cairo, at the junction of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, has the geographical position for a great city; it waits for the man who can concentrate the commerce there.

Adjustment to Environment.—San Francisco was wisely located at first, but its grain trade was more economically carried on at Karquinez Strait, while its oriental trade is gradually concentrating at Seattle. Philadelphia lost its commercial supremacy when the completion of the Erie Canal gave return cargoes to foreign vessels discharging at New York City. Oswego, N.Y., had the advantage of both harbor facilities and water-power, but Syracuse, with practically no advantages except those of leadership, has far outstripped it.

Such instances of the readjustment of centres of population have been common in the past; they will also occur in the future. In nearly every case the readjustment results from economic causes, the opening of new lines of transportation, the lowering of the cost of the production of a commodity, the discovery of new economic processes—all these cause a disturbance of population, and the latter must readjust itself to new and changed conditions.

Not all peoples have the necessary intelligence and training at first to adapt themselves to their environment. For the greater part, the American Indians were unable to take advantage of the wonderful resources of the continent in which they lived. The Boers occupied about the richest part of Africa, but made no use of the natural wealth of the country beyond the grazing industry; in fact, their nomadic life reduced them to a plane of civilization materially lower than that of their ancestors.

People of the highest state of civilization do not always adjust themselves to their environment readily. The people of the New England plateau were nearly a century in learning that they possessed nearly all the best harbors of the Atlantic coast of North America. When, however, the great commerce of the country had been wiped out of existence, it did not take them long to readjust themselves to the industry of manufacture, the water-power being the natural resource that made the industry profitable.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Were the middle Atlantic coast of the United States to undergo an elevation of 100 feet, what would be the effect on New York City?

Find the factors that led to the settlement of the city or town in which or near which you live. What caused the settlement of the three or four largest towns in the same county?—of the following places: Minneapolis, Fall River, New Haven, New Bedford, Cairo (Ill.), Cairo (Egypt), Marseille, Aix-la-Chapelle, Alexandria (Egypt), Washington (D.C.), Columbus (O.), Johannesburg (Africa), Kimberley (Africa), Albany (N.Y.), Punta Arenas (S.A.), Scranton (Pa.), Vancouver (B.C.), San Francisco, Cape Nome?

What circumstances connected with commerce led to the passing of the following-named places: Palmyra, Carthage, Babylon, Genoa, Venice, Ancient Rome, Jerusalem?

COLLATERAL REFERENCE

Any good cyclopaedia.



CHAPTER VIII

THE CEREALS AND GRASSES

Of all the plants connected with the economies of mankind the grasses hold easily the first place. Not only are the seeds of certain species the chief food of nearly all peoples, but the plants themselves are the food of most animals whose flesh is used as meat. Wheat, maize, and rice are used by all except a very few peoples; and about all the animals used for food, fish and mollusks excepted, are grain eaters, or grass eaters, or both.

The grasses of the Plains in Texas, the Veldt in South Africa, and the hills of New Zealand by nature's processes are converted into meat that feeds the great cities of western Europe and the eastern United States. The corn of the Mississippi valley becomes the pork which, yielded from the carcasses of more than forty million swine, is exported to half the countries of the world. Even the two and one-half billion pounds of wool consumed yearly is converted grass.

Wheat.—The wheat of commerce is the seed of several species of cereal grass, one of which, Triticum sativum, is the ordinary cultivated plant. Wild species are found in the highlands of Kurdistan, in Greece, and in Mesopotamia, that are identical with species cultivated to-day. It is thought that the cultivation of the grain began in Mesopotamia, but it is also certain that it was grown by the Swiss lake-dwellers far back in prehistoric times. It is the "corn" Joseph's brothers sought to buy when they went to Egypt, and the records of its harvesting are scattered all over the pages of written history.



Of the one and one-half billion people that constitute the world's population, more than one-third, or about eight times the population of the United States, are consumers of wheat-bread; and this number is yearly increasing by twelve million. Moreover, each individual of this aggregate consumes yearly very nearly one barrel of flour, or about four and one-half bushels of wheat. In other words, it requires somewhat more than two billion three hundred million bushels of wheat each year to supply the world's demand.[23] As a matter of fact the world's crop is yearly consumed so nearly to the danger-line that very often the "visible supply," or the amount known to be in the market, is reduced to a few million bushels.

Wheat will grow under very wide ranges of climate, but it thrives best between the parallels of 25 deg. and 55 deg. In a soil very rich in vegetable mould it is apt to "run to stalk." A rather poor clay-loam produces the best seed,[24] and a hard seed, rather than a heavy stalk, is required.

In the latitude of Kansas the seeds planted in the fall will retain their vitality through the winter; in the latitude of Dakota they are "winter-killed," as a rule. Because of this feature two broad classes or divisions of the crop are recognized in commerce—the winter and the spring varieties. In general, the spring wheats are regarded as the better, and this is nearly always the case in localities too cold for winter wheat. There are exceptions to this rule, however. In the main, winter wheat ripens first, and is therefore first in the market.[25]



In Europe the plain that faces the North and Baltic Seas, and that part which extends through southern Russia, yield the chief part of the crop, although the plains of the Po, the Danube, and Bohemia furnish heavy crops. Russia, France, Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Italy are all wheat states.

In a normal year all Europe produces a little more than one-half (fifty-five per cent.) of the world's crop. Russia and France excepted, scarcely another state produces as much as is consumed. Great Britain consumes her entire crop in three months; Germany in about six months. France sends a part of her crop to Great Britain and buys of Russia to fill the deficiency. Russia consumes but very little of her wheat-crop; it is nearly all sold to the states of western Europe. All Europe consumes about one billion seven hundred and ten million bushels, but produces about one billion two hundred and fifty million; the remainder is supplied by the United States, India, Argentina, Africa, and Australia.



In the United States the great bulk of the crop comes from the upper Mississippi valley and Pacific coast States. About one-third is consumed where it is grown; more than one-third is required for the populous centres of the east; a little less than one-third is exported, of which about ninety per cent. goes to Europe.



Much of this, especially the Pacific coast product, is sold unground, but each year an increasing amount is made into flour. The flour manufacture of the United States aggregates somewhat more than 160,000,000 barrels yearly—the output of 16,000 flour-mills; the Pillsbury mills of Minneapolis alone have a capacity of 60,000 barrels a week. In Europe the Hungarian mills and their output of Bohemian flour are the chief competitors of the United States.



The wheat-crop of the Pacific coast has usually been a factor by itself. On account of the absence of summer rains, the kernel is both plump and hard. After the threshing process it is sacked and stored in the fields in which it has grown.[26] Heretofore much of the sacked wheat has been shipped to European markets by the Cape Horn route, but in late years a yearly increasing amount is made into flour and sold in China, Japan, and Siberia. In 1900 nearly two million barrels were thus sent.

East of the Rocky Mountains, after the grain is harvested much of it is sold to dealers whose storage elevators[27] are scattered all over the wheat-growing region, and at all great points of shipment, such as Duluth, Minneapolis, Buffalo, and the eastern seaports. Before the grain is transferred to the elevators it is inspected and graded, and the cars which contain it are sealed. This wheat constitutes the "visible supply." All the business concerning it is transacted by means of "warehouse receipts," that have almost the currency of ready money. Banks loan money on them almost to their market value.

Under normal conditions, the cost of growing and harvesting a bushel of wheat—including interest on the land and deterioration of the machinery, etc.—is between fifty and fifty-five cents. The market price, when not affected by "corners" and other gambling transactions, usually varies between sixty-two and eighty-five cents. The difference between these figures is divided between the farmer and the "middlemen," the share of the latter being in the form of commissions and elevator charges.



In addition to bread-making wheat, certain varieties of grain known as macaroni wheat have a certain importance in the market. Several varieties are so hardy that they easily resist extremely cold winters; they will also grow in regions too dry for ordinary varieties. In this respect they are well adapted to the plains at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. The only detriment is the lack of a steady market. Macaroni wheat has a very hard kernel and is rich in gluten. It is used mainly in the manufacture of macaroni paste, but in Europe, when mixed with three times its weight of ordinary soft wheat, it is much used in making flour. The small amount now grown in the United States is shipped mainly to France.

The yield of wheat varies partly with the rainfall, but the difference is due mainly to skill in cultivation. In western Europe it is from two to three times as great as in the United States; in Russia and India it is much less.[28]

The yearly consumption of wheat is increasing very rapidly both in the United States and in Europe; moreover, China is becoming a wheat-consuming country. In the United States the consumption is increasing so rapidly that unless either the acreage of the crop, or else the yield per acre, is materially increased, there will be no surplus for export after the year 1931.



In the United States the acreage may be somewhat increased by the irrigation of arid lands now uncultivated, and by the reclamation of overflowed and swamp lands. There are far greater possibilities, however, in the employment of methods of cultivation which will double the rate of present yield. It is doubtful if there can be much increase of acreage in the States of the Mississippi Valley, where the acreage will of necessity be lessened rather than increased.

In western Europe there can be no material increase of the acreage or the rate of yield; in Russia both are possible. The plains of Argentina now yield a notable quantity—about one hundred million bushels—and the amount may be increased. Moreover, a large product may be obtained from both Uruguay and Paraguay, and southern Brazil, neither one of which produces a considerable quantity. At the present rate of the increase in consumption, all of the available land, yielding its maximum, will not produce a sufficient crop at the end of the twentieth century.

Corn.—Maize or Indian corn is the seed of a plant, Zea mays, a member of the grass family. It is not known to exist in a wild state. The species now cultivated are undoubtedly derived from the American continent, but evidence is not wanting to show that it was known in China and the islands of Asia before the discovery of America.[29] The commercial history of corn begins with the discovery of America. Next to meat it was the chief food of the native American; next to wheat it is the chief food-stuff in the American continent to-day.

Corn requires a rich soil and is not so hardy as wheat. It thrives best in regions having long summers and warm nights. The growing crop is easily injured by too much rain. It is an abundant crop in the central Mississippi Valley, but not near the coast; it is very prolific in Nebraska, but not in Dakota; it thrives in Italy, Austria, and the Balkan Peninsula, but not in the British Isles and Germany. It is a very important crop in Australia, and is the staple grain of Mexico. It is the crop of fourteen-hour days and warm nights.



The United States is the chief producer of corn, and from an area of 80,000,000 acres—about that of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois combined—more than two billion bushels, or four-fifths of the world's crop, are produced. In the past few years the area planted with corn has not materially increased, and it is likely to be lessened rather than increased in the future. From the same acreage, however, the annual yield, now about twenty-five or thirty bushels per acre, can be more than doubled by the use of more skilful methods of cultivation.

Corn contains more fatty substance, or natural oil, than wheat, and therefore has a greater heating power. For this reason it is better than wheat for out-of-door workers, and it is almost the only cereal food-stuff consumed in Spanish America. It is also a staple food-stuff in Egypt. Corn has been used as a bread-stuff in the United States, Italy, and Rumania[30] for a long time. In recent years, however, its use has become very popular in Europe.



In the United States by far the greater part of the crop is consumed where it is grown, being used to fatten swine and cattle. The market value of a pound of corn is about one-third of a cent; converted into pork or beef, however, it is worth five or six times as much. By feeding the corn to stock, therefore, a farmer may turn an unmarketable product into one for which there is a steady demand.



Although corn is not so essential a staple as wheat, it has a much wider range of usefulness. The starch made from it is considered a delicacy and is used very largely in America and Europe as an article of food. Glucose, a cheap but wholesome substitute for sugar, is made from it; from the oil a substitute for rubber is prepared; smokeless powder and other explosives are made from the pith of the stalk; while a very large part of the product is used in the manufacture of liquor.

Rye.—Rye is the seed of a cereal grass, Secale cereale, a plant closely resembling wheat in external appearance. Rye will grow in soils that are too poor for wheat; its northern limit is in latitudes somewhat greater than that of wheat, also. It is an ideal crop for the sandy plain stretching from the Netherlands into central Russia, and this locality produces almost the whole yield. The world's crop is about one and a half billion bushels, of which Russia produces nearly two-thirds. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Japan grow nearly all the rest. It is consumed where it is grown. In the United States the yearly product is about twenty-five million bushels, about one-tenth of which is exported to Europe. Rye-bread is almost always sour, and this fact is its chief disadvantage.

Barley.—Barley is the seed of several species of cereal grass, mainly Hordeum distichum and Hordeum vulgare. It is one of the oldest-used of bread-stuffs. It can be cultivated farther north than wheat, and about as far within the tropics as corn; it has, therefore, very wide limits. Formerly it was much used in northwestern Europe as a bread-stuff, but in recent years it has been in part supplanted by wheat and corn. Barley is a most excellent food for horses, and in California is grown mainly for this purpose. Its chief use is for the manufacture of the malt used in brewing.

The world's crop of barley is not far from one billion bushels, of which the United States produces about sixty million bushels. Most of the crop is grown in the Germanic states of Europe, and in Russia.

Oats.—The oat is the seed of a cereal grass, Avena sativa being the species almost always cultivated. It is not known where the cultivated species originated, but the earliest known locality is central Europe, where it was certainly a domestic plant during the Bronze Age. It seems probable that the species now cultivated in Scotland at one time grew wild in western Europe; certain it is that wild species are found in North America.



The oat grows within rather wider limits of latitude, and thrives in a greater variety of soils than does wheat. Grown in a moist climate, however, the grain is at its best. The oat-crop of the world aggregates more than three billion bushels, surpassing that of wheat or corn in measurement, but not in weight. A small portion of this is used as a bread-stuff, but the greater part is used as horse-food, for which it is remarkably adapted.



In Europe, Russia is the greatest producer, and its yearly oat harvest is about one-quarter of the world's crop. The states of northwestern Europe yield about half the entire crop; the wheat-growing area of the United States produces the remaining one-fourth. Russia and the United States are both exporters, the grain going to western Europe. By far the greater part of the grain is consumed where it is grown.

Rice.—Rice is the seed of a cereal grass, Oryza sativa. It is claimed to be native to India, but it is known to have been cultivated in China for more than five thousand years. It grows wild in Australia and Malaysia.

Rice requires plenty of warmth and moisture. It is cultivated in the warmer parts of the temperate zone, but it thrives best in the tropical regions. In China a considerable upland rice is grown, but for the greater part it is grown in level lowlands that may be flooded with water. The preparation of the fields is a matter of great expense, for they may require flooding and draining at a moment's notice. The crop matures in from three to six months. After threshing, the seed is still covered with a husk, and in this form it is known as "paddy."

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Why is not wheat-growing a profitable industry in the New England States?—in the plains at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains?—in the southern part of the United States?

What are meant by the following terms: No. 1 spring, a corner, a disk harrow, a cradle, a flail, a separator, futures, warehouse certificates?

In 1855 the price of a barrel of flour in New York or Boston was about twelve dollars; at the close of the century it was less than five. Explain how the lessened price came about.

From a census or other report make a list of the ten leading wheat-producing States; the ten that produce the most corn.

Why are the foreign shipments of oats less than those of wheat?

What are the prices current of wheat, corn, oats, and barley to-day?

FOR STUDY AND REFERENCE

Obtain samples of the different kinds of wheat, oats, barley, corn, millet, and rice. Put the grain in small, closely stoppered vials; attach the heads of the small grains to sheets of cardboard of the proper size.

Read "The Wheat Problem"—Chapter I.



CHAPTER IX

TEXTILE FIBRES

Under the term "textile" are included the fibrous substances that can be spun into threads, and woven or felted into cloth. Some of these, like the covering of the sheep, goat, and llama, or the cocoon of the silk-worm, are of animal origin; others, like cotton furze, the husk of the cocoanut, and the bast of the flax-plant are vegetable products. Their use in the manufacture of cloth antedates the period at which written history begins; it probably begins with the time when primitive man gradually ceased to have the hairy covering necessary to protect him from the conditions of climate and weather.

As body coverings all these substances are dependent on a single principle, namely—they are poor conductors of heat; that is, they do not permit the natural heat of the body to pass away quickly, nor do they allow sudden changes of the temperature to reach the body quickly. In other words, because of the artificial covering which mankind alone requires, bodily heat is not dissipated more rapidly than it is created; if it were, the covering would be worthless. A suit of clothes made of steel wire, for instance, because it conducts heat so rapidly, might chill, or perhaps heat the body more quickly than the open air.

With respect to warming qualities wool surpasses all other textiles. It is employed for clothing in every part of the world and by nearly all peoples. Cotton is used mainly also for body coverings, but it is inferior to wool for protection against cold. It is used by practically all peoples, savage and civilized, outside of the frigid zones. Linen is inferior both to cotton and wool for clothing; its use is also restricted by its great cost. Silk is used mainly for ornamental cloths. Hemp is used mainly for cordage, and the use of ramie, jute, and sisal hemp is confined mainly to the manufacture of very coarse cloths and rugs.

Cotton.—The cotton fibre of commerce is the lint surrounding the seeds of several species of Gossypium, plants belonging to the same natural order as the marshmallow and the hollyhock. The cultivated species have been carried from India to different parts of the world, but cotton-bearing plants are also native to the American. A native tree-cotton, known as Barbados cotton, occurs in the West Indies; a herbaceous cotton-plant is known to have been cultivated in Peru long before the discovery of Columbus.



More than four hundred years before the Christian era Herodotus describes it and mentions a gin for separating the lint from the seed. Nearchus, an admiral serving under Alexander the Great, brought to Europe specimens of cotton cloth, and in the course of time it became an article of commerce among Greek and Roman merchants.

The cotton-plant requires warmth, moisture, and a long season. It also thrives best near the sea. It grows better, on the whole, in subtropical rather than in tropical regions, and the difference is due probably to the longer days and higher temperature of the subtropical latitudes. In the United States the northern limit is approximately the thirty-eighth parallel. The seeds are planted, as a rule, during the first three weeks of April and the first two of May. The plants bloom about the middle of June; the boll or pod matures during July, and bursts about the first of August. The picking begins in August.



The yield and the quality of the textile depend not only on conditions of the soil, but on locality. In the river flood-plains of the southern United States the yield is about two bales per acre; on the bluff lands it is but little more than one, unless unusual care is taken in the preparation of the land. The islands off the Carolina coast produce a very fine long-staple variety, commercially known as sea island cotton. A district in China produces a good fibre of brownish color known as nankeen, named for the city of Nanking, whence formerly it was exported. The valley of Piura River, Peru, produces varieties of long-staple cotton that in quality closely resemble silk.

The fibre of ordinary American cotton is about seven-eighths of an inch long; it is made into the fabrics commercially known as "domestics" and "prints," or calico. If the fibre averages a little longer than the common grades it is reserved for canvas. Ordinary Peruvian cotton has a fibre nearly two inches long; it is used in the manufacture of hosiery and balbriggan underwear, and also to adulterate wool. The long-staple cotton of the Piura Valley is bought by British manufacturers at a high price, and used in the webbing of rubber tires and hose. Egyptian cotton is very fine and is used mainly in the manufacture of thread and the finer grades of balbriggan underwear. Sea island fibre is nearly two inches long and is used almost wholly in the making of thread and lace.

The introduction of cotton cultivation resulted in very far-reaching consequences both from a political as well as an economic stand-point. The invention of the steam-engine by Watt gave England an enormous mechanical power. To utilize this the cotton industry was wrested from Hindustan; the mills were concentrated in Manchester and Lancashire; the cotton-fields were transferred to the United States.

As a result, the plains of Hindustan were strewn with the bodies of starved weavers and spinners, but a great industry grew into existence in England. The invention of spinning machinery by Arkwright, Crompton, and Hargreaves, and the gradual improvement of the power-loom, greatly reduced the cost of making the cloth and, at the same time, enormously increased the demand for it.



In the United States the consequences were far more serious. The invention of the engine or "gin" for separating the lint from the seed made cotton cultivation highly profitable.[31] The negro slaves, who had been scattered throughout the colonies and the States that succeeded them, were soon drawn to the cotton-growing States to supply the needed field-labor; and, indeed, white workmen could not stand the hot, moist climate of the cotton-fields.

The cotton-mills grew up in the Northern manufacturing States. The Northern manufacturer needed a tariff on imported goods to protect him from European competition; the Southern cotton-planter who purchased much of his supplies abroad was hurt by the tariff. After about sixty years of strained relations between the two sections there occurred the Civil War which wiped out nearly one million lives, and rolled up a debt, direct and indirect, of nearly six billions of dollars.

The world's cotton-crop aggregates from twelve million to fifteen million bales yearly, of which the United States produces, as a rule, a little more than three-fourths. Egypt is rapidly taking an important place among cotton-producing countries, and, with the completion of the various irrigating canals, will very soon rank next to the United States. India ranks about third; China and Korea produce about the same quantity. There are a few cotton-cloth mills in these states, but in Japan the manufacture is increasing, the mills being equipped with the best of modern machinery. Brazil has a small product, and Russia in Asia needs transportation facilities only to increase largely its growing output.



The cotton-crop of the United States is quite evenly distributed; one-third is manufactured at home; one-third is purchased by Great Britain; and the remaining third goes mainly to western Europe. In the past few years China has become a constantly increasing purchaser of American cotton. New Orleans, Galveston, Savannah, and New York are the chief ports of shipment. The imported Egyptian and Peruvian cotton is landed mainly at New York. Most of the cotton manufacture is carried on in the New England States, but there is a very rapid extension of cotton manufacture in the South.

Wool.—The wool of commerce is a term applied to the fleece of the common sheep, to that of certain species of goat, and to that of the camel and its kind. There is no hard-and-fast distinction between hair and wool,[32] but, in general, wool fibres have rough edges, much resembling overlapping scales which interlock with one another; hair, as a rule, has a hard, smooth surface. If a mass of loose wool be spread out and beaten, or if it be pressed between rollers, the fibres interlock so closely that there results a thick, strong cloth which has been made without either spinning or weaving.

This property, known as "felting," gives to wool a great part of its value, and is its chief distinction from hair. Some kinds of hair, however, have a slight felting property, and if sufficiently fine may be spun and woven. The hair of the common goat is worthless for this purpose, but that of the Cashmere and Angora species have the properties of wool. The hair of the Bactrian camel, and also that of the llama, alpaca, and vicuna is soft and fine, possessing felting qualities that make it very superior as a textile.



The quality of wool varies greatly according to the conditions of soil, climate, and the character of the food of the animal. In commerce, however, the fleeces are commonly graded as "long-staple," "short-staple," "merino," and "coarse."

In long-staple wools the fibres are from four to eight inches long; they are more easily separated by a process much like combing, and are therefore called "combing" wools. The cotswold, cheviot, and most of the wools of the British Isles are of this kind; indeed, in fairly moist lowland regions such as Canada and the United States, there is a tendency toward the development of a long-staple product. The English long-staple wools are largely made into worsted cloth, the Scotch cheviot into tweeds, and the French into the best dress cloth.

If the fibres are materially less than four inches in length, the product is classed as a short-staple or "carding" wool. By far the greater part of the wool of the United States, Canada, and Europe is of this class. It is disposed of according to its fineness or fitness for special purposes, the greater part being made into cloths for the medium grades of men's clothing.

The finest and softest wool as a rule is grown in arid, plateau regions, and of this kind of staple the merino is an example. The fibres are fine as silk, and the goods made from them are softer. The Mission wool of California is the product of merino sheep, and, indeed, the conditions of climate in southern California and Australia are such as to produce the best merino wool. The famous Electoral wool of Saxony is a merino, the sheep having been introduced into that country from Spain about three hundred years ago. The merino wools, as a rule, are used in the most highly finished dress and fancy goods.

The coarse-staple wools are very largely used for American carpets, coarse blankets, and certain kinds of heavy outer clothing. The Russian Donskoi wool, some of the Argentine fleeces, such as the Cordoban, and many of those grown in wet lowlands are very coarse and harsh. The quality is due more to climatic conditions and food than to the species of sheep; indeed, sheep that in other regions produce a fine wool, when introduced to this locality, after a few generations produce coarse wool.



The rug wools grown in Persia, Turkestan, Turkey in Asia, and the Caucasus Mountains are also characteristic. They vary in fineness, and because they do not readily felt they are the best in the world for rug stock. The "pile" or surface of the rug remains elastic and stands upright even after a hundred years of wear. This quality is due mainly to conditions of climate and soil.



In some instances the wool is obtained by a daily combing of the half-grown lambs. This process, however, is employed in the rug-making districts only; in general, the fleeces are clipped either with shears or machine clippers. In the United States the latter are generally employed, and but little attempt is made either to sort the fleeces or to separate the various qualities of wool in the same fleece.

The raw wool always contains foreign matter such as burs and dirt; it is also saturated with a natural oil which prevents felting. The oil, commonly called "grease," or "yolk," is an important article of commerce; under the name of "lanolin" (adeps lanae) it is used in medicine and pharmacy as a basis for ointments.

The world's yearly clip is a little more than two and one-half billion pounds, of which the United States produces about one-eighth. In Europe and the United States, owing to the increasing value of the land, the area of production is decreasing; in Australia, South Africa, and Argentina, where land is cheap, it is increasing. From these three regions wool is exported; most European countries and the United States buy it. In the latter country the consumption is about six pounds for each person.



The wools of the Mediterranean countries—France, Spain, Italy, Algiers, Egypt, etc.—are the best for fine cloths; those of central Asia for rugs and shawls; the others are used mainly in medium and low grade textiles.

Other Wools.—The Angora goat, originally grown in Anatolia (Asia Minor), and the Iran States (Persia, Afghanistan, and Baluchistan), furnishes a beautiful white wool, commercially known as "mohair." Smyrna is an important market for it, and England is the chief buyer. The Angora goat has been introduced into South Africa and California, where it is successfully grown. From the former country there is a large export of mohair.

Cashmere wool is a fine, downy undercovering, obtained by combing the fleece of a goat native to the Kashmir Valley in India. A single animal yields scarcely more than an ounce or two, and the best product is worth about its weight in gold. It is used in the manufacture of the famous Cashmere shawls, which are sold at prices varying from five hundred to five thousand dollars. They are made in Persia and India.

Llama and alpaca wool are fine textile obtained from animals of the camel kind native to South America. The wool is either black or brown in color. A considerable part is used for native-made articles, such as saddle-blankets, etc., but much of it is exported to England.

Most of the "camel's hair" of commerce was originally worn by goats, being called by its commercial name because of a similarity in texture to that of the camel's hair. The camel of Turkestan, however, furnishes a silky textile that is much used. The brown wool often found in Hamadan rugs is natural camel's hair, and a considerable amount mixed with sheep's wool is used in certain textiles. The camel's hair of China is made into artists' brushes.

Silk.—The silk of commerce is the fibre spun by the larvae or caterpillars of a moth, Bombyx mori, as they enter the chrysalis stage of existence. The silk-growing industry includes the care and feeding of the insect in all its stages. The leaves of the white mulberry-tree (morus alba) are the natural food of the insect, and silk-growing cannot be carried on in regions where this tree does not thrive. Not all areas that produce the mulberry-tree, however, will also grow the silk-worm; the latter cannot exist in regions having very cold winters, and therefore the industry is restricted by climate.

The moth, shortly after emerging from the chrysalis stage, lays from two or three hundred to seven hundred eggs. These are "hardy"—that is, they will remain fertile for a long time if kept in a cool, dry place; moisture will cause them to putrify, and heat to germinate. If well protected, they may be transported for distances.

In rearing the silk-worm, as soon as the latter is hatched, it is placed on mulberry-leaves, and for five weeks it does nothing but eat, in that time consuming many times its weight of food.[33] Then it begins to spin the material that forms its chrysalis case or cocoon. The outer part of the case consists of a tough envelope not unlike coarse tissue-paper; the inner part is a fine thread about one thousand feet long that has been wound around the body of the worm. This thread or filament is the basis of the silk textile industry.



At the proper time the cocoons are gathered and, if immediately to be used, are plunged into hot water. This not only kills the chrysalids but softens the cocoons as well, so that the outer cases may be removed. The cases removed, the rest of the cocoon is soaked in warm water until the gummy matter is softened and the fibres are free enough to be reeled. In the latter process the ends of a number of cocoons, varying from five to twenty, are caught and loosely twisted into a single strand. The silk thus prepared forms the "raw silk" of commerce. Sometimes a number of strands of raw silk are twisted into a coarse thread, thereby forming "thrown silk." For convenience in handling, both raw and thrown silk are made into large skeins called hanks, and most of the silk product is exported in this form.

A given quantity of cocoons yields scarcely more than one-tenth its weight in good raw silk. The remaining part, consisting of broken fibres and cases, is shredded and spun into silk thread of inferior quality. This material, commonly called "husks" or "knubs," forms an important item in silk manufacture, and much of it is exported to Europe and America.



According to traditions, not wholly trustworthy, eggs of the silk-worm were smuggled to India in the head-dress of a Chinese princess. Thence sericulture slowly made its way westward to Persia, Asia Minor, and the Mediterranean countries. Wild silk, a coarse but strong product, is grown in many of these countries, but mainly in China, where it forms an important export. The Chinese product is commercially known as "tussar" silk. Of the product of raw silk, about thirty-five million pounds, China yields about two-fifths, Japan and Italy each one-fifth. The remainder is grown in the Levant, Spain, and France.

Most of the raw silk of China is exported from Shanghai and Canton; that of Japan is shipped mainly from Yokohama. Among European countries Italy is the first producer of raw silk, and France the chief manufacturer. By the operation of a heavy tariff a considerable manufacture of silk textiles has grown up in the United States. New York City and Paterson, N.J., are the chief centres of the industry.

The southern part of the United States offers an ideal locality for sericulture. Various attempts at silk-worm breeding have failed from lack of training, but not on account of geographic conditions.

Flax.—The flax of commerce, the basis of linen cloth, is the bast or inner bark-fibre of an annual plant (Linum usitalissimum, i.e., most useful fibre), native probably to the Mediterranean basin. It ranks among the oldest known textiles. Bundles of unwrought fibre have been found in the lake dwellings of Switzerland, and linen cloth constituted a part of the sepulture wrappings of the ancient Egyptian dead.

Flax has a very wide range, thriving in the colder parts of Europe as well as in tropical Asia; it does equally well in the dry summers of California or the moist regions of the Mississippi Valley. The chief requisite is a firm soil that contains plenty of nutrition.

After the stalks have passed maturity they are pulled up by hand; "rippled," or deprived of their seeds and leaves; "retted," or moistened in soft water until the bast separates; "broken" and "scutched" by a machine which gets rid of the woody fibres; and finally the loosened bast fibre is "hetcheled" or combed in order to separate the long, or "line," threads from the "tow" or refuse.

Russia produces more than one-half the world's crop, but the finest and choicest is that known as Courtrai fibre, which is grown in Belgium. This is thought to be due to the quality of the water in the Lys River. A considerable amount of flax grown elsewhere in Europe is sent to this part of Belgium to be retted. Ireland and Germany produce considerable amounts, and a small quantity is grown in the United States.

The prepared flax is used in the manufacture of linen cloth, and the latter is almost exclusively used for table-cloths, napkins, shirt-bosoms, collars, cuffs, and handkerchiefs. France is noted for the manufacture of linen lawns and cambrics, and Belfast, Ireland, for table-cloths and napkins. Nearly the whole linen product is consumed in the United States, Canada, and western Europe; indeed, linen is a mark of western civilization. Great Britain handles the greater part of the linen textiles.

Hemp.—The true hemp of commerce is the bast or inner bark of a plant, Cannabis sativa, belonging to the nettle order. It is an annual plant having a very wide range; it occurs in pretty nearly every country of North America, Europe, and Asia. In Europe the chief countries producing it for commercial uses are Russia, France, Italy, and Hungary; in the United States it is grown in California and the central Mississippi Valley. Russia produces the largest crop; Italy the finest quality of fibre, the best coming from the vicinity of Bologna.

The stalks grow three feet or more in height. When cultivated for the fibre they are pulled from the ground, stripped of their leaves and soaked until the fibre is free. They are then "retted," or beaten, and the fibre is removed. After preparation the fibre is used mainly for the manufacture of wrapping-twine, cordage, and a coarse canvas. Great Britain is the chief purchaser and manufacturer.

Manila Hemp.—Manila hemp is the name given to a fibre obtained from the leaves of a plant, Musa textilis, belonging to the banana family. The best fibres are from six to nine feet in length, of light amber color, and very strong. The leaves, torn into narrow strips by hand, are afterward scraped by hand until the fibre is free of pulp. The long and coarser fibres are made into rope; the shorter fibres are beaten and hetcheled in the same manner as flax, until fine enough to weave into mats, carpets, and fine cloth. The fibres that have served their usefulness as rope are pulped and manufactured into manila paper.

Practically all the manila fibre of commerce—which is not hemp at all—is grown in the Philippine Islands, and since peace has prevailed, the growth and production is increasing. The crude fibre is prepared by hand, by Filipino or by Chinese labor. The manufacture of cordage and paper is done mainly in the United States and Great Britain. Fine hand-made textiles are made by a few Filipino natives, but most of the goods of this character are manufactured in France. Very fine fibre is sometimes used as an adulterant of silk. Great Britain and the United States are the chief purchasers.

Sisal Hemp.—Sisal hemp, or henequen, is a stout, stringy fibre obtained from the thick leaves of several species of agave, to which the maguey and century-plant belong. The cultivated species, from which most of the commercial product is obtained, is the Agave sisalina, which much resembles the ordinary century-plant.

The essential feature in the economic production of sisal hemp is machinery for separating the fibre from the pulp of the leaf. The fibre is whiter, cleaner, and lighter than jute; moreover, in strength it ranks next to the best quality of manila hemp. It is used mainly in the manufacture of grain-sacks, and the twine used on self-binding harvesters. Nearly all the fibre of commerce is grown in the Mexican state of Yucatan and consumed in the United States. The cultivation of this material has made Yucatan one of the most prosperous states of Mexico.

Jute.—Jute is a fibre obtained from the inner bark of a tropical plant, Corchorus olitorius, belonging to the same order as the linden-tree. The plant is an annual, growing in various moist, tropical countries, but is extensively cultivated in India and parts of China for commercial purposes. The fibre is prepared for manufacture in much the same manner as hemp and flax. In India it is used mainly for the manufacture of a coarse textile known as gunny cloth, used as bale-wrappers, and sacks for coffee and rice. On the Pacific coast states it is used for wheat-sacks. Calcutta is the chief centre of manufacture, but jute-sacks are extensively manufactured by the Chinese in California and China.

Ramie.—This fibre, also known as China grass, is the best of two or more species of nettles, prepared in the same manner as hemp fibre. It is finer and stronger than jute, and will take dye-stuffs in a superior manner. With the introduction of machinery for separating and handling the fibre, the cultivation of the ramie-plant has spread from China to India, Japan, and the United States. Fine textiles are now manufactured from it, the most important being carpets, mattings, and American "Smyrna" rugs. The last are generally sold as jute-rugs, and they are nearly as durable as woollen floor-covers.

Other Economic Fibres.—The fibre of cocoanut husk is largely employed in the manufacture of coarse matting. A part of this is obtained from tropical America, but it is a regular export of British India, where it is known as coir.

The mid-rib of the screw pine growing in the forests of tropical America furnishes the material of which "Panama" hats are made. The hats are made in various parts of Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia, and were formerly marketed in Panama. Hats made of a score of grasses and fibres are also sold as Panamas.

A plant (Phormium tenax) having leaves somewhat like those of the iris or common flag furnishes the material of which New Zealand flax is prepared. It is used mainly in the manufacture of cordage.

Plaiting straw, used in the manufacture of hats and bonnets, is grown extensively in northern Italy and in Belgium. For this product spring wheat is very thickly sown in a soil rich in lime. The thick sowing produces a long, slender stalk; the lime gives it whiteness and strength. Plaiting straw is also exported from China and Japan. British merchants handle most of the product.

Cuba bast, a fibre readily bleached to whiteness, is exported to the various establishments in which women's hats are made.

Esparto grass, also called alfa, grows in Spain and the northern part of Africa. It was formerly much used in the manufacture of the cheaper grades of paper, but it has been largely supplanted by wood-pulp for this purpose. The decline of the esparto grass industry led to no little unrest among some of the native tribes of northern Africa.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

What fibres were used in cloth-making in Europe before cotton was employed?

What textiles are of necessity made of cotton?

What is a spinning jenny?—a Jacquard loom?

What are the specific differences between cotswold and merino wool?

Why were most of the cloth-making mills of the United States built at first in the New England States?

How is the silk-making industry encouraged in the United States?

What are the chief linen manufacturing countries?

FOR STUDY AND REFERENCE

Obtain specimens of the cotton seed, boll, raw cotton (sea island, Peruvian, and ordinary), cotton thread, calico, gingham, domestic, canvas, and some of the fancy textiles such as organdie, lawn, etc.

Obtain specimens of the cocoons of the silk-worm, raw silk gros-grain cloth, pongee, and tussar silk cloth.

Obtain also specimens of merino cloth, cashmere, cheviot, and other similar goods; compare them and note the difference.

Examine the fibres of cotton, silk, and wool under a microscope and note the difference.



CHAPTER X

PLANT PRODUCTS OF ECONOMIC USE—BEVERAGES AND MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES

It may be assumed that practically all beverages derived from plants owe their popularity to the stimulant effects they produce. In coffee, tea, cocoa, and mate, the stimulant principle is identical with cafein, the active principle of coffee; in liquors it is a powerful narcotic alcohol; non-potable substances, tobacco, opium, etc., owe their popularity also to narcotic poisons.

Coffee.—The coffee "beans" of commerce are the seeds of a tree (Coffea arabica) probably native to Abyssinia, but now cultivated in various parts of the world. It was introduced into Aden from Africa late in the fifteenth century, and from there its use spread to other cities. Rather singularly its popularity resulted from the strong efforts made to forbid its use.

It was regarded as a stimulant and therefore it was forbidden to followers of Islam.[34] But its power to prevent drowsiness and sleep during the intolerably long religious exercises was a winning feature, and so its use became general in spite of the fulminations against it.

Coffee culture was confined to Arabia until the close of the seventeenth century; it was then introduced into the Dutch East Indies, and for many years the island of Java became the main supply of the world. At the present time, Java is second only to Brazil in coffee production. In the Old World it is now also cultivated along the Guinea coast of Africa, in Madagascar, India, and Ceylon. In the New World the chief areas are Brazil, Venezuela, the Central American States, and the West Indies.



The coffee-tree may be cultivated in almost any soil that is fertile; it thrives best, however, in red soil. Old, decomposed red lavas produce the choicest beans. Coffee grows in any moist climate in which the temperature does not range higher than 80 deg. F. nor lower than 55 deg. F. An occasional frost injures but does not necessarily kill the trees, which grow better in the shade than in the sunlight. For convenience in gathering the crop, the trees are pruned until they are not higher than bushes.

The fruit of the coffee-tree is a deep-red berry not quite so large as a cherry. A juicy pulp encloses a double membrane, or endocarp, and within the latter are the seeds which constitute the coffee of commerce. Normally there are two seeds, but in some varieties there is a tendency for one seed to mature, leaving the other undeveloped; this is the "peaberry" coffee of commerce. The so-called Mocha coffee is a peaberry.

In their preparation the berries are picked when ripe and deprived of their pulp. After pulping they are cured in the sun for about a week and then hulled, or divested of the endocarp, a process requiring expensive machinery. The coffee is then cleaned, and sacked.

The value of the product depends on two factors, age and the care with which it is sorted. Formerly, in the Dutch East Indies, coffee-growing, for the greater part, was a government privilege, and the crop was kept for several years in storage before it was permitted to be sold—therefore the term "Old Government" Java. Other coffee was designated as "Private Plantations." The quality of coffee is greatly improved with age. Brazilian and other American coffee-beans are rarely seasoned by storage.

American coffees are almost wholly sorted by machinery. This process, however, merely collects beans of the same size; it still leaves the good and the bad beans together, though it is to be said that among the largest beans there are fewer poor ones. In the coffees handled by the Arab dealers all the sorting is done by hand, the very choice grade selling in the large cities of Europe for the equivalent of nearly three dollars per pound. All machine-sorted coffee is greatly improved by a subsequent hand-sorting to remove the imperfect beans.

The naming of the different kinds of coffee is somewhat arbitrary. Thus, Brazilian coffees are commercially known as Rio because they are shipped from the port of Rio de Janeiro; the same name is applied to the product shipped from Santos. Nearly all Venezuela coffees are called Maracaibo although they differ much in kind and quality; most Central American coffee is sold as Costa Rica; most peaberry varieties are known as Mocha; and most of the East India product is popularly called Java, no matter whence it comes.



Of the American coffees Rio constitutes about half the world's product. After sorting, the larger beans are often marketed as Java coffee, and when the beans have been roasted it is exceedingly difficult to tell the difference. The best Maracaibo is regarded as choice coffee, but its flavor is not liked by all coffee-drinkers. The best Honduras and Puerto Rico coffees take a high rank and command very high prices, retailing in some instances at sixty cents per pound. A very choice peaberry is grown in the volcanic soils of Mexico to which the name of Oaxaca is given; most of it is sold in the United States as a choice Mocha.

Mocha is the commercial name of a coffee at one time marketed in the Arabian city of that name. Since the completion of the Suez Canal, Hodeida has been the chief centre of the Arabian coffee-trade. Formerly most of this coffee was grown in the Province of Yemen, but now it is brought to Hodeida, from Egypt, Ceylon, and India.

About all the product is hand-sorted. The choicest is sold in Constantinople, Cairo, and other cities near by, in some instances bringing five dollars per pound. Very little, and only that of the most inferior quality, ever finds its way into western Europe or the United States. Even the best Mocha is not superior to fine Oaxaca coffee.

Java coffee is renowned the world over for its fine flavor. The best quality was formerly that which had been held in storage to season for a few years. The government coffee was generally the better, but some of the private plantations crop is now equally good. Some of the Sumatra coffees are equal to the best Java beans.

The Liberia coffees have never been favorites in the United States on account of their flavor. In Europe they are used for blending with other varieties.

Of the entire coffee-crop of the world, the United States consumes more than three-quarters of a billion pounds—a yearly average of very nearly eleven pounds for each inhabitant. This is nearly three times as much per inhabitant as is consumed in Germany, and almost fifteen times the average used in Great Britain. Nearly all the world's crop is consumed in the United States and western Europe.

Chicory, parched grain, pease, and burnt parsnip are sometimes added as adulterants to ground coffee. Of those, chicory most nearly resembles coffee in flavor and taste. It is harmless and usually improves the flavor of inferior coffee. A tariff recently placed upon chicory has somewhat lessened the use of it.

Tea.—The tea of commerce consists of the dried and prepared leaves of an evergreen shrub (Thea chinensis) belonging most probably to the camellia family. Tea has been a commercial product of China for more than fourteen hundred years, but seems to have been carried thither from India about five hundred years before the Christian era; for its virtues were praised by (the probably mythical) Chinung, an emperor of that period.

The cultivated plants are scarcely higher than bushes, but the wild plant found in India is a tree fifteen or twenty feet in height. The cultivated plant is quite hardy; severe winters kill it but ordinary freezing weather merely retards its growth. It thrives best in red, mouldy soils; the choicest varieties are grown in new soils. The leaves are not picked until the plants are three or four years old.

Two general classes of tea are known in commerce—the green and the black. Formerly these were grown on different varieties of the plant, but in the newer plantations no distinction is made in the matter of variety; the color is due wholly to the manner of preparation.

The plants are watched carefully during the seasons of picking, of which there are three or four each year. The April picking yields the choicest crop of leaves, and only the youngest leaves and buds are taken.[35] A single plant rarely yields more than four or five ounces of tea yearly. Each acre of a tea-garden yields about three hundred and fifty pounds.

After picking, the leaves are partly crushed and allowed to wilt until they begin to turn brown in color. They are then rolled between the hands and either dried very slowly in the sun, or else rapidly in pans over a charcoal fire—a process known as "firing." The former method produces black, the latter green, tea. The color of the latter is sometimes heightened by the use of a mixture of powdered gypsum and Prussian blue. In the black teas the green coloring matter of the leaf is destroyed by fermentation; in the green teas it remains unchanged.

The greater part of the Chinese tea designed for export is packed rather loosely in wooden chests lined with sheet-lead, the folds and joints of which are soldered in order to make the cover both air-tight and moisture-tight. A full chest contains seventy-five pounds of tea. The Japan product is also packed in moisture-tight wrappers, the original parcels being usually ten-pound, five-pound, and pound packages. Similar devices are used in preparing the India and Formosa teas for ocean shipment.

The chief tea-producing countries are India (including Ceylon) China, Japan (including Formosa), and Java. A successful tea-garden is in operation near Charleston, S.C. A small amount is grown in the Fiji and Samoan Islands. The Ceylon and Formosa teas take a very high rank.



Great Britain and her colonies consume the bulk of the tea-crop. The average yearly consumption per person is eight pounds in Australia, six in Great Britain and Cape of Good Hope, and more than four in Canada. In the United States and Russia it is less than one pound per person.

Before the opening of the Suez Canal, in 1869, most of the crop for the English market was despatched by way of Cape of Good Hope. So important was it to get the consignments to London without loss of time, that fast clipper ships were built especially for carrying tea. Since the opening of the canal the crop has been shipped mainly by the Suez route.

A part of the tea required for the United States reaches New York by way of the Suez Canal, but the movement is gradually changing since the building of the fast liners that now ply between Asian and American ports. These steamships carry it to Seattle, or to Vancouver, whence it is distributed by rail. The increased cost of shipment by this route is more than offset by a gain of from five to seven days in time.

In some respects the Russian "caravan route" is the most important channel of the tea-trade. The tea is collected mainly at Tientsin, and sent by camel caravans through Manchuria to the most convenient point on the Siberian railway. Not only the shipments of brick tea[36] for the Russian market, but the choicest products for western Europe also are sent by this route. It is probably an economical way of shipping the brick tea, but a more expensive method of shipment for the latter could not be found easily; it is preferred from the fact that, no matter how carefully sealed, the flavor of tea is materially injured by an ocean voyage.

It is evident, therefore, that for the tea product alone the Siberian railway will soon become an important factor in the commerce of Europe. Shipments of tea are also sent from Canton to Odessa, Russia, but this route is not less expensive in the long run than the Cape route, and the tea suffers as much deterioration from the shorter as from the longer voyage.

Cacao.—Cacao, the "cocoa" of commerce, consists of the prepared seeds of several species of Theobroma, the greater part being obtained from the Theobroma cacao. The name is unfortunately confused with that of the cocoa-palm, but there is no relation whatever between the two.

The seeds of the cacao were used in ancient America long before its discovery by Columbus, and the latter carried the first knowledge of it to Europe. By the middle of the seventeenth century it was much used in Spain, and less than a hundred years later it had become the fashionable drink of western Europe.

The cacao-tree, originally native to Mexico, is now cultivated throughout tropical America and the West Indies. It is not cultivated to any extent in the Eastern continent. The fruit consists of large, fleshy pods, which are cut from the trees usually in June and December. The seeds are then piled in heaps, or else packed in pits, and allowed to undergo a rapid fermentation for a period of several days, to which process their flavor is mainly due. The roasted and broken seeds are the cocoa-nibs of commerce. The husks are known as cocoa-shells.

A very large part of the cacao product comes from Ecuador, Guayaquil being perhaps the chief market of the world. The Venezuelan and Brazilian products, however, are the choicest; these are known in commerce respectively as Caracas and Trinidad cacao. Spain, Portugal, and France are the chief purchasers, and in the first-named country the consumption per person is five or six times as great as in other countries.

Cacao is not only a stimulant beverage, but a food as well; about one-half its weight is fat, and about one-third consists of starch and flesh-making substances. The stimulant principle is the same as that occurring in tea and coffee, but the proportion is considerably less. In preparing the cocoa for the market, much of the fat is intentionally withdrawn. The fat, commercially known as "cocoa-butter," and "oil of theobroma," does not turn rancid.

Chocolate consists of cocoa ground to a paste with sugar and flavoring matter, and then cast in moulds to harden. It is used mainly in the manufacture of confectionery. Most of the chocolate is made in France, Spain, and the United States. More than forty million pounds of cocoa are yearly consumed in the United States.

Mate.—Mate, yerba mate, or Paraguay tea, is the leaf of a shrub, a species of holly, growing profusely in the forests of Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay. In many instances, the shrub is cultivated. The leaves are prepared in much the same manner as tea-leaves are, but instead of being rolled, they are broken by beating.

The mate of commerce has a stimulant principle identical with that of tea and coffee, which is the only reason for its use. The consumption, about fifteen thousand tons a year, is confined almost wholly to the countries named.

Tobacco.—The tobacco of commerce is the prepared and manufactured leaf of several species of plant, belonging to the nightshade family. Most of the product is derived from the species known as Virginia tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and the Brazilian species (Nicotiana rustica). The former is cultivated in the United States, West Indies, the Philippine Islands, and Turkey; the latter has been transplanted to central Europe and the East Indies.

The use of tobacco was prevalent in the New World at the time of Columbus's first voyage, and was quickly introduced into Europe. The prepared leaf contains a substance, nicotine, which is one of the most deadly of poisons when swallowed, and an intense narcotic stimulant when inhaled. On account of the evil effects arising from its introduction, its use was forbidden by the Church and also by sovereigns of several European states. The latter, however, finding that its use was becoming general, made it a Crown monopoly. In Great Britain its cultivation was forbidden in order to encourage its cultivation in Virginia.

Tobacco does not thrive best in a poor soil, but the latter produces a thin, half-developed leaf, which in other plants would be called "sickly." It grows in almost any kind of soil, but requires warm summer nights. In many instances the tobacco of temperate latitudes yields a more salable leaf when grown under cover. The flavor is due partly to soil and climate, and partly to skill in curing. The choicest product is obtained in only a few localities of limited area. It sometimes happens that the products of two plantations almost side by side, and similarly situated, are very unlike in character and quality.



The choicest cigar-tobacco is grown on the Vuelta Abajo district in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba; another very choice Cuban leaf is known as Partidos. Cuban-made cigars of fine quality are commercially "Havana" cigars, although tobacco from Manila and Porto Rico is apt to be largely used in their manufacture. In order to avoid the very heavy duty on cigars, which is not far from six dollars per pound, a great deal of the Havana tobacco is exported to points along the Florida coast, mainly Key West and Tampa. The unmanufactured tobacco pays a comparatively small duty, and the cigars made from it are commercially known as "Key West."

In some parts of Mexico a fine-flavored tobacco is grown, but as the cigars are not uniform in quality they are not popular. Some of the Brazilian tobacco is a high-class product, but not much is exported. Porto Rican leaf has a fine flavor, but is not popular because of its dark color. The demand for it in the United States is growing, however. Of the leaf grown in the East, that from Sumatra and the Philippine Islands is by far the best, and the exports are heavy. Cuban manufacturers purchase the Manila leaf; the Sumatra wrappers are purchased in the United States.

The choicest cigarette-tobacco is grown in Asiatic Turkey, Transcaucasia, and Egypt. It is selected with great care, and is "long-cut." The common grades are made of chopped Virginia tobacco, or of chopped cigar-trimmings. The cheapest grades consist of refuse leaf mixed with half-smoked cigar-stumps. The United States leads in the manufacture of cigarettes, and a large part of the product is sold in China, India, and Japan. Most of the world's product of snuff is made in the United States, and nearly all of it is sold abroad.

The United States produces yearly about seven hundred million pounds. A large part of this is sold to European countries. Great Britain purchases about four-fifths of the tobacco there consumed from the United States. The latter country purchases from Europe (mainly the Netherlands) about half as much as it sells to Europe. Louisville, Ky., is probably the largest tobacco-market in the world. New York, Baltimore, Richmond, Manila, and Havana are the chief shipping-ports.

In almost every civilized country tobacco is heavily taxed. In the United States there is not only a heavy import duty, but an internal revenue in addition. In Austria, France, Italy, Japan, and Spain the manufacture and sale is in the hands of the government. The consumption of tobacco varies greatly. In the Netherlands it averages about seven pounds a year to each individual; in the United States it is more than four pounds; in central Europe, three pounds; in Spain, Sweden, Great Britain, and Italy, it is less than two pounds.

Opium.—The opium of commerce is the hardened juice obtained from the seed capsules of several species of the poppy-plant. A variety having a large capsule (Papaver somniferum) is most commonly cultivated for the commercial production of the substance. Half-a-dozen times during the season the capsules are scratched or cut; the juice exuding when hard is picked or scraped off and pressed into cakes.

Opium is not only a narcotic poison, but it has the property of lessening the pain of disease, and this is its chief use in medicine. In Mohammedan countries where the use of alcoholic liquors is forbidden as a religious custom, opium is used as a substitute. In Turkey, Persia, Arabia, and Egypt the production of opium is an important industry connected with social and religious life. In British India it is a political factor, being extensively cultivated as a government monopoly to be sold to the Chinese, who are probably the chief consumers of it. The Indian Government derives a revenue sometimes reaching twenty million dollars from this source.

The best quality of opium is marketed at Smyrna, and most of this is purchased by the United States. A considerable amount of Chinese opium is imported for the use of the Chinese, and a larger amount is probably smuggled over the Canadian and Mexican borders. Laudanum is an alcoholic tincture, and morphine an extractive of opium; both are used as medicine.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Consult a good physiology and learn the effects of coffee, tea, tobacco, and opium.

Where and what are the following: Mocha, Java, Maracaibo, Yokohama, Amoy, Canton, Oaxaca, Hodeida, Rio Janeiro, Santos, Havana; how is each connected commercially with this chapter?

From the map, Fig. 1, trace the route of a cargo of tea overland from China to Great Britain.

Consult an English history or a cyclopaedia and learn about the opium war.

FOR STUDY AND REFERENCE

Obtain samples of the following, preserving them for study and inspection in closely stoppered vials: Mocha, Java, Rio, and Sumatra coffees; green, black, and gunpowder tea. Soak a tea-leaf a few minutes in warm water; unroll the leaf and attach it to a white card, for study.

Obtain samples of gum opium, laudanum, and morphine; note the odor of the first two and the taste of the last. Remember that they are poisonous.

Unroll a cheap cigarette and note the character of the tobacco in it, using a magnifying glass.



CHAPTER XI

GUMS AND RESINS USED IN THE ARTS

Most vegetable juices exposed to the air harden into firm substances, commonly called gum. Some of these dissolve, or at least soften, in water; these technically are known as "gums," and usually are so designated in commerce. Others are insoluble in water, but dissolve readily in alcohol, in naphtha, in turpentine, or in other essential oils; these are designated as "gum-resins." Still others yield oils or pitchy substances on distillation; these are known as "oleo-resins." There are many other dried vegetable juices, however, that in commerce are not classified among the gums and resins, and of these the most important is the substance commonly known as india-rubber.

Rubber and Rubber Products.—"Caoutchouc" is approximately the name given by Indians of the Amazon forests to a substance that had also been found in India. Some of it was brought to Europe from the Amazon region as early as 1736, and for nearly one hundred years no general purpose was discovered for which it could be used, except to erase lead-pencil marks—hence the name india-rubber, which has held ever since.

Common rubber is the prepared juice of a dozen or more shrubs and trees, all of which grow in tropical regions.[37] The belt of rubber-producing plants extends around the world and includes such well-known species as the fig, the manihot (or manioc), and the oleander; indeed, it is a condition of sap rather than a definite species of plant that produces rubber, and the latter is a manufactured rather than a natural product. The process of preparing the juice is practically the same in every part of the world.

The rubber-gatherer of the Amazon, who is practically a slave, wades into the swamp, makes several incisions in the bark of the tree, fashions a rough trough of clay under it, and waits till the sap fills the clay vessel. When the sap has been gathered he makes a fire of the nuts of the urucuri palm and places an inverted funnel over it to concentrate the smoke. He first dips the end of a wooden spindle into the juice and then holds it in the smoke until the juice coagulates; this process is repeated until there has formed a ball of rubber weighing from five to ten pounds. The smoke of the palm-nuts is a chemical agent that converts the juice into the crude rubber of commerce.

Crude gum, however, is lacking both in strength and elasticity. The process that makes it a finished product is known as vulcanization. The crude rubber, having been exported to the manufacturer in the United States or Europe, is shredded, washed, and cleansed, and partly fused with varying proportions of sulphur. For a very soft product, such as the inner surface of tires, only a small proportion is used; where the wear is considerable, a larger proportion is employed.[38] White clay is sometimes added to give body to the product; coloring matter is also sometimes added.

By far the greater part of the crude rubber comes from the Amazon forests. Brazil produces about one-half, but a considerable quantity is obtained in Acre, the territory formed where the borders of Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru meet, and now ceded to Brazil. Nearly all this product, that of the Ceara region excepted, is marketed at Para and is known as Para rubber. It is the best produced. The African product, mainly from the forests of the Kongo, and Madagascar, and nearly all the East Indian product is sent to Europe.



The world's product is about one hundred and thirty-three million pounds of crude rubber. Of this product the United States takes nearly one-half. The greater part is used in the manufacture of pneumatic tires, hose, and overshoes. A large part is used for making water-proof cloth,[39] and considerable is made into the small elastic bands for which there is a growing use.

Gutta-Percha.—Gutta-percha is obtained from the juices of several plants (chiefly Dichopsis gutta and Supota muelleri) both of which abound in the Malay peninsula and the East Indies. It is prepared in a manner somewhat similar to that employed in making crude rubber; it is also easily vulcanized by heating with sulphur. It is used to a limited extent in the manufacture of golf-balls, but mainly as the insulating cover of copper wires used in ocean telegraph cables. For this purpose it has no known substitute, and its essential merit is the fact that it is not altered by salt water. Nearly all the product is shipped from Singapore to England.