The train-oil obtained from the blubber of the animal was used partly as a lubricant, but mainly for illuminating purposes. For this purpose, however, it has been superseded by coal-oil, gas, and electricity. It is still in demand as a lubricant, but the whale-oil of commerce is quite as apt to come from the blubber of the porpoise or the sea-cow as from the right whale. Whalebone is a horny substance taken from the animal's jaw, and is worth from three dollars to eight dollars per pound. It is used chiefly in the manufacture of whips. For other purposes, steel, hard rubber, and celluloid have taken its place.

The substance called spermaceti is derived from the sperm-whale, an inhabitant of warm ocean-waters. Spermaceti is identical in its physical properties with paraffine, and the latter is now almost universally its substitute.

Ambergris, thought to be a morbid secretion or disease of the sperm-whale, is found in the body cavity of the animal and also in masses floating in the sea. It is used chiefly to give intensity to the odor of perfumes, and the best quality brings as much as five dollars per ounce. Most of the ambergris of commerce is obtained from the neighborhood of the Bahama Islands.

Cod.—In the amount of the product the cod-fisheries are the most important. The meat of the fish is not strong in flavor, and it is cured with little expense. So valuable is the annual catch that the banks and shallows which the schools frequent are governed by international treaties.

The cod is a cold-water fish, and the fishing-grounds are confined to rather high latitudes. The coast-waters of the Scandinavian peninsula and the shores of the Canadian coast, especially the Banks of Newfoundland, are the chief areas. The fishing-grounds of the Canadian coast are closed to foreign vessels inside a three-mile limit; beyond the limit they are occupied mainly by Canadian, French, and American fishermen. By the terms of treaties foreign vessels may enter the three-mile limit under restriction to purchase bait and food-supplies, and to cure their fish.

A large part of the cod-catch is exported. Tropical countries buy much of the product. In such countries it is more wholesome than meat; it is cheaper; moreover, the salted cod will keep for an indefinite length of time. A large part of the catch is sold to the Catholic states of Europe and America, where during certain times the eating of the flesh of animals is forbidden. Gloucester, Mass., London, England, and Trondhjem, Norway, are great markets for salted fish. The oil from the liver of the cod is much used in medicine.

Herring, Alewives, and Sardine.—The herring is a much smaller fish than the cod, and, commercially, is much less important. They school in about the same waters as the cod, but are caught at a different season, gill-nets being usually employed. Practically no distinction is made between full-grown herring and alewives of the same size. The fish are usually cured by smoking, pickling, or salting, and in this form are either exported or sold in interior markets.

The true sardine is found in latitudes a little farther south than the schooling-grounds of the cod. The most important fisheries are along the coasts of the Latin states of Europe. Sardine fishing is a great industry all along the New England coast of the United States, but the "sardines" marketed from this region are young herring. Indeed, nearly all sorts of small fry are sold in boxes bearing spurious French labels.

Salmon.—Most of the salmon are caught in the rivers flowing into the North Pacific Ocean. The fish are caught in traps and weirs at the time of the spring run, when they ascend the river to spawn. The rivers are frequently so congested with the salmon that thousands of tons are caught in a single stream during the run.

The salmon canneries of the Columbia River are very extensive establishments, but in the past few years they have been surpassed by the Alaskan fisheries, which produce not far from fifty million pounds each year. The dressed fish is cooked by steam, canned, and exported to all parts of the world. The growth and development of the industry has also made an enormous demand on the tin mines of the world. Canned salmon is the largest fish export of the United States. There are extensive salmon-fisheries in Norway, Japan, and Russia.

Other Fish.—Mackerel and haddock are caught near the shores of the North Atlantic. Most of the mackerel-catch is pickled in brine and sold in small kegs known as "kits." The menhaden-catch of the North Atlantic is converted into fertilizer. The halibut is a large fish that is rarely preserved. The area in which it is caught is about the same as that of the cod. Shad are usually caught when ascending the rivers of the middle Atlantic coast. In the United States, Chesapeake, Delaware, and New York Bays yield the chief supply. The bluefish and barracuda are warm-water fish. The market for fresh fish has been greatly enlarged by the use of refrigerator-cars.

The sturgeon is captured mainly in the rivers and lakes of the temperate zone. Those of the Black Sea sometimes attain a weight of 2,000 pounds. The flesh is of less importance than the eggs, of which caviare is made. Russian caviare is sold all over Europe and America, and not a small part of the product is made in Maine. The caviare made from the roe of the Delaware River sturgeon is exported to Germany. The tunny is confined to Mediterranean waters.

The anchovy is caught on the coast of Europe; most of the product is preserved, or made into the well-known "anchovy sauce." The beche-de-mere, or "sea cucumber," is a product of Australasian and Malaysian waters. Almost the whole catch is purchased by the Chinese, and it is exported to all countries having a Chinese population.

Oysters and Lobsters.—The oyster is among the foremost sea products of the United States in value. The oyster thrives best in moderately warm and sheltered waters. The coves and estuaries along the middle Atlantic coast produce the best in the world. Chesapeake Bay and Long Island Sound yield the greater part of the output. In the latter waters elaborate methods of propagation are carried out, and the yearly crop is increasing both in quality and quantity. The output of the Chesapeake beds has decreased materially; that of the Long Island Sound beds has increased.

Oysters are plentiful along the Pacific coast of the United States and also in European coast-waters, but they are inferior in size and quality. The use of refrigerator-cars and vessels has extended the trade to the extent that fresh oysters are shipped to points 2,000 miles inland; they are also exported to Europe. Baltimore is the chief oyster-market.

The consumption of the lobster has been so great that the catch of the New England coast has decreased about one-half in the past fifty years, and the United States is now an importer. Most of the import, amounting to about one million dollars yearly, comes from Canada. The so-called lobsters of the Pacific coast of the United States are not lobsters, but crayfish.

Fish Hatcheries.—The demand for fish has grown so great in past years that in many countries the waters, especially the lakes and rivers, are restocked. The eggs are hatched and the young fry are fed until they are large enough to take care of themselves. The chief hatchery and laboratory of the United States Fish Commission is at Woods Holl, Mass. As many as 860,000,000 eggs, small fry, and adult fish have been distributed in a single year. The State of New York has also a similar department for restocking its waters.

Sponge.—This substance is practically the skeleton of a low order of animal, growing at the bottom of the sea. The sponge is cut from the place of attachment, and the gelatinous matter is washed away after putrefaction. The chief sponge-fisheries are in the neighborhood of Florida and the Bahama Islands.

Seal.—The fur-seal is an amphibian, found only in cold waters. A few pelts are obtained along the Greenland coast, but the chief sealing-grounds of the world have been at the Pribilof Islands, in Bering Sea. The pelts of the young males only are taken. The rookeries of the Pribilof Islands have been so nearly exhausted, that the killing season has been suspended for a term of years. Much illicit seal-catching is still going on, however.

The skins are taken to London, via San Francisco, where the fur is dyed a rich brown color; London is the chief market for dyed pelts; San Francisco for raw pelts; and New York, Paris, and St. Petersburg for garments. The pelts of the sea-otter are obtained mainly in the North Pacific Ocean.

Other Furs.—The furs employed in the finest garments are in part the pelts of land animals living in polar regions. The sable, stone-marten, otter, beaver, and red fox are the most valuable. The Persian lamb, however, is not a polar animal. The Russian Empire and Canada are the chief sources of supply. The Hudson Bay Company, with head-quarters at Fort Garry, near Winnipeg, controls most of the fur-trade of North America; the Russian furs are marketed mainly at Lower Novgorod. Leipzig, Germany, is also an important fur-market.

Enormous quantities of rabbit-skins from Australia and nutria from Argentina are imported into the United States and Europe for the manufacture of the felt of which hats are made. The amount of this substance may be realized when one considers that not far from two hundred million people in the two countries wear felt hats.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Note an instance in which the search for deep-sea fishing-grounds has resulted in the discovery of unknown lands.

Why are not whale products as essential now as a century ago?

What international complications have arisen between the United States and Great Britain concerning the cod-fisheries?—the seal-catch?



CHAPTER XVII

THE UNITED STATES—THE SEAPORTS AND THE ATLANTIC COAST-PLAIN

The United States of America together with the possessions included within the domain of the Republic comprise an area somewhat greater than that of Europe.

With respect to latitude, the position of the main body of the United States is extremely fortunate. Practically all its area is situated in the warmer half of the temperate zone. Only a small part lies beyond the northern limit of the corn belt; wheat, oats, and barley are cultivated successfully throughout four-fifths of its extent in latitude; grass, and therefore cattle and sheep are grown in nearly every part. Coal, iron, copper, gold, and silver, the minerals and metals which give to a nation its greatest material power, exist in abundance, and the successful working of these deposits have placed the country upon a very high commercial plane.

Topographically the United States may be divided into the following regions:

The Atlantic Coast-Plain, The Appalachian Ranges and the New England Plateau, The Basin of the Great Lakes, The Northern Mississippi Valley Region, The Southern Mississippi Valley and Gulf Coast, The Arid Plains, The Plateau Region, The Pacific Coast Lowlands.



The topographic and climatic features of these various regions have had a great influence not only on the political history of the country, but their effect has been even greater in determining its industrial development. They have resulted in the establishment of the various industries, each in the locality best adapted to it, instead of their diffusion without respect to the necessary conditions of environment.

The foregoing regions are also approximately areas of fundamental industries. Thus, the New England plateau supplies the rest of the United States with light manufactures, such as cotton textiles, woollen clothing, hats, shoes, cutlery, books, writing-paper, household metal wares, etc., but sells the excess abroad. The middle and southern Appalachians, with the coal which forms their chief resource, supply the rest of the country with structural steel, from ores obtained in the lake regions, and sell the excess to foreign countries.

The northern Mississippi Valley grows nearly one-fourth of the world's wheat-crop. The wheat of this region and the Pacific coast lowlands supplies the country with bread-stuffs, and exports the excess to western Europe. The Gulf states, which produce three-fourths of the world's cotton-crop, supply the whole country and about one-half the rest of the world besides with cotton textiles. The grazing regions produce an excess of meat for export; the western highlands furnish the gold and silver necessary to carry on the enormous commerce.

In the last twenty years the imports of merchandise per capita varied but little from $11.50; the exports per capita varied from about $12 to more than $18.

The Atlantic Coast-Plain and the Seaports.—Throughout most of its extent the Atlantic seaboard of the United States is bordered by a low coast-plain. Along the northeastern coast of the United States the coast-plain is very narrow; south of New York Bay it has a width in some places of more than two hundred miles.

The existence of this plain has had a marked effect on the commercial development of the country. The sinking or "drowning" of the northern part of it has made an exceedingly indented coast. The drowned valleys, enclosed by ridges and headlands, form the best of harbors, and nearly all of them are northeast of New York Bay. South of New York Bay good harbors are comparatively few. For the greater part they occur only when old, buried river-channels permit approach to the shore.

The most important port of entry in these harbors is New York, and it derives its importance from two factors. It has a very capacious harbor, into which vessels drawing as much as thirty-five feet may enter; its situation at the lower end of a series of valleys and passes makes it almost a dead level route from the Mississippi to the Atlantic seaboard. The importance of New York as the commercial gateway between European ports and the food-producing region of the American continent began when the Erie Canal was opened between the Great Lakes and tide-water. The completion of the canal for the first time opened the rich farming lands of the interior to European markets. Probably a greater tonnage of freight is carried yearly over this route than over any other channel of trade in the world.

Not far from two-thirds of the foreign commerce of the country passes through the port of New York. The water-front of the city has an aggregate length of about three hundred miles, of which one-third is available for anchorage. The docks and piers, including those of Jersey City and Hoboken, aggregate about ninety miles in frontage.

About sixteen thousand sea-going craft enter and clear yearly, and an average of nearly twenty large passenger and freight steamships arrive and clear daily, about one-half of them being foreign. The latter receive their cargoes from about three thousand freight-cars that are daily switched into the various freight-yards, a large part of which is through freight from the west.

The port of entry of New York is a centre of population of about four million, and although there are the industries usually found in great communities, the greater business enterprises practically reduce themselves to export, import, and exchange. For this reason New York City is the financial, as well as the commercial centre of the continent. Most of the great industrial corporations of the country have their head offices in the city. These are financed by more than one hundred banks, together with a clearing-house whose yearly business amounted in 1902 to considerably more than seventy billions of dollars.[50]



Boston has been one of the leading ports of the United States for considerably more than a century. It ranks second among the ports of the United States. Regular lines of transit connect it with the principal ports of Great Britain and Canada. The coast trade is also very heavy. Boston is the financial and commercial centre of New England; the cotton, woollen, and leather goods passing through the port find their way to nearly every inhabited part of the world. The city controls a considerable export trade of food-stuffs from the upper Mississippi Valley. The vessels entering and clearing at Boston indicate a movement of about four million five hundred thousand tons, about one-fourth that of New York. The clearing-house exchanges average about six billion dollars yearly.

Philadelphia, on account of its distance inland, is not fortunately situated for ocean commerce. Steamships of deep draught reach their docks at the lower end of the city under their own steam, but sailing-craft pay heavy towage fees. There are regular lines to Liverpool, Antwerp, West Indian ports, Baltimore, and Boston. Philadelphia is the centre of the anthracite coal trade, and this is the chief factor of its domestic trade. The imports of fruit from the West Indies, carpet-wool from Europe, and raw sugar from the West Indies, form the greater part of its foreign business. The manufactures are mainly carpets and rugs, locomotives and iron steamships, and refined sugar. The carpet-weaving and the ship-building plants are among the largest in the world. The ocean movement of freight is more than three million five hundred thousand tons yearly. The business of the clearing-house in 1902 aggregated nearly six billion dollars.

Baltimore is likewise handicapped by its distance inland. Sailing-vessels, however, require only a short towage, the docks being scarcely a dozen miles from Chesapeake Bay. The harbor is deep and capacious. The Pennsylvania and Baltimore & Ohio railway systems have made Baltimore an important railway centre. The completion of the Gould railway system to the Atlantic seaboard has made the city second to New York only in the export of corn, wheat, flour, and tobacco. The most noteworthy local industry is the oyster product, which is the greatest in the world. Nearly ten thousand people are employed, and during the busy season—from September to the end of April—about thirty carloads of oysters a day are shipped.



The yearly movement of marine freight, entering and clearing, aggregates about three million tons. In 1902 the clearing-house exchanges aggregated about two and one-quarter billion dollars.

Portland, Me., has good harbor facilities, but is distant from the great lines of traffic. Steamship lines, which in summer make Montreal a terminal point, occasionally make Portland their winter harbor. Newport News, Savannah, Charleston, and Brunswick are growing in importance as clearing ports for the cotton and produce from the region west of them. Norfolk obtains importance on account of the United States Navy-Yard; it is also the great peanut-market of the world.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

What are the requisites of a good seaport?

What is meant by the draught of a vessel?

For what purposes are pilots?

How are navigable channels marked and designated?

From the Statistical Abstract find six or more of the leading exports from each of the following ports: New York, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and the port nearest which you live.

FOR COLLATERAL REFERENCE

Statistical Abstract of the United States.

Statesman's Year-Book.

Industrial Evolution of the United States—Chapter II.



CHAPTER XVIII

THE UNITED STATES—THE NEW ENGLAND PLATEAU AND THE APPALACHIAN REGION

The manufacturing regions of the United States, which connect the country with the rest of the world, include mainly the New England plateau and the Appalachian ranges.

The New England Plateau.—This region embraces the New England States and practically includes all the eastern part of New York and northern New Jersey. The abruptly sloping surface affords a great wealth of water-power, and the region is one of the most important centres of light manufacture in the world. This industry resulted very largely from the conditions imposed by the War of 1812 and its consequent non-intercourse acts.

The interruption of foreign commerce not only cut off the importation of manufactured commodities, but also made idle the capital employed. Manufacturing enterprises started in various parts of the United States, but they prospered in this region for three reasons—an abundance of power, plenty of capital, and business experience. Steam-power is largely supplanting water-power in the manufacturing enterprises, and in many instances the establishments have been moved to tide-water in order to get their coal at the lowest rates of transportation.

Chief among the manufactures are cotton textiles, the yearly output of which is about three hundred million dollars. About nine-tenths of the cotton goods made are consumed at home. Of the remainder, China purchases one-half. Great Britain and Canada take one-fourth, the South American and Central American states purchase most of the remaining output. The great improvement of spinning and weaving machinery has enabled the cotton manufacturer to export his wares to about every country in the world.

Boots, shoes, and other leather goods are also important manufactures. The invention of improved machinery for making shoes has revolutionized the industry to the extent that a pair of stylish shoes may be purchased anywhere in the United States for about half the price charged in 1880. Another result is the enormous importation of hides from South American countries and Mexico.

The New England plateau is also the centre of a large number of manufactures that require a high degree of mechanical skill and intellectual training, such as small fire-arms, machinery, watches and clocks, jewelry, machine-tools, etc. The location of such industries depends but little upon climate, topography, or the cost of transportation; it is wholly a question of an educated and trained people. This region is likely to lose a considerable part of its manufactures of cotton textiles, inasmuch as the industry is gradually moving to the cotton-growing region. The manufactures requiring training and skill, however, are likely to remain in the region where they have grown up.

Lawrence, Lowell, Manchester, and Nashua—all on the Merrimac River; Lewiston, Waterville, Augusta, Woonsocket, and Adams—each situated at falls or rapids—are great centres of cotton manufacture. Fall River has an abundance of water-power, and at the same time is situated on tide-water. Having the advantage of good power and cheap transportation, it has probably the greatest output of cotton textiles of any city in the world. Textile establishments have also grown up in the cities and towns of the Mohawk Valley, being attracted by the excellent facilities for transportation and also by the available water-power. Lynn, Brockton, Haverhill, Marlboro, and Worcester are centres of boot and shoe manufacture; they turn out about two-thirds of the product of the United States.

Bridgeport and New Haven have very large plants for the manufacture of fire-arms and fixed ammunition; Waterbury and Ansonia for watches, clocks, and brass goods; Meriden for silverware, and Waltham for watches. Worcester, Hartford, North Adams, Fitchburg, and Providence have each a great variety of manufactures. The foreign commerce of these manufacturing centres is carried on mainly through Boston. New Haven, New Bedford, Providence, Salem, Gloucester, and New London control each a very large local commerce.

South of New York Bay the Atlantic coast-plain attains an average width of nearly two hundred miles. The pine forests of this plain yield lumber, tar, pitch, and turpentine. The productive lands are valuable chiefly for their output of dairy stuffs, fruit, and "garden truck," which find a ready market in the larger cities. In order to encourage this industry, the railways make special rates for dairy products, fruit, and vegetables, and afford quick transit for such freight.

Manufacturing industries are rapidly taking shape in this part of the United States. Along the line where the coast-plain proper joins the foot-hills of the Appalachian ranges, the rivers reach the lower levels by rapids or falls. The estuaries into which they flow are usually navigable for river-craft. The manufacturer thus has the double advantage of water-power and low transportation. The opening of the southern Appalachian coal-mines has also greatly encouraged manufacture in this region. Richmond, Columbia, Milledgeville, Augusta, and Columbus are thus situated. Their manufactures are very largely connected with the cotton-crop.

The domestic commerce of the Atlantic seaboard of the United States is probably larger than that of any other similar region in the world. It is considerably larger than the "round-the-island" trade of Great Britain. Much of this trade is carried by steam-vessels, but the three-masted schooner is everywhere in evidence, and these craft carry a very large part of the coal that is moved by water. This trade is restricted to vessels flying the American flag.

The Appalachian Region.—The middle and southern Appalachian region has become the most important centre of iron and steel manufacture in the world. This great development has resulted from several causes, the chief being the existence of coal and unlimited quantities of iron ore on the one hand, and unusual facilities for cheap transportation on the other. There are practically three areas of steel manufacture—one along the Ohio River and its tributaries in western Pennsylvania; another is situated along the south shores of Lake Erie and Lake Michigan; the third includes the Birmingham district in the southern Appalachians.

The steel-making plants of the Ohio River are located with reference to the transportation of their products, and therefore are built usually alongside the river. The coal or coke is commonly shipped in barges of light draught; the manufactured products are carried by rail. The greater part of the ore is brought from the Lake Superior region. It is shipped at a very small cost from the ore quarries to the lake-shore, and by rail from the lake-shore to the manufacturing plant. In order to avoid heavy grades the ore railways are also built along the river-valleys.



Some of the various steel-making plants are equipped for the manufacture of building or "structural" steel, others for rails and railway equipments, still others for tin-plate, or for wire, or for tool steel. In a few mills armor-plate and ordinary plate for steel vessels form the exclusive product. The diversity of the product has led to the organization of great corporations, each of which controls half-a-dozen or more plants, the transportation lines necessary to carry the product, the ore quarries, and the fuel-mines.

The wonderful development of the steel industry in the United States is due to the use of labor-saving machinery, and to the superb organization. The wages paid for labor are higher than those paid in European steel-making centres; the cost of living is not materially greater. The price of steel rails, which in 1880 was forty-eight dollars per ton, in 1900 was about twenty dollars per ton.

Pittsburg, together with Homestead, Carnegie, McKeesport, Duquesne, and Braddock, is the chief steel-making centre of the Ohio River Valley. There are also large plants at New Castle, Sharon, Scranton, Johnstown, Bellaire, Youngstown, Mingo Junction, and Wheeling. The steel-plant and rolling-mills at South Bethlehem are designed especially for the manufacture of the heavy ordnance used in the army and navy. Nearly all the cities and towns of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and eastern Ohio carry on manufacturing enterprises that depend on coal mining and steel manufacture. The great and diversified manufactures of Philadelphia are due to its fortunate situation at tide-water, near the coal-mines. Cheap fuel and water transportation have made it one of the great industrial centres of the world.

The anthracite coal of this region is used wholly for fuel and steam-making; it is shipped partly by water from Philadelphia, but mainly in specially constructed cars to the various points of consumption. The soft coal is used also for fuel and steam-making, but a large part of the product is converted into coke and used in the steel-plants.

The petroleum of this region is a leading export of the country, the states of western Europe being the chief purchasers. Of agricultural products, hay, dairy products, and tobacco are the only ones of importance. Natural gas is used both as a fuel and in manufactures.

The lake-shore centre of steel manufacture depends largely on the low cost of transporting the iron ore, which in part is offset by the increased cost of coal. The low cost of shipping the manufactured product over nearly level trunk lines is a very substantial gain. South Chicago, Toledo, Sandusky, Lorain, Cleveland, Ashtabula, Conneaut, Erie, and Buffalo are centres of steel manufacture or ore shipment, because they are situated on this great trade-route or line of least resistance.

The coal-mines and iron-making plants of the southern Appalachians have a considerable area. The chief manufacturing centres are Birmingham, Richmond, Roanoke, and Chattanooga. A considerable part of the Virginia ores find their way to the Ohio River steel-mills. Open-hearth steel is an important manufacture in Birmingham. A large part of the ores smelted in the southern Appalachian region are made into foundry iron.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

What are the advantages and the disadvantages of manufacturing cotton textiles in the New England States?

Why have the mining of ore and the manufacture of steel become generally unprofitable in the New England States?

What causes have brought about the lowering of the prices of cotton textiles during the past fifty years?—of shoes?

What makes the manufacture of artificial ice a precarious business north of the latitude of Philadelphia?

What are the advantages and the disadvantages arising from the location of a manufacturing industry at a seaport?

What is the design of a protective tariff? What are its advantages and disadvantages?

Why are most of the great steel-making plants so remote from the mines of iron ore used in making steel?

FOR COLLATERAL READING

Industrial Evolution of the United States—Chapters III-V.

Mineral Resources of the United States.

Outlines of Political Science—Chapters VIII-X.



CHAPTER XIX

THE UNITED STATES—THE BASIN OF THE GREAT LAKES AND THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY

The principal agricultural region of the United States extends from the Appalachian ranges to the Rocky Mountains. A certain amount of bread-stuffs, meat, and dairy products are grown in nearly every part of the country for local use, but the grain, meat, and cotton of this region are designed for export, and are therefore factors in the world's commerce. The basin of the Great Lakes connects the Mississippi Valley with the Atlantic seaboard.

The Basin of the Great Lakes.—This region includes not only the Great Lakes and the area drained by the streams flowing into them, but also a considerable region surrounding that commercially is tributary to the traffic passing over the lakes. This basin itself is a part of a trade-route destined very shortly to become one of the greatest highways of traffic in the world.

The lakes afford a navigable water-way which, measured due east and west, aggregates nearly six hundred miles. This route is interrupted at Niagara Falls and at St. Mary's Falls, between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. On the Canadian side, Welland Canal, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence connect Lake Erie with tide-water. In the United States the Erie Canal connects the lake with the Hudson River and New York Bay.

From the head of Lake Superior railway routes of minimum grades—the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific[51]—cross the continent to Puget Sound, the best harbor approach to the Pacific coast of the American continent. The harbors of Puget Sound, moreover, are materially nearer the great Asian ports than any other port of the United States. The level margins of these lakes are roadbeds for many miles of railway track; in many instances the railways are built on the tops of terraces that once were shores of the lakes.



Duluth, at the head of Lake Superior, became commercially important when the St. Mary's Falls Canal was completed. Much of the tremendous tonnage of freight passing through the canal is assembled at this place. The freight shipped consists mainly of farm products collected from an area reaching as far west as the Rocky Mountains. There is also a considerable shipment of iron ores obtained near by. Buffalo, at the lower end of Lake Erie, owes its activity to the trade in lumber, grain, and other farm products that come from Western lake-ports. It is the eastern terminus of the lake-commerce and the western terminus of the Erie Canal.

Chicago, at the head of Lake Michigan, has a very heavy lake-trade. The mouth of Chicago River, the natural harbor of the city, has been improved by a system of basins and breakwaters. The river itself has been converted into a ship and drainage canal that is connected with the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. It is now an outlet instead of a feeder to the lake, and the city built about old Fort Dearborn has become the greatest railway centre in the world.



Milwaukee has a situation in many ways resembling that of Chicago, its harbor being the mouth of Milwaukee River. Like Chicago, it owes its importance to its lake-trade. Detroit (with Windsor, Ont.) owes its growth partly to its strategic position on the strait connecting Lake Huron and Lake Erie, and partly for its position between the lakes. It is an important collecting and distributing point for lake-freights, and the chief centre of commerce with Canada. Several east-and-west trunk lines and local lines of railway have freight terminals in the city; it is also the centre of the most complete system of interurban electric railways in the world. Port Huron (with Sarnia, Ont.) has a geographic position similar to that of Detroit, and is also an important lake-port. The St. Clair River is tunnelled at this point. Cleveland, Toledo, Sandusky, and Erie contribute very largely to the lake-trade. Grand Rapids is the business centre of furniture manufacture of the United States.

The great iron-ore ranges about Lake Superior have had much to do with the growth of the local lake-trade. This has resulted in the establishment of a large number of shipping-ports near the head of the lakes, and also a number of receiving ports on the south shores of Lake Erie and Lake Michigan. Some of the latter have become also great manufacturing centres of structural iron and steel.

Various centres of industry at a considerable distance from the Great Lakes are contributors to their trade. Thus, on account of the low rate for grain between Chicago and New York City—about 5-1/4 cents per bushel—there are yearly very heavy shipments of the grain designed for Liverpool. St. Paul and Minneapolis are also collecting and distributing centres of lake-freights. A considerable part of the business of the lake-region is carried on by the Canadians, who have improved their resources for production and transportation to the utmost.



The Northern Mississippi Valley Region.—This region extends from the Appalachian ranges to the western limit of wheat and cotton growing. On the south it is limited by the cotton-growing region. Its boundaries are therefore climatic and commercial.

The surface is level; there is a rich, deep soil and an abundant rainfall. It has therefore become one of the foremost regions of the world in the production of corn, wheat, pork, dairy-stuffs, and general farm produce. The evolution of farming machinery is the direct result of topographic conditions. A level, fertile region naturally invites grain-farming on a large scale. This, in turn, must depend very largely on the ability of the farmer to plant and harvest his crops with the minimum of expense and time.

Hand-work in harvesting and planting has almost wholly given way to machine-work. Farming carried on under such conditions requires not only a considerable capital, but close business management as well. Some of the results have been very far-reaching. The machinery and other equipments require capital, and this in late years has been borrowed from Eastern capitalists. The prompt business methods of the money-lender brought about no little friction, and it is only within recent years that each adjusted himself to the requirements of the other.

The system of machine-farming to a great extent has prevented the subdivision of farms. As a rule, quarter and half sections represent the size of most of the farms, but tracts varying from five thousand to ten thousand acres are by no means uncommon. The chief drawback to this method in the case of wheat-farming, however, is the low yield per acre. The average yield per acre for the United States, a little more than twelve bushels, is scarcely half the average yield in Europe. Although the farmer has done much to reorganize his business methods, he has done but little to maintain the productivity of his land.



The cities and towns of this region are mainly receiving and collecting points for farm produce. Nearly every village is equipped with elevators and grain-handling machinery; the larger towns, as a rule, have stock-yards and the necessary facilities for cattle shipment; the large cities are usually centres of meat-packing. Most of the meat-packing is a necessity; for although cattle may be shipped alive and beef may be transported in refrigerator ships and cars, pork is not marketable unless pickled, salted, or smoked. The pork thus exported, aggregating about six hundred million pounds yearly, must be prepared, therefore, somewhere near the cornfields. Manufacturing enterprises are operated on a very large scale, but in the main their products are farm-machinery and the commodities required by a farming population.

Education in agriculture is provided for in nearly every State in the Union. The agricultural colleges in the States composing this group rank among the best in the world. In addition to the ordinary courses in such institutions, there are also many experiment stations for the study of economic plants, cattle diseases, and insect pests.

Chicago is the largest food-market in the world. The industries of the city are almost wholly connected with the commerce of grain, pork, meat, and other food-stuffs. For the transportation of these commodities about thirty great trunk lines enter the city and about twelve hundred passenger trains daily arrive and depart from its stations.

The freight terminals are connected by transfer and belt lines, which receive and distribute the cars passing between the eastern and the western roads. More than five hundred freight trains, aggregating about twenty thousand cars, arrive and depart daily.

St. Louis originally derived its importance as a river-port of the Mississippi, having been the connecting commercial link between the upper and the lower river. In recent years it has become the metropolis of the southern part of the food-producing region. In addition to the river-trade, still largely controlled at this point, it is the focus of more than twenty trunk lines of railway. Some of these, like the trunk lines of Chicago, handle freight exchanged between the East and West; but a large proportion are receiving and distributing roads for Southern freight.



St. Paul and Minneapolis are the metropolis of the upper Mississippi. The former grew from a trading-post at the head of navigation; the latter gained its commercial prominence from the water-power at the falls of St. Anthony. The former has become the chief railway and distributing centre of the northern Mississippi Valley; the latter has the greatest flour-mills in the world, and an extensive lumber-trade. Both are situated on the trade-route between the United States and Asian ports, and distribute a part of the trade that comes from them.

The two Kansas Cities,[52] Omaha, South Omaha, and Sioux City are stock-markets and meat-packing centres. The first two named are collecting and distributing points not only for the Mississippi Valley, but also for a considerable share of the Pacific Coast trade. Kansas City is also a transfer station for the cotton destined for China. From this place it is sent by way of Billings to Seattle, and thence shipped to China.

Cincinnati is the metropolis of the Ohio Valley. Its situation on a bend of the river gives most excellent landing facilities; the easy grade from the bluff to the bottom-lands along the flood-plain of Mill Creek makes it accessible to the railways that enter the city. On account of low rates of transportation by river-barges, about three million tons of coal and one million tons of pig-iron and steel billets are floated to the city to be manufactured into other steel products. Indianapolis is a great railway centre, where much of the freight passing between Chicago, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Pittsburg is exchanged. Columbus (O.) is similarly situated as a railway and farming centre.



Louisville is a market of the tobacco region, and has probably a larger business in this industry than any other city in the world. Davenport, Rock Island, and Moline form a single commercial centre, the last-named having the largest establishment for the manufacture of ploughs in the world. Dubuque, Burlington, Quincy, and Muscatine are river-ports, all having a considerable trade in the lumber that is carried down the river.

The Southern Mississippi Valley and Gulf Coast.—This region receives a generous warmth and rainfall. Cotton is its staple product, and nearly all the industries are connected with the growth, shipment, and manufacture of the crop and its side products. The cotton, raw or manufactured, is sold in about every country in the world.

The commercial part of handling the cotton-crop begins within a very few weeks from the time of the first picking. The baled cotton is hauled by team from the plantation to the nearest market-town, an item sometimes greater than the entire freightage from the nearest seaport to Liverpool.

The season for export lasts from September until the middle of January, during which time brokers are visiting the smaller markets in order to buy it on commission. It is then shipped by rail or by river to the nearest general market, where it is sold to the foreign buyers and domestic manufacturers.

New Orleans, the metropolis of the South, has usually the heaviest export of cotton, amounting to about one billion pounds each year. Much of this is received by water from the various river-ports. The city is not only a river-port, but an important seaport as well, controlling a large part of the foreign commerce of the Gulf. Several trunk lines of railway enter the city, which is a receiving and distributing depot for both Atlantic and Pacific freights. A considerable part of the former are sent by ocean steamships from New York. An elaborate system of sewerage, well-paved streets, and a good water-supply—all recently put into operation—have made the city one of the most attractive in the United States.

Galveston is destined to become a leading port for cotton export. It has the advantage of a fine harbor on the seaboard, and the disadvantage of a location so low that very heavy south winds flood the streets with water from the Gulf. The growth of the export trade is due chiefly to the increasing crop of Texas. Shipments from Galveston begin in September, the Texas crop being the first to mature. Savannah and New York rank next in their exports. Pensacola and Brunswick are also important points of export. Memphis, Vicksburg, Shreveport, Houston, and Montgomery are important collecting stations for the cotton.

About one-third of the crop is retained for manufacture in the United States; one-third is purchased by Great Britain, one-sixth by Germany, and most of the remainder by France, Italy, Spain, and Japan. Of the manufactured cotton goods, the Chinese are the heaviest buyers, taking about half the entire export. Most of the Chinese purchase is landed at Shanghai.

In the main, the manufactures of this region closely concern the cotton industry. The increase in the manufacture of textile goods has been very great, and a large part of the cotton now manufactured in the New England States and abroad, in time will be made in the cities and towns of this section. In addition to the textile goods, cottonseed-oil is an important product. A part of this is used in the mechanical arts, but the refined oil is used mainly for domestic purposes. A considerable part of the latter is used to adulterate olive-oil, and in some instances is substituted for it. The refuse of the seed is made into fertilizer.

Atlanta is one of the foremost cities in the South in the manufacture of cotton textiles and products. Commercially its situation resembles that of Indianapolis; it is a focal point of the chief trunk lines of railway in the South, and has the principal railway clearing-house. Like New Orleans, it is an educational centre and one of the foremost in the South. Macon, Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio are growing commercial centres.

The manufacture of cane-sugar has been an industry of Louisiana for more than a century. Since the advent of beet-sugar, however, it has been a somewhat precarious venture, and has depended for existence very largely upon tariff protection and bounties paid to the American sugar-makers. Tobacco manufacture centres at Tampa and Key West. Cuban leaf is there converted into cigars.

Fruit culture is a great industry. Millions of melons and great quantities of pineapples, oranges, and small fruit form the early crop that is shipped North. The orange groves are mainly in Florida. The crop is exhausted about the time that California oranges are shipped East. A great deal of tropical fruit is brought from Mexican, Central American, and South American ports. This trade is controlled mainly at Mobile, which is also a lumber-market.

The Arid Plains and the Grazing Region.—This region includes the high plains approximately west of the 2,000-foot contour of level, together with a part of the plateaus of the western highland region. It is essentially one of grazing. Formerly there was an attempt to make wheat-growing the chief industry, but on account of the limited rainfall not more than three crops out of five reached maturity.

The earlier cattle-growing was carried on in a somewhat primitive manner; the cattle herded on open lands, wandering from one range to another, wherever the grazing might be good. The ownership of the cattle was determined by the brand the animal bore,[53] and the herds were "rounded up" twice a year to be sorted; at the round-up the "mavericks," or unmarked calves and yearlings, were branded. In time the ranges became greatly overstocked; the winter losses by starvation were so heavy that a better system became imperative. "Rustling," or cattle-stealing, also became a factor in improving the methods of cattle-ranching. The cautious rustler would purchase a few head of cattle and add to the number by capturing stray mavericks.



Both the legitimate graziers and the rustlers at first were bitterly opposed to fencing the land. In time, however, the grazier was compelled to do this, and also to grow alfalfa for winter foddering. The great open ranges have therefore been broken up and fenced wholly or in part. The fencing, moreover, has kept a dozen or more of the largest wire-mills in the world turning out a product that is at once shipped West. As a rule, the top wire is set on insulators and used for telephone connection.[54] This method of cattle-growing has improved the business in every way. The cattle are better kept; the loss by winter killing is very small; the "long-horn" cattle have given place to the best breeds of "meaters," which are heavier, and mature more quickly.



The success of stock-growing in this region is largely a question of climate. The sparse rainfall permits the growth of several species of grass that retain nutrition and vitality after turning brown under the fierce summer heat. Ordinary turf-grass will not live in this region, nor will it retain its nutrition after turning brown if rain falls upon it. The native grass is not materially affected by a shower or two; it is fairly good fodder even when buried under the winter's snow. The existence of this industry, therefore, turns on a very delicate climatic balance.

Of the beef grown in the United States the export product is derived mainly from this region. Nearly four hundred thousand animals are shipped alive; about three hundred million pounds of fresh beef are shipped to the Atlantic seaboard in refrigerator-cars and then transferred to refrigerator-steamships. Two-thirds of the cattle and fresh beef exported are shipped from New York and Boston.

Upward of one hundred and fifty million pounds of canned and pickled beef are also exported. All but a very small part of this product is consumed in Great Britain, France, and Germany. The cattle are collected for transportation at various stations and sidings along the railways that traverse this region. Cheyenne is one of the largest cattle-markets in the world.

Wool has become a very valuable product, and the sheep grown in this region number about one-half the total in the United States. The growing of macaroni-wheat is extending to lands that fail to produce crops of ordinary wheat.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

In what ways does the basin of the Great Lakes facilitate the commerce of the United States?

How has the topography of the Mississippi Valley affected the evolution of farming-machinery?

Why are shippers willing in many cases to pay an all-rail rate on wheat sent to the Atlantic seaboard, nearly three times as great as the lake and canal rates?

The acre-product of wheat in the United States is about twelve bushels; in western Europe it varies from twenty-five to more than forty bushels; to what is the difference due?

What is meant by sea-island cotton?—for what reasons is cotton imported from Egypt and Peru into the United States?

In what manner is cotton used in the manufacture of pneumatic tires, and why is it thus used?

What are refrigerator-cars?—refrigerator-steamships? Name some of the regulations required in shipping cattle.

Why have American meats been debarred at times from European markets?

Find the value of cotton and meat exported to the following-named countries: Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, China.

FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE

The Wheat Problem—pp. 191 et seq.

Statistical Abstract.



CHAPTER XX

THE UNITED STATES—THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS AND TERRITORIAL POSSESSIONS

The western part of the United States consists of a succession of high mountain-ranges extending nearly north and south. The two highest ranges, each about two miles high, enclose a basin-shaped plateau about one mile high. This basin is commonly called the "plateau region." The rim ranges are broken in a few places by passes that the transcontinental railways thread. West of the Sierra Nevada ranges are the fertile Pacific coast lowlands.

The Plateau Region.—This region is generally arid, but on the higher plateaus there is sufficient rainfall to produce a considerable forestry and grazing. The general conditions of rainfall and topography forbid any great development of agriculture. Farming is confined to the river-flood-plains, the parks, and the old lake beds and margins.

A considerable area, estimated at more than two million acres, may be made productive by irrigation, and the United States Government is undertaking the construction of an elaborate and extensive system of reservoirs for the impounding of stream and storm waters now running to waste. The irrigated lands of this region, when their products are accessible to markets, are very valuable. The river-bottom lands of New Mexico, and the old margins of Great Salt Lake in Utah are examples. They produce abundantly, and a single acre often yields as much as four or five acres in regions of plentiful rainfall.

Not much of the crop of this region, the fruit and wool excepted, leaves the vicinity in which it is grown, on account of the expense of transportation. In the matter of the transportation of their commodities, the dwellers of the western highland are doubly handicapped. The building of railways is enormously expensive, and in a region of sparse population there is comparatively little local freight to be hauled. The difficulties of developing such a region from a commercial stand-point, therefore, are very great.

Mining is the chief industry of this section, and silver, gold, and copper are its most important products. Since the discovery of precious metals in the United States, this region has produced gold and silver bullion to the value of about four billion dollars. This sum is about one-half the value of the railways of the country,[55] and from 1865 to 1880 a large part of the capital invested in railway building represents the gold and silver of these mines. In the last twenty years of the past century they produced an average of about one hundred and twenty-five million dollars per year, and this average is constantly increasing.

Coal-measures extend along the eastern escarpment of the Rocky Mountains, and these are destined at no remote day to create a centre of steel and other manufactures. Several of the railways operate coal-mines in Colorado and Wyoming for the fuel required. A limited supply of steel is also made, the industry being protected by the great distance from the Eastern smelteries.



Denver is the chief active centre of finance of the mining industry in the western highlands, although many of the great enterprises derive the capital necessary to develop them from New York and San Francisco. Leadville, Cripple Creek, Butte, Helena, and Deadwood are regions of gold and silver production. Virginia City is the operating centre of the famous Comstock mines. At Anaconda is the chief copper-mine of this region. Salt Lake City and Ogden are the centre of the Mormon agricultural enterprises. Santa Fe, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque are centres of agricultural interests and stock-growing.

Spokane and Walla Walla are commercial centres of the plains of the Columbia River. The former is the focal point of a network of local roads that collect the wheat and other farm products of this region; the latter is the collecting point for much of the freight sent by steamboats down the Columbia River from Wallula. Railway transportation has largely superseded river-navigation for all except local freights, however. Boise City is the financial centre of considerable mining interests.

The Pacific Coast Lowlands.—Climatically this region differs from the rest of the United States in having a rainy and a dry season—that is, the rainfall is wholly seasonal. In the northern part the rainfall is sixty inches or more, and rain may be expected daily from the middle of October to May. In central California the precipitation is about half as much, the rainy season beginning later and ending earlier. In southern California there are occasional showers during the winter months, aggregating ten or twenty inches.

The level valley-lands have no superior for wheat-farming, and in but one or two places is the rainfall insufficient to insure a good crop. In the San Joaquin and southern valleys of California the harvest begins in May, in the Sacramento Valley in June, and in the Willamette and Sound Valleys of Oregon and Washington in July. The wheat goes mainly to Great Britain by way of Cape Horn. It cannot be safely shipped in bulk, and the manufacture of jute grain-sacks has become an important industry in consequence. The yearly wheat product of this region is not far from eighty million bushels.

Fruit is a valuable product of the foot-hills of the Sierras, and in southern California oranges, lemons, and grapes are now the staple crop. In some cases the average yield per acre has reached a value of five hundred dollars. Some of the largest vineyards in the world are in this region. The Zinfandel claret wine and the raisins find a market as far east as London, and considerable quantities are sold in China and Japan. The navel orange, although not native to California, reaches its finest development in that State. A large part of the fruit-crop of California is handled at Minneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, and New York. It is transported in special cars attached to fast trains.

Wool is an important crop. In the northern part the sheep thrive best in the foot-hills. The valley of Umpqua River, Ore., produces nearly seventeen million pounds of wool yearly, the staple being an ordinary variety. California produces nearly as much of the finest merino staple. A considerable part is manufactured in the mills of the Pacific coast. The Mission Mills blankets made in San Francisco are without an equal elsewhere.

The discovery of gold by John Marshall in 1848 resulted in a tremendous inflow of people to the gold-fields of California. It also was a factor in the acquisition of the territory composing the Pacific coast States. The first mining consisted merely in separating the metal deposited in the bed-rock of streams by washing away the lighter material. In time the quartz ledges which had produced the placer gold became the chief factor in gold mining. California is still one of the leading States in the production of gold. Quicksilver mining is an important feature of the mining interests of the Pacific coast, and the mines of the coast ranges produce about half the world's output.

Lumber manufacture is an important industry. Douglas spruce, commonly known as "Oregon pine," grows profusely on the western slopes of the high ranges, the belt extending nearly to the Mexican border. It makes a most excellent building-lumber, especially for bridge-timber and framework. Masts and spars of this material are used in almost every maritime country. Sugar-pine is less common, but is abundant. It is largely used for interior work. Several species of redwood occur in central California, confined to a limited area. The wood is fine-grained and makes a most beautiful interior finish.

San Francisco is the metropolis of the Pacific coast of the United States. It is the terminus of the Santa Fe and Union Pacific railways, and the centre of a network of local roads. Steamship lines connect the city with Panama, the Hawaiian Islands, Japan, and Australian ports; coast steamships reach to the various ports of Alaska, Oregon, and California. It is also the financial as well as the commercial centre of the Pacific coast. Los Angeles is the centre of the fruit-growing region; its port is San Pedro. Stockton, Port Costa, and Sacramento, all on navigable waters, are wheat-markets. Portland (Ore.) is the metropolis of the basin of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. Navigation of the former is interrupted by falls or rapids at Dalles and Cascades, but boats ascend as far as Wallula. The lower Willamette is also made navigable by means of a canal and locks at Oregon Falls.

Puget Sound is a "drowned valley," with an abundance of deep water. The score or more of harbors are among the best in the world. Seattle and Tacoma, the leading ports, are terminals of great transcontinental railways, and also of the most important trade-route across the continent. Lines of steamships connect Seattle with Japan and China, and the commerce passing through this gateway is drawn from a territory that extends more than half-way around the world. These ports are destined to become the chief American ports in the Asian trade.

Alaska.—The most productive industry of the insular part of the territory is the fisheries. For many years the Pribilof Islands produced practically all the seal-pelts used in the manufacture of seal-fur garments. So many seals were killed, however, that the species seemed likely to become extinct, and seal-catching has been forbidden for a term of years.



The discovery of gold along the Klondike River and in the beach-sands of Cape Nome was followed by the development of surface mines that produced a large amount of gold. For the better transportation of products, a railway has been completed from Skagway across White Pass to White Horse, the head of navigation of the Yukon. About twenty steamboats are engaged in the commerce of the river. Skagway and Dyea are collecting points for the commerce of the Klondike mines. Juneau has probably the largest quartz-mill in the world.

Porto Rico.—Porto Rico, formerly a Spanish colony, is now a possession of the United States. The island is about the size of Connecticut and has a population somewhat greater. The industries are almost wholly agricultural, and nearly the whole surface is under cultivation. Sugar, coffee, and tobacco are grown for export, and these constitute the chief source of income. The coffee-crop, about sixty million pounds yearly, is the most valuable product and commands a high price on account of its superior quality. It is sold very largely to European coffee-merchants, and is marketed as a "Mocha." Exports of fruit to the United States are increasing. In 1900 the exports to United States markets, mainly sugar and cattle products, were about six million dollars. The imports from the United States were chiefly of cotton-prints and rice, to the amount of nearly nine million dollars. The total export and import trade that year was about twenty million dollars.

The facilities for the transportation of products are not good. The railway lines have a total mileage of about one hundred and fifty miles. An excellent wagon-road, built by the Spanish Government from San Juan to Ponce, has been supplemented by several hundred miles of roads built under the direction of the military authorities. San Juan and Ponce are the leading seaports and centres of trade.

Hawaiian Islands.—These islands were discovered by a Spanish sailor, Gaetano, in 1549, and again visited by Captain Cook in 1778. Up to 1893 they formed a native kingdom. In 1893 foreign influence was sufficient to overthrow the native government, and in 1898 they were formally annexed to the United States and about the same time organized as a territory. From an early date the geographic position of the islands has made them a convenient mid-ocean post-station, and they have therefore become a most important commercial centre.



Of the various islands composing the group, Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Kaui, Molokai, Lanai, and Niihau are inhabited. About one-fifth of the population consists of native Hawaiians; a little more than one-fifth is white; the remainder is composed of Japanese, Chinese, and Porto Ricans. The native population is decreasing. About ninety-five per cent. of the property is owned by the white people—Americans, English, and Germans.

The volcanic soils are the very best sugar-lands, and a large amount of capital is invested in this industry. The sugar-plantations employ more than forty thousand laborers, all Japanese, Chinese, and Porto Ricans. The value of the sugar export is nearly twenty-five million dollars yearly; that of fruit, rice, and hides is about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Coffee is rapidly becoming a leading product. The bulk of the imports comes from the United States, and consists of clothing, cotton textiles, lumber, and machinery.

Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, is the capital and commercial centre, and foreign steamships and sailing-craft are scarcely ever absent from its harbor. Regular steamship service connects this port with San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, B.C., and the principal ports of China and Japan. It is connected with the other islands by a system of wireless telegraphy. The city has the best of schools, business organizations, hotels, and streets.

Pearl Harbor contains a large area of water, most of which is deep enough for the largest vessels afloat. It is intended to deepen the entrance and establish a United States naval station at this place. The village of Hilo is the chief port of the island of Hawaii.

The Philippine Islands are an archipelago of about two thousand islands, the two largest of which, Luzon and Mindanao, are each nearly the size of New York State. Luzon is by far the most important.

After their cession to the United States (December 10, 1898), they were held under military control, but this has given place to local self-government as rapidly as the circumstances permitted. A general school system has been established and is extended wherever practicable. In a considerable number of the islands civil organization is still impossible.

The following are the principal islands and their mineral resources:

- NAME CHIEF CITIES AND PORTS MINERAL RESOURCES - Luzon Manila, Lipa, Batangas Coal, gold, copper Mindanao Zamboanga Coal, gold, copper Samar Catbalogan Coal, gold Negros Bacolor Coal Panay Iloilo Coal, gold, petroleum Leyte Tacloban Coal, petroleum Mindoro Calapan Coal, gold Cebu Cebu Coal, petroleum, gold

The native population is mainly of the Malay race, but there are also many Negritos. Of the native element the Tagals are the most advanced, and are the dominant people. The foreign population includes nearly one hundred thousand Chinese, who are the chief commercial factors of the islands, and the leading industries are controlled by them. There is a considerable population of Chinese and Tagal mixed blood, commonly known as "Chinese mestizos"; they inherit, in the main, the Chinese characteristics. The European and American population consists mainly of officials, troops, and merchant-agents for Philippine products.

The principal products for export are "Manila" hemp, sugar, and tobacco. The hemp is used in the manufacture of cordage and paper. On account of the great strength of the fibre it has no equal among cordage fibres. The imports from the United States consist mainly of machinery and cotton textiles. The total trade of the islands amounted in 1901 to about fifty million dollars, most of which was shared by Great Britain and the United States.

Coal is mined in the island of Cebu and is abundant in most of the islands. Iron ore, copper, and sulphur occur, but they have not been made commercially available to any extent. Gold is mined in the island of Luzon. A stable government only is needed to make these great resources productive. An abundance of timber is found in most of the islands. Cedar, ebony, and sapan-wood are available for ornamental purposes; there is also a great variety of economic woods.

Manila is the commercial centre. Manila Bay is one of the finest harbors in the Pacific Ocean, but much work is necessary to give the water-front a navigable depth for large steamships. With an improved harbor the city is bound to be a great emporium of Oriental trade. Steamship lines connect the city with Hongkong, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and Liverpool. There is also a military transport service to Seattle. A railway to Dagupan extends through the most important agricultural region. The wagon-roads throughout the island are very poor.

Lipa, Batanzas, Bauan, and Cavite are cities of about forty thousand population, all more or less connected with the industries of Manila. Iloilo is the second port of importance of the islands, and is the centre of a considerable export trade in tobacco, hemp, sugar, and sapan-wood. Cebu is also a port having a considerable trade.

Tutuila, one of the Samoan Islands, was acquired by treaty for use as a coal-depot and naval station. Pago Pago is a port of call for steamships between San Francisco and Australia. Guam, one of the Ladrone Islands, is a naval station. These possessions are strategic and are designed to secure the interests of the United States in the Pacific. An ocean telegraphic cable connects the Pacific Ocean possessions with the United States and Asia.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Why are mountain-regions apt to be sparsely peopled?

Why are arid regions sparsely peopled, as a rule?

Why are not gold-mining settlements so apt to be permanent as agricultural settlements?

From the Abstract of Statistics find the production of gold and silver of this region for each ten years ending the last half of the century.

What causes the difference between the wool clip of southern California and that of the Eastern States?

Follow the route of a grain-carrying ship from San Francisco to Liverpool.

What are the advantages to the United States of the accession of the Hawaiian Islands?—of the Philippine Islands?—of Alaska? What are the disadvantages?

FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE

Mineral Resources of the United States.

Abstract of Statistics.

U.S. Coast Survey Chart of Alaska.

Map of Hawaiian Islands.

Map of Philippine Islands.



CHAPTER XXI

CANADA AND NEWFOUNDLAND

A very large part of Canada is so far north that the ordinary food-stuffs cannot be grown there; the river-valleys of British Columbia and the basin of the Saskatchewan excepted, there are but few marks of human industry beyond the fiftieth parallel. The general conditions of topography resemble those of the United States—a central plain between the high Rocky Mountain ranges in the west and the lower Laurentian ranges in the east.

Canada is an agricultural country, and because of the great skill with which its resources have been made commercially available, it is the most important colony of Great Britain. The basin of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River is the most populous part of the country. This region is highly cultivated and produces dairy products, beef, and the ordinary farm-crops.

From Lake Winnipeg westward, nearly to the Rocky Mountains, the land is a succession of prairies admirably suited to wheat-growing.[56] The wheat is a hard, spring variety, and the average yield per acre is about one-fourth greater than the average yield in the United States.

The area of forestry includes the larger remaining part of the great pine belt, together with a very heavy reserve of merchantable oak-timber. The part of the forest area in Canada aggregates one and one-quarter million square miles, and yields an annual product of about eighty million dollars; about one-third of the lumber is exported.

The northerly region of Canada produces furs and pelts. As long ago as 1670, Charles II. granted to Prince Rupert and a stock company the lands comprising a very large part of Canada around Hudson Bay, and secured to them the sole right to trap the fur-bearing animals of the region. In time the company, known as the Hudson Bay Company, transferred all its lands to Canada, and out of the domain thus annexed various provinces and unorganized districts have been created.

The company now exists as a corporation for the merchandise of furs. For the greater part, Indians are employed as hunters and trappers, and the pelts are collected at the various trading-posts, known as "houses" and "factories," to be sent to the head-quarters of the company near Winnipeg. Nearly every Arctic animal furnishes a merchantable pelt. The cheaper skins are made into garments in Canada and the United States; those commonly classed as furs are sold in London. Several other fur companies are also operating in Canada.

The fisheries of the coast-waters and the Great Lakes are among the most productive in the world. Everything within the three-mile limit of the shore is reserved for Canadian fishermen. The smaller bays and coves are reserved also within the three-mile limit. Beyond this limit the waters are open to all, and a fleet of swift gun-boats is necessary to prevent illicit fishing. Salmon, cod, lobsters, and herring form most of the catch, amounting in value to upward of twenty million dollars yearly.

The output of minerals varies from year to year; since 1900 it has averaged about sixty million dollars a year. The gold product constitutes nearly one-half and the coal about one-sixth of the total amount. Nickel, petroleum, silver, and lead form the rest of the output. Iron ore is abundant, but it is not at present available for production on account of the distance from transportation.

Commerce is facilitated by about eighteen thousand miles of railway and nearly three thousand miles of canal and improved river-navigation. One ocean-to-ocean railway, the Canadian Pacific, is in operation; another, an extension of the Grand Trunk, is under way. The rapids and shoals of the St. Lawrence and Richelieu Rivers are surmounted by canals and locks. Welland Canal connects Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and the Canadian lock at St. Mary's Falls joins Lake Superior to Lake Huron. By means of the lakes and canals vessels drawing fourteen feet may load at Canadian ports and discharge at Liverpool.

The harbors of the Atlantic coast have two great drawbacks—ice and high tides. Some of the steamship lines make Portland, Me., their winter terminus. The Pacific coast harbors are not obstructed by ice. An attempt has been made in the direction of using Hudson Bay and Strait as a grain-route, but the difficulties of navigation are very great and the route is open only two months of the year.

Practically all the foreign trade is carried on with Great Britain and the United States. The trade with each aggregates about one hundred and fifty million dollars yearly. The exports are lumber and wood-pulp, cheese and dairy products, wheat and flour, beef-cattle, hog products, fish, and gold-quartz. The chief imports are steel, wool, sugar, and cotton manufactures.

Politically, Canada consists of a number of provinces, each with the usual corps of elective officers. A governor-general appointed by the Crown of Great Britain is the chief executive officer.

Nova Scotia.—This province is prominent on account of its coal and iron, and also because of its geographic position. The iron and coal are utilized in steel smelteries and rolling-mills, glass-factories, sugar-refineries, and textile-mills. It is one of the few localities in the eastern part of the continent yielding gold. Halifax, the capital, has one of the best harbors of the Atlantic coast of North America; it is not often obstructed by ice, and is the chief winter port. Halifax is the principal British naval station of North America, and this fact adds much to its commercial activity.

Prince Edward Island.—The industries of this province are mainly connected with the coast-fisheries. During the summer the island is visited by thousands of fishing-vessels for the purpose of preparing the catch for market. Fertilizer manufactured from the refuse is an incidental product. Charlottetown is the capital.

New Brunswick.—Fisheries and forest products are both resources of this province. Coal is mined at Grand Lake, and an excellent lime for export to the United States is made at St. John. Lumber, wood-pulp, wooden sailing-vessels, cotton textiles, and structural steel for ship-building are manufactured. A ship railway, seventeen miles long, across the isthmus that connects this province to Nova Scotia, is under construction. St. John, the capital, is the chief seat of trade.

Quebec.—This province was once a possession of France, and in the greater part of it French customs are yet about as prevalent as they were a century ago; moreover, the French population is increasing rapidly. The English-speaking population lives mainly along the Vermont border. As a rule the English are the manufacturers and traders; the French people are the farmers.

Montreal is the head of navigation of the St. Lawrence for ocean steamships. It is also the chief centre of manufactures. These are mainly sugar, rubber goods, textiles, light steel wares, and leather. The last-named goes almost wholly to Great Britain; the rest are consumed in Canada and the border American States. Quebec is the most strongly fortified city of the Dominion.

Ontario.—This province is a peninsula bordered by Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario. Farming is the chief employment, and barley is an important product. Most of it is used in the manufacture of malt, and "Canada malt" is regarded as the best. Several of the trunk railways whose terminals are in the United States traverse this peninsula. Toronto, the capital and commercial centre, is one of the most rapidly growing cities of North America. Hamilton owes its existence to its harbor and position at the head of Lake Ontario. Ottawa is the capital of the Dominion. At Sudbury are the nickel-mines that are among the most productive in the world.

Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.—These provinces include the level prairie lands of the Saskatchewan and the Red River of the North. They comprise the great grain-field of Canada. A considerable part of the wheat-growing lands are yet unproductive owing to the lack of railways. Much of the product is carried to market by the Canadian Pacific and its feeders, but a considerable part finds its way to the Northern Pacific and Great Northern roads. The coal of Manitoba and Alberta is an important fuel supply not only to the provinces and states surrounding, but to the railways above named. A good quality of anthracite coal is also mined in Alberta. Winnipeg, the metropolis of the region, is one of the great railway centres of Canada.

British Columbia.—British Columbia, the Pacific coast province, has several resources of great value. The gold mines led to its settlement and commercial opening. The salmon-fisheries are surpassed by those of the United States only. The beds of lignite coal have produced a very large part of the coal used in the Pacific coast States. The forests produce lumber for shipment both to the Atlantic coast of America and the Pacific coast of Asia.

Vancouver, the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, is connected with various Asian ports by fast steamships. Nanaimo, Wellington, and Commox are the centres of the coal-mining industry. The copper-mines at Rossland produce most of the copper mined in Canada.

Newfoundland.—Although a Crown possession, Newfoundland is not a member of the Dominion of Canada. The extensive fisheries are its chief resource. The Labrador coast, which is used as a resort for curing and preserving the catch, is attached to Newfoundland for the purpose of government. St. Johns is the capital.

The islands of Miquelon and St. Pierre, south of Newfoundland, are a French possession. Fishing is the ostensible industry, but a great deal of smuggling is carried on.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

What, if any, climatic or topographic boundaries separate Canada and the United States?

Which of the two countries is the more fortunately situated for the production of food-stuffs?

Which will support the larger population?—why?

The harbors of the Labrador coast and of Cape Breton Island are superior to those of the British Islands, situated in about the same latitude; why do the latter have a commerce far greater than that of the former?

Compare the industries of the eastern, middle, and western regions of Canada with the corresponding regions of the United States.

FOR COLLATERAL REFERENCE

Statesman's Year-Book.

Statistical Year-Book of Canada (official government publication, Ottawa).



CHAPTER XXII

MEXICO—CENTRAL AMERICA—WEST INDIES

Mexico and the Central American states occupy the narrow, southerly part of North America. Structurally they consist of a plateau about a mile high, bordered on each side by a low coast-plain. The table-land, or tierra templada, has about the same climate as southern California; the low coast-plains, or tierra caliente, are tropical.

Mexico.—The United States of Mexico is the most important part of this group. The people are of mixed Spanish and Indian blood, but there are many families of pure Castilian descent. The latter, in general, are the landed proprietors; the former constitute the tradesmen, herders, and peons. There is also a large unproductive class, mainly of Indians, who are living in a savage state. In general the manners and customs are those of Spain.

The agricultural pursuits are in a backward condition, partly for the want of good system and an educated people, but mainly for lack of the capital and engineering skill to construct the irrigating canals that are needed to make the land productive. Maize, rice, sugar (cane and panocha), and wheat are grown for home consumption.

The agricultural products which connect Mexico with the rest of the world are sisal-hemp (henequin), coffee, logwood, and fruit. Sisal-hemp is grown in the state of Yucatan, and has become one of its chief financial resources. Oaxaca coffee is usually sold as a "Mocha" berry. The logwood goes mainly to British textile makers; and the fruit, chiefly oranges and bananas, finds a market in the large cities of the United States, to which large consignments of vanilla and tropical woods are also sent. Cattle are grown on more than twenty thousand ranches, and the greater part are sent alive to the markets of the United States. The native long-horn stock is giving place to improved breeds.



Gold and silver are the products that have made Mexico famous, and the mines have produced a total of more than three billion dollars' worth of precious metal. The native methods of mining have always been primitive, and low-grade ores have been neglected. In recent years American and European capital has been invested in low-grade mines, and the bullion production has been about doubled in value; it is now about one hundred million dollars yearly. Iron ore is abundant, and good coal exists.

The manufactures, at present of little importance, are growing rapidly. The cotton-mills consume the home product and fill their deficiency from the Texas crop. All the finer textiles, however, are imported. Most of the commodities are supplied by the United States, Great Britain, and Germany, the first-named having about half the trade. Most of the hardware and machinery is purchased in the United States.

Railway systems, with American terminal points at El Paso, San Antonio, and New Orleans, extend from the most productive parts of the country. One of the most important railways crosses the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and, in order to encourage commerce, the harbors at Coatzacoalcos and Salina Cruz have been deepened and improved. This interoceanic route is destined to become a very important factor in commerce. It shortens the route between European ports and San Francisco by six thousand miles, and between New York and San Francisco by twelve hundred miles.[57]

Mexico, the capital, is the financial and commercial centre. Vera Cruz and Tampico are connected with the capital by railway, but both have very poor port facilities. Steamship lines connect the former with New York, New Orleans, Havana, and French ports. It is the chief port of the country. Matamoros on the American frontier has a considerable cattle-trade. The crop of sisal-hemp is shipped mainly from Progresso and Merida. Acapulco, Manzanillo, and Mazatlan for want of railway connections have but little trade. The first-named is one of the best harbors in the world. Guadalajara has important textile and pottery manufactures.

The Central American States.—The physical features and climate of these states resemble those of Mexico. The Spanish-speaking people live in the table-lands, where the climate is healthful. The coast-plain of the Atlantic is forest-covered and practically uninhabited save by Indians. Guatemala is the most important state. A railway from Puerto Barrios, its Atlantic port, through its capital, Guatemala, to its Pacific port, San Jose, is nearly completed. British Honduras is a British territory acquired mainly for the mahogany product, which is shipped from Belize. Honduras has great resources in mines, cultivable lands, and forests, but these are undeveloped. Salvador is the smallest but most progressive state.



Nicaragua is politically of importance on account of the possibilities of an interoceanic canal. A treaty for this canal, involving both Nicaragua and Great Britain, has already been signed by the powers interested. Many engineers regard the Nicaragua as preferable to that of the Panama canal. The shorter distance between New York and the Pacific ports of the United States, a saving of about four hundred miles, is in its favor. The longer distance of transit and the dangers of navigating Lake Nicaragua are against it. Costa Rica is favorably situated for commerce, but its resources are not developed. A railway from Puerto Limon is nearly completed to Puenta Arenas, an excellent harbor on the Pacific side.

Coffee, hides, mahogany, and fruit are the only products of importance that connect these states with the rest of the world. About half the trade goes to the United States. The Germans and English supply a considerable part of the textiles and manufactured articles. The coffee of Costa Rica is a very superior product. Much of the mahogany and forest products goes to Great Britain. Fruit-steamers call at the Atlantic ports for bananas, which are sold in New Orleans and the Atlantic cities.

The West Indies.—The climate and productions of these islands are tropical in character. Sugar, fruit, coffee, tobacco, and cacao are the leading products. From the stand-point of the planter, the sugar industry has been a history of misfortunes. The abolition of slavery ruined the industry in many of the islands belonging to Great Britain. The competition of the beet-sugar made in Europe drove the Cubans into insurrection on account of the excessive taxes levied by the Spaniards, and ended in the Spanish-American War.

The fruit-crop—mainly pineapples, oranges, and grapefruit—is shipped to the United States. New York, Philadelphia, and the Gulf ports are the destination of the greater part of it.

Cuba, the largest island, is one of the most productive regions of the world. The famous "Havana" tobacco grows mainly in the western part, although practically all Cuban tobacco is classed under this name. According to popular opinion it is pre-eminently the best in flavor, and the price is not affected by that of other tobaccos.[58] About two-thirds of the raw leaf and cigars are purchased by the tobacco manufacturers of the United States. Havana, Santiago, and Cienfuegos are the shipping-ports; most of the export is landed at New York, Key West, and Tampa.

From 1900 to 1903 the small fraction of the sugar industry that survived the war and the insurrection was crippled by the high tariff on sugar imported into the United States. The latter, which was designed to protect the home sugar industry, was so high that the Cubans could not afford to make sugar at the ruling prices in New York. Hides, honey, and Spanish cedar for cigar-boxes are also important exports.

The United States is the chief customer of Cuba, and in turn supplies the Cubans with flour, textile goods, hardware, and coal-oil. Smoked meat from Latin America and preserved fish from Canada and Newfoundland are the remaining imports. There are no manufactures of importance. The railways are mainly for the purpose of handling the sugar-crop.

Havana, the capital and financial centre, is connected with New York, New Orleans, and Key West by steamship lines. Santiago, Matanzas, and Cienfuegos are ports having a considerable trade.

The British possessions in the West Indies are commercially the most important of the European possessions. The Bahamas are low-lying coral islands, producing but little except sponges, fruit, and sisal-hemp. Nassau, the only town of importance, is a winter resort. Fruit, sugar, rum, coffee, and ginger are exported from Kingston, the port of Jamaica. St. Lucia has probably the strongest fortress in the Caribbean Sea.

Barbados produces more sugar than any other British possession in the West Indies. The raw sugar, muscovado, is shipped to the United States. Bermuda, an outlying island, furnishes the Atlantic states with onions, Easter lilies, and early potatoes. From Trinidad is obtained the asphaltum, or natural tar, that is used for street paving. Brea Lake, the source of the mineral, is leased to a New York company. Sugar and cacao are also exported from Port of Spain. The products of St. Vincent and Dominica are similar to those of the other islands.

The French own Martinique (Fort de France) and Guadeloupe (Basse Terre). St. Thomas (Charlotte Amalie), St. Croix, and St. John are Danish possessions. Various attempts to transfer the Danish islands to the United States have failed. They are admirably adapted for naval stations. The island of Haiti consists of two negro republics, Haiti and San Domingo. The only important product is coffee. Most of the product is shipped to the United States, which supplies coal oil and textiles in return.