The Project Gutenberg eBook, Commercial Geography, by Jacques W. Redway doc

route to India transferred the trade that hadgathered about Venice and Genoa to theshores of the North and Baltic Seas.In other words, a new order of things hascome about, and the world

The Project

Gutenberg eBook,

Commercial

Geography, by Jacques W.

Redway

This eBook is for the use of anyone

anywhere at no cost and with

almost no restrictions whatsoever You may copy it, give it away or

re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

with this eBook or online at

Title: Commercial Geography

A Book for High Schools, CommercialCourses, and Business Colleges

Author: Jacques W Redway

Release Date: March 20, 2008 [eBook

#24884]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

GUTENBERG EBOOK COMMERCIALGEOGRAPHY***

E-text prepared by Kevin Handy, John Hagerson, Greg

Bergquist, and the Project Gutenberg

Online Distributed

Proofreading Team

(http://www.pgdp.net)

GEOGRAPHY

COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

A B OOK FOR

H IGH

F.R.G.S.Author of "A Series of Geographies," "An Elementary Physical Geography," "The New Basis of Geography"

CHARLES

SCRIBNER'S SONS

NEW YORK :::::::::::::::::: 1907

Copyright, 1903, by

JACQUES W REDWAY

The quiet industrial struggle throughwhich the United States passed during thelast decade of the nineteenth centurycannot fail to impress the student ofpolitical economy with the fact thatcommercial revolution is a normal result

of industrial evolution Within a period oftwenty-five years the transportation ofcommodities has grown to be not only ascience, but a power in the betterment ofcivil and political life as well; and theworld, which in the time of M JulesVerne was eighty days wide, is nowscarcely forty

The invention of the Bessemer process formaking steel was intended primarily togive the railway-operator a track thatshould be free from the defects of the soft,wrought-iron rail; in fact, however, itcreated new industrial centres all over theworld and brought Asia and Africa undercommercial conquest The possibilities ofincreased trade between the Atlanticseaboard and the Pacific Coast States led

to the building of the Northern Pacific andGreat Northern Railways But when thesewere thoroughly organized, thereunexpectedly resulted a new trade-routethat already is drawing traffic away fromthe Suez Canal and landing it at Asianshores by way of the ports of Puget Sound

It is a repetition of the adjustment thatoccurred when the opening of the Cape

route to India transferred the trade that hadgathered about Venice and Genoa to theshores of the North and Baltic Seas.

In other words, a new order of things hascome about, and the world and the peopletherein are readjusting themselves to therequirements made upon them bycommerce And so at the beginning of anew century, civilized man is drawingupon all the rest of the world to satisfy hiswants, and giving to all the world inreturn; he is civilized because of thisinterchange and not in spite of it

The necessity for instruction in a subjectthat pertains so closely to the welfare of apeople is apparent, and an apology forpresenting this manual is needless.Moreover, it should not interfere in any

way with the regular course in geography;indeed, more comprehensive work in thelatter is becoming imperative, and itshould be enriched rather than curtailed.

In the preparation of the work, I wish toexpress my appreciation of the greatassistance of Principal Myron T.Pritchard, Edward Everett School,Boston, Mass I am also much indebted tothe map-engraving department of Messrs.The Matthews-Northrup Company,Buffalo, N.Y

J.W.R

Railways and

XI.Gums and Resins

Used in the Arts 141XII Coal and Petroleum 147XIII Metals of the Arts and

XIV.Sugar and its

The United States—

The Seaports and the

Atlantic Coast-Plain

211

XVIII

The United States—

The New England

Plateau and the

Appalachian Region

219

XIX

The United States—

The Basin of the

Great Lakes and the

Mississippi Valley

227

The United States—

Britain and Germany 295

XXVI.Europe—The Balticand North Sea States 310

XXVII Europe—The

Mediterranean Statesand Switzerland

320

XXVIII.Europe—The Danube

and Balkan States 335XXIX.Europe-Asia—The

COLORED MAPS

PAGEPrincipal Transportation Lines and

Regions of Largest Commerce x, xi

City of New York and Vicinity,

Countries 304

PRINCIPAL TRANSPORTATION LINES AND REGIONS OF LARGEST

COMMERCE

To the Teacher:—The contents of this

book are so topicalized and arranged that,

if the time for the study is limited, a short

course may be selected Under no

circumstances, however, should Chapters

V, VI, VIII, IX, XII, and XIII be omitted A

casual inspection of the questions at the

end of each chapter will serve to show

that they cannot be answered from the

pages of the book, and they have been

selected with this idea in view They are

intended first of all to stimulate individual

thought, and secondly to encourage the

pupil to investigate the topics by

consulting original sources The practice

of corresponding with pupils in otherparts of the world cannot be too highlycommended

The following list represents a minimumrather than a maximum reference library Itmay be enlarged at the judgment of theteacher A good atlas and a cyclopædiaare also necessary

Industrial Evolution of the UnitedStates Wright Charles Scribner'sSons

History of Commerce in Europe.Gibbins The Macmillan Company.Discovery of America Fiske.Houghton, Mifflin & Co

The New Empire Adams TheMacmillan Company.

Statesman's Year-Book Keltie TheMacmillan Company

Outlines of Political Science.Gunton and Robbins D Appleton &Co

The Wheat Problem Crookes G.P.Putnam's Sons

South America Carpenter.American Book Company

From the Bureau of Statistics,Department of Commerce,Washington, D.C., the followingmonographs may be procured:[1]

Commercial China AmericanCommerce Commercial Australia.Commercial Japan CommercialAfrica Commercial India.Statistical Abstract Great Canals ofthe World World's SugarProduction and Consumption.

The following from the Department

COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

CHAPTER I

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Commerce and modern civilization gohand in hand, and the history of the one isthe history of the other; and whatever may

be the basis of civilization, commerce hasbeen the chief agent by which it has beenspread throughout the world Peoples whoreceive nothing from their fellow-men,and who give nothing in return, are usuallybut little above a savage state Civilizedman draws upon all the rest of the worldfor what he requires, and gives to the rest

of the world in return He is civilized

because of this fact and not in spite of it.There is scarcely a country in the worldthat does not yield something or other tocivilized peoples There is scarcely ahousehold whose furnishings and contents

do not represent an aggregate journey ofseveral times around the earth A family inNew York at breakfast occupy chairs fromGrand Rapids, Mich.; they partake ofbread made of wheat from Minnesota, andmeat from Texas prepared in a range made

in St Louis; coffee grown in Sumatra orJava, or tea from China is served in cupsmade in Japan, sweetened with sugar fromCuba, stirred with spoons of silver fromNevada Spices from Africa, SouthAmerica, and Asia season the food, which

is served on a table of New Hampshire

oak, covered with a linen spread madefrom flax grown in Ireland or in Russia.Rugs from Bokhara, or from Baluchistan,cover the floors; portières made inConstantinople hang at the doors; and theroom is heated with coal fromPennsylvania that burns in a furnace made

in Rhode Island

Now all these things may be, and usuallyare, found in the great majority of families

in the United States or Europe, and most

of them will be found in nearly allhouseholds Certain it is that peoples doexist who, from the immediate vicinity inwhich they live, procure all the things theyuse or consume In the main, however,such peoples are savages

A moment's thought will make it clear that

before an ordinary meal can be servedthere must be railways, steamships, greatmanufacturing establishments, ironquarries, and coal mines, aggregatingmany thousand millions of dollars, andemploying many million people A casualinspection, too, reveals the fact that all ofthe substances and things required bymankind come from the earth, and, a veryfew excepted, every one requires a certainamount of manufacture or preliminarytreatment before it is usable The grainsand nearly all the other food-stuffs requirevarious processes of preparation beforethey are ready for consumption bycivilized peoples Iron and the variousother ores used in the arts must undergoelaborate processes of manufacture; coalmust be mined, broken, cleaned, and

transported; the soil in which food-stuffsare grown must be fertilized andmechanically prepared; and even thewater required for domestic purposes inmany instances must be transported longdistances.

MANUFACTURE SUPPLEMENT EACH OTHER

A little thought will suffice to show that

not only are all food-stuffs derived from

the earth, but that also every usableresource which constitutes wealth is alsodrawn from the same source The same isalso pretty nearly true of the various forms

of energy, for although the sun is the realsource of light and heat, and probably ofelectricity, these agents are usable onlywhen they have been transformed intoearth energies Thus, the physical energygenerated by falling water is merely atransformed portion of solar heat; so alsothe coal-beds contain both the chemicaland physical energy of solar heat and lightconverted into potential energy—that is,into force that can be used at the will ofintelligence Indeed, the physical being ofmankind is an organism born of the earth,and adapted to the earth; and when thatphysical form dies, it merely is

transformed again to ordinary earthsubstances.

The chief activities of living beings arethose relating to the maintenance of life Inother words, animals must feed, and theymust also protect themselves againstextermination In the case of all otheranimals this is a very simple matter, theysimply live in immediate contact withtheir food, migrating or perishing if thesupply gives out In the case of mankindthe conditions are different and vastlymore elaborate Savage peoples excepted,man does not live within close touch ofthe things he requires; indeed, he cannot,for he depends upon all the world forwhat he uses In a less enlightened statemany of these commodities were luxuries;

in a civilized state they have becomenecessities Moreover, nearly everythingcivilized man employs has been prepared

by processes in which heat is employed.Therefore one may specify several classes

of human activities and employments:

(a) The production of food-stuffs

and other commodities by the

cultivation of the soil—Agriculture (b) The preparation of food-stuffs

and things used for shelter,protection, or ornament

—Manufacture.

(c) The production of minerals for

the generation of power, such ascoal, or those such as iron, copper,

stone, etc., required in the arts and

food-A very few nations, notably China and theUnited States, have such diverseconditions of climate, topography, andmineral resources, that they can, if

necessary, produce within their nationalborders everything needed by theirpeoples.

The prosecution of such a policy,however, is rarely economical; in thehistory of the past it has always resulted inweakness and disintegration China is to-day helpless because of a policy of self-seclusion; and the marvellous growth ofJapan began when her trade was thrownopen to the world

For the greater part the environment of apeople is deficient—that is, the locality of

a people does not yield all that is requiredfor the necessities of life For instance, theNew England plateau requires anenormous amount of fuel for itsmanufacturing enterprises; but practically

no coal is found within its borders; hencethe manufacturers must either commandthe coal to be shipped from other regions

or give up their employment The people

of Canada require a certain amount ofcotton cloth; but the cotton plant will notgrow in a cold climate, so they must eitherexchange some of their own commoditiesfor cotton, or else go without it Theinhabitants of Great Britain produce only

a small part of the food-stuffs theyconsume; therefore they are constantlyexchanging their manufactured productsfor the food-stuffs that of necessity must

be produced in other parts of the world.The dwellers of the New England plateaumight grow the bread-stuffs they require,and in times past they did so At that time,

however, a barrel of flour was worthtwelve dollars But the wheat of theprairie regions can be grown,manufactured into flour, transported athousand miles, and sold at a profit forless than five dollars a barrel Therefore it

is evidently more economical to buy flour

in Minnesota than to grow the wheat andmake it into flour in Massachusetts

All these problems, and they exist withoutnumber, show that man may overcomemost of the obstacles that surround him

So we find civilized man living in almostevery part of the world Tropical regionsare not too scorching, nor are arcticfastnesses too cold for him In otherwords, because of commerce andtransportation, he can and usually does

master the conditions of his environment;his intelligence enables him to do so, andhis ability to do so is the result of theintelligent use of experience andeducation.

Feudalism.—When the Roman Empire

fell civilization in western Europe wasnot on a high plane; indeed, the feudalismthat followed was not much abovebarbarism The people were living in amanner that was not very much unlike thecommunal system under which the serfs ofRussia lived only a few years ago Eachcentre of population was a sort of militarycamp governed by a feudal lord Thefollowers and retainers were scarcelybetter off than slaves; indeed, many ofthem were slaves There was noownership of the land except by the feudallords, and the latter were responsible fortheir acts to the king only.

But very few people cared to beabsolutely free, because they had but littlechance to protect themselves; so it was the