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.
[Illustration: STEEL MANUFACTURE--ERECTING SHOP OF THE BALDWIN
LOCOMOTIVE WORKS, PHILADELPHIA]
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.