Commercial Geography Part 1

Commercial Geography.

by Jacques W. Redway.

PREFACE

The quiet industrial struggle through which the United States pa.s.sed during the last decade of the nineteenth century cannot fail to impress the student of political economy with the fact that commercial revolution is a normal result of industrial evolution. Within a period of twenty-five years the transportation of commodities has grown to be not only a science, but a power in the betterment of civil and political life as well; and the world, which in the time of M. Jules Verne was eighty days wide, is now scarcely forty.

The invention of the Bessemer process for making steel was intended primarily to give the railway-operator a track that should be free from the defects of the soft, wrought-iron rail; in fact, however, it created new industrial centres all over the world and brought Asia and Africa under commercial conquest. The possibilities of increased trade between the Atlantic seaboard and the Pacific Coast States led to the building of the Northern Pacific and Great Northern Railways. But when these were thoroughly organized, there unexpectedly resulted a new trade-route that already is drawing traffic away from the Suez Ca.n.a.l and landing it at Asian sh.o.r.es by way of the ports of Puget Sound. It is a repet.i.tion of the adjustment that occurred when the opening of the Cape route to India transferred the trade that had gathered about Venice and Genoa to the sh.o.r.es of the North and Baltic Seas.

In other words, a new order of things has come about, and the world and the people therein are readjusting themselves to the requirements made upon them by commerce. And so at the beginning of a new century, civilized man is drawing upon all the rest of the world to satisfy his wants, and giving to all the world in return; he is civilized because of this interchange and not in spite of it.

The necessity for instruction in a subject that pertains so closely to the welfare of a people is apparent, and an apology for presenting this manual is needless. Moreover, it should not interfere in any way with the regular course in geography; indeed, more comprehensive work in the latter is becoming imperative, and it should be enriched rather than curtailed.

In the preparation of the work, I wish to express my appreciation of the great a.s.sistance of Princ.i.p.al Myron T. Pritchard, Edward Everett School, Boston, Ma.s.s. I am also much indebted to the map-engraving department of Messrs. The Matthews-Northrup Company, Buffalo, N.Y.

J.W.R.

CHAPTER I

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Commerce and modern civilization go hand in hand, and the history of the one is the history of the other; and whatever may be the basis of civilization, commerce has been the chief agent by which it has been spread throughout the world. Peoples who receive nothing from their fellow-men, and who give nothing in return, are usually but little above a savage state. Civilized man draws upon all the rest of the world for 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 world that does not yield something or other to civilized peoples. There is scarcely a household whose furnishings and contents do not represent an aggregate journey of several times around the earth. A family in New York at breakfast occupy chairs from Grand Rapids, Mich.; they partake of bread made of wheat from Minnesota, and meat from Texas prepared in a range made in St.

Louis; coffee grown in Sumatra or Java, or tea from China is served in cups made in j.a.pan, sweetened with sugar from Cuba, stirred with spoons of silver from Nevada. Spices from Africa, South America, and Asia season the food, which is served on a table of New Hampshire oak, covered with a linen spread made from flax grown in Ireland or in Russia. Rugs from Bokhara, or from Baluchistan, cover the floors; portieres made in Constantinople hang at the doors; and the room is heated with coal from Pennsylvania that burns in a furnace made in Rhode Island.

Now all these things may be, and usually are, found in the great majority of families in the United States or Europe, and most of them will be found in nearly all households. Certain it is that peoples do exist who, from the immediate vicinity in which they live, procure all the things they use 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 served there must be railways, steamships, great manufacturing establishments, iron quarries, and coal mines, aggregating many thousand millions of dollars, and employing many million people. A casual inspection, too, reveals the fact that all of the substances and things required by mankind come from the earth, and, a very few excepted, every one requires a certain amount of manufacture or preliminary treatment before it is usable. The grains and nearly all the other food-stuffs require various processes of preparation before they are ready for consumption by civilized peoples. Iron and the various other ores used in the arts must undergo elaborate processes of manufacture; coal must be mined, broken, cleaned, and transported; the soil in which food-stuffs are grown must be fertilized and mechanically prepared; and even the water required for domestic purposes in many instances must be transported long distances.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AGRICULTURE AND 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 usable resource which const.i.tutes wealth is also drawn from the same source. The same is also pretty nearly true of the various forms of energy, for although the sun is the real source of light and heat, and probably of electricity, these agents are usable only when they have been transformed into earth energies. Thus, the physical energy generated by falling water is merely a transformed portion of solar heat; so also the coal-beds contain both the chemical and physical energy of solar heat and light converted into potential energy--that is, into force that can be used at the will of intelligence. Indeed, the physical being of mankind is an organism born of the earth, and adapted to the earth; and when that physical form dies, it merely is transformed again to ordinary earth substances.

The chief activities of living beings are those relating to the maintenance of life. In other words, animals must feed, and they must also protect themselves against extermination. In the case of all other animals this is a very simple matter, they simply live in immediate contact with their food, migrating or perishing if the supply gives out.

In the case of mankind the conditions are different and vastly more elaborate. Savage peoples excepted, man does not live within close touch of the things he requires; indeed, he cannot, for he depends upon all the world for what he uses. In a less enlightened state many of these commodities were luxuries; in a civilized state they have become necessities. Moreover, nearly everything civilized man employs has been prepared by processes in which heat is employed.

Therefore one may specify several cla.s.ses 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 as coal, or those such as iron, copper, stone, etc., required in the arts and sciences--_Mining_.

(_d_) The exchange of food stuffs and commodities--_Commerce_.

(_e_) The transfer of commodities--_Transportation_.

It is evident that the prosperity and happiness of a people depend very largely on the condition of their surroundings--that is, their environment. If a country or an inhabited area produces all the food-stuffs and commodities required by its people, the conditions are very fortunate. A very few nations, notably China and the United States, have such diverse conditions of climate, topography, and mineral resources, that they can, if necessary, produce within their national borders everything needed by their peoples.

The prosecution of such a policy, however, is rarely economical; in the history of the past it has always resulted in weakness and disintegration. China is to-day helpless because of a policy of self-seclusion; and the marvellous growth of j.a.pan began when her trade was thrown open to the world.

For the greater part the environment of a people is deficient--that is, the locality of a people does not yield all that is required for the necessities of life. For instance, the New England plateau requires an enormous amount of fuel for its manufacturing enterprises; but practically no coal is found within its borders; hence the manufacturers must either command the coal to be shipped from other regions or give up their employment. The people of Canada require a certain amount of cotton cloth; but the cotton plant will not grow in a cold climate, so they must either exchange some of their own commodities for cotton, or else go without it. The inhabitants of Great Britain produce only a small part of the food-stuffs they consume; therefore they are constantly exchanging their manufactured products for the food-stuffs that of necessity must be produced in other parts of the world.

The dwellers of the New England plateau might grow the bread-stuffs they require, and in times past they did so. At that time, however, a barrel of flour was worth twelve dollars. But the wheat of the prairie regions can be grown, manufactured into flour, transported a thousand miles, and sold at a profit for less than five dollars a barrel. Therefore it is evidently more economical to buy flour in Minnesota than to grow the wheat and make it into flour in Ma.s.sachusetts.

All these problems, and they exist without number, show that man may overcome most of the obstacles that surround him. So we find civilized man living in almost every part of the world. Tropical regions are not too scorching, nor are arctic fastnesses too cold for him. In other words, because of commerce and transportation, he can and usually does master the conditions of his environment; his intelligence enables him to do so, and his ability to do so is the result of the intelligent use of experience and education.

CHAPTER II

HOW COMMERCE CIVILIZED MANKIND

The history of western civilization is so closely connected with the development of the great routes of travel and the growth of commerce that one cannot possibly separate them. Commerce cannot exist without the intercourse of peoples, and peoples cannot be in mutual communication unless each learns from the other.

=Feudalism.=--When the Roman Empire fell civilization in western Europe was not on a high plane; indeed, the feudalism that followed was not much above barbarism. The people were living in a manner that was not very much unlike the communal system under which the serfs of Russia lived only a few years ago. Each centre of population was a sort of military camp governed by a feudal lord. The followers and retainers were scarcely better off than slaves; indeed, many of them were slaves.

There was no ownership of the land except by the feudal lords, and the latter were responsible for their acts to the king only.

But very few people cared to be absolutely free, because they had but little chance to protect themselves; so it was the common custom to attach one's self to a feudal lord in order to have his protection; even a sort of peonage or slavery under him was better than no protection at all. A few of the people were engaged in trade and manufacture of some kind or other, and they were the only ones through whom the feudal lord could supply himself with the commodities needed for his retainers and the luxuries necessary to himself.

Each feudal estate, therefore, became a sort of industrial centre by itself, producing its own food-stuffs and much of the coa.r.s.er manufactures. It was not a very high condition of enlightenment, but it was much better than the one which preceded it, for at least it offered protection. It encouraged a certain amount of trade and commerce, because the feudal lord had many wants, and he was usually willing to protect the merchant who supplied them.

=The Crusades and Commerce.=--The Crusades, or wars by which the Christians sought to recover the Holy Land from the Turk, resulted in a trade between Europe and India that grew to wonderful proportions. Silk fabrics, cotton cloth, precious stones, ostrich plumes, ivory, spices, and drugs--all of which were practically unknown in Europe--were eagerly sought by the n.o.bility and their dependencies. In return, linen and woollen fabrics, leather goods, gla.s.sware, blacklead, and steel implements were carried to the far East.

Milan, Florence, Venice and Genoa, Constantinople and a number of less important towns along the Mediterranean basin became important trade centres, but Venice and Genoa grew to be world powers in commerce. Not only were they great receiving and distributing depots of trade, but they were great manufacturing centres as well.

The routes over which this enormous commerce was carried were few in number. For the greater part, the Venetian trade went to Alexandria, and thence by the Red Sea to India. Genoese merchants sent their goods to Constantinople and Trebizond, thence down the Tigris River to the Persian Gulf and to India. There was also another route that had been used by the Phoenicians. It extended from Tyre through Damascus and Palmyra[2] to the head of the Persian Gulf; this gradually fell into disuse after the founding of Alexandria.

The general effects of this trade were very far-reaching. To the greater number of the people of Europe, the countries of India, China, and j.a.pan were mythical. According to tradition they were infested with dragons and gryphons, and peopled by dog-headed folk or by one-eyed Arimaspians.

About the first real information of them to be spread over Europe was brought by Marco Polo, whose father and uncle had travelled all through these countries during the latter part of the thirteenth century.[3]

Marco Polo's writings were very widely read, and influenced a great many people who could not be reached through the ordinary channels of commerce. So between the wars of the Crusades on the one hand, and the growth of commerce on the other, a new and a better civilization began to spread over Europe.

=The Turkish Invasions.=--But the magnificent trade that had thus grown up was checked for a time by an unforeseen factor. The half-savage Turkomans living southeast of Russia had become converted to the religion of Islam, and in their zeal for the new belief, determined to destroy the commerce which seemed to be connected with Christianity. So they moved in upon the borderland between Europe and Asia, and one after another the trade routes were tightly closed. Then they captured Constantinople, and the routes between Genoa and the Orient were hermetically sealed. Moslem power also spread over Syria and Egypt, and so, little by little, the trade of Venice was throttled.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROUTES TO INDIA--THE TURK CHANGES THE COMMERCE OF THE WORLD]

Now a commerce that involved not only many millions of dollars, but the employment of thousands of people as well, is not likely to be given up without a struggle. So the energy that had been devoted to this great trade was turned in a new direction, and there began a search for a new route to India--one that the Turks could not blockade.

=The Search for an All-Water Route to India.=--Overland routes were out of the question; there were none that could be made available, and so the search was made for a sea-route. Rather singularly the Venetians and Genoese, who had hitherto controlled this trade, took no part in the search; it was conducted by the Spanish and the Portuguese.