The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-02-09
COMMERCE IN THE
UNITED STATES.
BY FREDERIC j. HASKIN
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.

BY FREDERIC
Nowhere else on earth iss there So wide
a territory of absolute free trade as in
the United States. No other nation pro-
duces so much from the ground No other
nation manufactures 50 much. and no
other nation has people who can afford
to buy as many or as good things. And
our commerce, big as it is. is growing
all the while To show the increase in
trade, it is not necessary TO take up the
big things. Do you know that we spent
Sl5,00,000 for buttons last year? The sta
tistics show that five concerns in the
United States which produce steel pens
exclusively have doubled their product IN
the short space Of six years 1t now re-
quires upward of s4O0OC00 to pay even
our annual bill for lead pencils.
The internal commerce of the United
States is the largest trade movement in
the world. This may sound big. but it is
easy to prove. All the nations waited
with suspense for news of the completion
of the Suez Canal yet to enlarge and
deepen the Erie Canal, New York State
provided SOL 000,000 in a single bond Is
sue, more money than was required to
build the famed Suez ditch, and nobody
outside of New York seemed TO think
much of it. When the Erie is deepened,
and the capacity Of It's boats increased
from 20 TO 1909 tons, there is already
more commerce in sight for it than is now
passing from the Mediterranean TO the
Red Sea. This is fact that you ought
TO cut out and paste in your hat Fur
thermore, the estimated cost OF the Pan
anna Canal, an undertaking which one
nation failed to complete. and which the
United States has shOuldered. is but little
more than twice as much as it viii take
70 complete the Erie Canal. for which only
one of forty-siX States viii pay. New
York Is going TO do all this to maintain
the supremacy OF the port of Buffalo as
recipient of grain from Western fields
on its way TO New York City and the
ports of the world.
Volumes would be required to give the
details of the manufactures of this couu-
try, but there are some instances in which
particular cities excel Troy. y. Y. man
ufactures nearly 90 per cent Of the col
lars and cuffs made IN the United States.
There are 17.000 wage-earners in that city
who make their living by manufacturing
our collars for US. Troy owns the collar
business by the divine right of discovery.
In 1879 Ebenezer Brown started there the
h. .afv-
patterns were tied about the neck with
string. Six years later laundering was
begun in connection with the business,
and the stiff collar and billed" shirt were
born into the world of commerce. How
ever, we Americans still use millions of
shirts of the hickory" variety, which
are forever innocent of a Numbered col
lar
Grand Rapids. Mich. is famed for fur
niture. Every polite and bowling sales
man of household goods in the country
has learned to say Grand Rapids" as IL
it were a sacred word of magic like the
open sesame" Of Ali Bahia A unique
feature OF furniture making and selling
in the Michigan city is the semi-annual
fair which Is held there each January and
July. 1t lasts an entire month. and is al
tended by not only thousands Of buyers
from the different States in the Union,
but from foreign countries as well. Grand
Rapids owes its supremacy in this line 10
its proximity to the finest hardwood for
ests on the continent. and to the fact
that 1t got there first" IL has forty
three large factories which give employ
ment 70 1900 skilled workmen. Another
PECULIARLY Of the Grand Rapids industry
Is that most Of the workmen are ID second
generation of skilled Dutch artisans who
are so regular and orderly in their habits
and ways Of thinking that they cannot be
induced to participate in strikes
Minneapolis makes more breadstuT than
any other city in the world. There are
twenty-five enormous -four mills in the
Minnesota city, whose combined daily
capacity is equal to grinding the wheat
from 10000 acres of rich American fields.
Their daily output amounts to 1900 bar
rels Of -four. Still more surprising is the
thought that il requires 100000 acres of
land to grow enough wheat to keep the
mills Of Minneapolis running for a year.
Peoria, H.. makes more spirits and pays
more internal revenue tax 10 Uncle sam
than any other city. great OF small. i'm
the Union. Last year Peoria paid $33, 600.
600 in internal revenue tax, nearly all OF
which was on high wines or alcohol. This
was more than twice as much tax as was
paid by any other city in the country.
Louisville distills more whisky than any
other city. but its solid mile of wholesale
whisky houses is partly devoted TO blend
ing Kentucky whisky with Peoria high
wines and Cincinnati neutral spirits. Al
though the Kentucky metropolis has q
mile of street devoted 10 whisky, It drops
into small dissipation and devotes nearly
as much space to a tobacco market, which
is the largest in existence
Toledo's iron wheels are turning all over
the world. The manufacturers of the Ohio
city never overlook any kind of an order,
from the biggest iron structures to deli
cate cut glass bowls for the tables of
the weIl-to-do class who buy such things.
Toledo profits from the fact that cut
glass, q most expensive product. has a
more equitable distribution in the United
States than in any other country.
The manufacture Of agricultural imple-
ments is the life Of such prosperous cities
as South Bend. Ind: Akron, Ohio and
Moline H. Thousands Of our plows are
now being used TO rip open the virgin
sod OF the Argentine pamp9s and the
FL