Los Angeles herald., 1910-04-11

A STUDY OF this subject is interest
u ing and instructive. Shiftings OF
A commercial centers have been
frequent in the past and the causes
have been the same or similar IN all
cases. Whoever has investigated the
subject with profit to himself has
learned that such centers or cltles
have not been, nor can they be, artl-
ficially created; that in chief part they
have been the products of conditions
provided by nature. In all cases, how
ever, where great or considerable sue
cess has been achieved, the part per-
formed by nature has been supple
mented by the work of intelligent and
enterprising people Without this no
very important commercial center has
been developed. whatever may have
been the natural advantages possessed
by a locality.
Founding of commercial centers has
usually been at points near q region
productive of commercial commodities,
either from the soil or the fabricat-
ing trades, and the situation Is In
comparably best when there is coinci-
dence of both. Location has also
been at points convenient for trans
portation of such products to people
who consume them. Between the re-
gions of production and consumption
there must be lines Of communication
and transportation unobstructed by
barriers that render the work of trans
ference inexpeditious and burdened
with expense. They are therefore
founded on lines of transportation that
interpose the least resistance, which
are the shortest ones, other things be-
ing equal, and because there is saving
of both time and cost.
There have been many shiftings of
commercial centers from one place TO
another ,and most commonly as a re-
suit have most largely been from east
to west, and hence the shiftings have
in the main been in the same direc-
tion. 1t is a general fact in the
worlds history that commercial enter
prises and development have been
greatest on latitudinal rather than on
longitudinal lines, and for the reason
that emigration has proceeded on lines
of isothermal similarities. Another
universal fact is that the greatest
commercial centers have arisen at
points where there is transportation
by water, and whenever brought into
competition transportation by land has
been supplanted, except In cases where
the differences in distance have been
so great that saving of time. and prob
ably cost, overbalanced other consid-
erations. Land lines are limited to few
markets comparatively, while ships
from trade centers on the sea are able
to proceed to all the coast markets
of the world.
SO far as we possess information,
the first considerable commercial CEN
ter was Nlneveh. located near Mes
opotamia, that large and productive
country lying between the Euphrates
and Tigris rivers. Shiftings followed
as the tide of emigration moved west
ward, first to Babylon, then TO Bac-
aria, Trebizond, Lyle, Novgorod, Leip-
sic, Venice, Champagne. Marseilles and
Cadiz Novgorod and Leipsic being on
land transportation lines never
achieved prominence like the cities on
the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas,
and for the reason that the overland
channels imposed more arduous work,
longer time in transit, and greater ex-
pense. In consequence of the cheaper
and more expeditions route by water
the countries bordering on those seas
were earlier filled with a large popu-
lation, Industries were sooner and more
largely established, civilization pro-
gressed with greater strides and com
merce grew at a pace that was not
approached along the interior or Eu-
rope where dependence was on slower
and more expensive lines of transpor-
tation.
Before the discovery and consider
able settlement of America imports in
Europe were from India and other
countries of eastern Asia. In the In
terror of Europe the Hanseatic league