first stagecoach was driven from Cumberland to Wheeling, a distance of 130 miles. In 1812 steamboats made their appearance on the Mississippi River; by 1815 the ascent of the river became possible; and by 1817 the trip from New Orleans to Louisville could be made in 25 days, as compared with 90 days by barges. Whereas in 1818 only 20 steamboats were employed on the rivers of the West, by 1848 this number was increased to 1,200, and, as stated by Mr. Edward A. Moseley, the steam tonnage of the Mississippi Valley was larger than that of the whole British Empire.

Canal construction also began in earnest after 1815. In 1823 there was completed the canal from Lake Champlain to the Hudson River. The The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal, and the Union Canal, of Pennsylvania (intended to connect the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers), were all "forerunners " of the greatest of all the internal improvements up to this time -the Erie Canal, completed in 1825. The importance of these improvements is indicated by a consideration of freight rates and land values. The Erie Canal is said to have added $100,000,000 to the value of farm lands in New York alone. Freight rates from the West to the East were reduced from $25 to $15 per ton and the time from 20 to 8 days. Freight which formerly had gone overland from Ohio to Pittsburg and then to Philadelphia, at a cost of $20 to $25 a ton, now went

by way of the lakes and the caral to New York. The handicap to large internal trade prior to 1815 may also be illustrated by the steamboat freight charges on the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Memphis, which are said to have averaged as high as 6 cents a pound for light goods and 41⁄2 cents for heavy goods. It should be added that by 1848 Lake Erie was connected by canal with the Ohio River and Lake Michigan with the Mississippi, and by 1855 the St. Mary's Falls Canal connected Lake Superior with' the other lakes for boats of 12-foot draft.

In 1833 the South Carolina Railway (136 miles long) was completed; and in 1834 the completion of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad meant a continuous rail-canal route from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. By 1841 the Boston and Albany road was completed, and by 1842 was extended to Buffalo, thus marking the first interstate railroad and constituting, according to Mr. Moseley, "the real beginning of interstate commerce " in this country. By 1850 the Eastern States possessed nearly 7,000 miles of railway line, although only about 1,000 miles existed west of the Alleghanies. By 1860 the railway mileage, however, had increased to 30,635 miles and the New York Central, Baltimore and Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Erie railroads connected the roads of the interior with the East, while other lines were being built to unite the Mississippi Valley with the Gulf. It may be

noted here that even in the South 10,000 miles of railway were constructed between 1840 and 1860, and that by 1860 every province of the South east of the Mississippi had been brought into railway communication with every other.

The effects of these increased transportation facilities on the volume of traffic were very marked. No data exists to prove comprehensively the growth of long-distance inland trade. For the traffic between the West and East, the port of New York became the great emporium; while for the traffic between the North and South, the port of New Orleans became the great centre. The growth of these two ports, depending on their receipts. from the interior, will therefore serve to indicate at least inferentiallyincrease in the volume of internal traffic during this period.

As regards the entire country, the foreign exports increased from $52,557,000 in 1815 to $400,122,000 in 1860 (over 660 per cent.), most of this increase occurring during the last 20 years. Of this amount New York in 1860 shared $120,630,955, 32 per cent. of the Nation's total exports, and 87 per cent. of those of the North Atlantic States. This dominant position New York assumed by being the centre from which radiated nearly all the great railways of the country connecting the East and West. It is important to note that between 1840 and 1850 the railway mileage of the country increased from 2,818 to 9,021 miles,

while between 1850 and 1860, 21,000 miles of railway were constructed, effectively connecting New York, Boston and Philadelphia by trunk lines with the leading producing centres of the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys and increasing the exports from these ports from $31,203,000 in 1830 to $139,672,000 in 1860 (347 per cent.). These statistics of growth in the foreign trade are offered as a barometric index from which to infer the increase in the Nation's internal commerce. But we may draw further inferences from the statistical evidence of growth in the Nation's leading lines of industry. Within the 20 years from 1840 to 1860 the country's production of corn increased over 120 per cent.; of wheat nearly 100 per cent.; and of tobacco 98 per cent.; while the exports of agricultural products increased by about 150 per cent. While in 1840 the consumption of cotton by our textile mills amounted to only 120,000,000 pounds, this consumption increased to 423,000,000 pounds by 1860, or 244 per cent. During the same 20 years, the output of our woolen mills increased by 247 per cent., and of our iron mills by 343 per cent.*

Just as New York was greatly favored in the West for Eastern traffic, so New Orleans ranked as the great export centre of the South during anti-bellum days, chiefly because

of improved water transportation on the Mississippi and its tributaries. Even after New York received its advantageous position through the construction of the Erie Canal, New Orleans continued to grow absolutely, although relatively, when compared with New York, there was a decline. In 1842 her share in the movement of raw agricultural crops and milled breadstuffs coming from all sections of the Mississippi Valley exceeded $45,700,000 in value. By 1844 this amount had increased to $60,000,000; in 1846 to $77,000,000; and in 1850 to nearly $97,000,000. The success of New of New Orleans caused nearly every leading Southern port to reach out for the internal trade. Charleston constructed a railroad to Augusta with the object of attracting the traffic of interior Georgia away from Savannah. Savannah, in turn, retaliated by constructing the Central of Georgia Railroad to Macon, which line was extended later as far north as Chattanooga. As explained elsewhere,*" all of the chief ports of the South were reaching out with railroads for the trade of the interior cotton belt, and it was not long until Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, New Orleans, Baltimore, Richmond and Norfolk each had its special railroad. At the same time a railway line was constructed parallel to the coast, extending from Washington through Rich

*S. S. Huebner, The Interstate Commerce of the South, in The South in the Building of the Nation, vol. v., p. 410,

mond, Raleigh, Augusta and Montgomery to Mobile and New Orleans. The Shenandoah-Tennessee Valley, the most handicapped of the economic provinces of the South as far as transportation was concerned, was also connected on the one hand with the North, East and, on the other, with the coasts of Virginia and the South." In the coastwise trade the tonnage no longer was employed chiefly along short stretches of the coast. Instead, long-distance hauls became common, especially between New England and the South. It is estimated that in 1860 New England sent annually to the South by coastwise voyage about $60,000,000 worth of merchandise, consisting chiefly of manufactures, fish, and molasses. The South, on the other hand, is estimated to have sent to New England by coastwise voyage about $55,000,000 worth of products, consisting chiefly of cotton, naval stores, hemp, flour, and animal products.

Whereas the half-century prior to 1860 has been characterized as the period of "National expansion," the years following 1860 have been well described as the period of "National development." It is true that the population continued to penetrate into new areas such as the semi-arid regions of the West, especially for the exploitation of the Nation's mineral wealth. But the most characteristic feature of the last half-century is not the breaking in of new areas so much as the development and exploitation

of the Nation's resources along all lines through improved methods of production and transportation.

A few figures will serve to illustrate the extent of this development and, in the absence of detailed data, will enable us to appreciate the enormous growth in the volume of interstate traffic. In the 40 years from 1870 to 1910 the production of wheat in the United States increased from nearly 235,000,000 to more than 695,000,000 bushels; of corn, from 1,094,000,000 to 3,125,000,000 bushels; and of oats, from 247,000,000 to nearly 1,127,000,000 bushels. Of these respective crops in 1910, statistics show that about 54 per cent. of the wheat, 22 per cent. of the corn, and 30 per cent. of the oats were shipped out of the county where grown, by far the largest portion of them entering into the interstate commerce of the country. The production of cotton increased from 4,352,000 to 11,965,000 bales, and the movement of this crop as explained in detail elsewhere, is chiefly interstate in character. Prior to 1860 the meat industry was conducted mainly in a large number of localities, and, owing to the lack of refrigeration and the refrigerator car and steamer, comparatively little of the products was sent abroad or to distant States. With the movement of the live-stock-raising business to the West and the concentration of the packing business in a

*

*S. S. Huebner, The Development of the Interstate Commerce of the South, in The South in the Building of the Nation, vol. vi., p. 357.

few large centres, accompanied by modern means of refrigeration, most of the meat product of the country entered into interstate commerce. Between 1870 and 1905 the value of meat products increased from $75,000,000 to nearly $1,000,000,000, and of this amount at least 15 per cent. was exported from New York, Boston and Philadelphia. In fact, as regards all leading agricultural staples, there now prevails the system of concentrating them at great terminal centres like Chicago, Minneapolis, Duluth, Kansas City, Omaha, St. Louis, etc., and then redistributing the same to the eastern or foreign centres.

In the mineral and manufacturing business the development since 1860 has been even more phenomenal, although space permits only a few facts to illustrate this tendency. American copper production in 1870 amounted to only 12,600 tons, whereas in 1910 the production approximated 485,000 tons, practically all of which enters into interstate commerce. Iron ore production increased between 1870 and 1905 from 3,000,000 to 49,000,000 tons (1,500 per cent.); and the yield of mineral oil from almost nothing to 130,000,000 barrels. In both instances the product enters mostly into interstate commerce. Similarly, the manufacturing industries multiplied greatly in number and increased their capacity along all lines. The iron and steel business, entering into so many other lines of manufacture, is usually regarded as the best barometric index.

of the Nation's industrial development; and here it may be stated that the production of pig iron increased from 1,665,000 tons in 1870 to the tremendous total of 27,074,000 tons in 1910; while during the 35 years hetween 1870-1905 the capitalization of the iron and steel manufacturing business increased from $210,000,000 to nearly $949,000,000, and the value of the annual product from $296,000,000 to nearly $906,000,000.

Along with this greatly increased production, the Nation witnessed a great extension of railway mileage and steamship tonnage in all sections of the country and a remarkable lowering of freight rates. Whereas in 1860 the railway mileage of the country amounted to only 30,635 miles, the total single track mileage now totals nearly 250,000 miles. The sail and steam tonnage on the Great Lakes increased from 684,704 in 1870 to 2,062,147 tons in 1905. According to the Reports of the Commissioner of Navigation, the total gross tonnage of documented vessels engaged in domestic trade in 1896 was 3,858,927 and in 1906 5,735,483 tons, an increase of 48 per cent.

For the year 1873 Mr. Moseley reports the average freight rates to be 42 cents per ton per mile on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 7 cents on the Boston and Lowell and the Winchester and Potomac, and 10 cents on the Petersburg, and Portsmouth and Roanoke lines. These rates seem extraordinarily high when compared

with the average rate on all American railroads, of .878 cents in 1893 and .753 cents in 1910.

The changes just enumerated clearly indicate the tremendous proportions of our internal trade, but it is a regrettable fact that no statistics exist by which to trace the tonnage movement of freight between the leading sections of the country. The limited data available, however, shows that the growth of freight movements has been large in all sections. In 1890 the railroads of the country carried a total of 745,000,000 tons of freight, or approximately 11 tons for every man, woman and child. In 1910 the freight carried on our railroads aggregated 1,850,000,000 tons, while the original tonnage, not including freight secured from connecting lines, exceeded 881,000,000 tons. The average length of the haul is given by the Interstate Commerce Commission as 249.6 miles, and it is estimated by various authorities that of the total tonnage only about 15 to 25 per cent. is intrastate in character.

Complete statistics of the coastwise trade are lacking, because vessels engaged in this trade are not required to report their cargo tonnage. For the year 1910, however, the United States Bureau of Statistics reported the coastwise coal shipments from New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk and Newport News to be nearly 43,500,000 tons, with most of this freight destined to ports of other States. The coastwise receipts of