THE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRIES OF THE 



WEST. 



BY LESLIE M. SHAW. 



[Leslie M. Shaw, secretary of the treasury, United States; born, Morristown, Vt., 

 November 2, 1848; graduate Cornell college, Mt. Vernon, Iowa, 1874; Iowa college 

 of law, 187G; practiced law at Denison, Iowa, since 1876; president, Bank of Denison; 

 also Bank of Manila, la.; gained prominence as a McKinley advocate, 1896; elected 

 governor of Iowa for two terms, 1898-1902; appointed secretary of the treasury, 

 United States, February 1, 1902.] 



Where shall the line be stretched separating the east 

 from the west? Mason and Dixon's line, at one time sup- 

 posed to mark the boundary of a section of our country, has 

 been so far obliterated, that to be mentioned except to re- 

 joice at its disappearance is an offense to modern politics 

 and alike to modern commerce. 



Where shall the freight borne by the Mississippi river 

 and the Illinois Central double tracked railway paralleling 

 this great waterway on its eastern bank, be classed? The 

 Southern Pacific conveys more than seven hundred cars per 

 day, a quarter of a million per annum, of transcontinental 

 freight. Is this eastern, western, or southern commerce? 

 Because traffic originates on the Atlantic coast and is sent 

 westward via the Golden Gate and the Pacific to the far 

 east, is it therefore eastern commerce? Is not at least that 

 portion which touches the gulf southern commerce? It all 

 crosses the Rocky mountains, and hence, I make mention of 

 it as western commerce. 



Chicago sends eastward over trunk lines of railroad 

 one hundred and fifty tons of provisions each hour of the 

 calendar year; Minneapolis exports four million barrels of 

 flour per annum; Duluth and Superior forward by way of the 

 lakes, sixty five million bushels of grain; Duluth, West Supe- 

 rior, and Milwaukee receive from the east cargoes of coal aggre- 

 gating three million tons per annum; Buffalo receives from 

 the west, and by the same great waterway, one hundred and 



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