368 LESLIE M. SHAW 



road, in fact with no advantages save the business grasp and 

 enterprise of a few and the skill and industry of many, pro- 

 duces boilers, iron and steel pipe, brass and plated fittings, 

 which find a market in nearly every state in the Union, and 

 are exported to all countries and to the islands of the sea. 

 One firm with headquarters in Missouri, ships six thousand 

 carloads of clay products per annum into more than fifteen 

 states and territories and exports in large quantities to the 

 republic of Mexico. A single factory in Iowa, in a city of 

 less than 25,000, no coal, no iron, no water, but with much 

 skill and more energy, ships its products to England, to Ger- 

 many, to France, Russia, Austria, Africa, Canada, Mexico, 

 South American countries, Cuba, Australia, and New Zealand. 

 Its boilers are now running cotton mills in the Carolinas, 

 cutting lumber in Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi, irri- 

 gating plantations in Louisiana and Texas, making flour in 

 Minnesota, Kansas, Oklahoma, and the Dakotas, manufactur- 

 ing furniture in Michigan, and crushing ore in the valleys of 

 the mountains. A few miles away stands another factory 

 whose output of shoes finds a market in more than a dozen 

 states and territories, and sells for more than a million and a 

 half. Unincorporated mills in the same state, under a single 

 management, annually consume half a million pounds of 

 wool, the product of which, in finest flannels and ladies' 

 dress goods, is shipped in carload lots to the commercial cen- 

 ters on both oceans. 



A single unincorporated mercantile establishment in Chi- 

 cago, whose founder is still active in its management, does 

 an annual business equaling the gross earnings of the New 

 York Central railroad, with its more than 3,000 miles, with 

 a train movement of 35,000,000 miles, carrying 30,000,000 

 passengers, and moving 35,000,000 tons of freight. Do you 

 wonder that I claim Chicago as a western city, when such 

 gigantic things can be done within its limits in the business 

 lifetime of a single man? 



The territory I represent imports, through customs dis- 

 tricts located within its limits, merchandise valued at $85,000,- 

 000 and exports $120,000,000 worth. But who shall say how 

 much is consumed within these limits, or what is received at 



