CHAPTER VI 

 TRANSPORTATION ON LAND 



103. Importance of transportation. The importance of 

 travel and transportation is more or less clearly recognized by 

 all civilized peoples. Progress in the materials and arts of 

 living is closely associated with the steamship and the railway. 

 We may realize this by considering several groups of facts 

 with reference to our own localities. 



1. Consider what the local markets offer, that could not be 

 had without the modern facilities of transportation. Food, 

 clothing, tools, machinery, building materials, fuel, and many 

 other necessities are imported in part from distant places. 

 With the old means of carrying goods, most of the articles now 

 considered necessities would be luxuries or would be impossible 

 to obtain. Indispensable to transportation, moreover, is the 

 present means of refrigeration. Modern carriers may perform 

 wonders in speed, but without refrigeration meat, fish, fruit, 

 and vegetables, milk and butter and other delicate foodstuffs 

 could not be kept fresh during the long journeys. 



Exercise. Much may be learned of the geography of the pro- 

 ductive regions of the earth and the importance of transportation 

 by preparing a list of the goods in the local market brought from 

 distant places ; by studying the characteristics of the places where 

 they are produced, as to soil, climate, methods of production, people, 

 etc. ; and also the carriers by which the goods have been transported 

 to local markets. 



2. The presence of people of different nationalities in prac- 

 tically every community is obviously a result of the increasing 



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