CANTON 



1163 



CANTON 



FLOATING HOMES OP THOUSANDS OP PEOPLE 



In certain portions of Canton the river is so crowded with boats which are the permanent homes 

 of many people that a person might walk upon them from one side of the river to the other. 



porcelain, glass, paper, sugar, lacquered ware, 

 firecrackers and metal goods. Until the close 

 of the seventeenth century commerce with 

 China was carried on under great difficulties. 

 All foreigners were "barbarians" or "devils," 

 to be kept out of the country at all cost. How- 

 ever, Canton was one of the first ports to admit 

 foreign trade. It restricted the number of 

 merchants to deal with the foreigners, and 

 made those dealers responsible for all cus- 

 toms dues on what they imported. The Chi- 

 nese War of 1840 nominally threw open the 

 port of Canton, but it was not until 1861 that 

 the port and city became actually open to 

 foreigners. For many years Canton held a 

 monopoly of the tea trade with England, but 

 it suffered the loss of a great portion of this 

 on the opening of other Chinese ports in 1860, 

 and is now exceeded in importance as a tea 

 center by Shanghai and Hongkong. The city 

 is about 7,500 miles from the Pacific coast 

 cities of America. Population, in 1915, about 

 900,000. F.ST.A. 



CAN 'TON, ILL., a city of Fulton County, 

 situated in a fertile agricultural district in the 

 western part of the state, twenty-eight miles 

 west of Peoria. Railroad transportation is pro- 



vided by the Toledo, Peoria & Western and the 

 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroads. Can- 

 ton has coal-mining interests and large manu- 

 factories of agricultural implements, cigars and 

 cigar boxes, tile, brick, lumber and foundry 

 products. Its prominent features include a 

 public library, parks and a hospital. The 

 place was settled about 1832 and was first 

 incorporated in 1849. In 1910 it had a popula- 

 tion of 10,453; in 1914, 12,438. 



CANTON, OHIO, a progressive city, noted for 

 the variety of its industries. It is the county 

 seat of Stark County, and is situated in the 

 northeastern part of the state, on Nimishillen 

 Creek. Massillon is eight miles west, Cleve- 

 land is fifty-nine miles north and west and 

 Pittsburgh is 101 miles southeast. The Penn- 

 sylvania, the Baltimore & Ohio and the 

 Wheeling & Lake Erie railways meet here and 

 electric lines operate north, east and west 

 from the city. Canton was settled in 1805, was 

 incorporated as a village in 1822 and chartered 

 as a city in 1854. Its rapid growth is shown 

 by the increase of population from 50,217 in 

 1910 to 59,139 in 1915; the foreign element, 

 in which Austrians predominate, comprises 

 only eight per cent of this number. 



