UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



5970 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



least sterile part of the Cordilleran highland. 

 They also profit most from the development of 

 Alaska, and the shape of the earth is in their 

 favor, bringing China and Japan nearer to 

 Puget Sound than to ports farther south. 



In Alaska the mountain ranges of the Cor- 

 dilleran highland swing around so as to run 

 substantially east and west, and the great pla- 

 teau between the principal ranges is drained to 

 the westward by the Yukon, a river larger, but 

 shorter, than the Mississippi. This forms the 

 principal transportation route into the interior. 

 In the southwest a railway only 112 miles long, 

 running chiefly through Canadian territory, 

 crosses the mountains at an elevation of 2,880 

 feet, from Skagway to the head of navigation 

 on the Yukon. In 1914 Congress authorized 

 the President of the United States to construct 

 at public expense a thousand miles of railway 

 to open up the Alaskan coal fields and connect 

 the southern coast with the Yukon region 

 through United States territory (see page 140). 

 Several short private railways have already 

 been constructed on the south coast and others 

 in the interior and in the Nome peninsula. 



In addition to Skagway the principal com- 

 mercial centers are Saint Michael, near the 

 mouth of the Yukon River, and Nome, upon 

 an exposed beach where goods and passengers 

 must be landed through the surf at heavy cost 

 (see page 4245). Both Bering Sea and the Yu- 

 kon River are, as a rule, icebound from Sep- 

 tember until June. During that period, dog 

 sleds are used to some extent. 



Foreign Commerce. The foreign commerce of 

 any country depends upon the natural re- 

 sources which it possesses and upon the intel- 

 ligence and industry of its inhabitants. Perhaps 

 no other area of the same size in the world 

 equals the United States in respect to fertile 

 soil, abundant minerals, navigable waters, ex- 

 cellent harbors and healthful climate; and no 

 other nation of the first rank except Russia 

 fronts on the two greatest oceans or their arms. 

 Moreover, the people of the United States are 

 active and adventurous, by right of inheritance, 

 for only those of such a disposition were will- 

 ing in the early days to brave the uncertainties 

 of the New World. These qualities have been 

 further reenforced by frontier life, which neces- 

 sarily breeds inventiveness and self-reliance. 

 Finally, self-government has powerfully pro- 

 moted general education and intelligence. 



All new countries first exploit the crude re- 

 sources of sea, forest, farm and mine, since they 

 must have food and raw materials before they 



can undertake manufactures. The United States 

 first entered foreign markets as an exporter of 

 fish and timber from the North Atlantic sec- 

 tion, tobacco and cotton from the South Atlan- 

 tic, grain and animal products from the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley. The area of largest production 

 has shifted westward with the increase of popu- 

 lation. Comparing the present with the past, it 

 is evident that a great change in the character 

 of the commerce has set in. With the increase 

 of population in the United States the surplus 

 of foodstuffs, lumber and other crude products 

 available has materially decreased. In fact, the 

 United States is becoming more and more de- 

 pendent upon Canada for timber, while meat, 

 eggs and even grain have recently been im- 

 ported, especially from Argentina. 



In place of exporting foodstuffs and other raw 

 products, the United States is more and more 

 using these at home, and then exporting manu- 

 factured products which have a larger value and 

 smaller bulk. Compare'd with Europe as a 

 whole, which forms almost an equivalent area, 

 the United States is still in the early stage of 

 manufacturing development; but compared 

 with any other part of the world it has made 

 great progress, and is by some rated as the 

 first manufacturing country on the globe. This 

 became undeniably true when the War of the 

 Nations in 1914 broke upon Europe and called 

 its man power into the armies. Such su- 

 premacy as Europe had previously maintained 

 in manufacturing was due to abundant supplies 

 of skilled labor, long experience and superior 

 educational training for industry and commerce. 



The future commerce of the United States 

 will consist less in the exporting of foodstuffs 

 and raw materials, as in the past, and more in 

 the export of manufactures. For some time 

 the largest share of the foreign commerce of the 

 United States will be with Europe, but markets 

 for manufactured goods are to be sought not 

 in Europe, which buys chiefly foodstuffs and 

 raw materials, but rather in the outlying posses- 

 sions of the United States, and in Canada, 

 Mexico, South America, South Africa, the 

 Orient and the countries around the eastern end 

 of the Mediterranean Sea, which buy largely 

 manufactured goods. It is in these same coun- 

 tries, moreover, that have been slow to develop 

 and have little accumulated capital, where 

 much American capital has been invested, and 

 where still greater investments may be ex- 

 pected in the future. These are consequently 

 the portions of the world having the greatest 

 interest for the United States. 



