600 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



New York City is its geographical location. Owing its greatness to 

 an unsurpassed harbor, its very strength has become a source of 

 weakness in the handling of its internal commerce, and in economically 

 providing the necessities of life for its inhabitants. As a result of the 

 city's maritime and commercial pre-eminence its population includes 

 approximately five out of the nine million persons living within the 

 borders of the state. Furthermore, its growth has been particularly 

 phenomenal in recent years. Between the census of 1900 and that 

 of 1910 the city as a whole increased 39 per cent. 



It has not been possible to secure exact figures in regard to the 

 increase in the receipts or consumption of food products in the city 

 during this same period, but it may properly be assumed that their 

 increase has been commensurate with the increase in population. 

 The mere fact that the amount of food received has increased 39 per 

 cent in a decade would be sufficient to account for a serious terminal 

 problem. The most cogent consideration, however, and that which 

 even more than the amount of the increase has led to increased ter- 

 minal difficulties in this city, is the distribution of the increase among 

 the various boroughs. By far the most marked increases in popula- 

 tion occurred in the boroughs of the Bronx and Queens, the most 

 remote portions of the city. During the same period not only have 

 the terminal facilities failed to keep pace with the growth of the popu- 

 lation, but they have also failed to follow the population in its spread 

 away from the old centers where the long-established railroad ter- 

 minals are found. 



Some of the most important difficulties resulting from this situa- 

 tion may here be pointed out. As stated above, the terminals have 

 not followed the population. There has been considerable terminal 

 development in the Bronx and Queens to be sure, but it has not been 

 proportionate to the increase in population in those sections, and even 

 had it been proportionate the problem would not have been entirely 

 solved, since the principal receiving point for produce continues to be 

 the lower west side. This is because the downtown terminals have 

 developed into well-recognized markets for food products and their 

 removal would greatly disturb commercial conditions. Therefore, as 

 the population which consumes the food products has gradually 

 spread away from the terminals, the haul from the terminals to the 

 ultimate consumer has correspondingly increased. As nearly as can 

 be ascertained, the primary trucking haul that is, from the terminal 

 to the first stopping place of the commodity has not increased, as the 



