WHERE COMMODITIES ARE EXCHANGED—NEW YORK CITY WATER-FRONT
Harbors.—Coast outlines have much to do with the commercial possibilities of a region. The "drowned valleys" and similar inlets along the North Atlantic coast, both of Europe and America, form harbors in which vessels ride at anchor in safety, no matter what the existing conditions outside may be. As a result, the two greatest centres of commerce in the world are found at these harbors—one on the American, the other on the European coast.
From New York Bay southward along the Atlantic seaboard there are but few harbors, and this accounts for the enormous development of commerce in the stretch of coast between Portland and Baltimore. San Francisco Bay and the harbors of Puget Sound monopolize most of the commerce of the Pacific coast of the United States. South America has several good harbors on the Atlantic seaboard, and in consequence a large city has grown at the site of each. On the Pacific coast the good harbors are very few in number, and they are not situated near productive regions.
Asiatic peoples, as a rule, are not promoters of foreign commerce, and, those of Japan excepted, the only good harbors are those that have been improved by European governments. These are confined mainly to India and China. The many possible harbors make certain a tremendous commerce in the future. Africa has but very few good harbors. There are excellent harbors in the islands of the Pacific, and many of them are of great strategic value as coaling stations and bases of supply to the various maritime powers.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
The Pennsylvania Railroad has found it more economical to tunnel the mountain-range under Horseshoe Curve, near Altoona, than to haul the trains over the mountains; discuss the details in which there will be a saving.
Why are rugged and mountainous regions apt to be sparsely peopled?
The first valuable discovery in the Rocky Mountains was gold; what were the chief effects that resulted?