Excerpt from Commercial and Industrial Geography a d104 Book for Schools, Colleges, and Private Reference The rapid expansion of the foreign trade and the increasing domestic commerce of the United States have made it necessary for the business man to inform himself as to the kind, quantity and value of the various natural and manufactured products that are bought and sold in the markets of the world. It is also desirable for him to know why certain countries have controlled certain lines of trade in the past and whether present conditions are such that he may compete successfully in the world's neutral markets. The author is daily called upon to answer questions coming from students, teachers and business men bearing upon such topics touching the industry and commerce of the world. In the preparation of this book it is assumed that the student already has a fair knowledge of political and physical geography. Commodities are first treated separately following the classification given in the United States Government reports. The processes of manufacture of some of the more important articles are incidentally given in order to aid in understanding any peculiarities in them affecting the course of trade. The countries in each continent are next considered in the order of their importance to the trade of the United States. The physical and other conditions affecting trade are also considered as well as the weights and measures, the currency, and the languages in use in each country. Trade routes, government revenues, aids to commerce, instruments of exchange, and the metric system, and their effect upon commerce are treated in separate chapters. Statistics are used only to the extent necessary to show the relative importance of the various commodities and different countries engaged in the world's trade. For United States imports and exports those of the fiscal years ending June 30 are given, as these are the only periods for which complete statistics are published. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.