consumption among the Central States, a large part of it being distributed by water from all the lake ports on the southern shore of Lake Erie. The second great center of bituminous coal trade was in the fields of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas, whence the numerous cities of that district drew most of their large fuel supplies. The third important center of production, which was developed very rapidly after 1885, was the Alabama and Tennessee field. It provided fuel for the growing manufacturing industries of the south-eastern portion of the country and competed for the coal trade of points on the lower Mississippi.

Iron Ore, Iron and Steel. The development of the movement of iron ore from the mines around Lake Superior to the furnaces of the Eastern States was one of the most interesting features of the internal trade of the United States during this entire period. This trade grew in volume from less than 1,000,000 tons in 1870 to 18,000,000 tons in 1899, the shipments during the latter year comprising two-thirds of the total iron ore production of the whole country. Practically the entire traffic went by lake vessels to ports on Lake Erie and Lake Michigan whence it was taken by rail to the blast furnaces of Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and Illinois.

No other industry in the United States had a more remarkable growth after 1860 than the iron and steel industry. The production of pig iron in 1899 was nearly 15,000,000 tons, and of crude steel almost 11,000,000 tons. Pennsylvania contributed about one-half of the entire output of both pig iron and steel during the forty years, Ohio ranking second. The pig iron industry began to expand rapidly in Alabama and Illinois in the early eighties, and by 1900 the output of these two states constituted a fifth of the total product. The immense output of iron and steel was distributed everywhere throughout the country. A large part of it was used in building the railroads and the remainder was utilized as the raw material for the manufacture of a great variety of iron and steel products that were used in all branches of industry.

Lumber. The forests of the United States were subjected to a rapid and often wasteful exploitation during these years. Extensive building operations, the construction and maintenance of an enormous railway mileage and the growth of manufacturing created a heavy demand for timber, and by 1900 the annual cut amounted to 35,000,000,000 feet. The northeastern group of states which had formed the chief source of lumber supply before 1860, lost precedence by 1880 to the lake states, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The tremendous consumption of timber throughout the country rapidly depleted the supply in this district and by 1900 the yellow pine of the South was being heavily drawn upon, forming a fourth of the production of the country. The timber lands of the Pacific coast contributed more than 2,000,000,000 feet a year after 1890, and the shipments of lumber and shingles from this region to the interior were beginning to take on very large proportions.

Manufactures. In 1859 the New England and Middle Atlantic States produced nearly three-fourths of the total manufactured products of the United States, and these two groups together with the Central States reported more than 80 per cent of the product of manufactures of each census year thereafter. In general, it may be said that the rest of the country was dependent upon these sections for its manufactured goods. The fact that over one-half of the product of 1899 came from five states, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Massachusetts and Ohio, serves to designate still more clearly the chief centers of trade in manufactured goods. Of the fifteen leading manufacturing cities in 1899, twelve were located east of the Mississippi River and two were situated on its west bank. New York City alone produced in 1899 one-tenth of all the manufactures of the country and Chicago and Philadelphia together produced another tenth. The localization of many industries within the manufacturing belt itself was an important factor in determining the course of internal trade between the manufacturing states and the rest of the country and among the manufacturing states themselves, which were the largest consumers as well as the largest producers of manufactured goods. The increase in the value of the products of manufactures from $2,000,000,000 in 1859 to $13,000,000,000 in 1899 gives an idea of the expansion in the trade in manufactured commodities, the details of which it is impossible here to consider.

There were no other articles the movements of which equalled in importance those of the various commodities discussed above, but there were many that contributed a tonnage of large volume and value to internal trade. Dairy products, poultry and eggs, wool, hay, sugar, tobacco, fruits and vegetables from the farms, petroleum, gas, copper, stone and many other valuable mineral products, and the large annual quantity of imports of food products, manufactures and raw materials entering the seaports to be distributed among interior markets helped to swell the volume of traffic that moved from place to place within the country.

Conclusion. A most interesting and significant feature of the history of the United States during this period was the transition in the character of the economic problems of the country. Until the time of the Civil War its chief problems had been those of securing the means to develop its resources, of acquiring the facilities for transporting its products from place to place, and of providing markets in which its products could be sold. As capital, population and transportation facilities were provided to exploit the latent wealth of the continent it was found that out of their presence grew far larger and more vital problems than their absence had ever created. The economic difficulties of the nation after the Civil War arose chiefly because of the existence of the things which before 1860 it was a question of acquiring.

In no instance was this general proposition better demonstrated than in the railroad problem. For nearly sixty years of the nineteenth century the chief obstacle to internal trade had been the lack of the means of transportation. To overcome this difficulty the states had first built their own canals and railroads. Many of the state enterprises failing because of weak administration, the states had surrendered the management of railroads to private corporations, but the public continued to share in railroad construction through numerous grants of aid by federal, state and local governments. For a number of years almost the only activity of the public in regard to railroads was to foster and protect the interests of the railroad companies. In the seventies the public gradually came to a realization of the fact that the railroad companies were displaying a lamentable lack of regard for the interests of the public. Persons and communities found themselves entirely at the mercy of railroad corporations, which, by vicious discriminations, built up and destroyed where they chose, and even endeavored to control arbitrarily the economic future of entire groups of states regardless of their natural advantages or the choice of their people. And not only did the railroad companies themselves become a source of danger, but they were instrumental in the creation and development of great industrial combinations, which were equally indifferent to the welfare of the general public. The transportation problem of the United States was no longer that of providing facilities, but of controlling and regulating the existing facilities in such a manner that reasonable rates and services would be given to the public which had entrusted the business of transportation to private agencies. The demand for relief was first voiced in state legislation. The states being powerless to regulate interstate trade, the national government found it necessary to act, and, in 1887, the Interstate Commerce Law was passed, having for its chief purpose the