FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68  
69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   >>   >|  
ufacturing areas and her coal areas are almost identical. Taking Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle, Durham, Bristol, Stoke, Carlisle, Cardiff, Swansea, Glasgow, Paisley, and Dundee as centres, around each of these lies a coal area of such richness as amply sustains it in its commercial and manufacturing pre-eminence. London is almost the only great commercial centre of Britain that does not lie in the midst of or quite adjacent to a rich coal and other mineral region. But London is within easy distance, not only by rail, but also by canal and by coastwise sailing, of every coal-field and mineral deposit of Britain. London, however, is an importing and exporting centre rather than a manufacturing centre. [Illustration: The coal-fields of England.] LONDON'S SPECIAL TRADE FEATURES The commercial supremacy attained by many of the large cities of Britain is not wholly due to natural causes, or even to ordinary causes. Much of it is due to extraordinary enterprise and forethought on the part of their citizens. London, for example, is the centre of the wool trade of Britain. The woollen manufacturers of Britain use about 250,000 tons of wool annually, and three fourths of this is imported. Other cities that lie near the seats of the great woollen manufactures--Liverpool, for example--have tried to secure a share of this vast importation of wool, but London, because of the special attention it gives to this trade, manages to keep almost the whole of the trade in its own hands. Similarly, London almost wholly monopolises the trade of England with Arabia, India, the East Indies, China, and Japan. It is therefore the great emporium for tea, coffee, sugar, spices, indigo, and raw silk. It also enjoys the bulk of Britain's trade in fruits (oranges, lemons, currants, raisins, figs, dates, etc.) and in wines, olive oil, and madder, with the countries that lie about the Mediterranean. By virtue partly of its situation, but largely because of the enterprise of its merchants, it absorbs nearly the whole of Britain's French trade, and of England's trade with Germany, Belgium, Holland, and Denmark. This includes principally wines (from France), and butter, eggs, and vegetables. Another great branch of its trade is that with the ports of the Baltic, including those of Russia, the imports comprising, besides wheat and wool, tallow, timber, hemp, and linseed. The tobacco imported from Virginia
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68  
69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Britain
 

London

 

centre

 

commercial

 
England
 

Liverpool

 
cities
 

mineral

 

wholly

 

manufacturing


enterprise

 

imported

 
woollen
 
spices
 

indigo

 
enjoys
 

coffee

 
emporium
 

Indies

 

manages


attention

 
importation
 

special

 

Similarly

 
secure
 

monopolises

 

Arabia

 

Mediterranean

 

Another

 

vegetables


branch

 

Baltic

 
butter
 

includes

 
principally
 

France

 

including

 

timber

 

linseed

 
tobacco

Virginia

 
tallow
 

Russia

 

imports

 

comprising

 

Denmark

 

Holland

 

madder

 

countries

 

oranges