from 774,486 per issue at the former date to 2,620,661 at the latter. In addition to the daily newspapers there were published in the state in 1914 nearly 1,500 semiweekly and triweekly, weekly, monthly, and quarterly periodicals.

Illinois ranks second among the states in the union in number and circulation of all classes of publications combined; third in number and circulation of dailies; second in number and circulation of weeklies; and second in number and in circulation of monthly publications.21 In addition to these periodicals there is a vast amount of book and job printing carried on in the printing establishments of every county in the state, which swells the total to the figures already given.22

21 Census of Manufactures: Illinois, 1914, P. 31.

22 For the information concerning the printing and publishing industry the writer wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to a thorough study of the subject made by Dr. Frederic A. Russell and presented by him as a doctor's thesis to the University of Illinois under the title Newspaper and Periodical Publishing Industry in Illinois from 1880 to 1915.

VI. TRADE AND TRANSPORTATION

F THE commercial development of a region depends upon the combination of resources and location, then Illinois is doubly favored, for its preeminence as an agricultural, mining, and manufacturing state provides the materials for an extensive commerce, while its commanding location gives it every advantage of water and rail communication. Consequently the trade and commerce of the state rival the other branches of economic activity in importance and extent. In spite of their magnitude, however, the movements of commerce have never been subjected to statistical measurement in the United States, and it is therefore impossible to trace them with any degree of accuracy. It is necessary to fall back upon the data gathered in the more important cities of the state and infer from these the movements which have been taking place generally.

The high degree of specialization which has attended agriculture and the mining and manufacturing industries of the state has meant that no group of workers has been able to supply all its own wants. The distribution of products from producers to distant markets and of other commodities to the consumers has called into existence a great number of merchants, and wholesale, jobbing, and retail houses, whose activities are essential to the welfare of the other interests and whose business is enormous. Especially important is the grain trade, which feeds many manufacturing establishments with their raw materials and supplies the railways with the major part of their traffic. Two of the twelve primary grain markets in the country are situated within the state, of which Chicago ranks first in the United States.

Chicago is by far the greatest commercial and distributing center in Illinois; its commercial importance is due mainly to

its geographical location and to the fact that it is the point of convergence of the principal railroads of the western and northwestern states and of the trunk lines which connect these states with the principal cities of the Atlantic seaboard. But the controlling factor in the commercial and industrial growth of Chicago consists in the fact that this city is one of the principal primary markets for the purchase and sale of the agricultural products of this section of the country and for the manufacture of certain of these products into the various forms in which they appear in commerce.

The magnitude of the grain trade of Chicago may be best indicated by giving a few figures. The total receipts of all grain grew from 219,052,518 bushels in 1890 to 371,135,000 bushels in 1915, while the shipments increased from 204,674,918 to 299,090,000 bushels for the same years. Two things may be noted even in these bare statistics. First, there has been a very small growth in this trade, due to the shifting of the center of production, the development of new markets, and changes in the routes of transportation. In the second place, the shipments are less than the receipts at each period, but the difference has grown greater. This is caused by the greater demands of the rapidly growing population of Chicago for the incoming flour and grain for food, and also to its use in local manufactories. The city consumption of all grain, including flour, was estimated in 1890 to amount to 22,059,000 bushels; by 1915 this had increased to 119,394,000 bushels. At the same time the manufacture of flour within the city grew from 430,609 barrels in 1890 to 1,155,000 barrels in 1915.1

Not only has the grain trade of Chicago failed to show a growth corresponding with its industrial development, but changes in the methods of handling the grain have lessened the profits which have accrued to Chicago merchants in these transactions. Before the development of cheap rail transportation to the east, the grain brought to Chicago after the close

1 Report of the Trade and Commerce of Chicago, 1915, p. 18. See tables in appendix, p. 503. for the grain trade of Chicago.

of lake transportation in the fall accumulated in elevators where it was stored until the opening of navigation again in the spring. With the advent of all-rail carriage of grain to the Atlantic seaboard, which was not interrupted by seasonal changes, the profits of the elevator business declined severely. Although these establishments attempted to hold the business which was slipping from their grasp, by reducing elevator charges, the advantages of through shipments were so great that it was impossible to prevent the change.

Owing to the gradual shifting of the slaughtering and meat packing industry to points farther west, to Omaha and Kansas City, the movements of livestock and dressed meats have shown a still smaller rate of growth and in some respects have even fallen off. But the total amount is still enormous. Chicago is also an important market for lard, wool, and hides, which may be designated as incidents of the packing industry.

Illinois cities and especially Chicago have always been important distributive centers for agricultural products, but the last twenty-five years have seen a great widening in the range of commercial interests.2 Today Chicago is the most important inland city in distributive commerce in general. While the amount of grain and provisions handled in this city is a smaller proporton of the total products, the relative loss in these lines has been more than compensated by the innumerable variety of other commodities for which the city has become the distributing center. The jobbing and wholesale business of Chicago in 1891 was estimated to have amounted to $517,166,000. Her preeminence as a distributing center was attributed primarily to the cheap freight rates both by rail and water which her merchants enjoyed.1

It is not possible to measure the other branches of Chicago's trade with any degree of exactness, as they have never been subjected to statistical measurement, but there is no doubt that they have shown a growth even greater than those which have 2 See table in appendix, p. 504.

3 Flinn, Chicago, 55.

Report of the Trade and Commerce of Chicago, 1890, p. 120.

been enumerated. In 1893 the trade of Chicago in farm products, the products of local manufactories, and the wholesale trade, was estimated to amount to $1,434,700,000. "Were the retail figures of the year and the extraordinary work of hotels, railroads and other industries added," these figures might be doubled."

The financial panic of 1893 and the long period of depression which followed it affected Chicago's trade adversely, but it recovered quickly after 1896, and five years later the board of trade was able to report optimistically as to the outlook. "As an inevitable result of agricultural prosperity Chicago's wholesale business in other lines, has been greatly in excess of that of any previous year-notably in clothing, boots and shoes, furs, wooden and willow-ware, leather and findings, hardware and cutlery, hats and caps; in paper, books and stationery, pig and manufactured iron, crockery and glassware, wagons and carriages, stoves, furnaces, and wallpaper." " In 1904 the combined value of the wholesale trade and local manufactures was $2,349,315,000; in 1910 they were $3,988,065,800; and by 1916 they had increased to $4,965,907,000. Of this last sum, over half, or $2,854,298,000, represented the wholesale trade alone. The most important branches of the wholesale trade were the following: dry goods and carpets ($321,000,000), produce ($245,000,000), groceries ($181,000,000), lumber ($127,000,000), boots and shoes ($104,000,000), pig iron ($76,000,000), liquors and wines ($70,000.000), manufactured iron ($66,000,000), and tobacco and cigars ($60,000,000).

Although Chicago overshadows all other Illinois cities in the wholesale and jobbing business, Peoria is of considerable importance along this line. The reasons for Peoria's importance as a commercial center are, in large measure, her central geographical location and her abundant facilities for trans

5 Industrial Chicago, 4:279.

6 Report of the Trade and Commerce of Chicago, 1901, xiv.

7 Chicago Tribune, December 31, 1916. Each year an annual review of trade is given for the year just ending.