21 
Modern Business Geography 
might even be omitted altogether, as in the story of fresh vegetables. 
But these cases are exceptional. Almost everything that we eat, 
wear, or otherwise use in our daily life goes through a stage when its 
form is changed, even if the change is merely the difference between 
whole wheat and flour, or between fresh pears and canned pears. 
To bring about any such change is part of the work of manufacturing. 
[n studying commercial and industrial geography we need not 
trace the story of every commodity through each of its chapters. 
It is easier and more interesting to study primary production by 
itself, considering the most important commodities and finding out 
how they are taken from the farm, forest, ocean, or mine. The three 
other fields also need separate study. 
Accordingly, in this book you will find (1) a section on primary 
production, (2) a section on transportation, (3) a section on manu- 
facturing, and (4) a section on consumption. 
QUESTIONS, EXERCISES, AND PROBLEMS 
A. How climate influences the growth of cotton. 
1. If the farmers in your state tried to raise cotton, what conditions would 
they find favorable? What conditions would be unfavorable ? 
Why do not England and Germany raise cotton to supply their factories 
instead of importing it? 
B. Conditions that make cotton transportation expensive. 
1. Men carry the cotton from one conveyance to another for only the short- 
est distances; mules and motor trucks take the bales the next greatest 
distance ; and railroads and steamboats are the long-distance carriers. 
Why is this so? 
How would the cost of cotton cloth be affected if mules had to do the work 
of railroads, and if automobiles carried the cotton as far as the steam- 
ships do? 
About how many times are the bales handled by men from the time the 
cotton is pressed into bales until the bales are opened in the mill? What 
effect does the amount of handling have on the cost of cotton cloth? 
Sometimes bales of cotton are shot directly from the cars down a slide 
into the hold of a vessel. How else might handling by man be decreased ? 
Why is there more effort in the United States than in almost any other 
country to decrease the amount of transportation by man? 
Describe the location of a cotton field and a factory so situated that the 
cost of transportation is as low as possible. 
What is one advantage of the southern group of cotton mills shown ip 
Figure 12? In which of the southern states are mills most numerous? 
—