Therefore Philadelphia has the position unique
among all of these seaboard cities, of being contignous
 to all of the great markets. It is the great
entral area among the great areas. That is its
insuperable advantage as a distribution point.
The area lying between the Mississippi and the
Rockies is not of great importance as a consuming
area, considered relatively to the rest of the country.
As to the West Coast market area, Philadelphia’s
great tidewater port places it in position equivalent
to that of Denver, Colo., in respect to freight rates
to the west coast. That is to say, the twenty-nine
sailings per month from the Port of Philadelphia
to west coast points give water freight rates lower
than the rail rates from Denver, Colo., to the
west coast.
Putting it in another way, Philadelphia is nearer
io the southern and western markets than New
York, and nearer to the northern (including New
England) market than Baltimore. The three trunkline
 railroads and their connections serving Philadelphia
 provide more trains to the west than any
sastern seaboard city has except New York, whose
trains are equalled in number and surpassed as to
‘ime. It should be recalled that the country’s
largest railroad strikes west from Philadelphia.
Possessing these distribution facilities, it has the
‘urther inestimable advantage of lacking the conzestion
 which prevails in the New York area, the
only Atlantic Coast center whose domestic distribution
 facilities are equal.

Production It may have been noted that in
In the the title of this booklet the dis-Aven
 tribution from the Philadelphia
Area has been mentioned before
the production, which is per-1aps
 a departure from the usual order. That was
lone because this is primarily a study of distribution.
 Consideration of distribution, however, is not
somplete unless’it be accompanied by consideration
of production. Each acts as a complement to the
sther. That is, any area which has exceptional disribution
 facilities should have exceptional production.
 Conversely, if an area have small production,
it is likely to be lacking in distribution facilities.
The production of the Philadelphia Area is as
impressive in its field as distribution in its, as will
oe seen by reference to the data given later. Study
of these data has disclosed several interesting facts.

For instance, the territory which can be reached
>vernight from Philadelphia by motor truck lines
operating scheduled routes, which is called the
Jvernight Trucking Area in these studies, embraces
1 population which has a spendable income equal
‘0 the total spendable income of sixteen states,
1amely, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,
Cennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiina,
 Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. It is an:
sther interesting fact that the building permits
issued annually within the Overnight Trucking
Area ‘almost exactly equal in value the aggregate
of those issued in the above states.

Method In making its studies of distriof
 bution from the Philadelphia
Stud center, the Research Departy
 ment of the Philadelphia Business
 Progress Association based
its inquiries on the various means of transportation
and the territory reachable by each within certain
‘ime limits.
The first step was determination of the Philalelphia
 Metropolitan Area. Facilities of distribuion
 within a metropolitan district are so well
anderstood that there is no necessity of reviewing
them here.
Supplementary to the Metropolitan Area is the
territory which is not a homogeneous city for everyday
 purposes but which comprises the section in
which Philadelphia is more readily accessible by
railroad or highway travel than any other metropolitan
 center. This is the territory which depends
on Philadelphia for the bulk of its important buying
 and is given the name of Market Area.
Next in range is the territory which may be
reached from Philadelphia by motor truck over
scheduled routes between the close of every busiaess
 day and the opening of the next. This is
identified as the Overnight Trucking Area.
Extending beyond this territory are the .zones
which are reached by railroad freight, defined on
he basis of Second, Third and Fourth Day Freight
Areas. Finally comes the Steamship Freight Area,
which carries the distribution system of Philadelphia
 to all corners of the earth.

Mana