Distribution and Production 
in the 
Philadelphia Area 
Industrial With respect to production and 
Areas distribution in industry the 
Defined United States divides into many 
homogeneous areas which take 
their names, as a general rule, 
from the principal city contained within their 
borders but which exceed in geographical limits 
and in commmercial influence the physical boun- 
daries of these cities themselves. When we speak 
of New York in the industrial sense, for instance, 
we do not limit ourselves to the confines of Man- 
hattan Island or even to the five boroughs which 
make up the city proper. We mean the whole 
territory which holds together as a producing and 
distributing unit and which extends many miles 
up the Hudson River and down the Bay and strikes 
inland even into another state. 
Similarly when we speak industrially of Phila- 
delphia we do not mean the city which William 
Penn laid out but that whole territory lying gen- 
erally along the Delaware River, embracing parts 
of three states, whose functioning is unified by 
common interest and identical facilities. : 
_—— 
The This building up of homo- 
New geneous districts of a common 
Standard interest based on the industrial 
andar viewpoint and the gradually 
developing consciousness that 
they constitute entities broader in scope than the 
mere political divisions of city and county which 
formerly sufficed, is a sign of the times. The new 
tendency has not yet been established long enough 
so that the precise boundaries of the various pro- 
duction and distribution areas of the country are 
exactly defined. But there are steps being taken 
in that direction. Official government cognizance 
is being taken of the new trend and in the census 
of 1930, when the report is finally made, there 
will be population and statistical information tabu- 
ated on the basis of these industrial or metro- 
solitan areas. 
The United States Chamber of Commerce is at 
present working with the Census Bureau to estab- 
lish the determinants which should influence the 
definition of such areas. It should be added that 
in this publication the Philadelphia Business Prog- 
ress Association makes one of the first, if not the 
first, contributions to practical work along this 
line. As far as there is any definite agreement on 
these determinants, the efforts of its Research De- 
partment have been directed along lines that con- 
form to them. The former determinants, like 
arbitrary circles drawn with this or that radius, 
have been ignored. It is believed the present study 
represents the first attempt to define the Metro- 
politan Area and the various distribution areas 
of Philadelphia along scientific lines in keeping 
with the present-day standards of definition. 
mires) er———. 
Philadelphia Actual study of conditions that 
The Atlantic surround distribution in the 
Coast Cent Philadelphia Area has led to 
oast Lenter he conclusion that from Phila- 
delphia you can reach more 
people with less effort than from any other great 
distribution center in the country. Let us see why 
that is so. 
The Philadelphia Area occupies a strategic posi- 
tion with regard to distribution to the great markets 
of the country east of the Mississippi. These may 
be roughly defined as northern, middle western and 
southern, stated in the order of their relative im- 
portance. 
The distribution advantage of Philadelphia with 
respect to these great market divisions is that it is 
a seaboard city, central to all of them. 
Baltimore may be taken as the industrial city 
at the gateway to the southern market. New York 
may be considered similarly with respect to the 
northern market, embracing also the New England 
states. Philadelphia, lying midway between these 
two, is in the strategic position of being able to 
reach these two great markets with greatest ease. 
As to 
The 
West 
Pittsburgh and Buffalo might 
be considered the gateways to 
the mid-west and the seaboard 
cities have no material advant- 
age one over the other in reach. 
ing these two points, except perhaps New York, 
Philadelphia and Baltimore, which are for all prac- 
ical purposes on a parity and have some advant- 
1ge over Boston in access to the Pittsburgh gateway. 
Fi