Therefore Philadelphia has the position unique 
among all of these seaboard cities, of being con- 
tignous 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 trunk- 
line railroads and their connections serving Phila- 
delphia 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 con- 
zestion which prevails in the New York area, the 
only Atlantic Coast center whose domestic distribu- 
tion 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 distribu- 
tion. 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 dis- 
ribution facilities should have exceptional produc- 
tion. 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, Indi- 
ina, 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 distri- 
of bution from the Philadelphia 
Stud center, the Research Depart- 
y ment of the Philadelphia Busi- 
ness 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 Phila- 
lelphia Metropolitan Area. Facilities of distribu- 
ion 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 every- 
day purposes but which comprises the section in 
which Philadelphia is more readily accessible by 
railroad or highway travel than any other metro- 
politan center. This is the territory which depends 
on Philadelphia for the bulk of its important buy- 
ing 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 busi- 
aess 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 Philadel- 
phia to all corners of the earth. 
Mana