Part 28

[Sidenote: =Cotton mills in the South=]

Only a few years ago almost all the cotton grown in the South was shipped away, either to Europe or to New England. In Massachusetts and Rhode Island cotton mills employ more people than any other industry, and great cities are supported almost entirely by manufacturing cotton goods. Now the South has also discovered that it can spin and weave its cotton at home. About many of its waterfalls is heard the hum of busy cotton mills. New cities are growing up, and prosperity has returned to the South.

[Sidenote: =Wheat belt west of the Mississippi=]

=229. The Grain that Feeds the Nation.= From the days of the early colonists, wheat has been one of the most valuable crops produced in this country. In the states east of the Mississippi River the farmers have long raised it in connection with a variety of other crops. But as the newer lands west of this river were taken up, the settlers discovered that in that region wheat yielded more abundantly than any other crop.

From Kansas northward to Minnesota and western Canada lies a broad stretch of land which has cool spring weather and a light rainfall. This is the climate best suited to wheat, and here has developed the great wheat belt of America.

[Sidenote: =Traction engines=]

In this region there are vast wheat fields almost everywhere, stretching farther than the eye can see over the level surface. Most of the farms are very large, some of them including many thousands of acres. The work on these places is done with the most modern machines. Traction engines are used to pull the great plows, the largest of which turn fifty furrows at a time. In harvest time an army of reaping and binding machines harvests the golden grain. The harvesting machine and the thresher have also been combined. On some of the greatest farms a huge complex machine makes its way through the standing grain, leaving behind it rows of bags, filled with threshed grain ready for the market.

[Sidenote: =Grain elevators=]

With the aid of such machinery a few people can cultivate a great many acres. As a result, the country is thinly settled. The towns are few and far between. In most of them the principal building is the grain elevator, which holds the grain until it is ready to be shipped.

[Sidenote: =Flour mills=]

From the elevators the wheat goes to the flour mills. The largest of these are in Minneapolis, in the eastern part of the wheat belt. The flour in its turn goes to feed the many millions of people in all parts of the country.

[Sidenote: =Grain exports decrease=]

For many years this country grew much more wheat than we needed, and we shipped great quantities to Europe. But each year our growing population needs more food, and our exports of this grain decrease steadily. Even now our farms grow but little more of this grain than is needed at home, and the time is almost at hand when we shall no longer send any of it abroad.

[Sidenote: =Texas and Iowa lead=]

=230. Cattle Raising and Meat Packing.= Cattle raising, like wheat farming, is principally an industry of the West. As late as 1850 the states which raised the most cattle lay along the Atlantic coast. But to-day Texas and Iowa are in the lead, and Kansas and Nebraska follow closely.

[Sidenote: =Cattle ranches of the West=]

As the eastern states became peopled more densely, cattle grazing was forced west. The cattle pastures were broken up into fields. The prairies of Illinois and Iowa became a vast cornfield. Eastern Kansas and Nebraska were turned into corn and wheat farms. Always the cattle had to give way to the grain. At last the farmers came to a strip of country where the rainfall was not enough to make grain growing profitable. This comparatively narrow strip stretches north in an irregular area of plains from western Texas to Montana. This region grows fine grass and has become the great grazing country of the United States. Here vast herds of cattle still roam on large ranches and are cared for by cowboys.

[Sidenote: =Corn-fed cattle=]

East of the ranch country lies the corn belt, in which Illinois and Iowa are the leading states. Cattle fatten better on corn than on any other food, and the meat of corn-fed stock brings the best prices.

The corn states have therefore taken up the raising and fattening of cattle on a tremendous scale. When western cattle leave the ranch they are generally not very heavy. Thousands of carloads are shipped into the corn country each year, there to be fattened before going to the packing houses.

The Department of Agriculture, at Washington, is now taking great pains to induce the boys, especially of the South, to make experiments in corn raising. Some wonderful results have been produced, and the South is in a fair way to take to the raising of corn.

[Sidenote: =Invention of refrigerator cars=]

The largest meat-packing plants are located in the corn belt at Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, and other cities. To-day meat packing is the greatest business of Chicago and many other large cities. A generation ago it had scarcely begun. But the packers learned to can meat, to use ice for cold storage, and, most important of all, the refrigerator car was invented.

By this last discovery it became possible to ship meat almost everywhere. Where before the packers had to sell their goods at home, now they have the world as a market. A steer raised on the western prairies may now be fattened for market in Illinois, slaughtered in Chicago, and served in New York, or sent to England or even to the Orient.

MINES, MINING, AND MANUFACTURES

[Sidenote: =Great value of coal and iron=]

=231. Coal and Iron.= Next to the great farm crops, coal and iron are the most valuable products of our country. The coal that is mined in one year is worth five times as much as the gold and silver combined. Our iron mines yield as much wealth in one year as the gold mines do in three. Gold and silver are luxuries without which we could get along, but our great factories, railroads, and steamship lines could not exist without an abundance of iron and coal.

A hundred years ago there was almost no coal mined in this country. Now we use more of it than any other land, and almost a million men make a living by mining it.

[Sidenote: =Hard coal in Pennsylvania=]

[Sidenote: =Factories need coal=]

At first most of the coal produced was the hard anthracite of eastern Pennsylvania. But this hard coal is found only in one small section of Pennsylvania, whereas great beds of soft coal stretch from Pennsylvania west to Washington. At present there is far more soft coal used than anthracite. Pennsylvania is the leading state in the production of both hard and soft coal, but West Virginia, Illinois, and Ohio are also great coal states. Generally, where there are productive coal mines, factories have been built, because most of them need a great deal of coal for fuel.

[Sidenote: =Largest iron-ore deposits in the world=]

Iron was first worked by the colonists in the bogs of New England. Iron mining, however, did not become a great industry until the latter part of the last century. In that period the great iron "ranges" of Lake Superior were opened up. These are the largest deposits of iron ore in the world.

[Sidenote: =Carried to the smelters=]

Most of the ore lies in Minnesota. Here, far up in the northern woods, thousands of men are blasting or digging out the red and rusty ore. Huge steam shovels load a car in a few minutes, and in a short while a trainload of ore is on its way to Duluth or Superior. From there it is carried by steamer east, most likely to one of the Ohio towns on Lake Erie. Here much of the ore is again loaded into cars and hauled to the Pittsburgh region, there to be smelted.

[Sidenote: =Coal and iron support great industries=]

Pittsburgh has become the greatest iron and steel center of America. Enormous quantities of coal are mined here and used for smelting the iron ore that is shipped in. More people of western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio make a living by mining coal and making steel and iron than anywhere else in America. Great blast furnaces melt the iron ore. Steel works turn out huge quantities of rail and sheet steel. Foundries make cast-iron products of all kinds. Vast shops are busily engaged in producing locomotives and machines of endless variety. Everywhere in this region are smoking chimneys and busy industrial plants, all supported by coal and iron. The southern states, Alabama, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Tennessee, also contain rich stores of coal and iron. These resources were little used during slavery days. Now, however, the southern states are digging coal for use in their great factories and cotton mills, or sending it abroad. Birmingham, Alabama, is one of the great coal and iron centers of the United States.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

=The Leading Facts.= _1._ The toilers in forest, mine, and factory contributed to the development of our land. _2._ Cotton is grown in all the southern states and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. _3._ A valuable oil is made from the cotton seed. _4._ The climate west of the Mississippi best suited to the raising of wheat. _5._ The work of cultivating and harvesting is done by machines. _6._ Wheat is sent to the flour mills, the largest of which are in Minneapolis. _7._ Exports of wheat decreasing. _8._ Texas and Iowa the leading cattle-raising states. _9._ Cattle from the ranches are fed on corn in the corn states, principally Iowa and Illinois. _10._ The refrigerator car permitted the shipment of meat to all the world. _11._ Coal and iron mined in America worth many times more than the gold and silver. _12._ Hard coal mined in Pennsylvania. _13._ The Lake Superior iron ranges the greatest in the world. _14._ Pittsburgh is the greatest iron and steel center of America.

=Study Questions.= _1._ Describe the process of preparing cotton for the market. _2._ What is done with the cotton seed? _3._ What is the South preparing to do with the cotton crop? _4._ Where is the wheat belt of America? _5._ How is the wheat cultivated and harvested? _6._ Describe the progress of the wheat from the field to its use as food. _7._ What are the leading cattle-raising states? _8._ Where and how are the herds fattened? _9._ What was the effect of the invention of the refrigerator car? _10._ How does the value of coal and iron mined in America compare with the gold and silver? _11._ Where is anthracite or hard coal mined? _12._ Where was iron first mined? _13._ Where is the largest deposit in the world? _14._ Where is the great iron and steel center of America? _15._ Give a list of all the things you can think of that are made out of iron.

=Suggested Readings.= INDUSTRIES: Fairbanks, _The Western United States_, 215-290; Brooks, _The Story of Cotton_; Shillig, _The Four Wonders (Cotton, Wool, Linen, and Silk)_; Brooks, _The Story of Corn_.

AMERICA AND THE WORLD WAR

EARLY YEARS OF THE WAR

[Sidenote: =The hero of the World War=]

=232. A War of All the People.= We have been studying in this history the lives of America's greatest men and women, and the ways they have served their country. But in the last great part of American history, the World War, what counted most was the loyalty of every one of the people to a free government, and their willingness to fight and work unitedly for its safety. The plain, everyday American is our hero in this chapter.

The war was so big that if each citizen had not done his bit, Germany might have conquered. The work of shipping boards and directors of fuel supply was less important than the work done by ordinary people. Much was done to win the war in the homes of each boy and girl in the United States as well as on the battlefields of France. Every member of the family found things he could do without to help buy more Liberty bonds. Boy Scouts sold bonds and thrift stamps. Girls worked to get food-card pledges. Mothers planned the meals carefully to save the wheat, meat, and sugar that had to be sent across to our army. Brothers and fathers had to answer the draft call and go to training camps if necessary. Not only must food and money, gasoline and coal, be saved, but everyone who could not fight overseas was expected to do some useful work.

With one hundred million people in the country, we might think it would not make any difference if we let someone else do our part. But this was not the spirit of America. For the most part, each person himself felt that this was _his_ war, fought for _his_ rights and for _his_ aims. And because for the most part each person acted as if success depended on him, Europe was amazed at America's swiftness in getting ready to fight.

[Sidenote: =America by tradition aloof=]

The United States did not decide to enter this war until it had been going on nearly three years, for its people had come from nations fighting on opposite sides. Besides, war had always been a common happening in Europe, and the United States had always tried to keep its hands free. Washington and Jefferson and later Monroe had advised that we should only be "interested spectators" of quarrels abroad.

[Sidenote: =The powers involved=]

=233. A World at Arms.= The outbreak of the war surprised the world by its suddenness. The heir to the throne of Austria, Archduke Ferdinand, was murdered in June, 1914. Austria blamed Serbia for the murder. When Serbia would not agree to all that was demanded of her, Austria at once declared war. The largest nations of Europe were united in two groups. Germany took up Austria's quarrel; Russia, France, and England combined to oppose Germany. Italy was bound to defend Germany and Austria if they should be attacked, but now believed they were the attacking nations, and later came in against them. Bulgaria and Turkey threw in their lot with Germany and Austria, these four nations forming the Central Powers, and Japan and Roumania with the Allies, as the nations opposing them were called.

[Sidenote: =Invasion of Belgium=]

Germany's first act was to rush her troops across the borders of Belgium, straight toward Paris. Belgium, of course, was too small a state to stand against the armies of her stronger neighbors. On this account the great nations of western Europe had agreed never to invade Belgium, and now England felt bound to go to her defense.

[Sidenote: =Events at sea=]

British, French, and Belgian soldiers, fighting in whatever order they could, checked the on-coming masses of Germans. The Allies stopped them at the Battle of the Marne, far within France. On the sea England's mighty navy quickly put an end to all German shipping. She kept the German navy from venturing even into the North Sea. But German submarines could not be so easily blocked up, and slipped out and sunk Allied vessels.

[Sidenote: =Opinion favors the Allies=]

=234. The American Government Neutral.= When Germany first attacked Belgium, some people believed that the United States should break off relations with her at once. Our government declared itself neutral. President Wilson asked the people to be friendly in their dealings with all the nations at war. But Germany's headlong haste in declaring war, and her methods of waging it made most Americans anxious for the success of the Allies.

[Sidenote: =Germany protests=]

The European countries were too busy fighting to raise all the food or forge all the guns their armies needed. They were producing these things on a very great scale, but had to buy vast quantities besides. The United States was the country best able to supply them. The great steel factories of the country worked night and day making shells, tanks, and war material of all kinds. Since England controlled the seas, everything we made went to the Allies. Germany protested strongly against our supplying her enemies with the means to fight her. But America, not being at war, had a right to trade with all countries. To give up this right would have been to take sides with Germany. American merchants were willing to manufacture goods for Germany, but she could not send ships to get them.

=235. Disputes with England and Germany.= Our government had a just cause of complaint against England. Her acts were not always strictly lawful. She stopped our ships on the high seas and searched them, destroying mail which she thought was intended for Germany. When the United States objected, she promised to make good all losses.

[Sidenote: =The Lusitania=]

Germany, on the other hand, not only destroyed American goods but American lives. One of the two largest passenger ships ever built, the _Lusitania_, was sunk by a German submarine on May 7, 1915. Over one hundred Americans went down. Again there was a great cry that Germany should be punished. But President Wilson made every possible effort for peace. He gave Germany a chance to prove that she did not mean to continue such lawlessness. Finally Germany promised to take Americans off the ships to be sunk. In spite of her pledge Germany failed to change her methods. New notes protesting and more ships sunk was the order of things for almost two years.

[Sidenote: =A peace-loving nation=]

President Wilson was severely criticized for this "warfare of notes." But many people were not yet convinced that this was different from other European wars. Otherwise Congress, which like the President is the servant of the people, might have declared war sooner. The country was peace-loving, and far away from roaring guns and ruined towns of Europe. In a way it is to the credit of the American people that they were slow to believe in the world-wide plots of the Kaiser, and the reported cruelty of his soldiers.

[Sidenote: =United support of war essential=]

=236. The Need of a United Nation.= President Wilson sought to be a true public servant, by listening to the opinions of people throughout the land. He did not try to lead the nation into war while the feelings of the people were still divided. A divided people could have done little in this gigantic war.

His training made him able to understand the temper of the American people well. He was a student of history, and the author of well-known books on the American government.

[Sidenote: =Wilson's boyhood=]

President Wilson's boyhood was much like that of any other boy. In his classes he was neither brilliant nor slow. He took part in all regular school sports, and at Davidson College once saved the day for his team in baseball. Later at Princeton and Johns Hopkins, two of the most famous eastern universities, he studied history and economics. At the age of twenty-three he began a book called _Congressional Government_, which shows his command of words and thorough knowledge of his subject.

[Sidenote: =Governor of New Jersey=]

He had tried practicing law, but did not make a success of it and decided to be a teacher. In this he is like many other Americans who have failed in their first undertaking, and have later been successful in a different line. He taught first at Bryn Mawr, a woman's college near Philadelphia, then at Wesleyan, the old Methodist university, then at Princeton. "Princeton, Trenton, Washington"--Wilson's career has been jokingly summed up, for he was in turn chosen president of Princeton, governor of New Jersey, whose capital Trenton is, and President of the United States. On the whole, his record at Princeton and Trenton, and as President during his first term, was that of a liberal and fearless chief. The elections of 1916 came at a critical time and President Wilson was reëlected partly because "he kept us out of war." Banners with this motto on them were largely used in the campaign. The American nation did not have that "warlike spirit" of loving war for war's sake which the Kaiser boasted of in his people.

[Sidenote: =A Mexican Crisis=]

In 1913 Mexico had been so upset that it looked as though the United States might be drawn into a clash with her. President Wilson avoided this except when our soldiers landed at Vera Cruz for a short time. Later General John J. Pershing was sent down to Mexico to punish Villa and his outlaw bands. He killed many of Villa's followers, but the wily old fox himself escaped.

[Sidenote: =Germany's lawless acts=]

After the _Lusitania_ was sunk, the submarine warfare grew more widespread and reckless month by month. In January, 1917, Germany openly declared that in the future she would not limit this warfare by any rules whatever. She aimed to cut off all supplies from Great Britain and to starve her people. She gave America one little port among the British Isles where the United States might send her passengers and commerce. Secret agents of the Central Powers had been blowing up factories in the United States, and purchasing newspapers to defend the German cause. Their treacherous acts had already caused President Wilson to dismiss the German ambassador.

Germany's statement that hereafter her submarines would know no law at last proved to all the nation that America could not honorably remain out of the war.

AMERICA ENTERS TO WIN

[Sidenote: =Loans to the Allies=]

=237. Congress Votes Billions.= Congress voted billions of money to be spent in various ways, and President Wilson loaned millions of dollars to England, France, and Italy. They in turn sent great men to talk with those who were managing our war preparations.

Never did a nation given to peace turn so quickly to war. Thousands of Americans in Europe had already been taking part for years. Some had joined the Canadian army or the Lafayette Squadron, part of the French air service. Others were working under the Red Cross or the American Committee for the Relief of Belgium.

[Sidenote: =Hoover as food administrator=]

Other measures necessary to "mobilize" the nation were quickly passed. The railroads were put under the control of a director-general of railroads, who ran them first of all in the service of the army. A fuel administrator decided what factories and businesses were most necessary in the war and in the life of the nation. Others had to limit their use of coal, or to close down entirely for a short time. Herbert Hoover, head of the great committee which had charge of feeding the starving people of Belgium, was made food administrator. On one hand, he decided how much food whole nations could buy of us. On the other, he helped American housewives plan their daily meals to save the wheat, meat, and fat that were needed for the soldiers, because food would "win the war."

[Sidenote: =An army of millions=]

=238. The Selective Draft.= Millions of soldiers would have been America's share of the Allied fighting forces if the war had gone on longer. Congress decided that a "Selective Draft" would be the most fair and just method of raising these millions. All men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty, and later between nineteen and forty-five, had to be examined by "Draft Boards," and the proper number selected.

[Sidenote: =Great training camps built=]

Immense training camps were built, with railroad lines, electric light and water systems, and all the needs of a modern city. Many of these camps sprang up in a few months, ready to take care of fifty thousand men apiece.