So the new storekeeper began a campaign to help the farmers and thereby help himself. He urged the county commissioners to open new roads and improve the old; he handled the farmers' surplus and paid for it in goods from the store—an exchange in NA hich both profited. He showed the farmers that by using cream separators (sold by himself) they could market their cream and wisely increase their herds of cattle in a region where pasture was going to waste. He procured the coop erative purchase of a stump puller, and clinched his argument for tractors by pointing out that they are not affected by annoying horse flies which are particularly vicious among the forests. He improved his stock of groceries and general merchandise and at the same time made his patrons desire better things; he even sold ready-made dresses to the farmers' wives. He reached out also to another community, small but well able to pay, that is, the campers who came to hunt and fish. He attracted them by his prompt and accurate information, and by providing guides and outfits. In short, by hard, honest work along the lines dictated by geography he completely outstripped his competitor.
Factors of Business Geography.—This example of business geog is so simple that all its relationships are obvious at once. It includes the following factors: (1) the products of a community; that is, the lumber of the forest and the surplus milk and vegetables of the farmers; (2) the needs of the community, or the supplies that they want or can be made to desire; (3) the conditions of transportation as deter mined by the roads; and (4) the character of the people; that is, their habits, their tastes in goods or services, and their honesty and ability. Every business problem involves these four factors. It
may include hundreds of millions of people and billions of dollars; it may involve several governments; and its study may demand the work of experts for years. Yet its geographical relations can be understood if the facts are known and are interpreted in the light of the four great factors: products, needs, transportation, and human character.
In general these four factors are governed by laws or principles whose nature is fairly well known. Thus the reasons why the products of some regions are varied, abundant, and of high quality, while those of others are few in number, small in quantity, and poor in quality are illustrated in the table on the next page.
People's needs depend largely on the same conditions as their products. Human conditions, .however, are especially important in this respect. Thus all tropical people demand less clothing than those of cold countries, but those who are in a low stage of civilization require little beyond a loin cloth, while those who are highly civilized want many different styles of clothing including such articles as pith helmets, Types of Business Communities.—The ways in which people satisfy their own needs or produce something to exchange for the products of others differ greatly. This gives rise to different occupations, and thus to different kinds of communities. A community is a group of people who live relatively near together and are bound together by the nature of their daily work. Some of the chief types of communi ties are described in Chapters X to XVI. Those there considered and a few others may be classified as follows: