The position of this group of states has been an important factor in their economic development. Their seaboard is conveni ently situated with regard to Europe, and, although New York is a hundred miles further from England than Boston is, it has a much larger hinterland, Boston being cut off from the interior by the Hoosac Mountains of Massachusetts. New York, Phila delphia, and Baltimore are all favoured in regard to their com munications with the interior. Behind them, the older Appala chians are much lower and narrower than in any other part of their course, and they are crossed also by several great rivers— the Delaware, Susquehanna, and Potomac—which, by means of the water gaps they have cut, afford easy access to the continental interior. Further, in this region, the ranges of the Great Valley lie to the west, and the Valley itself is open and was easily occupied in earlier times, thus aiding in the development of the towns on the coast. The Delaware and the Susquehanna, moreover, are navigable and make useful waterways, but the Potomac is generally unsuitable for such a purpose.
The Great Lakes on the north-west have also played an important part in the development of the Middle Appalachian States by pro viding a waterway on which can be cheaply carried much of the raw material necessary for many of the industries established in the region. Of great significance, too, are the easy facilities which exist for communication between the Atlantic and the Lakes by means of the valleys of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers. Lastly, the Allegheny and Monongahela, which along with their tributaries drain the Allegheny Plateau, have, as already indicated, rendered possible water transport, by way of the Ohio and the Mississippi, to the central and southern states.
The most important industry of the Middle Appalachian States is the manufacture of iron and steel. A certain amount of ore is found in the ridges of the Great Valley in Pennsylvania and in New York, and, until the middle of the last century, the deposits from which it is obtained were the chief source of supply. But the development of the Lake Superior ores, and the greatly increased use of coke in place of anthracite in smelting iron, have caused the industry to move further west, and it is now concentrated to a great extent in west Pennsylvania where it is easy to obtain coke from the Connellsville district and ore from Lake Superior. In 1905 the region under consideration had invested in it more than half the capital invested in iron and steel works in the United States, while of the total output it produced nearly two-thirds. Pennsyl vania is, of course, the leading state, and produces two-fifths of the pig-iron and more than half the steel of the whole country. The
chief towns engaged in the industry are Pittsburg at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela, Homestead and Duquesne in the valley of the latter river, and McKeesport in that of its tributary the Youghiogheny, all admirably situated for receiving coal and coke, Cleveland and Buffalo on Lake Erie, Youngstown in Ohio, and Easton and Allentown near the iron ore deposits of the Great Valley.
The manufacture of what are known as " foundry and machine shop products " is carried on to a great extent in this region where iron and steel and coal can easily be obtained, and where the large industrial population creates a strong demand. Of the total output in the United States of such articles, which range in variety from steam rollers to nut-crackers, and from, motor engines to sewing machines, about one-half is produced in this region, the chief towns engaged including New York, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Pittsburg, Erie, Newark, and Columbus.
The textile pursuits of the Middle Appalachian Region rank] in importance after those of New England, but several striking differ ences are to be noted. The spinning and weaving of cotton is of comparatively little account, and the output, which in gross value amounts to about one-third that of the textile industries of the United States, consists chiefly of woollen and silk goods. Pennsylvania and New York are the principal carpet-making states in the Union, Philadelphia, where the industry has been established for over a century, being the chief town engaged in it. Silk is manufactured mainly in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York, New Jersey alone accounting for one-third of the silk goods of the country, and Paterson, which derives its water-power from the Passaic River, being the centre of the industry. As much of the raw material used in the manufacture of carpets and silk goods comes from the East, the facilities for importing it into this region would appear to be one of the reasons for the localisation of these industries.
The manufacture of clothing is another industry which is localised to a remarkable extent in the Middle Appalachian States, which produce 70 per cent. of the output of the whole country, New York City alone providing over 50 per cent. This is accounted for in part by New York being the commercial and social capital of the United States, but it is largely due to the fact that the labour required in the industry is almost entirely recruited from those immigrants who enter by the port of New York, but, being unfitted for agriculture, do not pass into the interior. No less than 98 per cent. of the tailors and tailoresses employed in New York are of foreign birth or of foreign parentage.