The Trenton factories , no longer depend on the near-by clay pits. Indeed most of Trenton's clay now comes from Europe in the vessels that have gone there to take grain and lumber. Trenton (Sec. 243) holds her im portant place in this industry because the city has become an established pottery center.
266. Philadelphia is much larger than all the other cities on the Delaware combined. In size it is the third city of the United States. What is its population? It was founded by William Penn, a renowned English Quaker.
The Declaration of Independence was signed and the Constitution of the United States was drafted in famous old Independence Hall, the home of the Liberty Bell, in Phila delphia. The work of most of the people of Philadelphia is in some way connected with its varied manufactures. Many railroad and boat lines give Philadelphia a wide mar ket for the sugar and oil from its refineries.
It is the leading city in the United States for the manufacture of drugs, chemicals, and textiles. Great quantities of woolen cloth, cotton goods, and carpets are produced there.
Philadelphia started its career as a leather center because tanbark was easily procured from the Pennsylvania forests. The industry continued to develop, partly because a new process of tanning leather with a chemical (chrome) was invented by a Philadelphian.
The city is famous as a great center of publishing, and for the manufacture of machine tools, which are used in other fac tories to make other machines. The Baldwin Locomotive Company, with works in Phila delphia and its suburbs, is the greatest manufacturer of locomotives in the world. Many cars for railroads and trolleys are also made in Philadelphia.
The Delaware is the leading shipbuilding river of the United States, and Philadelphia is the leading shipbuilding center of our country. There are shipyards not only within the city limits, but also in the sister city of Camden, across the river.
Music from Camden is heard in every land, for Camden exports great numbers of phonographs. Camden also cans vegetables and fruit grown on the Coastal Plain.
Chester and Wilmington make ships and machinery and have many other industries.
In Thomas Jefferson's time, two French brothers named du Pont went to Wilming ton and there began to manufacture gun powder. Now the du Pont Company makes
not only gunpowder but also paint, chemi cals, dynamite, artificial leather, and many other things, and employs scores of chemists who study how to make new things.
You read about Baltimore in Section 230.
267. our Government was formed, New York was made the first capital of the United States, and Philadel phia was the second. Con gress soon decided to move to a more central place, and a spot was chosen that was almost the exact center of the original thirteen states. It was in the woods, beside the little city of George town, at the head of navi gation on the Potomac River. To this tract, com prising about sixty square miles, the name of the Dis trict of Columbia was given. The land was a gift from the State of Maryland.
A French army officer, Major L'Enfant, and General Washington made the plans upon which the city was laid out. Washing ton became a very beautiful city, having many parks and wide, shady streets. In the magnificent white Capitol building the laws of the United States are made. Many thousands of people are employed in the great offices of the ten secretaries who con stitute the President's Cabinet, and the various courts and commissions that carry on the government work. Almost all the business of Washington is connected with government work and with taking care of the people who do this work. Because Wash ington is the center of the government, many wealthy people have winter homes there, and many go there on government business. Travelers visit the national capital to see Congress in session, and to enjoy the beau tiful buildings of the city. Every American schoolboy and schoolgirl should see the White House, the National Capitol, and the Con gressional Library, the greatest library in America and one of the most beautiful build ings in the world.
268. Richmond.—The city of Richmond, Virginia, is located at the falls of the James River, and is on the main line of railroads running north and south. Among its im portant industries are loco motive works, machine shops, and many tobacco factories which manufac ture the tobacco grown in the region to the south west. The steamboats run ning up and down the James River carry a great deal of freight.