TRADE AND INDUSTRY. Natural geographical situation, favorable trade connections, and un usual harbor facilities constitute Baltimore's chief commercial advantages. At the entrance to the harbor, the Patapsco River divides into the northwest, southwest, and middle branches. The northwest pierces miles into the very heart of the business portion of the city. The southwest and middle branches envelop the southern and southwestern sections. giving a long expanse of water front in close proximity to the lines of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail road. The main harbor, or that on the north western branch, has a water front, measured on the pier head line, of miles. an area of 630 acres, and while leaving ample fairways for the movement of vessels. furnishes 96 acres of anchorage grounds. on which the least depth of water is 19 feet. The whole of the lower portion of the harbor. covering the elevators and steamship piers. has a depth of 27 feet at mean low water. The harbor along the southwest and middle branches has, within the city limits, and measured on the pier head line, a water front of miles, and nearly as much more on the opposite bank$ in the county. It covers an area of 1300 acres, and has channels of 17 feet depth at mean low water. This favorable geographical situation has been emphasized and developed by the establishment of direct lines of communication. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad reaches in one direction to Phila delphia, thence by direct connection to New York, and on the other hand penetrates to the west, southwest, and northwest to the waters of the The Northern Central Rail road serves to connect Baltimore with the great Pennsylvania system, and affords a direct out let to the north. Two associated branches of the Pennsylvania system are the Baltimore and Potomac to Washington, and the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore to Philadelphia and the north and east. The Western Maryland Railroad. constructed largely through municipal aid, and extending in orui direction through the fertile valley of the Shenandoah, and in another into the rich Cumberland Valley, has recently been acquired by the extensive Wabash system and made possible another great trunk line connect ion.
Regular communication between Baltimore and foreign ports is afforded by the North German Lloyd to Bremen, the Neptune Line to Rotter (lain, the Atlantic Transport Line to London, and a number of other lines offering frequent service. The city is the largest corn exporting port in the United Slates. Other important articles of local export are wheat, Moir, cotton, tobacco, copper, and coal. Importing activity centres about iron ore, bananas, pineapple, cocoanuts, sugar, and general merchandise.
The manulaeturing enterprises of Baltimore are most varied, scarcely a single important industry being unrepresented. It is the largest manufacturing centre in the United States for ready-made clothing, shirts, fertilizers. straw goods, cotton duck, fruit canning, and oyster packing, while in other important fields its opera tions are of absolutely greater magnitude. The shipbuilding industry of Baltimore has recently undergone marked dr•elopment. Sparrow's Point, with its great steel plant, Curtiss Bay, Locust Point, and Woodberry are busy indus trial centres.
The closer proximity of Baltimore, by several hundred miles, to the great cotton belt of the South, to the grain-growing sections of the \Vest, and to the wood, coal, and iron wealth of the interior, affords cheap and easy aveesS to the raw materials of industry. The proximity of a rich and productive country, the low cost of water transportation, and the economy of do mestic distribution through municipal markets, render the cost of living in Baltimore inuell less than in many cities of smaller size. The largest of these markets, Lexington. when in full ac tivity, is one of the characteristic sights of the city.