eneral, however, it is to facilitate one or more of several things,
namely--the receiving, distribution, and transportation of commodities,
the manufacture of products, the existence of good harbors, and the
existence of minerals and metals necessary in the various industries.

=The Beginnings of Towns and Cities.=--The "country town" of agricultural
regions in many ways is the best type of the centre of population
engaged in receiving and disbursing commodities. The farmers living in
their vicinity send their crops to it for transportation or final
disposition. The country store is a sort of clearing-house, exchanging
household and other commodities, such as sugar, tea, coffee, spices,
drugs, silks, woollens, cotton goods, farming machinery, and furniture
for farm products. A railway station, grain elevator, and one or more
banks form the rest of its business equipment.

Usually the town has resulted from a position of easy access. It may be
the crossing of two highways, a good landing-place on a river, the
existence of a fording-place, a bridge, a ferry, a toll gate, or a point
that formed a convenient resting-place for a day's journey. The towns
and villages along the "buffalo" roads are examples almost without
number.

The "siding" or track where freight cars may be held for unloading, has
formed the beginning of many a town. The siding was located at the
convenience of the railway company; the village resulting could have
grown equally well almost anywhere else along the line.

[Illustration: THE EFFECT OF POSITION--BUFFALO IS AT THE FOOT OF LAKE
ERIE AND THE HEAD OF ERIE CANAL; AN EXCELLENT HARBOR FACILITATES ITS
COMMERCE]

In the early history of nearly every country, military posts formed the
beginnings of many centres that have grown to be large cities. Thus,
Rome, Paris, London, the various "chesters"[22] of England, Milan,
Turin, Paris, Chicago, Pittsburg, and Albany were established first as
military outposts. The trading post was most conveniently established
under the protection of the military camp, and the subsequent growth
depended partly on an accessible position, and partly on the
intelligence of the men who controlled the trade of the surrounding
regions.

=Harbors as Factors in the Growth of Cities.=--A good harbor draws trade
from a great distance. Thus, with a rate of 14-1/2 cents on a bushel of
wheat from Chicago, New York City draws a trade from a region having a
radius of more than one t