HOME AND WORLD SERIES
HOW WE ARE FED
A GEOGRAPHICAL READER
BY
JAMES FRANKLIN CHAMBERLAIN, Ed.B., S.B.
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd.
1912
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1903,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up, electrotyped, and published June, 1903. Reprinted
January, June, August, 1904: July, 1905; January, 1906;
August, December, 1907; September, 1909; August, 1910;
August, 1911; June, 1912.
Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U. S. A.
PREFACE
In the ordinary course of events, most individualstake some part in the manifold industrieswhich engage the mind and the hand of man, bywhich alone our present-day civilization can bemaintained. These great world activities touchthe daily life of every member of society,whether child or adult, worker or idler.
A chain of mutual dependence, too often unrecognized,binds together the members of thehuman family, whether they belong to the samecommunity or dwell on opposite sides of theearth. The links of this chain are made up ofthe articles which constitute our daily food, ourclothing, homes, fuel, light, our means of communicationand transportation, and only by continuouscoöperation are they kept together.
The highest motive in education is to presentthe conditions which will lead to the most completeliving; to build up the best possible members[vi]of society; to develop character. Anindividual who does not understand the life ofwhich he finds himself a part, cannot be in fullsympathy with its conditions and hence cannotbe of the most service to himself or to others.Only to the extent that education and life followthe same general course, can each be truly successful.Far too little is done in our schools toacquaint children with their relations to thegreat industrial and social organization of whichthey are members. Even grown persons have,as a rule, a very indefinite knowledge of theserelations.
It is a recognized principle that our knowledgeof geography has its foundation in our knowledgeof the home. The natural connecting linkbetween the immediate surroundings and theoutside world is the present daily life of thehome. Through the industries seen in the community,the commodities in general use, and thehistory of their creation and supply, the pupilacquires an insight into the life about him aswell as into that of other parts of the world.He also realizes the great truth that the world[vii]and its people are in intimate touch with him.In this way he is led back and forth along theroutes which civilization has followed in itsprogress, which it also follows to-day, as mankindclasp hands across oceans and continents.Thus th