Middle States

[Applause] the middle States region is an unusual blend of Rural and Urban it has forests of Pines sweeping down to Inland Lakes Green Pastures where dairy cattle Thrive corn fields and prosperous Farms grain elevators where the Harvest are stored Stockyards crowded with cattle fattened in the Corn Belt and it has crowded Freight yards great steel mills factory production lines and bustling cities all these reflect the wealth of the middle states of our nation the middle states form one of the six major major regions into which we may divide the United States there's much overlapping of these Regional boundaries eight states are included within the region Minnesota Wisconsin Michigan Iowa Illinois Indiana Ohio and Missouri in the late 17th century Pioneers came down the Ohio River from Pennsylvania and neighboring states after 1800 Settlers of Puritan descent began to arrive from crowded New England immigrants from Europe also sought homes first came the English Irish Dutch later the Germans and Scandinavians who settled in the west and North and then with industrial growth Italians and slaves came to the Midwest cities by 1840 this domestic and foreign migration had swelled the Region's population to 3 and A5 Million by the 1950s to 40 million over 1/4 of the nation's population 1/4 of the Region's people work as Farmers 1/4 work in trades services and professions and more than half of the Region's people live in cities as a whole the middle States rank first in the number of cities over 200,000 population certain economic areas within this region overlap its state boundaries a heavy concentration of Industry borders the lower Great Lakes the great corn and hog belt lies across the center including most of the soybean belt a hay and dairy region extends from east to west these economic areas are the key to the Region's resources the agricultural resources of the 8 States from the extensive hay and dairy belt comes onethird of the nation's hay crop in this region where milk and its products are a major source of income Dairy farming is performed on a large scale by modern methods utmost care is taken for example to keep the dairy barns hygienic and up-to-date equipment helps keep Dairy farming on a mass production bases from this region comes more than half of the nation's butter and more than 2/3 of our domestic cheese Wisconsin alone produces half of the nation's total cheese in the corn and hog belt fertile glacial soil abundant rainfall and hot summer nights make ideal conditions for raising corn over half of the nation Supply some of the corn goes to feed and fatten the Hogs raised here 1 half of the nation's output corn that is not fed to Livestock in the rural areas is shipped to Mills and processing plants where it is cleaned hulled and ground and made into a variety of products such as industrial alcohol and acetone cornmeal feed and other food stuffs in recent years soybeans have become an important crop raised in much the same area as the Corn Belt soybeans are used extensively on the farm for silage and are also made into product for industry industry is just as important to the middle States as farming much of the Region's Prosperity comes from the industries largely concentrated south of the Great [Music] Lakes the high productive capacity of this region was largely made possible by its vast resources of coal and iron ore coal mined in Illinois and Indiana feeds the steel mills and factories iron ore for the steel comes from deposits up in Minnesota the Vermilion kuana and massabi ranges Supply most of the nation's needs although an increasing amount is imported from Labrador and Latin America shovels load the iron ore for transportation to the nearest port on Lake Superior there from the long docks it's loaded onto the barch as that will carry it to Industrial centers on the Great Lakes where the ore will be converted into steel Transportation facilities play an important part in this region the ships that ply the inland waterways made by the Great Lakes serve both farm and Industry a network of trains throughout the middle States linked distribution points with sources of Supply fleets of motor trucks Rush Goods to shipping points and there is a complex Airline system transportation of every kind serves this region which stands at the crossroads of our nation's Commerce to supply the needs of other regions the middle States send out the products both of the Agricultural community and the industrial city its exports reflect the balance of its economy out of the middle States go oil and oil products and farm machinery and equipment from such centers as Chicago Molen and Peoria on their way to agricultural areas throughout the nation out of the middle States go automobiles almost our total national production on their way to be sold throughout the nation out of the middle States Go furniture and a large variety of miscellaneous manufactured goods but the middle states must import many things from the Northeast Machine Tools small manufacturers woolens shoes and money capital from the southeast tobacco coffee and cotton textiles from the southwest cotton cotton textiles petroleum products and and some cattle and hides from the Northwest wheat cattle sheep and certain metals from the Far West fruits vegetables Lumber and Motion Pictures thus in the goods it produces and exports to other regions and to foreign countries and in what it receives the middle States reflects a unique balance between Agriculture and Industry the flow of goods from Agriculture and Industry have meant money and time to create a life rich in Social and cultural opportunity the chance to build schools in country districts as fine as those for crowded metropolitan [Music] areas as in each of the other regions typical patterns of rural and urban life have developed in the middle States region well known for its fine lakes and other Recreation areas this Region's people have a deep rooted feeling for their Countryside and a widespread interest in the Arts the work of its artists and of famous writers like Mark Twain Sinclair Lewis and Carl Sandberg expressed the Region's distinctive tradition and it is a region with tradition of another kind of pioneers who blazed the early trails and of Lincoln raised here in Illinois who expressed the Democratic aspiration ation of people of all regions that government of the People by the people and for the people shall not perish from the Earth