But what of the means of travel for those living outside of Manhattan? Years back, business men living on Long Island had to cross the East River on ferry boats. This was particularly inconvenient in winter, when fogs or floating ice were liable to cause serious delays. Besides, as New York grew, such numbers crossed on the ferries that they were overcrowded. Relief came for a time when, in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was built over the East River from Brooklyn to New York. This bridge is over a mile long. Across it run a roadway, a walk for foot passengers, and tracks for elevated trains as well as for surface cars. Two even longer bridges, the Williamsburg Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge, have since been built between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Then, too, there is the Queensboro Bridge, between Manhattan and the Borough of Queens. Though thousands and thousands daily crossed the East River over these bridges, men soon foresaw that the time was not far distant when ferries and bridges together would be unable to take care of the ever-growing traffic. Further means of travel had to be provided, and the success of the city's underground railway suggested a practical idea. As early as 1908, the subway was continued and carried under the East River to Brooklyn. Several tubes have since been built under the Hudson, connecting Manhattan with the New Jersey shore. To-day New York is building many miles of new subway under various parts of the city as well as under the Harlem and East rivers. Carrying passengers under water has proved as great a success as carrying them underground. [Illustration: NEW YORK'S SUBWAY AND BRIDGE CONNECTIONS] [Illustration: BROOKLYN BRIDGE] Over and above all these means of rapid transit, Greater New York has at its service ten of America's great railroads. The Pennsylvania Railroad has an immense station in New York, one of the finest of its kind. Tunnels under the Hudson and East rivers carry its trains to New Jersey and Long Island. [Illustration: THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD STATION] [Illustration: THE GRAND CENTRAL STATION] The new Grand Central Station is the greatest railroad terminal in the world. The station is a beautiful building of stone and marble, large enough to accommodate thirty thousand people at one time. Between railroads and tunnels, bridges and ferries, surface cars, elevated trains, and subways, New York's rapid transit system is one of the best in the world. With such advantages as a receiving and distributing center, it is small wonder that the city has become the nation's chief market place. It is without a rival as the center of the wholesale dry-goods and wholesale grocery businesses. More than half of the imports of the United States enter by way of New York's port, and its total foreign commerce is five times that of any other city in the country.