In 1893 F.J. Turner called attention to the _Significance of the Frontier in American History_ (in American Historical Association, Annual Report, 1893). His theory has been elaborated by F.L. Paxson, _The Last American Frontier_ (1910), and K. Coman, _Economic Beginnings of the Far West_ (1912). There is no good account of the public lands. T. Donaldson, _The Public Domain_ (1881), is inaccurate, antiquated, and clumsy, but has not been supplanted. Many useful tables are in the report of the Public Lands Commission created by President Roosevelt (in 58th Congress, 3d session, Senate Document, No. 189, Serial No. 4766). The general spirit of the frontier in the eighties has been appreciated by Owen Wister, in _The Virginian_ (1902), and _Members of the Family_ (1911), and by E. Talbot, in _My People of the Plains_ (1906). J.A. Lomax has preserved some of its folklore in _Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads_ (1910). The best narratives on the continental railways are J.P. Davis, _Union Pacific Railway_ (1894), and E.V. Smalley, _The Northern Pacific Railroad_ (1883). Many contributory details are in H. Villard, _Memoirs_ (2 vols., 1904), E.P. Oberholtzer, _Jay Cooke_ (2 vols., 1907), and in the appropriate volumes of H.H. Bancroft, _Works_. L.H. Haney has compiled the formal documents in his _Congressional History of Railroads_ (in Bulletins of the University of Wisconsin, Nos. 211 and 342). The debate over the Isthmian Canal may be read in J.D. Richardson, _Messages and Papers of the Presidents_; the Foreign relations Reports, 1879-83; L.M. Keasbey, _The Nicaragua Canal and the Monroe Doctrine_ (1896); J.B. Henderson, _American Diplomatic Questions_ (1901); and J. Latane, _Diplomatic Relations of the United States and Spanish America_ (1900). CHAPTER X NATIONAL BUSINESS Transportation was a fundamental factor in the two greatest problems of the eighties. In the case of the disappearance of free land and the frontier, it produced phenomena that were most clearly visible in the West, although affecting the whole United States. In the case of concentration of capital and the growth of trusts, its phenomena were mostly in the East, where were to be found the accumulations of capital, the great markets, and the supply of labor. Through the improvements in communication it became possible to conduct an efficient business in every State and direct it from a single head office. Not only railroad and telegraph helped in this, but telephone, typewriter, the improved processes in photography and printing, and the organization of express service were of importance and touched every aspect of life. Journalism both broadened and concentrated. The effective range of the weeklies and monthlies and even of the city dailies was widened, while the resulting competition tended to weed out the weaker and more local. Illustrations improved and changed the physical appearance of periodical literature.