must represent the interest on capital invested abroad, the cost of carriage or freight, insurance, and trading profits. Money itself plays but a small part in the vast commerce which flows in and out of England; in fact, our imports and exports of bullion and specie almost equal each other, so that the enormous balance or excess of British imports over exports must be made up or paid for in commodities. "Aids" to Commerce: Except in barbarous or savage countries, where barter is the only form of trade, no system of exchange could be carried on without the aid of a common measure of value as a medium of exchange, together with fixed and unalterable or standard weights and measures. These are primary and essential "aids" in the extension of local trade and development of international commerce, other "aids," such as expeditious means of transport and facilities for rapid correspondence, security for money and goods by the system of banking and insurance, protection of life and property, and maintenance of individual and national rights and interests, are equally necessary, and, indeed, indispensable. And as, in all departments of trade and industry, intelligence and knowledge are more important now than ever, commercial and technical education is a potent factor in modern commerce. Money, as a measure of value, and therefore the medium of exchange, is an indispensable 'aid' to commerce. The inconveniences of barter, or the simple exchange of articles without the aid of money, have forced even barbarous and savage peoples to adopt some article as a common measure of value; thus cowries are largely used as money in Africa, Southern Asia, and the Pacific, while beads and brass wire are similarly employed in Central Africa; and other articles, such as beaver skins, and even oysters, in America, &c. Any article thus used as a medium of exchange is money. In civilized countries, money takes the convenient and durable form of coins, or round pieces of gold, silver, or other metal or alloy, stamped with a distinctive design, to denote its value and the nationality of the State of which it forms the currency. In most commercial countries the Standard Coinage is gold, i.e., gold coins are a legal tender for any amount, however large, and gold is received in unlimited quantities for coinage. The right of coining money is exercised by the Government of each State, and all coins are struck at and issued from the Mint. The principal Gold-Standard Countries are the United Kingdom, Australia, and other British Colonies (except India), France, Germany, and the United States. The chief Silver-Standard Countries are British India, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Mexico, Japan, China (Shanghai), &c. In these countries, and in some of the gold-standard countries also, silver may be tendered in payment of any amount. In the United Kingdom silver coins are not a legal tender for amounts above 40s., nor copper coins above is. The English sovereign is divided into 20s., and the shilling into 12 pence; but in the Decimal Coinage of France and other countries, the standard coin is uniformly subdivided by tenths, which greatly facilitates computation and comparison of values. Paper Money, in the form of Bank Notes and Cheques, is generally used instead of coins in almost all except retail business transactions. The necessity of sending gold or silver coins to or from foreign countries is obviated by the use of Bankers' Drafts or Bills of Exchange. In the United Kingdom, Post-office Orders and Postal Orden are also much used, but generally for small amounts. Banking and Insurance are important "aids to commerce. Banks provide for the safe custody and profitable use of the money deposited in them; while by Insurance, compensation for the loss of life or property on land or at sea, is secured by payment of a certain sum or Premium annually. The principle underlying all systems of Insurance-Life Insurance, Fire Insurance, Marine Insurance, &-is that a number of people combine, by a comparatively small payment to a general fund, from which all Claims are paid, to cover the loss which one or more of them may suffer. "The Function of Money is to smooth the course of interchange, much as oil eases the working of machinery, and bears about the same proportion to the whole sum of the world's wealth as the oil bears to the engine. For money is not wealth, except so far as the metal of which it consists is a product of labour; but by its aid, as an Instrument of Exchange, a thousand commercial transactions may be completed in less time, and with less labour, than the farmer would consume in exchanging the produce of his fields for the necessaries and comforts he needed, by the simple, or rather much more com plicated, plan of barter. Money, therefore, is an aid with which commerce could not dispense." Standard Weights and Measures are as necessary as standards of value in all commercial transactions, especially those which are carried on from a distance without actually seeing what is being bought and sold. Unfortunately for unrestricted intercourse between nations, the weights and measures of all countries are not the same, and English Weights and Measures, which are also in use in our colonies and the United States, are complicated, and entail an enormous amount of labour which would be obviated by the adoption of a scientific and uniform standard, such as those upon which the Metric System is based. The Metric System, in use in France, Belgium, Italy, &c., is obligatory in countries whose aggregate population is over 300 millions, and is recognised in principle or applied in part in other countries with an aggregate population of nearly 400 millions; so that the Metric System is exclusively or partially used by more than one-half of the entire popula tion of the world. A Universal Standard of Weights and Measures, Money and Time, would be a wel come addition to the many international "aids" to commerce already arranged, and would certainly be of incalculable benefit to the industrial progress of all nations. Facilities for rapid correspondence are provided by the Postal, Telegraphic, and Telephonic Services. The Postal Services of the various countries provide for the quick, safe, and cheap transmission of letters, post-cards, newspapers, and book-packets, collected at, and distributed from, the thousands of Post-offices scattered all over the world. But express trains and mail steamers are far too slow for the requirements of modern civilization, and commercial intercourse renders the electric Telegraph, which annihilates time and space, an absolute necessity. Telegraph wires now connect all the large cities and towns of nearly all countries, and Submarine Cables, laid across oceans and seas, channels and straits, supplement the tand lines; in fact, "the earth is now almost completely girt with telegraph wires, and the net is daily becoming more and more close." The telegraph commands the world, and all events of importance are known at every centre of population almost as soon as on the spot. The Telephone, a comparatively recent invention, is rapidly becoming an indispensable "aid" for the rapid conveyance of messages. The telephone has this advantage over the telegraph, that by its aid actual sounds, and not signs merely, are transmitted to great distances, and besides not only the spoken words, but even the actual tones of the voice are reproduced with marvellous fidelity. 1. For a full exposition of the subject see § 156, | 14. of Dr. Yeats's Golden Gates of Trase (London: George Philip and Son, Ltd.) Means of Transport: Commerce being essentially an exchange of commodities, the facilities for the conveyance of goods from place to place are of vital importance. The means of transport, in fact, govern and regulate the trade and commerce of the world, and increase or limit its extension according as they are ample or deficient. The cost of carriage is an important factor in the price of goods, whether of home or foreign origin, and is prohibitory to anything beyond a local trade in many commodities. Of all means of transport, water-carriage is the cheapest. Goods can be sent by ships half-way round the globe at the same cost as a few hundred miles by rail, or a few score of miles by road. Transport by Land is effected by widely different means, from the most primitive-human porters and beasts of burden-to the most advanced and elaborate-locomotive engines, with trains of carriages for passengers, and vans or trucks for goods. Wheeled vehicles and sledges represent the intermediate stage in the development of the means of transportation on land. Roads, especially the macadamised turnpike or high roads, are still of very great importance as means of communication between towns and villages; indeed, in all countries the final distribution, and, in many cases, the first collection of goods and produce, are effected by road. The traffic along the streets and roads of large cities is enormous; the congestion of passenger traffic is relieved by public conveyances-omnibuses, cabs, and tramcars. Tramways are laid along the main streets in most towns, and are usually extended to the suburbs; additional facilities are provided by Elevated Railways, as in New York and Liverpool, and Underground Railways and Subways, as in London and elsewhere. Railways form the most convenient, rapid, and, where speed and punctual delivery are essential, the cheapest means of transportation that man has yet devised. Railways and telegraphs together have done more than anything else to develop the resources and increase the trade of all civilized countries. Railways, traversed by trains at great speed-some express trains running regularly at 50 to 60 miles an hour-have become an absolute necessity in civilized countries, whether thickly or thinly peopled. In thickly-peopled countries, the railways provide for expeditious and extensive communications between the great centres of manufacturing or mining activity, and the ports or "outlets" and "inlets" of each country; in thinly-peopled countries, railways are necessary to develop the natural resources, and enable the produce to reach a market. The total length of railways in the world is estimated to be over 320,000 miles, of which no less than 156,000 miles are in the United States; while among European countries, Germany stands first with 25,000 miles of railways, France and the United Kingdom come next, each with about 20,000 miles, Russia has 19,000 miles, Austria-Hungary 15,000; while in Asia, India has been blessed, under British rule, with 15,000 miles of rail. Of our great colonies, Canada has 12,000 miles, Australasia 8,000 miles, and South Africa 2,000 miles., In South America, Brazil and Argentina have each 5,000 miles of railway. In comparative and actual extent of railroads, the north-eastern portion of the United States bears the palm; the number and intricacy of the lines which converge on Chicago especially are simply marvellous, and testify no less to the enormous natural resources of that region, than to the energy and enterprise of the people. The great Trans-Continental Railways of Europe and North America are supplemented by cross and trunk lines in all directions. In both continents, town is linked to town by a perfect network of railways, which is every year becoming closer and closer. In Asia, with the exception of British Indian railways, and the Russian lines in Caucasia and the Trans-Caspian region, pack animals and human porters carry heavy loads for hundreds of miles, often across high mountains and sterile deserts. In Northern Africa, caravans of camels traverse the scorching desert with merchandize to and from the northern coast and the fertile countries of the Sudan; in Central Africa, to and from the east and west coasts, ivory and palm oil are laboriously carried over long distances on the heads of porters; while in Southern Africa, beyond the railway area, goods are slowly conveyed in bullock-waggons, and passengers and letters in mail-carts. Transport by water is always cheaper than transport by land, and the facilities and appliances for water-carriage have kept pace with the improvements made in the methods of land-carriage. Canals and navigable rivers are of inestimable value for the carriage of heavy goods, especially of goods too heavy or of too little value to be able to bear the cost of carriage by rail or road. In over-sea, or external trade, " breaking bulk" and frequent "handling" of commodities before they reach their final destination are the reverse of an "aid" to commerce; every transhipment, or discharging and re-loading, enhances the price and delays the delivery of goods. To obviate this as far as possible, Ship Canals have been cut to unite the most frequented waterways. Of ship canals the most notable example is the Suez Canal, which supplies the (naturally) "missing link" between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and, as such, it is the vital part of the most important of all the great ocean highways. Rafts, small boats, and sailing vessels sufficed to meet all the requirements of transport by water (and they yet play their part), until the necessities of a world-wide commerce, and a consequent "movement of population" on a scale never before dreamt of, caused the art of ship-building to advance by leaps and bounds, culminating at length in the construction of enormous steamers of iron or steel (some of them of over 10,000 tons burden), propelled by powerful steam-engines. These great mail steamers speed across the ocean from port to port almost with the regularity of an express train, and perform voyages of thousands of miles within a few hours, at most, of the stated time. Some of the ocean greyhounds between Liverpool and New York cross the Atlantic in six days or less, and recently the S.S. Umbria completed her homeward voyage by a run from Queenstown to Liverpool at the rate of 22 knots an hour-a marvellous speed for a vessel of 7,800 tons in mid-winter. The Mercantile Marine of England surpasses that of any other nation, and in fact exceeds those of all other nations taken together. 'England possesses more than half the merchant service of the world." Regular liners," with passengers, mails, and cargo, traverse, at frequent intervals, the great Ocean Highways, westwards across the Atlantic, and eastwards via the Suez Canal, or round the Cape to India, China, and Australia, or southwards round Cape Horn or through the Strait of Magellan to the Pacific ports of America, &c.; while cargo steamers and sailing vessels, capable of carrying cargoes of all kinds in practically unlimited quantities-so large is the number of our " ocean tramps "-sail from one foreign port to another, sometimes for years, without calling once at a home port, being in fact, the "general carriers" of the world. As Dr. Yeats pithily puts it-"Wherever a cargo is expected, you will generally find a British vessel lying ready to bring it; wherever a cargo is waiting, there is a British ship ready to load it; thus, being always prepared, we are able to retain the supremacy of the sea." Protected by the most powerful navy the world has ever seen, our immense fleet of merchant ships sail to and fro throughout the world perfectly secure from hostile attack or even alarm, "spreading plenty for scarcity, luxury and comfort for poverty and bare necessaries "the most potent factor in the progress of the world, and a beneficent "aid" to the comity of nations. Of England, it may truly be said that "her vessels, voyaging between lands far and near, are like the shuttle on the loom, weaving the web of concord between the nations of the earth." Results of Commerce: The gigantic and world-wide commerce of the present day has resulted in an enormous increase in the variety and quantity of commodities placed upon the market, and readily obtainable everywhere on demand or to order, and the development of the natural industrial resources of every country to the utmost possible extent. Growth of Commerce: "Commerce is, in fact, in itself, though indirectly, a mighty agent of production, since it stimulates the industry of every clime. Commerce is, directly, based upon productive industry, and grows with its growth. Every new material brought within the range of manufacture, every increase in the yield of the soil from improved husbandry, every new appliance to make labour-saving machinery more effective, every new process of science to lessen the cost of production, every wise legislative act that clears the path of labour and interchange, every geographical discovery and settlement, every new market in distant parts, and every advance of the labourer in the exercise of the industrial virtues," swells the dimensions of the trade and commerce of the world.' Obstacles to Commerce: Modern improvements in the means of communication have surmounted many and great obstacles to commerce; im. passable mountains have been pierced by tunnels, and broad rivers have been bridged, or railway tunnels and subways have been made under the riverbed; in short, the engineering science of the present day copes successfully with almost all natural barriers to the flow of trade, but artificial barriers, or Restrictions on Trade, by means of protective tariffs, bounties, and subsidies, are much more difficult to deal with, especially as they are designed to promote the industry and commerce of the country in which they are in force. Prohibition, pure and simple, is scarcely ever resorted to, except as regards the importation and sale of drink and fire-arms to the natives in some countries. Most commercial countries endeavour, by some form of Protection, to encourage and foster home industries by levying a tax on articles of foreign origin or manufacture, which could be produced within the country, but not profitably, at the same price as the imported articles if these were admitted free of duty. The tax is levied generally on the value (ad valorem) of the imported articles, and is in all cases heavy enough to raise the price of all such articles to, and, if possible, above the price at which they can be produced with profit in the country. The United States, France, Germany, and other European countries, except the United Kingdom; Canada, our Australasian, South African, and other Colonies--India excepted-have adopted a 1. See further Yeats's Manuals of Commerce (London: George Philip and Son). |