Robert Torrens
Published: 2013-09
Total Pages: 78
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1821 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAP. VI. MERCANTILE INDUSTRY. Section I.--Origin and Effects of Barter or Trade. Tt Hen we employ labour and capital in transporting and exchanging those things which previous applications of labour and capital have acquired, or prepared, we exercise mercantile or commercial industry. The origin of this branch of industry, and the manner and degree in which it aids the formation of wealth, demand a careful consideration. In the earliest periods of society, a sense of mutual convenience must have induced men to barter or exchange the articles appropriated by their labour. The savage who had chanced to kill a greater number of wild animals than he could consume, but who, in doing so, had expended all his implements of hunting, would naturally be desirous of giving a part of his superfluous and perishable food for a fresh supply of arrows; while he who had been unsuccessful in the chase, and who happened to have more arrows than he immediately required to use, would be equally solicitous for the exchange. Thus, in the rudest state in which men have been found to exist, we may trace the origin of a species of industry, which, as society advances, enables the inhabitants of the most distant regions to administer to each other's wants, and which exerts such mighty influence on the resources and prosperity of nations. When we consider the nature of mercantile industry, and the manner in which it operates, we find, that it employs in proportion to the labour which it puts in motion, a much greater quantity of capital than the others. Mercantile capital consists, in the first place, of all the tilings employed in the conveyance of goods, and in all the packages, shops, and warehouses, used in preserving them until demanded. But this is the least...