Middlemen in English Business 125 



Industrial Revolution an orthodox system of middlemen had be- 

 come an established fact, and the modern integrated-business 

 system is just now beginning to divest itself, in some parts, of its 

 hold. It is important to discover what were the acti\dties of these 

 new men, what were their relations to each other and to the producers 

 and consumers, what were their functions in commerce, and what 

 their connections with statesmen, national policy, and social life. 



Practice confirms the economic theory that up to a certain degree 

 specialization of functions economizes, giving equal results for less 

 expenditure. The successive differentiations . of middlemen, each 

 class specializing in the performance of more limited functions, have 

 contributed much to the progress of society. This contribution is 

 too little recognized. Before the Industrial Revolution especially, 

 the hand that turned the wheel of commerce was not the producing 

 craftsman but the merchant and tradesman. After this Revolution, 

 the successful manufacturer became to some degree a "commercant", 

 organizing his own sales' department.^ But a most significant 

 feature of the period before 1760 was the almost absolute dependence 

 of the producing class upon the trading class. It is proposed to seek 

 out in part the specialization of functions, the means employed, and 

 the method of action, by which the trading class performed commerce 

 in this period. 



The structure and life of four leading and representative trades 

 have been studied separately somewhat in detail. This method of 

 treating a combination of labor and capital devoted to one ware of 

 commerce has the advantage of definiteness. The treatment consists 

 in a sort of narration of the successive handlings of the ware ; its prog- 

 ress toward and from the market is taken step by step. But the 

 method has the disadvantage of di\dding the market so much that the 

 actual complex of interrelations existing there is little felt. It divides 

 the market vertically and horizontally, so to speak, i.e., on the basis of 

 ware and of agent. For instance, the corn factor at Bear Key differed 

 from other factors with respect to the commodity handled and from 

 other cornmen with respect to function. The fact of these double 

 relations is likely to be overlooked and the actual intricacy of the 

 market not appreciated. 



Chapters II-VI consider the middlemen in these four groups of 



1 This change was noticed bj- contemporaries. For instance, manufacturers be- 

 gan to export their own goods and did the work of the merchant. Chalmers, Esti- 

 mate, XXXVI. 



