370 Tradesman and Merchant — Commercial Population 



class. The uses of ca]5ital in the possession or control of middlemen 

 are, then, the subject matter of this section. 



Capital — its Sources and Distribuiion. Before the Industrial Revolu- 

 tion the moneyed men were the merchants, the goldsmith-bankers, 

 the tradesmen and the Western clothiers, but the merchant and not 

 the manufacturer represented the most advanced stage of capitalism. 

 Among the men of commerce capital consisted, for the most part, of 

 large stocks of raw or manufactured goods. They represented the 

 investments of the merchant, who, in the operations of his business, 

 had to be a proprietor of money and credit. During the interim of 

 his purchases and sales his property was hazarded in the fickle balance 

 of commerce. While the goods were in transit or in storage his capi- 

 tal was invested and bound and subjected to the contingencies of 

 carriage, spoHaticn, and market. But in so far as he equalized the 

 relative supply of the markets, and consequently of prices on the 

 markets, both as between places and as between times, he was per- 

 forming an invaluable function to consumers and producers. As a 

 capitalist he advanced money to the producer, relieved him from 

 risks, steadied the price, and assured a market; to the consumer he 

 assured a constant supply at a uniform price and to be procured with 

 more ease by him. By the economies he could effect he could pay the 

 producer a higher price, charge the consumer a lower, and as the 

 volume of his business and the rapidity of his returns increased a 

 smaller amount per unit would be taken as his share of the profit, and 

 therefore he would serve producer and consumer the more. This would 

 encourage industries at home by keeping up markets abroad; lower 

 prices would stimulate a larger consumption and a higher standard of 

 living. These were the opportunities which capital afforded to the 

 merchant, and the competition with his fellows was a compellent 

 force pressing him to the service. 



It is quite beyond the scope and proportions of this volume to 

 cover with much detail the rise of commercial capital and commercial 

 uses of capital. At various points in the discussions of the acti\aties 

 of particular middlemen some attention has been given to their capi- 

 talistic function. Xow, in a more general manner, may be presented 

 the rise in the volume of capital handled in commercial transactions, 

 the rise of a specialized class of financial middlemen, and the rise of 

 modern business methods with respect to commercial paper. The 

 capitalistic qualitv so permeates the middlemen's business that some 

 attention to this phase is required in a treatment of their work. The 

 most characteristic thina, of modern industrial and commercial life is 



