NATURAL HISTORY OF COMMERCE. 



146 



I 



TIIK NATlUlAh HISTORY OF COM M i:i; 'K. 



INTBODUCTOHY. 



"TiiK addition of ft new fact to a farmer's iniiul," it was 

 once pii Inlv remarked, "often increases tin? amount of his 



is mure than the addition of lucres to I 

 The principle holds piod in every kind of industry and 

 commerce. The discovery of new Conns or proper 

 inattf-r, or fresh applications of old ones, of new moiive- 

 or new mechanism, is continually changing the 

 aspect of titfiiirs. A now tool even will sometimes add 

 immensely to the value of an old material, promote the 

 vomt'ort of millions, and develop some branch of in- 

 dustry to an extent hitherto unthought of. Fifty years 

 few workmen could accomplish the cutting of com- 

 window-glass without risk and loss ; at length a 

 thoughtful observer found out that there was ono direc- 

 tion in which the diamond was almost incapable of 

 abrasion or wearing by use, and ho contrived the present 

 simple tool which steadies the diamond and fastens it in 

 the direction required. 



Here was a discovery resting upon a scientific principle. 

 It might and probably would nave been made much 

 earlier had science, or the systeinatised knowledge of 

 matter and its properties, been more common. The com- 

 plaint is now general that such knowledge is less com- 

 mon amongst us than it should be, than it is, in fact, else- 

 where. It is remarked continually that our Continental 

 neighbours are so sensible of the advantages of this 

 knowledge, that they provide it liberally for every man, 

 woman, and child. They feel that it is in itself pro- 

 perty, and the prolific source of wealth. They see that it 

 cannot be carried off by an enemy, or impaired by bad 

 seasons, or paralysed by a panic. They find that it costs 

 nothing to defend or to insure ; that it is not merely 

 a circulating commodity, yielding a single profit to its 

 possessor, but rather fixed and constantly productive 

 capital. Therefore, beyond primary schools, they pro- 

 vide industrial schools, trade schools, polytechnic schools, 

 drawing schools, museums of art and manufacture, to all 

 of which access is nearly free, and attendance on some 

 of them almost compulsory. 



The result is visible in our exhibitions, in the com- 

 petition that displaces our trade, and drives our best 

 workmen abroad. Our government may do something 

 for national instruction hereafter, but hitherto they have 

 left us pretty much to shift for ourselves. Perhaps it 

 has been the right course. Self-help is the best. The 

 nation is now roused. We may move slowly, but we 

 believe that private enterprise backed or not by parlia- 

 mentary aid will eventually bring us up to the level 

 of the rest of Europe, and, too, of the United States of 

 America. 



It is with this object in view that, having already given 

 to all self- teachers the opportunity of improvement in 

 all the branches of a liberal education, we now commence 

 a series of papers upon industrial and commercial sub- 

 jeots. These papers have been prepared by Dr. Yeats, 

 who has been assisted by able men eminent in their re- 

 spective departments of knowledge. 



In a country like this, which is pre-eminently com- 

 mercial, and in an age like the present, distinguished for 

 the keen eagerness of its competition, it is impossible 

 for those who are ignorant of the first principles of com- 

 mercial and industrial science to compete with any hope 

 of success with those who are largely and practically 

 acquainted with them. Yet these are the terms upon 

 which so many of the English industrial and commercial 

 classes are at present engaired in carrying on a weari- 

 some and failing competition with the manufacturing 

 interests of other lands. As far as in our power lies, we 

 shall in these papers place at the disposal of every artisan 

 and employe the means for destroying this inequality of 



88 X.E. 



competition, and throwing into our hide of the itcale edu- 

 cated intll6Ct m addition to well-trained hand*. Wo 

 commence, then, with what we may cull the Natural 

 History ol Commerce, or a reply to the questions, Whence 

 do wo derive i In) raw materials which are the staple of 

 our commerce and i: Why do we find them 



in particular 1< What constitute* their true 

 valued A re there yet no undeveloped regions or natural 

 products? 



CHAPTER L 



What is meant by Raw Produce ? The Neoenitjr of a Knowlodg* of 

 Raw Materials The Dicoery of Raw Material*, and the Effect* 

 of Discovery How a Knowledge of Baw Material* can be gained. 



Tin: earth, with its oceans of water and of air, forms. 

 the great storehouse from which we draw the mean* of 

 support and enjoyment. The animals and plants upon 

 its surface, and the produce of its teeming waters, fur- 

 nish us with food and clothing ; the stone, the metals, 

 and the coal laid up in its crust supply us with the means 

 of shelter, with various implements, and with fuel. 

 Several facts connected herewith are part of our earliest 

 experience. 1st. There is in the world an indefinitely 

 large number of substances adapted for our service in 

 health and in sickness. 2nd. These substances are dis- 

 tributed so that every region has its special treasures- 

 3rd. The inhabitants of any one region may, by exchange, 

 become possessed of the abundance and variety of all 

 other regions. If, for instance, the Norwegian has plenty 

 of timber, but a scarcity of wool, and thus finds himself 

 well housed, but poorly clad ; while the Englishman has 

 woollen cloth to spare, but wants timber for building ; 

 each may, by interchange, be well clothed and well housed. 



In speaking of the natural resources of a country, we 

 refer to the ore in the mine, the stone unquarried, the 

 timber unfelled, the native plants and animals to all 

 those latent elements of wealth only awaiting the labour 

 of man to become of use, and therefore of value. 



Raw produce has, however, an extended meaning. We 

 do not merely gather in the indigenous materials of the 

 country where we live, but, by intelligent industry, we 

 increase the natural production. Tillage and cattle-rear- 

 ing procure for us a greater abundance of corn and fruit, 

 and llcsh-food, and textile fibres than we should other- 

 wise enjoy. This increase, and all the crude constituents 

 of wealth, whatever their origin, come under the designa- 

 tion of raw produce. 



Without a considerable knowledge of raw materials, 

 and of their adaptations, we could not live ; and without 

 an unremitting application of such knowledge, we could 

 not live in comfort. We may even measure a country's 

 civilisation by the extent and diffusion of this important 

 knowledge. Barbarous tribes pass their time in pro- 

 viding for their recurring appetites, and cannot be said 

 to enjoy existence, in the sense of mental enjoyment. 

 Where such tribes do not die out, their numbers, at the 

 best, remain stationary. Among civilised nations know- 

 ledge is increased, and many things, which in some parts 

 still remain to bo discovered, have, in other parts, 

 become the necessaries of life for populations doubling 

 and trebling in a century. 



The economic history of a nation would be a record of 

 the discovery of new raw materials, of new sources of 

 supply, and of additional applications. All such dis- 

 coveries tend to our benefit, while their result is occa- 

 sionally to enrich the discoverer, and to change the face 

 of our social and industrial life. It has been said that 

 he who makes two blades of grass grow -where only one 

 grew before is a benefactor to his species. The truth of 

 this statement is easily proved. Take the single example 

 of wheat, and imagine the blessings which a double 

 produce of this one kind of grain would confer upon 

 mankind. 



In modern times we have had many remarkable in- 



