CONSUMPTION 



1562 



CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 



helpful, for they can broaden the markets to 

 home merchants. They give certification of 

 invoices of merchandise valued at more than 

 $100, which is rxpnrtcd; this duty is highly im- 

 portant for the protection of the customs reve- 

 nue, as it is a check on smuggling. 



The consular service of any leading country 

 is divided into three ranks, consuls-general, 

 consuls and commercial agents, the first named 

 having charge of all consuls in a certain dis- 

 trict; the last named, though they have the 

 same duties and powers as consuls, are not 

 officially recognized by the governments to 

 which they are sent. In countries where the 

 government is unstable, American consuls are 

 invested with exceptional powers, and such 

 powers and duties may be determined by 

 treaty. Until recently, consular appointments 

 by the United States have been governed 

 wholly by politics. The folly of political 

 recommendation alone has long been realized 

 and consuls will soon be chosen for fitness and 

 by competitive examinations. It is intended 

 that any young man may in the future aspire 

 to the consular service as a life occupation. 



The Roman Consul. The title consul was 

 bestowed on the two highest magistrates in the 

 Roman Republic. These officials were first 

 chosen in 509 B. c., the year in which the kings 

 were expelled and the monarchy was abolished. 

 Two consuls were elected every year, and at 

 first only patricians were eligible to the office. 

 Later the consulship was thrown open to the 

 plebeians. The insignia of the consul were the 

 purple-bordered toga, a staff of ivory, an orna- 

 mental chair, and twelve lictors, who preceded 

 him bearing fasces and axes. In times of emer- 

 gency the consuls received unlimited power, 

 but their powers were not so extensive in the 

 later days of the republic as at first. Under 

 the emperors the office became merely honor- 

 ary. E.D.F. 



CONSUMPTION, kon sump' shun (IN ECO- 

 NOMICS). A farmer in Ohio raises sheep and 

 sells their wool to a manufacturer, who makes 

 it into cloth. The manufacturer sells the cloth 

 to a garment maker, who fashions some of it 

 into a suit of clothes which he in turn sells 

 to the clothing merchant; then the suit is pur- 

 chased by the farmer who first sold the wool. 

 Finally, the suit becomes so worn that it has 

 to be cast aside. In the hands of the manu- 

 facturer the wool disappeared as wool, but 

 reappeared as cloth. In the hands of the gar- 

 ment maker the cloth was made into garments, 

 although it was still cloth, but the use to which 



the farmer put the suit caused the cloth to 

 wear out, or to be consumed. This use of 

 commodities to satisfy a human want is called 

 consumption by political economists. 



There arc two kinds of consumption, called 

 productive and final. In the illustration given 

 above the usefulness of the material was in- 

 creased with each change until it reached 

 the farmer; therefore the manufacture of the 

 wool into cloth and the cloth into clothing was 

 productive consumption, but the wearing out 

 of the suit by the farmer was final consump- 

 tion. 



The satisfying of human wants is the end of 

 all consumption. However, in order that the 

 highest aim may be realized it must be certain 

 that a real need exists. 'There is a difference 

 between consumption and destruction. The 

 burning of wood for fuel is consumption, but 

 burning it in a forest fire is destruction, since 

 no need is satisfied. Food consumed by people 

 or animals is final consumption, since it is not 

 direcl^y changed to more useful commodities, 

 as in the above example of the farmer, the 

 manufacturer and the tailor. 



Laws which aim to control consumption by 

 prescribing the dress and food which the mem- 

 bers of different classes may use are known as 

 sumptuary laws, and have, for the most part, 

 become a thing of the past. Nevertheless, 

 thinkers recognize that much consumption is 

 wasteful or hurtful, and they agree that this is 

 a matter on which ethics, and even laws, may 

 have much to say. See ECONOMICS. W.F.R. 



CONSUMPTION. See TUBERCULOSIS. 



CONTEMPT', a wilful disregard or diso- 

 bedience of a public authority, such as a court 

 or legislative assembly, generally consisting in 

 failure to obey its specific demands, or in in- 

 sults. Contempts of court are of two kinds; 

 the first are such as are committed in the 

 presence of the court, which interrupt its pro- 

 ceedings, and the second consists of contempts 

 arising from a refusal to comply with an order 

 of court. Both are punishable by fines or by 

 fines and imprisonment in the county jail, in 

 the discretion of the court. 



CONTINEN'TAL SYSTEM, a system of 

 commercial blockade against England by Na- 

 poleon by which he sought to deprive the 

 British Islands of all trade with the continent 

 of Europe. This system began with Napoleon's 

 famous Berlin Decree, November 21, 1806, 

 which declared the British Islands in a state 

 of blockade and prohibited all commerce and 

 correspondence with them. Every Englishman 





