388 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— F. 



customer does pay for it is a free bargain, for she retains the right to under- 

 take his work for herself if she wants to — or can refuse to buy altogether. 



There is a school of opinion growing up, that what the distributor does 

 should be rationalised. It is an attractive view, because without a doubt 

 there is a great deal of what the economist is justified in calling waste, in 

 distribution. Detail processes are all the time being improved with the 

 elimination of waste and expense. But the main source of what this school 

 of opinion complains of, lies in the insistence by the customer that her 

 sometimes irrational wants should be satisfied. This source of complaint 

 can be removed only by rationalising the customer. It is definitely not 

 the function of the distributor to do that, whatever his personal views may 

 be ; but a distributive industry already provides many opportunities for the 

 self-rationalised customer to save money if she really chooses to exercise 

 them. 



General Discussion on Retail distribution (11.45). 



Afternoon. 

 Visit to Castle Tobacco Factory, Messrs. John Player & Sons. 



Tuesday, September 7. 



Prof. H. A. Innis. — Significant factors in Canadian development (lo.o). 



The economic development of the United States was hastened by the 

 absence of restrictive institutions such as an established church and an 

 oflficial class, and by the preoccupation of a large rural population with 

 business, the neglect 'of leisure, and the character of democratic institutions. 

 In Canada, the importance of water transportation and the consequent 

 emphasis on staple exports shown in the fishing industry, fur, timber, 

 wheat and minerals in relation to a European market provided a background 

 in which an established church, military organisations and the official 

 classes occupied an important place. The fur trade during the French and 

 English regimes accentuated the importance of regimented control evident 

 in the position of the Church, the army and the governing class. The 

 timber trade emerged from a background of imperial preferences under 

 the colonial system. Government ownership has been conspicuous in the 

 period dominated by wheat, minerals, and pulp and paper, and their demands 

 for steam transportation and hydro-electric power. The paper attempts 

 to trace the significance of institutions in the economic development of 

 Canada. 



Prof. H. Hermann Levy. — Death benefit and industrial assurance, or the 

 cost of dying (ii.o). 



Industrial assurance is mainly a provision for funeral money among the 

 working classes. Death benefit in history : in the days of the gilds, craft 

 gilds and corporation. Death benefit and the era of capitalism. Friendly 

 Societies and Trade Unions no eflPective instrument. The rise of industrial 

 assurance companies and friendly collecting societies. Their deficiencies 

 as stated by Mr. Gladstone, the Northcote Commission, the Passfield- 

 Parmoor and Cohen Reports. Legal reforms. Present evils : the system 

 of canvassing, payment of agents by commission and pressure for increase ; 



