Birth of New Trades and Institutions
Foreign trade is carried on overland by means of caravans, and, in later times, by railways; over sea, through a merchant marine—sailing vessels and steamships. The magnitude of commerce, its peculiar methods, and its manifold, varying phases combine to produce new and surprising phenomena: traffic by sea leads to insurance and to different forms of commercial associations; intercourse by caravan gives rise to the construction of halting-stations, establishments for refreshment and repair, that finally develop into taverns and inns. And that which first arose from necessity is subsequently turned to use for other purposes: insurance is one of the most fruitful ideas of the present day; hotels are an absolute necessity.
Commerce is able to bring further contrivances and institutions into being, here, again, overcoming individual incongruity by means of combination. Trade cannot always be carried on directly between the places of production and of consumption; one district requires more, another less; it would be difficult to supply all from one centre of distribution. Thus an intermediate carrying trade is developed, rendering the surmounting of obstacles less difficult and increasing the stability of the market. The demands of the middleman are compensated for by these advantages.
Commerce Brings the World Together
Thus the world’s commerce develops, and that which is accomplished by market traffic in lesser districts is brought about by the concentrative influence of bourses, or exchanges, in the broadest spheres. Here, as in the smaller markets, the tendency is for all prices to seek a level, to become as independent as possible of individual conditions; and so commerce between nations, and the possibility of ordering goods from the most distant lands, bring with them an adjustment: world prices are formed; and to establish these, is the business of the exchanges. The exchange is a meeting together of merchants for the transaction of business by purchase or sale. It has acquired still more the character of a world institution since men have been able to interchange advices by means of telegraph and telephone; it is possible for the bourses of different countries to transact business with one another from moment to moment, so that the ruling prices of the world can be immediately known. It has already been stated that commerce leads to a taking up of residence in foreign countries; it also leads to colonisation, and it is chiefly due to commerce that civilisation is introduced into foreign lands.
Supply of Human Labour
In earlier centuries the labour question was settled by means of the legal subjection of certain classes of men, until complete injustice was reached in slavery. The system was rendered still more efficient by making slave-ownership hereditary. Slavery, originated in wars and man-hunting, in times when there were but few domesticated animals and no machines, when utensils, were very imperfect and a more or less developed mode of life could only be conducted by means of the manual labour of individuals. Therefore, in order to obtain labourers, men resorted to force, introducing a slave population of which the individuals were either divided among households or kept in special slave habitations. The industry of the slave was often increased by the promise of definite privileges or private possessions. He was often granted a home and family life, and thus he became a bondman—burdened and taxed and bound to the soil, it is true, but otherwise looked upon as a man possessed of ordinary rights and privileges. Even during the days of slavery there were instances of emancipation, and the possibility was opened up of rising to the social position of a slave-owner.
The evolution of a free working class, with recompense for labour, is one of the most important chapters in the history of modern civilisation. The chief sphere of development is that of the crafts and trades. The power of guilds often induces legislation in their favour; thus they become monopolies, and only such individuals as are members of an association may adopt its particular trade or craft as a profession. Sometimes the unity of a guild is broken, and the individual right to form judgments enters in place of the rules laid down by the corporation. From this results competition, which finally leads up to free competition. Through free competition, the encumbering rigidity of the guilds is avoided; it leads to a high development of the individual, and is therefore a great source of progress; it discloses the secrets of the craft, freeing men from deeply-rooted prejudices in regard to different vocations; and it increases man’s inventive capacity, producing new methods for carrying on trades and new combinations and connections.
THE PROMISE OF PEACE: THE HAGUE CONFERENCE OF THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD IN 1907