_flatness_
The most characteristic physical feature of European Russia is its
_flatness_. In consequence its rivers are almost all navigable, and,
as the most important of them are interconnected by canals, the
facilities for transportation which they afford are very considerable.
Altogether the length of inland navigation thus afforded amounts to
nearly 47,000 miles. This abundance of navigation facilities has
retarded the growth of railways, but there are already 25,756 miles of
finished railway in European Russia alone. The total length of railway
in all Russia built and in building is 34,849 miles. The most
important railway enterprise in the empire is the Trans-Siberian
Railway, which will afford through communication from the Baltic to
the Pacific. The shortest possible distance between these two bodies
of water is 4500 miles. The length of the railway will be 4950 miles,
and its cost, it is supposed, will be $120,000,000. It is to be
completed by 1905.
The New York Stock Exchange was formed in 1792. There are 1100
members. Members are elected and must be nominated by two men who will
say that they would accept the uncertified cheque of the nominee for
$20,000. The initiation fee is $20,000. Memberships have sold as high
as $32,500, and the market value of a seat on the Exchange varies only
slightly from year to year.
Transactions are quickly collected and reported to the world. In
hundreds of offices in New York, Chicago, and other American cities
may be seen a little instrument called a _ticker_, which automatically
prints abbreviated names of stocks, with their prices, on a narrow
ribbon of paper. These _tickers_ are rented to these offices by the
telegraph companies, and as fast as the sales are made the quotations
are ticked off in thousands of offices in all parts of the United
States.
of lading,’ are issued to the consignor, which, like other
representatives of property, may be transferred by the owner or may be
deposited in a bank subject to draft
For the goods thus accepted for transportation, manifests, or ‘bills
of lading,’ are issued to the consignor, which, like other
representatives of property, may be transferred by the owner or may be
deposited in a bank subject to draft. Bills of lading are of two
general kinds–’straight consignment bills’ and ‘order bills.’ When a
straight consignment bill of lading is issued the goods must be
delivered to the consignee or to the person to whom he may order them
delivered. An order bill of lading is one that may be transferred upon
indorsement. The following concise description of an order bill of
lading is taken from the ‘Book of General Instructions to Freight
Agents,’ issued by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company:
carried on only at certain ports, called ‘treaty ports,’ of which
there are nineteen, the principal being Yokohama, Osaka, Nagasaki,
Hakodate, Niigata, and Kobe
The foreign commerce of Japan, like that of China, is allowed to be
carried on only at certain ports, called ‘treaty ports,’ of which
there are nineteen, the principal being Yokohama, Osaka, Nagasaki,
Hakodate, Niigata, and Kobe. The two principal cities, not treaty
ports, are Tokio and Kioto. TOKIO (1,300,000) is the capital and chief
centre of the political, commercial, and literary activity of the
empire. In many respects Tokio is a ‘modern’ city. Its educational
features are excellent. Its sanitation also is good. KIOTO (340,000)
was formerly the capital, but after the revolution of 1868 it was
superseded in this respect by Tokio. YOKOHAMA (170,000), distant from
Tokio eighteen miles, is the chief place of the empire for foreign
trade. Its foreign trade, indeed, is more than half that of the whole
empire, being about $75,000,000 annually. OSAKA (487,000) is in
respect to population the second city of the empire, but its foreign
trade is not large and is carried on principally at HIOGO, a port near
it. NIIGATA (50,000) is the only treaty port on the west side of
Japan, the surf caused by the winter monsoon making the flat west
coast of the country very dangerous for shipping for half the year.
Other important ports are KOBE (161,000) and NAGASAKI (72,000). NAGOYA
(215,000) is an important inland town.
differences between the two
AGENTS ARE OF TWO KINDS, SPECIAL AND GENERAL; and there are important
differences between the two. A GENERAL AGENT is a person who transacts
all the business of the person hiring or appointing him, called a
principal, or all his business of a particular kind. A principal might
have several general agents for the different kinds of business in
which he was engaged. Suppose he has a cotton-factory and a store and
a farm; he might have three general agents, each managing one of these
enterprises.
There is one limit to this rule. _A man making a cheque must be
careful to write it in such a way that changes or alterations cannot
easily be made._ If he is careless, leaving ample space so that
changes can be made in the amount, then he will be considered
negligent, and a bank would not be obliged to make good his loss. If,
on the other hand, he is careful in drawing his cheques then a bank”s
duty to protect him is plain, and it is liable in the event of
neglecting to do so.
3. (_a_) What provision is usually made for the redemption of
municipal bonds which have a long period to run? (_b_) What is
meant when we say that a certain railway is in the hands of a
receiver? (_c_) Give some of the advantages which stock companies
have over partnerships.