Company News and Views

3. Take up the papers of the course paragraph by paragraph and ask
yourself the reason why each is introduced. Discuss with your friends
the advantages or disadvantages of particular requirements.

its VEGETATION
The real wealth of India lies in the luxuriance and economic value of
its VEGETATION. As a consequence the principal industry is
AGRICULTURE. Only one tenth of the people live in towns. Two thirds of
the adult males in the country are engaged wholly in tilling the soil.
Every sort of agricultural product known to commerce is raised in
India; for from the high levels on the mountain sides to the low
levels on the coasts the vegetation of the whole world is produced
within its borders. Even in WHEAT India competes in the world”s
markets with countries like Russia and Argentina. In 1896 British
India had 19,000,000 acres of wheat under cultivation, and (though a
dearth year) an exportation of $4,000,000. In 1892 the exportation was
$25,000,000. The district known as the Central Provinces of India has
become one of the most important wheat areas in the world. But the
principal agricultural product of India is RICE. British India alone
has 70,000,000 acres of rice under cultivation, and an annual
exportation of $60,000,000. In all the coast regions rice is grown
universally, and also in the lower parts of the river plains,
especially in the Ganges valley. It is the staple food of the people
everywhere except on the higher levels. On the higher levels millet
and maize (corn) are the staple foods. The next important agricultural
product of India is COTTON, of which $47,000,000 worth in the raw
state is exported annually, besides what is used at home. The American
civil war was the great cause of the starting of the cotton-growing
industry in India. The next important agricultural product is JUTE, of
which the export in the raw state is about $35,000,000. No country in
the world can compete with India in the production of this fibre, for
jute is very exhaustive of the soil, and in the Ganges valley, where
it is principally raised, the soil is annually replenished by
alluvium. A fifth great agricultural product is TEA, in which India
now leads the world. England uses twice as much India tea as China
tea, the reason being that India teas are produced with all the
economic care of a high-class English or American manufactured
product. The value of the tea export of India is about $27,000,000.
Other chief agricultural products are OPIUM (which is a government
monopoly), oil seeds, hides, and skins, INDIGO (in which India excels
the world, the value of the export being $14,000,000), COFFEE (the
best grown anywhere–except perhaps that of Arabia and Java–though
the bean is sometimes injured in transit), raw wool, lac (for dyeing),
cinchona or Peruvian bark (which since it has been raised in India,
has greatly reduced the price of quinine), raw silk, raw sugar,
tobacco, and spices. Spices are produced abundantly in India, but
their quality is not equal to East Indian spices. Also the cotton,
rice, sugar, and tobacco of India, though produced plentifully, are
inferior in quality to those of the United States. Nor are the wheat
and corn of India so good as the wheat and corn of the United States
and Canada. Improved cultivation will, however, in time improve the
quality of all these products. Of exports of natural products not
agricultural the principal are WOOD (chiefly TEAK, the most valuable
timber known for ship-building, and sal, a most valuable wood for
carpentry) and saltpetre.

another step
Having explained who can make contracts, we are now ready to take
another step. Besides having parties, there must be a CONSIDERATION
for every contract. This is rather a long word, but no shorter can be
found to put in its place. What do we mean by this term? We mean that
there must be some actual gain or loss to one or both parties to a
contract, otherwise it is not valid. If, for example, A should say to
B, ‘I will give you $100 to-morrow,’ B, perhaps, might go away very
happy, thinking that with this money he could buy a bicycle or some
other fine thing; indeed, it was just the sum for which he was
longing; so on the morrow he goes to A for his money. He promptly
appears, but A says to him: ‘I have changed my mind, and will not give
you the $100.’ B asks: ‘Did you not promise to give me this money?’
‘Certainly.’ ‘Well, why will you not fulfil your promise?’ A replies:
‘I was a fool when I made that promise; you are not going to give me
anything for it, so I am unwilling to give the money to you.’ Suppose
B in his sorrow should go to a lawyer, thinking, perhaps, that he
could compel A by some legal proceeding to pay over the money. What
would the lawyer tell him? Why, he would say: ‘Did you promise to give
A anything for the $100?’ ‘No, sir.’ ‘Then the law will not help you
out. You cannot get the money from him by any legal method. Perhaps
you can get $100 worth of fun in licking him for not giving you the
money, but you cannot get the cash. But, mind, perhaps you had better
not try to get your fun in that way, for this is contrary to law, and
he might get much more than $100 out of you in the way of damages for
licking him.’

the equivalency of a certain amount of the (coin) currency of the one
in the (coin) currency of the other, supposing the currencies of both
to be of the precise weight and purity fixed by the respective mints
The _par_ of the currency of any two countries means, among merchants,
the equivalency of a certain amount of the (coin) currency of the one
in the (coin) currency of the other, supposing the currencies of both
to be of the precise weight and purity fixed by the respective mints.
The par of exchange between Great Britain and the United States is
4.86-2/3; that is, L1 sterling is worth $4.86-2/3. Exchange is quoted
daily in New York and other city papers at 4.87, 4.88, 4.88-1/2, etc.,
for sight bills and at a higher rate for sixty-day bills. Business men
who are accustomed to watching fluctuations in exchange rates use the
quotations as a sort of barometer to foretell trade conditions. The
imports and exports of bullion (uncoined gold) are the real test of
exchange. If bullion is stationary, flowing neither into nor out of a
country, its exchanges may be truly said to be at par; and on the
other hand, if bullion is being exported from a country, it is a proof
that the exchange is against it; and conversely if there be large
importations.

2. (_a_) What is a stock certificate? How does it differ from a
mortgage bond? (_b_) At what rate must United States 4 per cents
be bought to net 3.2465 per cent.? (_c_) Give the successive and
necessary steps in the formation of a stock company. How can the
stock of a company or corporation be increased?

There is, however, some hope for the lower classes of Russia. This is
because of the prevalence among them, especially in villages, towns,
and cities, of a communal custom in which self-restraint and
self-government are necessary conditions of existence. In every branch
of common industry ‘artels’ are found; that is, communistic
organisations, where all labour for a common purse in accordance with
rules and regulations determined by the members of the organisations.
These ‘artels’ have done much toward increasing the industry, the
honesty, the truthfulness, the thrift, and also the sobriety of their
members. They exist throughout all Russia, but in some parts more
prevalently than in others. As yet, however, they scarcely affect the
character and condition of the rural peasantry, and it is these who
are most in need of elevation. It should be said, too, that the
government is doing something to lessen the evil of drunkenness.

12. Do not write any unnecessary information on the back of your
cheque. A story is told of a woman who received a cheque from
her husband, and when cashing it wrote ‘Your loving wife’ above
her name on the back.

CMPMedica Announce the Launch of SearchMedica Spain Co-developed with Convera
CMPMedica Announce the Launch of SearchMedica Spain Co-developed with Convera

is, to note brokers
Merchants sell a great many of their notes in the open market–that
is, to note brokers. The banks buy these notes from the note brokers.
The assistance of the broker who handles commercial paper is a
necessary and valuable aid to the purchasing bank. Fully three fourths
of all the paper purchased by banks in large cities is purchased upon
the simple recommendation of the note brokers. As a rule these brokers
simply transfer the paper without guaranteeing by indorsement its
payment. Notes bought by banks from note brokers without their
indorsement are held to be guaranteed by them to be all right in all
points except that which covers the question of whether they will be
paid or not. The bank uses its best judgment in taking the risk. If
the note dealer in selling notes to a bank makes what he believes to
be fair and honest representations regarding any particular
paper–statements of such a straightforward type that upon them no
charge of false pretenses can be made to rest–he simply guarantees
the note genuine as to names, date, amount, etc., and that in selling
it he conveys a good title to the paper. As business men, however,
they are very cautious and are exceedingly anxious that the paper they
sell shall be paid, and as a rule they make good any losses which grow
out of apparent misrepresentations on their part.