the globe
China, to the student of commerce, is the most interesting country on
the globe. The reason for this is that its area is so large, its
population so vast, and its chances for development so magnificent.
The total area of the empire, according to late estimates, is
4,218,401 square miles. Other estimates make it 4,468,470 square
miles. The greatness of this area may be understood from a few
comparisons. It is about one twelfth of the total land surface of the
globe. It is two and one fourth times the size of European Russia. It
is almost one and one half times the total area of the United States,
exclusive of Alaska. But all of this territory is not of equal
commercial interest. The Chinese Empire consists of six parts: China
Proper, Manchuria, Mongolia, Tibet, Jungaria, and Eastern Turkestan.
Because of recent treaties, which give to Russia the right to build
and ‘control’ railways in Manchuria–ostensibly for the purpose of
securing for the great Russian Trans-Siberian Railway a shorter route
to Vladivostok, its Pacific terminus–MANCHURIA becomes practically a
RUSSIAN POSSESSION. Turkestan, Jungaria, Tibet, and Mongolia are
thinly inhabited countries, scarcely semi-civilised. But the part
which remains when these ‘dependencies’ are left out of
consideration–CHINA PROPER–is at once one of the largest, most
thickly populated, and most fertile countries on the face of the
globe, and one also of the most richly endowed in mineral products.
Its area is 1,336,841 square miles. Its population is 386,000,000. Its
population per square mile is not far short of 300. That is to say,
its area is more than eleven times that of Great Britain and Ireland,
and almost one half that of the United States, exclusive of Alaska;
its population is ten times that of Great Britain and Ireland, and
more than six times that of the United States; while its population
per square mile is greater than that of any European or American
country except Great Britain (which, however, it nearly equals),
Holland, and Belgium. In fact, more than one fourth of the total
population of the globe is concentrated within the boundaries of
China Proper.
DIVIDENDS. The directors of the company, after paying the expenses and
laying by a certain amount for contingencies, divide the profits among
the shareholders. These profits are called dividends, and in
successful concerns such dividends as are declared quarterly,
semiannually, or annually usually amount to good interest on the
shareholders” investments.
who sell their paper to out-of-town banks
There are many firms which carry two or more bank accounts, and others
who sell their paper to out-of-town banks. In buying paper it is
important to ascertain whether the firm is in the habit of taking up
paper at one bank by floating a loan at another.
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:
clearing-house and commercial drafts with a lesson on foreign
exchange
It is quite in order that we should follow lessons on the
clearing-house and commercial drafts with a lesson on foreign
exchange.
bond are in the joint custody of the United States government and the
proprietor of the warehouse, and after the government has received its
customs duties for the goods they are in the proprietor”s sole
possession
By a recent decision of the Treasury Department at Washington goods in
bond are in the joint custody of the United States government and the
proprietor of the warehouse, and after the government has received its
customs duties for the goods they are in the proprietor”s sole
possession. The government cannot interfere to enforce delivery of the
goods to the importer. The claim of the warehouse proprietor for
storage charges becomes a first lien after the government”s claim is
satisfied. When the importer has paid both customs and storage charges
he is privileged to remove his goods.
cities have been grandly supplemented by the enterprise of their
inhabitants
But the natural advantages of situation possessed by these great
cities have been grandly supplemented by the enterprise of their
inhabitants. GLASGOW is only a river port. For twenty miles below its
site the Clyde is naturally narrow, shallow, and shoal-encumbered. In
places it is naturally not more than fifteen inches deep. By the
expenditure of no less a sum than $60,000,000 this shallow stream has
been converted into a continuous harbour, lined on either side for
miles with wharves and docks, and easily capable of accommodating the
largest and finest merchant ships afloat. As a consequence of this
enterprise Glasgow has become the greatest ship-building port in the
world. No less than twenty shipyards–in efficiency and magnitude of
the very highest class–are to be found along the banks of the once
shallow, impassable Clyde, between Glasgow proper and the river”s
mouth.
that he will pay the remainder within a week, expecting then to do so
and receive a deed, the seller, if he chooses, can escape giving that
deed and parting with his farm
If a man buys a farm and pays a part of the price and goes away saying
that he will pay the remainder within a week, expecting then to do so
and receive a deed, the seller, if he chooses, can escape giving that
deed and parting with his farm. The payment of a part of the money
does not bind the bargain, nor will the courts, though knowing this,
compel the seller to give such a deed. The reader may ask, if this is
the law, cannot the farmer practise a fraud on the buyer by receiving
his money and keeping it and the farm too? He cannot do both things.
If he refuses to give the deed he must, on the other hand, return the
money; if he refuses to do this the buyer can compel him by a proper
legal proceeding to refund the amount. In this way the buyer gets his
money back again, but not the farm that he bought.