2. As a mediator between divergent interests the Crown claimed the right to prevent exploitation in all its forms. One of the difficulties of development by privilege was the treatment of outsiders by a privileged body. Thus the traders of one town might exact exorbitant tolls from merchants who visited them. It is true that the interest of the municipality in attracting merchants limited this tendency to exploit the foreigner. But it is evident that the ports and the towns astride of great trade routes were in a position, if left to their own devices, to injure considerably places less fortunately situated. Here privilege, whether springing from immemorial custom or royal charter, opposed privilege.

If the Crown had important functions as mediator between English interests, its share in determining the relations between English and foreign traders was still greater. In foreign, as in domestic, trade the political rights, which are a necessary basis of exchange, were secured to the individual merchant as a member of a municipality, and not as belonging to a certain nationality. The merchant of a foreign town who landed in England was dependent on the terms which that town had obtained and could seldom fall back on rights obtained by treaty between a national sovereign and the English King. But, although on the side of the foreigner the city and not the nation was the negotiating unit, England early presented at least some suggestion of a national front. For foreign trade interested both king and aristocracy; it was a valuable source of taxation; it brought desirable luxuries. Hence, a constant sale of privileges to the merchants of foreign towns, which limited more or less the action of English municipalities.

See also 30. Ordinances of the Gild Merchant of Southampton. 34. Ordinances of the White Tawyers of London.

35. Gild Merchant Regulations vs. Craft Gild Regula

tions.

37. Merits and Defects of the Craft Gild.

54. The Law Merchant.

61. ASSIZE OF MEASURES, 11971

It is established that all measures of the whole of England be of the same amount, as well of corn as of vegetables and of like things, to wit, one good horse load; and that this measure be level as well in cities and in boroughs as without. Also the measure of wine and ale and of all liquids shall be of the same amount, according to the diversity of liquids. Weights and measures also, great and small, shall be of the same amount in the whole realm, according to the diversity of wares. Measures also of corn and liquids, wine and ale, shall have marks put thereon, lest by guile they can be falsified.

It is established that woollen cloths, wherever they be made, be made of the same width, to wit, of two ells within the lists and of the same good quality in the middle and at the sides. Also the ell shall be the same in the whole realm and of the same length, and the ell shall be of iron.

It is forbidden to all merchants throughout the whole of the realm that any merchant set in front of his shop red or black cloths or shields or any other thing, whereby the buyers' eyes are often deceived in the choice of good cloth.

It is also forbidden that any dye for sale, save black only, be made anywhere in the realm, except in cities or chief boroughs.

It is also established that in every city or borough four or six lawful men of the same town, according to the size of the town, together with the sheriff, or with the reeves of the city or borough, if the same be not in the hand of the sheriff, be assigned to keep the assize in this form.

62. INDIVIDUAL ENTERPRISE UNDER FEUDALISM2

We may fully believe that feudalism was the best social system possible in England in the eleventh century, but the very fact that it was so marks the extraordinary difference between that age and this. Nowadays the free play of individual self-interest is assumed in commercial arrangements, and this force has given the greatest possible incentive to the development of industry by inventions and

'Adapted by permission from A. E. Bland, P. A. Brown, and R. H. Tawney, English Economic History: Select Documents, pp. 154-55. (G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., 1914.)

Taken by permission from W. Cunningham, The Growth of English Industry and Commerce: Early and Middle Ages, p. 132. (The Cambridge University Press.

of commerce by enterprise; the main principle of much commercial legislation in this country has been that of giving free scope to this individual, self-interested activity. But for this the social system during the Norman reigns gave no scope whatever; there could be but little desire of accumulation when the ever-recurring tallages, aids, and fines were sure to empty the hoards that had been filled during several preceding years. There could be no enterprise in seeking out a new line of life, for each villain was bound to the land, and no lord would willingly part with his services; there could be no high farming while the custom of the manor and the collective ownership of the teams forced all to adopt the same system. Even in trade there was little opportunity of raising oneself, for the prices of articles of native production for which there would be much competition were regulated by authority; and merchants too were subject to special risks or to special fines for protection, as well as to heavy trading dues. If the royal authority was a keystone for the whole social fabric, it is not less true that the condition of industry and commerce was directly affected by the royal decisions; the initiative in progress, where progress was made, lay far less with individual traders than with the king himself.

CHAPTER III

THE COMING IN OF CAPITALISM

A. Problems at Issue

The story of the transition from mediaeval to modern industrial society is the story of the coming in of capitalism. No complete account of this transition will be attempted. Long and laborious historical research must be undertaken before the complete account becomes available. Even if the details of the story were available, telling them would not serve our present purpose well. We are not primarily concerned with securing a scholar's knowledge of how capitalism came in. We wish to see merely sufficient elements of its emergence to enable us to realize how the gap between mediaeval and modern industrial society must have been bridged. Modern industrial society constitutes the subject-matter of our main study.

Mediaeval society was, of course, relatively static. There were, nevertheless, many quiet forces steadily making for change-making for the breakdown of custom and the introduction of a competitive, capitalistic régime. The events connected with the opening of the modern era gave these forces great impetus. From the opening of the modern era to 1750 was a period of readjustment and preparation. As someone has said, it was the period during which the powder was accumulated which was set off by the coming in of machine industry. The resulting explosion has greatly changed the topography of our society.

It is commonly said that the Industrial Revolution lasted from 1750 to 1830, but such a statement lacks historical perspective. In a very real sense it is true that the revolution began in the early Middle Ages. It is equally true that it has not yet completed its course. It is merely in its second phase. How many more stages there will be, who can say?

The period from 1750 to 1880 or thereabouts (the exact time varying from industry to industry and from nation to nation) is that of the first phase of the revolution. It may be characterized as the period when market was outrunning production. Many factors contributed to this situation. Machine industry was, of course,

tremendously productive, but machine industry, in the guise of the railroad, the telegraph, and the telephone, was as steadily engaged in extending the market as it was in extending productive capacities. Furthermore, although the period of colonization had gone by, this is the time when great reaches of the world, notably in the Americas, Australia, and Africa, were opened up to a truly economic life. Then, too, at this time a more rapid increase of population occurred than has occurred at any other period concerning which we have accurate information, and the rapidly widening mental horizon meant an even greater increase in wants.

Certain very striking consequences ensued from the pressure of the market upon production. This is the period of the development of schools of technology as one manifestation of man's efforts to meet the demands upon production. Again, it is the period of the development of the "orthodox" system of marketing goods. The manufacturer could safely turn his goods over to the jobber with but little thought of the ultimate consumer. If one jobber failed him, another stood ready to step into the breach, and in any event overhead costs had not reached the stage of development which made it an exceedingly serious matter for a manufacturer to shift from one industry to another. It is not without interest, also, to note that the increasing scale of production in this period cast emphasis upon matters connected with the technique of business administration. It became profitable to start business colleges which would care for training in the simpler elements of such technique. Finally, in this period, governmental policies were shaped in the interests of the producer.

The second phase of the revolution dates from 1880 and is still in progress. It is the period when, except for occasional flurries, production is outrunning market. This has been due to some small extent to a check in the rate of increase of population, but mainly, it has been due to the fact that by 1880 the attention given to production in the earlier period began to bear tremendous results and the markets of the world had been reasonably well exploited. The consequences of this situation were also very striking. The producer began to seek customers in an active way, and the orthodox system of distribution has yielded to many strange newcomers such as national advertising, direct selling, and the mail-order house. In the educational world the college of commerce has emerged with its attention given primarily to the distributing side of business. So also, arising out of competition which ensued from the tightening