sell the oversea exporter. Frequently, for instance, Brazilian coffee may be bought more cheaply in Le Havre than in Brazil. By buying up the entire production in certain territories the importers can offer the trade qualities and brands that appeal to it. Towards the end of the exporting season in certain classes of oversea commodities the better qualities can be procured only in Europe and in America.

CHAPTER IX.

THE ORGANIZATION OF PUBLIC SALES.
1. Markets and Fairs.

A market, as a place of sale, is the place in which at stated times buyers and sellers publicly aggregate in order to buy and sell goods by private bargaining; the goods may be either brought to the market, changing hands on the conclusion of the transaction, or may be sold for future delivery on the basis of samples shown.

An extension of the meaning of the word "market" has become current largely through the activities of stock and produce exchanges, and is understood to comprehend the existing demand and supply in a given commodity in a given territory. Thus we speak of the coffee market, of the sugar market, of the market in foreign exchange, and the market may be termed dull, active, calm, irregular, etc.

In the Middle Ages, and even during many periods of modern times, the market as a place of sale was the scene of important transactions in international commerce.

Since one of the characteristics of the original meaning of the word "market" was the sale of spot goods brought to the market place, the importance of the market as a public sales institution prevailed as long as the trading in international commerce was largely done in spot goods. Inadequate transportation facilities made the development of long range business in those days very difficult. The opportunities for exchanging communications in time to conclude sales contracts were too limited. The possibility of effecting shipments through third parties with a rational degree of security did not yet exist. The foreign trader was his own shipper. He accompanied the goods as seller to the place of sale, he took them along in his capacity as buyer.

The juridical relations between traders located in two different countries were too insecure and undefined; the traders'

credit responsibility had not yet assumed a high degree of development; the difficulties of ascertaining the credit standing of a trader in international relations had not yet been solved; the capitalization of traders was too insufficient.

The other characteristic of the market, the element of publicity, was an important one in olden days. The traders were bound to employ brokers, sworn measurers, weighers, carriers, etc. The sales were effected in certain publicly accessible localities, streets, squares, etc., during well defined hours and on stated days.

The sales, however, were made by private bargaining. The development of public auction sales of foreign produce on a large scale is of comparatively late origin and had its birth in the large seaports. The commerce of the Middle Ages was very largely a market commerce.

In the seaports, however, the arrival of a cargo was the occasion a display of selling activity, but since no stated time could be arranged for this class of business, the development of market trading did not coincide with seaport trade. When not sold at auction, goods arriving in the seaports were transported to the interior markets for sale there.

The holding of markets offered certain safeguards and a certain freedom of commercial activity in interlocal and international trading. Traders proceeding to and from markets were given certain assurances of freedom from molestation; their persons and goods were exempt from arrest excepting for debts contracted during the market season and in the market place. Local and frontier taxes were suspended, while their place was taken by market or fair dues, and the local guild privileges were extended also to the visiting traders.

The occasion of a market formed in those days the only opportunity of trading in commodities on a large scale. The costs and perils of a journey with merchandise could be borne only upon the assurance that the trader could dispose of a large stock of goods. And similarly only in a public market or fair had the buyer an assurance of covering his demand for a large quantity of goods. The periodic influx of traders in the market place furnished such an assurance for both classes.

Similarly the periodic market formed the only means of establishing current prices for commodities, since an interlocal and international exchange of information was yet lacking, and the inadequate traveling facilities prevented a comprehensive survey of the demand and the supply.

Certain important commercial communities like Venice, Bruges, Lubeck were permanent market places where a large exchange of merchandise took place throughout the year.

The development of safe transportation, the increase of trading privileges, the slowly rising density of population, the growth of a numerous and responsible trading community, the regulation of the communication service with the modest means of the mail coach little by little increased the opportunity of interlocal trading, but it still had for its object the dealing in spot goods. The markets lost their relative importance, but their absolute importance, due to the general increase of the demand and of traffic, rose to even a higher level in the nineteenth century.

The railway and the steamship finally undermined the commercial importance of special periodic markets. The improved means of transportation transformed the world into one large market place. The introduction of the telegraph permitting the publication of production and commercial reports, the broadcast mailing of price lists and offers as well as of samples, the sending of salesmen and agents who could be in constant and instant touch with their principals, though traveling in distant countries, made it possible to survey the demand and the supply throughout the world without the personal contact of traders in a market place. The telegraph and the cable, the railway and the steamship facilitated the prompt exchange of views between contracting parties separated by wide distances and permitted the conclusion of long range business. The improved means of transportation and communication resulted in a division of labor and in the creation of media which permitted the seller to leave the transportation of his goods to third parties without great risk, enabling him to ship merchandise to his buyer through the quickest and cheapest medium available. The concentration of foreign goods in a market place where out of town or foreign buyers congregate added too much to the ultimate cost of goods, and the modern system of close price figuring could not tolerate this added transportation cost.

In modern times the line of demarcation between markets and fairs has been rather indistinct. Both take place periodically after a lapse of considerable time. Both, with the exception of a few special institutions, admit the widest range of goods, being general markets and fairs. The fairs, however, as a rule cater to the wholesale trade and include very largely raw products, whereas in annual markets the retail traders in manufactured products predominate as buyers. The fairs still persist where the retail traders have not developed into a commercially strong class, but elsewhere they are survivals of an antiquated system and are fast losing importance, certainly from the international point of view.

Of the fairs only a few have retained their importance. Among these the most prominent are the Leipsic Fair and the Nizhni-Novgorod Fair. The importance of the Leipsic Fair persists still in those lines where the personal selection of individual pieces is desirable, as in furs, hides and skins, certain textiles, etc. But a modernized form of fair trading has developed in other lines, particularly where at certain seasons of the year it is necessary to create new ranges of samples which it is desirable to bring quickly before wide strata of buyers. Among these goods are ceramics, glassware, metal wares, musical instruments, paper goods, toys, etc. But instead of bringing the actual merchandise to the fair, the custom is now to exhibit samples, which is done in Leipsic and in Lyons, and the business is concluded for future shipment on the basis of selected samples, the buyers sometime reserving a special style for their own exclusive use.

The three sample fairs which are held annually in France are the Lyons Fair, held in March and lasting generally two weeks, the Paris Fair, held in April and May and likewise lasting about a fortnight, and finally the Bordeaux Fair held during the first two weeks in June.

The Lyons Fair is international in character and has the candid aim of replacing the Leipsic Fair. The Paris Fair is a