Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1885-10-16

material into new forms or conditions. and thus
confer upon it utility and value it did not be-
fore possess. The farmer creates nothing,
existing, and by cooperating with nature in,
creases the quantity and value of the original
germs. and the result of his labors Would
then be comparatively. wanting in utility and in
the production of wealth; as Understood by poiit-
supplement the pIowman and the reaper. So also
the spinner and the weaver are necessary au-
and the manufacturer and mechanic of whatever
kind in their most finished and costly produc-
tions simply rearrapge pre-existing materials SO
to adapt them to the wants desires of others,
and thus impart to them new value, either in
trinsic or xchapgeable.
Society has been well compared TO the structure
of the human body, every part having its special
functions, and no one member being able TO say
while j would detract rothing from the. dignity
and value of manual or corpoTeal labor IT is cev-
no means the only productive form of labor. To
claim, for example, that the intellectual toiler,
whose wors is his brain, is entitled to less
consideration a productive member Of society
than he who employs only physical or muscular
force, woud be to assume that the inventor of
gin and spinning7jepny, the telegraph, telephone
and all other gram geneies Of human progress,
operative employed In their manipulat on.
And, as it would involve both trouble
practicable for the producer and consumer to
treat directly with each other, the labor and skill
employed in eftcting result equivaient to THIS
jects of traffic ther tangible and transferable
shape. This Indispensable medium of exchange,
the beneficial and controlling influence of which
has been experienced in all ages and countries
where even the rudiments of civilization existed,
is furnished BY the merchant, who can refer to
proud and venerable record that exhibits the class
and Conspicuous in the list Of great benefactors of
man kind. Those nations of antiquity that have
left the highest and most enduring memorials of
their pre-eminenee in literature and the artsi
were equally celebrated for the extent aud valu'
Chant nf IS the prime minister Of eommefee con-
or or the priest whose special mission 1t is
tains to the history and influence of the one, re.
lates equslly to the other, and brief resume of
this history and influence cannot be otherwise
than pertinent to the occasion we have met to
celebrate. Among these ancient nations Egypt
occupies a place in the front, as we learn from
surviving monuments of her former greatness
that h2Ye outliyed the GO c9rrosion of many centu-
and attracted to her the traffic .-se ares
and peoples. Among 90 -,ri rrrnpG Stntes
6e; we 0 s5s lSase'i Mosaic reqofd that
-S-v yeafs ago a company of MERCHANTMEN
gori an ing the Midianites, while on their way %
| balm and myrrh, ''easually net with the sons Of
Jacob who. being In a quandary as to how to rid
the1o entsTp1sins % merchant FOR twenty e peees
/ of silver, which would, l presume, IN modern
/ transaction. Passing over Babylon and other
great cities, which were in their day exception
ally dlstingulsned for their wealth, luxury, and
| refer more specially to Phoenicia, whose com
merce was at one time eor1msnsurate with the
| then known. world, and the shores of almost
| every known land were planted with her colonies
or frequented by her merchants. Among her
principal marts were Gades, colony founded
more than 5000 years ago, and still important
point on the Spanish peninsula, under the mod
ern name of Cadiz; also those imperial cities
| Tyre and Sidon, Tyre being called, by way of
| speeIa pTe5eminence, "yhe Royal Exchange Of
| the W World," and frequent reference to both
I and yoluptuousness of their inhabitants. Some
who hear F5 ne Will u remember mi that Tyre was the
oa of be reps s % the ta
a5S e6 9dorn which the resources of the world in
stinn "cd 1C 2, 70 III. iqto re9ui
illusiriOus daughter, is deserving of mention as
she was at one time perhaps the foremost city of
is ascribed the credit Of negotiating the earliest
commercial treaties of which any record exists
ferred to in the very desultory review am pre-
senting, the chief among which, in commercial
aspect, was Corinth. proserbial for her wealth
and splendori but distinguished above them ali
was Athens, the favorite of every student of his
efy ifsrs & city as renowned in trade as in arts and
| Islands and other distant quarters of the globe,
and to whom belongs the credit Of intenting or
present financial and commercial arrangement
| among the German States called the ''Zollyer-
Il
Athens, as in the other States.and cities men
| toned, her merchants were among her .most
prom nent and influential citizens in the airec-
ton of public affairs at the timo : hen her poets,
| philosopher and orators filed all lands with
WORLD although she held the nation in tribute,
and was the center of vast and promiscuous
tTate, was not in the ryper sense of the expires
OF the Srupire there sprang up group Of Italian
7 cities that for time well nigh monOpolized the
| commerce and controlled the finances of the
i NeulCe, GENOA. Florence and
| Pisa. Nenice,appropriately designated 1.-THE Bride
! Of the Sea" had at the commencement of t. e
| fifteenth century, her history relates, a ship
ping consisting of more than 5000 vessels, an ex-
port trade valued at 100000 ducats, or more
coins were current to the limits of civiliza-
| ton. In Venice the first newspaper that
discount and deposit was established, and the
| first bill of exchange issued. Banks are en-
banks Of Genoa Venice and florence have % BEEN seH
L called the landmarks of civilization: The
/ merchant of Venice has been immOrtalized by
the genius of Shakespeare. and did circum-
l stances justify it might enl aree upon the con-
spieuous part he took in producing, upbuilding
| glory OF these Italian States. In any sketch Of
| the history and influence of commerce, however
| pretermit the famous "Hanseatic League" that
splendid creation of commercial genius, as it hal
| been called, that reclaimed the North from bar
| barism and made the Netherlands, next to Italy
| the most prosperous part of Christendom. Thi:
memorable league was formed in l23g between
| the two cities of Hamburg and Lubbock, but after
ward extended to eighty-fve German cities, with
auxiliary connections in London and Other
tained an existence of more than 400 years III,
| objects for which the organization was formeC
| were chiefly the expansion OF commerce and it
protection from piracy and government extor
| tiOns, and Incidentally the development of othe
| industries. 1t established four great comman
cries or trade depots, of which one was at London
| NOvgerad, Burgess, and Bergen respectively, anC
rom these centers 1t controlled and monopolizet
the trade OF Europe; but becoming Intoxicated
| with success it perverted and abused its power
assumed imperial authority, raised armies anC
waged war upon large scale, even compelling
of Sweden, Norway and Denmark, unit
the nations of Europe were aroused AM
alarmed by its aggre 'sions and usurpation
| and measures were adopted that curtsileC
| its operations and ended in its overthrow
| Spain and Portugal at one time, as is wei
| maritime and commereiaI States II was a
BSrceiona, in Spqin, in i40I, that the first mari
| time code was framed, and 1t was the hope AM
| expectation of commercial ACKNOWLEDGMENT tina
and that led to the discovery Of the New World
| 1t was also the mercantile element in Portuga
| and development, and enabled her to rival an
ultimately supplant the Italian States. and it wa
in her eager reaching out for the coveted trade 0
| India and the East that the Cape of Good Hop
| was doubled and Africa eircumnavigated by be
| ships. But as Portugal had snatched the scepte
| from Venice and the other Italian States
: so she in her turn was compelled 10 relinquish
{ TO England, who, about the close of the seven
, | teenth century, attained commercial and mari
| time supremacy that has remains1 undispute
to the present day, the sails of hef merchant yes
, | sells whitening every and her trade ex
| tending to every portion of the habitable earth
| Recent statistics show the average annual valu
, of the entire foreign commerce of Great Britai
= | and Ireland to be in round numbers nearl
49, 800, ,O0O, ,00O; that of France that stands mex
, upon the list, upward of g, ,OOO, 600 900, and
, | Germany, that comes next to France, more tina
81 500, 900 600 The total foreign commerce of th
| United States, according to the most recent II
port of the Bureau of Statistics, tor the yes
600 being decrease ofupward of Sl36, 900 600 froI
| the average annui value of the four years enc
+ | ing June 30, 1884, as reported by the same al
| thority.
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
Exports of ,474 $40, 81
FRANCE.
Exports of 907, lis, o.
l,l62,573, IL
Total s., ,O69 6g3, A
GERMANY.
Total exports and i'm mports. ,5S7, ,Sl4 o.
UNITED STATES.
7 Exports of 20, ,765, 4
5Il,2S,e
4 Ofexports as reported fer the year ending j III
5 80, 1854, from the United States, cotton const
tuted in value Sos, 900, ,i05. From this it appear
Q | that as to her foreign commerce our COUNT
- -