Pagina 769 de 1391

Suppose now that a husbandman, or an artisan, brings some

production to market, and he comes at a time when there is no one

to exchange with him,-is he to leave his calling and sit idle in

the market-place?

Not at all; he will find people there who, seeing the want,

undertake the office of salesmen. In well-ordered states they are

commonly those who are the weakest in bodily strength, and

therefore of little use for any other purpose; their duty is to

be in the market, and to give money in exchange for goods to

those who desire to sell and to take money from those who desire

to buy.

This want, then, creates a class of retail-traders in our State.

Is not 'retailer' the term which is applied to those who sit in

the market-place engaged in buying and selling, while those who

wander from one city to another are called merchants?

Yes, he said.