vO O*. *''./^-* A.0 " ,^^°-
V
^. ^S^^^vo "•Wilis'*"^^"^^^
- '^bV^ •. '-^^o^ o^ .<J^^ .. ^v^
"oho «•^^'%
1vv
•J^^^
V
^
''^.^°^^;:>-
./^:^^'%
/.'j^t.-^o.
.^^v-'-BRIEFER
PAPERS
READ
IN
CONFERENCES
A.
Libya
as a Field ofResearch.By
Oric
Bates
B.
The
InternationalCharacterofCommercial
History.By
Abbott
P.
Usher
C.
Some
New
Manuscript Sources for theStudy
ofModern
Com-merce.
By
N. S. B.Gras
D.
The
Study
ofSouth American
Commercial
History.By
Charles
Lyon
Chandler
E.
On
theEconomics
of Slavery, 1815-1860.By
Ulrich
B.Phil-lips
F.
On
theHistory ofPennsylvania, 1815-1860.By
P.Orman
Ray
G. Historical Researchin the
Far
West.Bv
Katharine
Coman
ReprintedfromtheAnnualReportoftlieAmericanHistoricalAssociation for 1912,pages 137-156
WASHINGTON
D.
OF
n.IX.
BRIEFER PAPERS
READ
INCONFERENCES.
A.
LIBYA
AS
A
FIELD
OF
RESEARCH.
By
Oric Bates.B.
THE
INTERNATIONAL
CHARACTER
OF
COMMERCIAL
HISTORY.
By
Abbott P. Usher.C.
SOME
NEW
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES
FOR
THE STUDY
OF
MODERN
COMMERCE.
By
N. S. B. Gras.D.
THE STUDY
OF
SOUTH AMERICAN COMMERCIAL
HISTORY.
By
Charles L. Chandler.E.
ON
THE
ECONOMICS
OF
SLAVERY,
1815-18G0.By
Ulrich B. Philups. F.ON THE
HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA,
1815-1860.By
P.Orman
Ray.G.
HISTORICAL
RESEARCH
INTHE FAR
^YEST,By
Katharine Coman.A. LIBYA AS
A
FIELD OFRESEARCH.
ReadintheConferenceon AncientHistory,byOric Bates.
There is one region wliicli, although partially within the
Minoan
sphere, has been curiously neglected
by
students of the earUestMediterraneancultures: the
North
Africanlittoral zone. After four years of speciahzation in the historyand
ethno-geography ofNorth
Africa, Iam
convinced that beforewe
can attain to a just under-standing of Mediterranean origins,we
must
pay
farmore
attentionthanhitherto to the
Libyan
field.In thefirstplace, Sergi'scontention that, at averyremote period, there existed
on
both sides of the Mediterranean ahomogeneous
Afro-European or "Eurafrican" race is
now
supportedby
evidencemuch
more
serious than thatwhich
Sergi himself brought to bearupon
the question.By
the labors of other anthropologists themain
features ofhishypothesishave
become
establishedfacts. Tliis beingso, the study of ancient
Libya
is profoundly important ifwe
are to arrive atany
accurateknowledge
of the various ethnical elementswhich
constituted theMmoan
peoplesand
theGreeksand
Romans
of full classical times. In studying the ethnology of ancientLibya
we
arestudying the ethnology ofthe basic element inGreece
and
Italy,and
m
the Iberian peninsula aswell.Again, a very
complex
problem,which
needs to be approachedfrom
theLibyan
side, confronts the student of Semitic origins. Is there real justification for the recently arisen fashion ofspeaking of the Berber languages as"pro
to-Semitic" ?The
questioncan
be answered onlywhen modern
philology has got to thebottom
of themysteriousrelationship observable
between
the Semiticlanguageson
the onehand and
thenumerous
neo-Libyan dialectson
the other.When
thisproblem
isclearedup,we
shallhave
afact, oraset offacts, of theutmost
importance to the Semitic scholar, the Egy}5tologist,and
thestudent of Mediterraneanpre-history in general.Inregardto
Libyan
philology,two
other pointsmay
be mentioned:
First, that the Berlin school recognizes that the
Libyan
contribution to ancient Egy]Dtianlanguageisan
importantone, whileMaspero and
his adherents tend to regard it as fundamental.Yet
littlemodem
work
has beendone
under
this head.The
lateMarquis
deRoche-monteix
instituted a comparisonbetween
Berberand
Egyptian
140
AMEEICAN
HISTOEICAL ASSOCIATION.Byntax,
and
Ihave
myself endeavored todo
thesame
forthe vocabu-laries;but
neither the labors ofRochemonteix
normy
own
attemptscan be
takenasmore
thaninitial steps inafield inwhich
the philolo-gist,especiallyequipped,and
equallyfamihar withthework
ofBasset, Motylinski, Masqueray,and
others, in Berberstudies,and
^ath that ofErman,
Sethe,and
SteindorffinEgyptian, couldnotfail to secureveryvaluableresults. Secondly, despitede Vaux's
new
presentation of the Ugro-^\ltaic theory for the origin of Etruscan, here againwe
are inneed ofexpertphilological opiniontoconfute ortosupportthe
hypothesis of Brinton
and
Sergi,who
looked for the solutionof this gusestiovexataby means
of Berberphilology.To
turn to questionsmore
strictly historical, I vv'ould enumeratethe following as typicalproblems
demanding
theserious attentionof students ofancienthistory:1.
The
connectionbetween Libya and
Syriacallsforfurther investi-gation than it has yet receivedfrom
W.
M.
Miiller orfrom anyone
else. Thus,it appears that theHittitesconnived at oneof the great
Libyan
invasions of the Nile Valley in the time of the Twentieth Dynasty,and
everyoneisfamihar withthe noticesofLubim
orLehabim
mercenaries in the
Old
Testament. In theLibyan
spoil hsts areenumerated
objectswhich
are almost certainly derivedfrom
Syria, as well as othersobtainedfrom
northernsources;and
m
an Egyptian
rehefshowing
theEgyptian
assaulton
the Asiatic fortress ofSatuna
the garrison is represented as half Syrianand
haK
Libyan.With
what
partofLibya
did theSyiian SemitesofNew
Empire
timeshave
relations?Was
there a sea trafficbetween
thetwo
regions? IsDaressy right in asserting that already the Semites
had
established factoriesand
even coloniesinNorth
Africa? Tliese are butsome
ofthe questionssuggested
by
theknown
facts.2.
In
the case of the greatGreek
colony of Cyrene, theleadmg
problem
may
be said to be the relationship existing between the colonistsand
the natives. It has been suspected that the historic alternation in themonarchicalepoch of thenames
Battosand
Ai'ke-silaosmight
point to the early existence ofsome
sortof dual control inwhich
Greeksand Libyans
shared. I do not at present hold this view, but Iam
convinced that withoutan acquamtance
with thetemper and
usuages of theLibyan
inhabitants of CjTenaica, the internal history ofGreek
Africais asealed book. Tlieverynames
ofmost
of thetowns and
hamlets in Cyrenaica—
Sozusa, Taucheira,Damis,
Barkd, etc.—
are old Berber, asis also—
despite Studniczka's elaborate relation of thename
Kuprjvfj toa Greek
radicalKYP
withthe sense of dominor
—
thename
of themetropohs
itself.For
thename
ismost
easily explained as a Ilellenizedform
of theproto-Berber
^
pi.a^
Gyr, Igyren or^
pi.'^J^
Eyr, IkyrenwithLIBYA AS
A
FIELD OF EESEAECH.141
because of the copious water-supply of the site (cf.
modern
«j
>
for the value of the first radical;and
theArab <^^^
^^^
as a designation for the site of Cyrene inwhich
the locality isknown
because of its wonderful ''Fountain of Apollo")-Under
these cir-cumstancesit is merely absurdto attempt the mastery of this field without a scientificknowledge
of the native population which theGreeks dispossessed ofits heritage.
3.
What
has just been said applies with even greater force to the case of Carthage,on
account of the vigor ofher colonizingactivities,her extensiveuseofmercenaries, thefreedom with
which
hercolonists intermarriedwiththenatives,her tradewithLibya
Interiorand
along the coast,and
to that strange racialsympathy
wliich Duveyrier,Barth, Slouschz,
and
othershave
noted as existingbetween
theBer-bers
and
the Semites. .Some
features inCarthaginiansociology,which
were long considered very obscure,
have
received explanationat thehandsof
modern
students of Berber institutions.The
soffetimorsuffetes, for example,
have
theirmodern
parallelsamong
the Berbers,and
severalfundamental
features inmodern
tribalgovernments
recall similarones at Carthage.Here
again, therefore, thestudentwho
sets himself to disentangle the Semiticfrom
theLibyan
elements inCarthaginianliistory willhardlyfail to
meet
with arich reward. 4.Every
itemwliich, eitherby
acriticalstudyofthe ancient textsand
monuments
(Egyptian orclassical),orby
thecomparative studyof
modern
survivals,oneisableto gleanwithregard to the pre-Islamic cultus, illuminatessome
point inEgyptian, Cyrenaic, orCarthaginian religion.The
excellentwork
in this particular field of Toutain,Doutte,
and
otherstudentsinthebrilliantnew
schoolofFrench
schol-arship, has set a high standard for these researches, but has not exhausted the field. Thus, thenatureofthegod
"Amon
" ancientlyvenerated at
Siwah
hasbecome
clear to us onlyrecently,and
until last year the affinitybetween
the bull-god Gurzil of Corippusand
^Mnevis of Heliopolisand
similar conceptions,had
not been pointedout.
Many
suchelucidationsremaintobe made,
not only withregard to thepagan
divinities, but with regard to the saints ofNorthern
Africa aswell. In thefieldofAfrican hagiography,forexample,thework
ofEwald
Falland
KarlMaria
Kaufmann
atthe desertsanctuaryof St.
Menas
can notbe
calledfiinisheduntil critical study hasdeter-mined
how much
thatsaint'spopularitywas due
to the incorporation in hislegendaryactsofthosepagan
Libyan
elementswhich
survive inBerber
Moslem
stories ofgreatlocal sheikhs.The
above aresome
of the topics for research offeredby
Hamitic
North
Africa.From
theoutset,as thesubjecthas beenso neglected, Imay
have
suggested the objection that thefield ofi'crsmore
in the142
AMEEIOAN
HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.solvethem. This is not so great a difficultyas to deprive theserious
student of a reasonable
hope
of reward.Inthefirstplace, astudyof
modern
Berberdialects,which
number
overforty, will
some day
servefor awork
on Libyan
antiquity erectedon
lines similar to those of Schrader's Spraclivergleichungund
Urge-schicJitederArier,and
Iam
of thosewho
daretohope
thatsomethingofvaluewilleventuallybe
wrung
evenfrom
theso-called"Numidian"
inscriptions. *
In thesecond place, the prosecution of
Libyan
archeologyon
linesmore
scientificthanany which have
yetbeenfollowedissure to abol-ishthe currentindifferenceamong
studentsof theMinoan
civihzationtoward
North
Africa. EasternLibya,atleast,lay wellinside the ^linoan sphere.The
fertileCyrenaicaissituated underCrete, atonly a short distancefrom
that island; theGreek
sponge fisher,bound
for TripoHor Alexandria, still
makes
hisfirstlandfallinCyrenaica,thenturningwestward
or totheeast.Among
theCretanhieroglyphswhich
Evans
has collected
he
has, in his Scripta Minoa, signahzed onewhich
is identicalwith the African silphium-plantasconventionahzedlateron
Cyrenaiccoins.
On
thetwo
occasionswhen
Ihave
beeninCyrenaicaI
have
seen IMuioan objects reported—
in one caseon
authority cer-tainlygood
—
tohave
been foundon
the spot.The
great rock-cut forts of the interior of the Sanjak ofBarkah
strongly recall similar structures in early Greece. Thesearesome
ofthe reasonsfor believ-ing that the prospects for well-conducted excavation in Tripolitana or theMarmaric
littoral vdll resultin findswhich
willadd
greatly toour
knowledge
ofthe earlyAegean
world.In
the third place, in the matter of textual evidence the classical noticesand
thoseof theByzantine^Titers arenotsoeasil}^exhausted aswould
atfirstbe supposed. African hagiographyand
patristic lit-erature have, doubtless,stillmuch
toyield.New
cpigrapliicalmaterial bearingon
theLibyan
questionwillsoonbegin tocome
infrom
Tri-poHtana and
^Marocco,wliileany day
may
seetherecoveryinEgj^ptofnew
documentary
evidence.The
Arabic sources, finally,demand
athorough ransacking,
and an
attempt should bemade
to trace the factsembodied
in the laterArabic historiansand
geographerstotheir sources.In conclusion, I
would
recall that one of the figures prominent inBerber studies shortly after their inception
was an
American, the consulHodgson, whose
name
is stillgenerouslyremembered
inFrance
and
Algeria. It is to behoped
that,when
theEuropean
reconquestof
Marocco and
Tripohtana are accomplished facts,and
when
thesenew
fieldsofNorth
African research arethrown open
toinvestigation,American
scholarswlW
not be wholly insensible to the stimulus toLibyan
studieswhich
^vl[l result.B.
T9E
INTERNATIONAL
CHARACTER
OFCOMMERCIAL
HISTORY.ReadintheConferenceon
Modem
History, by Abbott P.Usher, ofCornell University.I shouldlike to
add
a fewwords
to Prof, Gay's remarksupon
theinternational characterof
many
of thelargerproblems ofcommercialhistory.
We
all recognize the simple literary virtue of unitywhen
it is presented to us as a matter of abstract principle, but as usual the actual practice of the virtue is not easy. It is not always
clear just
what
unitymust
be recognized.In
much
historicalwork,national boundaries set off the limits of the subject,
and
notinfre-quently
some
deposit of manuscript material willbe
so intimatelyconnected withthe subject that the
most
naturallimits willbe
imposed
and
definedby
the material availableinthatrepository.In
commer-cial history therelation of the subject matter to the source material is different.
The
subject is at times essentially international,although the source material is always affected
by
political bound-ariesand
the character of the political organization of the various regions involved. It is in such cases that the practice of themost
elementaryvirtueof literary composition
becomes
so difficult. Itis hardtofoUow
the subjectwhereveritgoes,and
to avoidthetempta-tion of writing
up
particular masses of material rather thanwritingupon
thesubject.Two
illustrations of this difficultycome
tomind:
Prof.Gustav
SchmoUer's studyofthePrussiangrain trade in the
"Acta
Borussica,"and
the problems involved in the history of the bill of exchange. In both of these instances the subject is distinctly international,but in each caseattempts
have
beenmade
to approach theproblem
from
a nationalpoint ofview.The
official character of the great series of"Acta
Borussica"naturally confined Prof. Schmoller to the limitations of a Prussian
pointofview,butinthestudyofthe grain trade the limitation
was
sin-gularly unfortunate.The
PrussianState beforeand
duringthe reign of Frederick the Greatwas
in the peculiar position of having themost
important grain-producing districts of northernGermany
just outside its borders.Mecklenburg on
the northand
the cereal dis-tricts ofPoland
to the eastwere
themost
considerable sources of supply.The
Magdeburg
district alonewas
within the boundariesof the
Kingdom.
Under
these circimistances, the controlling facts 143144
AMEEICAN
HISTOEICAL ASSOCIATIOlSr.of grain-trade policy lay in tlie relation of these outlying sources of
supply to the needs of Prussia,
and
in the interference of Prussian policywith thetradebetween
Poland
and
the Balticports. Further-more, thepartitions ofPoland
exerteda profoundinfluenceupon
thewhole
commercial situationby
altering therelation ofsome
of these cereal districtsto politicalboundaries.The
subjectisthusdecisively internationaland
theessentialunityis that of thewhole
commercialmovement.
The
history of the bill of exchange presents a similar difficulty.It
can
notbe
writtenfrom
the archives ofany
single country.One
can not limit researches to the repositories of Italy as Goldschmidt has done, nor confine one's attention to a single fair systeni like
Des Marez
with reference to the credit instruments of the Flemish fairs.The
studymust
pass in review the various forms of creditinstruments in all the important financial centers of the different periods.
The
billmust
be
followedfrom
Italy northward. Parts of the legal history of the instrument will be writtenfrom
Italianand French
archives.Much
of the history of the rise of regular dealing in bills willbe
writtenfrom
French, Flemish,and
Englisharchives.
In
such a subject nationalboundaries countfor littleand
unlessthe cosmopolitancharacteroftheproblem
isfrankly recognizednothing of
permanent
value willbe
accomplished. Researchunder
theseconditionsisdifficultbut the rewardsarecorrespondinglygreat, forfew
subjectswillthrow
somuch
lightupon
thehistory ofmodem
commerce.
SOME
NEW
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES FOR
THE
STUDY
OFMODERN
COMMERCE.
Read in the Conference on
Modem
History by N. S. B. Gras, of Clark College.Two
points inProf. Gay's paper appealtome
as of primeimpor-tance
—
commercialstagesand
new
sources, theformer beingthefun-damental needin the historyof
commerce
and
thelatterholding outsome
prospect that the needmay
be
met.Probably
few
have been
satisfiedwiththe stagesof
SchmoUer and
Biicher,which
are so largely pohtical in character.Most would
perhaps accept thetwo
first stages, villageand
town economy,
as distinctin commercialhistory.But what
comes
next? Is it territorial or nationaleconomy?
I prefertoholdthatit isneither theone northe otherbut
metropolitan economy. Justwhat
nationaleconomy
isinthe history ofcommerce
I
have
no
clear conception apartfrom
political organization.Na-tional
economy
seems
to be, asfar as tradegoes, a matter ofpoten-tiahty ratherthan ofreality.
What
Ihave
toadd
to the discussion to-day chiefly concerns thesubjectofthe
new
sourceswhich
may
be
utilized by,him
whose
ambi-tion it is to reap a harvest in the fields of the history of tradeand
commerce,
and
Imay
add,by him
who
has thecourageto enterand
the pertinacity to continuethework.The
particularsources inquestion are the Englishcustoms
recordswhich
contain detailed information for the study ofmodern
trade.Ingeneral there arefivegroups of suchsources, corresponding to the followingfiveperiods
:
1066-1204, only a
few documents
remain;1204-1275, only
smnmary
accounts are extant;1275-1565,
a
splendidset ofdetailed accounts;1565-1800, the Port
Books;
1800-present, practicallyonly summaries.
It is chieflyto the
newly
discovered, or the rediscovered,documents
oftheperiod 1565-1800 that I wishto call attention.Though
men-tioned in early official reports,
and
though
longknown
to afew
Record
OflB.ce officials, theywere
made
available only last winter.Their present accessibility
we
owe
very largely to the zeal of Mr.Hubert
Hall.146
AMERICAN
HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.In point of bulk the Port
Books
are to be reckoned only in cart-loads,and
inpointofnumbers
onlyinthousands, probably25.They
areallin
book form but vary
much
insize,from
theblankvolume
ofa petty outport to the ponderous
tome
of themetropoliswithits 500odd
skins.On
thewhole, thisseries, in spite ofmany
vicissitudes of fortuneand
change of residence, is in agood
state of preservation,though
often so closely written as tomake
reading tedious.Prob-ably, however, the student
would be
more
repelledby
mere
bulk.That
thisis unfortunatewill, I think, appearfrom an
accoimtof thekind ofinfonnation locked
up
in theiruninviting covers.Sinceonly formal differences divide theseries of Port
Books from
the earherseries ofCustoms Accounts above
mentioned,what
issaid of the former will equally apply to the latter. In each entry arefound
the following matters:
Date
ofmonth
and
the year;Name
of the shipand
at timesits tonnage;
Name
of the masterand
shippers;
Destination in case ofexport
and
placeofshipment
in caseofimport
;
Amount
and
kindofgoods,and sometimes
the value;Customs and
subsidies paid.Thus
not only is the student furnished with plenteous materialbut
he
isgiven veryprecise informationupon
subjects ofgreatmoment.
This
makes
possible a statistical analysis of English tradewhich
is apparently unique. Justas in the earherCustoms Accounts
we
find considerable informationaboutthe dealingsof the Staplers, so inthePort
Books
we
are supplied with sources for the study of the joint stockcompanieshitherto unused. Just asinthe earlierserieswe
are able to trace the incoming ofnew
luxuries, so in the latterwe
canfollow the increase in the exportation of
home-made
articles of ever increasing finenessand
value. In the formerdocuments
we
see as early as the fifteenth century, the exportation of the products of a nascent domestic system, such as coverlets, caps, shoes,and
iron-wares (otherwise
unknown
to us),and
in the latter the exportationoftheproductsofthelaterstagesofthe
same
domestic system.But
of greaterimportancestill,
we
are furnishedwithmaterials ofservice inany
effort to solvewhat
Prof.Gay
hassaid to be of greatimpor-tance, the
development
of themiddleman and
the widening of themarket.
But
for the sixteenth, seventeenth,and
eighteenthcentiu'ies there isa furthersom-ce asyetunknown
and
inaccessibleto thestudent ofEnghsh
cormnerce. I refer towhat
may
looselybe
called Coast Bonds. Destruction of these documents,which
are tobe
numbered
onlyinthe
hundreds
ofthousands,has been contemplated, butit istobe hoped
that this will not becarried out.NEW
SOURCES FOE STUDY
OFMODERN COMMERCE.
147
These Coast
Bonds
are small slips ofparchment
recording coast shipments,and
valuable for the history of thedevelopment
of local industries as well as for tlie indication they give of the decrease or increase in the trade of specific portsand
districts; butmost
of all will they be of service to the investigator of thedevelopment
of thedomestic market.
In conclusion I
have
but tliree remarks tomake.
The
subject of prime importancewhich
needs investigation is the evolution ofcommercial stages. Material of great value in this connection is to
be found in the above-mentioned sources for the period 1275-1800.
And
lastly, itwould
be of inestimable serviceifsome
onewould
hstand
characterize the manuscriptsdeahng
with trade to be found in the various European,and
especially the English, archives.D.
THE
STUDY
OFSOUTH
AMERICAN
COMMERCIAL
HISTORY.Remarks in the Conference on
Modem
History, by Charles Lyon Chandler, DepartmentofState.There are
few
fields of historical studymore
neglected to-daythanthe commercial history of
South
America. There arefew arms
of the great sea of historical investigationwhich have
been sounex-plored; almost
no
part ofithas been the subjectofcriticalhistorical researchby
our scholars. I will confinemyself to merelyindicatinga
few
of themore
important topics that could beworked up
into usefultheses.Why,
for instance, shouldLima
have
87,000 peopleand
Buenos
Aires 46,000 in 1810, while ahundred
years later the Ai'gentmecapital
had
1,200,000 people ascompared
with thePeruviancapital's 160,000?Was
the so-called monopohstic system of the Spanishand
Portuguese colonialgovernments
really so exclusive?Think
what
an
mterestingcomparison could bedrawn between
theGuipuz-coan
Company
in Venezuelaand
the British East IndiaCompany
and
other great chartered companies.The
history of slaveryand
of the slave trade in colonialSouth America
is another fascinating topic.What
became
of the 20,000 negroeswho
were
inBuenos
Aires in 1810?How
many
of them, after slaverywas
abolished in 1813, perished in the crossing of theAndes
inSan
Martin's negro regiments inJanuary
and
February, 1817?To come down
tomore modern
times, interesting studiesmight
be written
on
thedevelopment
of shippingbetween
South
America
and
the rest of the worldfrom
the foundation of the PacificSteam
Navigation
Company
by
aMassachusettsman,
WilUam
Wheelwright,in 1840
—
orevenfrom
Capt. Uriah Bunker'svoyage
from Nantucket
toBrazil in 1774—
tothe present time; oron
thereasonswhy
South
America
makes
six-sevenths of her purchasesfrom
Europe,and
only one-seventhfrom
the United States, in this year 1912.For
thosewho
continuously decry the absolutism of the Spanishcolonial regime, a study of the various consulates or
chambers
ofcommerce
that existed in the larger Spanish colonial cities will beinteresting
and
profitable.What
indirect influences did the oneestablished at
Buenos
Aires in 1791have on
quickening the spirit offreedom
and
economic independence therein?That
of Lima,«THE STUDY
OFSOUTH AMERICAN COMMERCIAL
HISTORY.149
which
existedfrom
1619 to 1821, deservesespecialstudy.The
ordi-nance of the Viceroy Prince of Esquilache, of
December
20, 1619—
not long after the first
House
of Burgesseshad
met
atJamestown,
Va.
—
gave the "Consulateof theMerchantsof thisCityofthe Kings, of theKingdoms
and
ProvincesofPeru, TierraFirma
and
Chile,and
of thosewho
may
transact business therein with theKingdoms
ofSpain
and
New
Spain," jurisdiction over allcommercial mattersand
lawsuits between merchants, partners, brokers,and
agents; in short,almost
compete
controlofeverythingrelatmgtocommercialmatters, including disputesoverwages between
mastersof vesselsand
seamen.On
the2d
ofJanuary
of each yearthe ''businessmen
ormerchants, married or widowers, over 25 years of age, with theirown
business houses, not being foreigners or lawyers," weresummoned
to votefor the
members
of this consulate ofcommerce.
Thisbody
had an
important
and
recognized position whereveritwas
estabhshed. Its indirectcontrolover the fuiances oftencausedit toexertmuch
influ-ence overthepohcy and
actionsofthe viceroys or othersinauthority,and
itmust
be regarded, viewed in thehght
of the times inwhich
it existed, as a strictlyrepresentative
body
exercising a direct influ-enceon
the administration of thegovernment
of this important Spanish colony.Thus
the Calle Mercadores inLima,
the Street of the Merchants,where
these merchant-electors mostly lived,may
beE.
ON
THE
ECONOMICS
OF SLAVERY, 1815-1860.Remarks intheConferenceon AmericanHistory, byU. B. Phillips, University of Michigan.
In Prof.
Dodd's
paper,which
allmust
agree is highly suggestiveand
admirable, I must, however, take issuewith the assertion that slaves offered themost
profitable investment for capital in the antebeUum
South. If the statement were applied only to the periodswhen
slave prices were verylow, itmight
be unexceptionable; butwhen
made
sweepinglyitmay
easily be refuted.The
closing of the African slave-tradeand
thedevelopment
of cotton production droveup
the price of"prime
fieldhands" from
an average of about $300a
head
in 1790 to an average offrom
$1,600 to $1,800 in 1860,and
simultaneouslydrove
down
theprice of cottonfrom
arange of 20 to40 cents a
pound
about the beginningof the nineteenth century toa range of 10 to 12 cents in the decade of the fifties.
The
prices ofboth slaves
and
cotton fluctuated actively through the whole antebellumtime,
and
theirfluctuationsfor briefperiodswere
oftenparal-lel.
But
in the long run slave priceswent
up
tremendously while cotton priceswent down.
Now
the productionof cottonwas
by
far the chiefemployment
of slave labor,and between
1820and
1860no
great changeswere
made
in thesystem
ofcotton culture nor, so far as onemay
judge, in the per capita outputby
the slavesemployed
in the industry.We
are driven to the conclusion that in the later ante bellum decades slave prices were so high that the investment could bemade
to yield even amoderatelygood
return only throughthe
most
efficientmanagement
and
in the districtsmost
favorable for the production of the plantation staples.As
an index to the situation itmay
be observed that several railroad companieswhich
bought
slaves to constitute their track gangs in the thirtiesbecame
convincedin the forties
and
fifties that hired laborwas
the cheaper,and
with one accord sold off their slaves.The
fluctuations of the slavemarket
^ave
occasional opportunity for profitablespeculation,but seldom
—
virtuallyneverafterthe twenties—
did slave laborintheUnitedStates permit industrialinvestment withlarge rates ofprofit.
On
the general subject of the antebeUum
period, a principalneedin
my
opinionis the study ofeconomicand
socialconditions districtby
district throughout the country,from aU
discoverableuncon-sciousaswellasconscious material,
and
thestudyof political policies 150ON THE
ECONOMICS
OF SLAVERY.151
and campaigns
as inducedby
these economicand
social conditions.As
between economicand
social affairs, I think the formerhave
recently received the greater attention, but the latter are inmany
connections themore
important. In a recent work, for example,Prof.
Dodd
draws an analogybetween
the positionof the pro-slaverymen
and
that of present-daychampions
of the protective tariff, strictly on theground
of vested interests. lie here neglects the principal factorin the situation.Whereas
theNorth
ingeneralwas
consideringonly theinstitution of slavery, theSouth
was
confronted with theproblem
of racial adjustments as itsparamount
considera-tion.
The
two
sections did not face thesame
issue, nor, so to say, did they speak thesame
language. Theirarguments
never met, butconstantlyglanced past one another.
The
historianwho
would
give asound
exposition of the great issuesmust
becritically cognizant of all the doctrines influentialin the period ofwhich he
treats; hemust
view
them
all asphenomena
and
bedominated
by
no
one of them.The
subservience to the abolitionist tradition, for example,which
has characterized
most
of the writing ofAmerican
history to the present day, vitiatesmuch
that has been printedand
necessitatesnew
studies with broader interpretations.It is probable that every important political group in
American
history has put forward asmany
false issuesand arguments
as it has true ones.Whether
John Quincy
Adams
really thought that the "sacredright of petition"was
endangeredby
theAtherton reso-lutions; whether the abolitionists believed that slaves in theSouth
were driven to death for the greater profit of their masters, or that
emancipation in the British
West
Indies did not prostrateindustry;whether the pro-slavery leaders reaUy thought that there
was an
economic need forthe extension of slavery into California orKansas; whether William L.
Yancey
in advocating the reopening of the African slave tradewas prompted
by
a belief in its desirabilityand
feasibility, orwhether
he
merelyraised the issuein order to producea
new
sense ofsoutherngrievanceand
thereby strengthen themove-ment
for southern independence—
all theseand
many
similar ques-tionsare interesting,and
some
ofthem
vital.But
most
ofthem,and
most
of the vastlylarger questions of sectional divergenceand
con-flict, aswell asmany
questionsof nonsectional character, requirefor their understanding aknowledge
of every sort of historical material bearingupon
them,and
require also a familiarity with the countryF.
ON
THE
HISTORY
OFPENNSYLVANIA,
1815-1860.Remarksinthe ConferenceonAmerican History,by P.
Orman
Ray, The Pennsyl-vaniaStateCollege.The
liistory of Pennsylvaniabetween
1815and
1860 furnishes anumber
of profitable subjects for investigation. Iwould
suggest(1) a careful study of Pennsylvania politics
between
1815and
1828.Such
a studywould
cover the contestbetween
Findlayand
Hiester forthe governorship, the bickeringsand
influenceoftheIrish editors,John
Binns of the Democratic Pressand
WilliamDuane
of theAurora; the beginnings of the convention system of nominations,
the early
movement
for high protectionand
internal improvements,the declineofthecommercial class
and
therise ofthe manufacturinginterests,
and
thegrowth
ofJacksonianDemocracy
in Pennsylvania. (2)While
much
has alreadybeenwrittenon
the economicliistory of Pennsylvania,much
remains to be written,and
to the ambitious student in this field of historicalwork
Iwould
especiallycommend
the financial history of the State.
(3)
The
contest for free schools, culminating in theenactment
ofthe school
law
of1834and
the attempttorepealitat thenextsession ofthelegislature,hasbeen
treatedon
itsformaldocumentary
side inWickersham
's ''Historyof
Education
inPennsylvania." Itremains,however, for
some
one to correlate this great struggle w^ith thecon-temporaneous
political, economic, sectional,and
denominationalinterests.
(-1)
To
the list of biographies suggestedby
preceding speakers, Iwould add
a life of Stephen Girard, the founder of Girard Collegeand
possibly the greatest financier of his day. There is said tobe
avastamount
of Gu-ard's correspondence,now
in the possessionof the trustees of the Girardestate,which
has notyetbeen
drawn upon
by
any
biographer.(5)
One
of themost famous and
important contests in the Penn-sylvania Legislature occurred in 1845-46 over the right to construct a railroadfrom
Philadelpliia or Ilarrisburg to Pittsburgh.The
contending parties were the Baltimore
and Ohio
KailroadCompany
and
thecompany
which
soonbecame
the Pennsylvania RailroadCompany.
Tlie strugglebetween
them
is important Jiot only as aphase of the rivalry
between
Philadelphiaand
Baltimore for theON"
THE
HISTORY
OFPENNSYLVANIA,
1815-1860.153
trade of the West, but because itserves to suggest aprofitable sub-ject for investigation in the field of practical politics in other States as well as in Pennsylvania.Such
a studymight
be entitled"Early
Railroadsand
State Legislatures."The
investigationshouldinclude notonlyan examinationofthelegislativeproceedingswhich
preceded and attended thegranting ofearlyrailway franchisesand
theenact-ment
of other legislation incidental to the constructionand growth
of railways, but should also include the connection of railway com-panies with localand
State politics, particularly as related to the choice ofmembers
of the legislatures.(G) In the period
we
are considering,anumber
of State constitu-tional conventions met.The
proceedings of these conventionswould
furnish the basis for a series of profitable investigations. Iwould
suggestan
analysis of the debatesand
votes in the severalconventions (a)
upon
the subject of the qualifications forvotingand
holding office, (6)upon
the limitations to be placedupon
the legis-latures,and
(c)upon
the subjects of canals, railways,and
banks. (7) Tliemovements
fortheabolition ofimprisonment
fordebtand
for an elective State judiciaryseem
to be suitable subjects for in-vestigation; also, the agitation forand
against theenactment
ofa prohibitory liqiior
law
in the early fifties.From
an
extended examination of newspapers for these years in connection withwork
upon
another subject, Iwas
much
impressed with theamount
of spacedevotedto thisphaseofthetemperance questionatatimewhen
the slavery questionis
commonly
supposed tohave
beenuppermost
in politics. Iam
incUned to think that careful investigationwould
show
that the liquor-law agitationwas
a factorm
breakingdown
partylinesinthe
North between
1850and
1856,secondm
importanceonly to the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise.
The
thorough treatment of this subject for the entire country would, it seems tome, berather too large
an
undertaking for asingle investigator. Iwould
recommend
a series of studies, each studyhmited
to a smallgroup of States.
(8) Finally, I
would
suggest a series of intensive studies in the different presidentialcampaigns
occurringbetween
1815and
1860.In view of
what
has already beendone
in hisown
seminary along this line, ourchairman
is in a better position than I to expressan
authoritative opinion regardingwhat
may
beaccomphshed
in this field. I, for one,hope
that theday
is not far distantwhen
we
shall see the publication of a series of carefully preparedmonographs
coveringallthe presidentialcampaigns
prior to 1861.G. HISTORICAL
RESEARCH
INTHE
FAR WEST.
Read iu the Conference on American History, by Katharine Coman, Wellesley College.
When
by
the Louisiajia Piu-chaseand
the treat}' ofGuadalupe
Hidalgo the United States
Government
trebled its territory, therewere
added
to the national domain, not onl}" vast resources—
agricultural, mineral,
and
commercial—
and
area for themaking
of22 States, but powerfulsocial
and
political forces.The
exploration, exploitation,and
civilization of the Louisiana Territorysummoned
American
citizens to deeds of courage, endurance,and
seK-sacrifice.The
deeds of thosemen
of thewestward
migration, Jedidiah Smith,Marcus
Wliitman,Gov.
Robinson,and
scores of other influential leadershave
been duly chronicled. Conscious that they wereworking
for posterity,many
of these frontiersmen kept journals,some
ofthem
ill-spelled, scrappy,and
often in error as to latitudeand
longitude, yet they give the essential facts.Timothy
Flint firstsaw
the importance of preserving these"human
documents."Not
content with recording hisown
experiencesand
observationsalong the Mississippi
and Arkansas
Rivers,he
editedand
publishedthe Pattie Narrative. Elliott
Coues
brought outan
importantseries of journals, including those of
Zebulon
M.
Pike, Lewisand
Clark,Jacob
Fowler, Charles Larpenteur,and
J.W.
Powell.But
the historian of the
Far
West
isabove
all indebted toReuben
G. Thwaites, 23 ofwhose
30volumes
of"Early
Western
Travels"present the journalsof
men who
knew
thelandbeyond
theMississippi.The
several fur companies, too, did then* part in writing history.The
MissouriFur
Company,
theRocky
Mountain
Fur
Compan}^, above all. Aster's creation, theAmerican
Fur Company,
keptrecordsand
letter files that containmuch
of lasting import. Thesemusty
papers, together with personal letters
and newspaper
filesfrom
frontiertowns,have
been thoroughlyscarciiedby
Maj.PL M.
Chitten-den,and
his "History oftheAmerican
Fur
Trade
of theFar
West"
affords firm treading for the student
who
would
understand thispioneer industry.
Fortunatelylocal patriotismhas fostered the keeping of historical records.
Hardly
was
a State organizedand
its political boundariesdelimited,
when
a State historical associationwas
formed. Notableamong
these local bodies are theOregon
HistoricalAssociationand
theOregon
Pioneer Association, the latter having published a series of Transactions that covers 40 yearsand
includes such papers asHISTORICAL
RESEARCH
INTHE
PAR
WEST.155
Mrs.
Whitman's
Journaland
theMcLoughlin
Document.
The
State historical associations of Washington, Missouri, Kansas,
and
Texas
have
achieved results hardly loss significant.One
might
mention a score of individual historians, laymen,
and
professionals,whose
labors in the western fieldhave
been zealousand
fruitful.The
Nestor of the chroniclers of theFar
West
isHubert
Howe
Bancroft, president of the Pacific coast branch of theAmerican
Historical Association.The
35volumes
of his "History of the Pacific Coast States" constitute amine
of informationon which
all subsequent historiansmust
rely for suggestion as to the course of eventsand
direction as to sources.The
Bancroft Collection,now
in the library of the University of CaUfornia, is themost
considerable private collection of books, manuscripts,and
transcripts, notably the Vallejo papers, but thenumber
of originaldocuments
atSanta
Fe
and
the LatterDay
Saints' Historian's Office at Salt
Lake
Cityis ofno
less significance.The
public library ofLos
Angeles has gathered a largenumber
of authenticated copies of the journals of Spanish explorers, but itsmost
important originaldocument
is the report of the"Mercury"
case, the only record of the proceedings of a Spanish court against
Yankee
smugglers represented inany American
library. Tlie State library atSacramento
has little to illustrate theMexican
period of California history, but for theAmerican
period its collection of files ofnewspapersand
magazines.Statedocuments,biographical sketches, etc., isunrivaled.The
"Index
ofEconomic
Material" (1849-1904),compiled
by
Miss A. R.Hasse under
the auspices of the CarnegieInstitution, has rendered tliis material easy of access.
There is a vast
amount
of interesting data still extant, but in highly perishable form, e. g., in thememories
of livingmen
whose
partialbutvividknowledge
ofeventsshouldbe wrictendown
before itpassesbeyond
our reach.The
reminiscencesofsuchmen
asJ. J. Warner, JosiahBelden, J.B.Chiles, J. Minto, WilliamJennings, etc., areamong
themost
important manuscripts in the Bancroft Collec-tion. Equally in danger of destruction are the lettersand
familypapers, businessrecords,
and book
collections thatremain
in privatehands
subject toaU
the chancesof fire and flood, neglect,and
per-sonalwhim.
Gov. Abernethy's papers, ofmuch
value to the histo-rian, are stiU in private hands.The San
Francisco fire swept large collections, both publicand
private, into oblivion.The
Public Library lost 140,000 volumes,includingcomplete files ofearlynewspapers, the California Star, the Cahfornian,
and
Alta California.The
European
portion of the SutroLibrarywent
up
insmoke, but theSpanish-American
material, largely manuscripts ofMexican
origin, escaped.The
Spanish156
AMEEICAN
HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION".presidios of
Upper
California were in charge of the United. Statessurveyor
and
were housed inan
innerroom
of the land officeon
Montgomery
Street.The
Library of Congresshad
made
an
un-successful effort to
have
these irreplaceabledocuments removed
toWashington. There
was
sufficient delay in the burning of that section ofSan
Francisco tohave
made
possible the saving of the contents of theLand
Office, butno
onewas
athand
who
seems tohave
feltresponsible for the task.The
losswas
irreparable. Thereare considerable transcripts in the Bancroft Collection, but the authentic data for a history of land titles in California are lost.
Another mass
of undigested history destroyed in this conflagrationwas
the records of the AlaskaCommercial
Company,
successor to the Kussian-AmericanFur
Company.
Another
collection of evengreater interest
were
the carefully kept records of the Wells-Fargo ExpressCompany.
For
the 20 years duringwliichmining
was
the leadingindustry of the far West, the Wells-Fargowas
the sinequa
non
of success, since theirpack
trains furnished the onlymeans
of getting the gold orsilver or copper to market.The
history of this greatcompany
isrepletewith adventure,and
was
soon tohave
beenwritten up, but flames sv»^ept
away
every vestige of the material.So
that the early history of the Wells-Fargo ExpressCompany
can never be written.Highly
commendable
is the zeal of the students ofwestern history to utilize allmaterial thatremainsand
to discover its true meaning.Prof. Joseph Schafer, for example, spent a year
rummaging
tliroughthe
Hudson's
Bay
Company's
records inLondon
and
publishedsome
of the results in theAmerican
HistoricalReview
—
thecorre-spondenceofSir
George
Simpson,aseries of lettersthatmust
radicallymodify
the previous interpretationput
upon
the policy of the GreatCompany
toward American
settlers in Oregon.The
Hittells, Theo-doreH. and John
S.,have
spent their liveson
the history of Cali-forniawith admirableresult.The
Academy
of PacificCoast History has printed a series of scholarly translations of the journals of theSpanish explorers.
The
journals ofJedidiah Smith, thewell-knownfur trader,