How did the pedlar protect his pack?
Answers
The "distributor" of the produce of the country
is necessarily a kind of go-between, or middleman,
introduced for the convenience of bringing together
the producer and consumer -- the seller and the
buyer of commodities. The producer of a par-
ticular commodity being generally distinct from
the consumer, it follows, that either the commodity
must be carried to the consumer, or the consumer
go to the commodity. To save time and trouble
to both parties, it seems to have been originally
arranged that producer and consumer should meet,
periodically, at appointed places. Such periodical
meetings of buyers and sellers still exist in this
and many other countries, and are termed either
fairs or markets, according as they are held at long
or short intervals -- the fair being generally an
annual meeting, and the market a weekly one.
In the olden time the peculiar characteristic of
these commercial congregations was, that the pro-
ducer and consumer came into immediate contact,
without the intervention of any middleman. The
fair or market seemed to be a compromise between
the two, as to the inconvenience of either finding
the other when wanted. The producer brought
his goods, so to speak, half way to the consumer,
while the consumer travelled half way to the
goods. "There would be a great waste of time
and trouble," says Stewart Mill, "and an incon-
venience often amounting to impracticability, if
consumers could only obtain the article they want
by treating directly with the producers. Both
producers and consumers are too much scattered,
and the latter often at too great a distance from
the former."
