Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 445

Edinburgh Journal, No. 445, by
Various

Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 445, by
Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and
with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 445 Volume 18, New Series,
July 10, 1852
Author: Various
Editor: William Chambers and Robert Chambers
Release Date: March 11, 2007 [EBook #20797]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK
CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH ***

Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. Shiffer and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL

CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS,
EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,'
'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.
No. 445. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1852. PRICE 1-1/2d.

ECONOMY IN DISTRIBUTION.
We had lately occasion to proceed by an omnibus from a country town
to a station on a railway, by which we were to return to the city where
we have our customary abode. On arriving at the station, we learned
that we should have to wait an hour for an up train, the omnibus being
timed in relation to a down one, which was about to pass. Had this
arrangement been the only one readily practicable, in the case, we
should have felt it necessary to submit uncomplainingly to the loss of
our hour; but it really was not so. We had come in one of three
omnibuses, none of which had more than two or three passengers. Why
should not one have come at this hour with down passengers, and
another come an hour later with up ones, thus by the same trouble
giving more accommodation? We found that the three omnibuses are
run by so many hotels, and that an arrangement for general
convenience was impossible, as it might have interfered with the hotel
business. On the continent, the government would have ordered matters
otherwise: with us, the genius of laissez faire permits them to be as we
describe.
It is in the same part of the country that a system exists amongst bakers,
which we described many years ago in these pages. There are three
towns, triangularly arranged, about ten miles from each other. One or
more bakers in each has a van, in which he sends bread every day to the
other two. As there is no witchcraft in the making of bread, it might be
as well for the inhabitants of each town to be supplied by the bakers of
their own place exclusively, and then the expense of the carriage would
be saved. Such, however, is the keenness of competition in the case,
that each baker strives to get supporters in the neighbouring towns, and
willingly pays for van, horse, and driver in order to retain their custom.

We presume each van goes thirty miles a day, and that there is not
much less than 2000 miles of this unprofitable travelling weekly in
connection with the three towns.
Any one who has a sincere respect for the principle of untrammelled
industry, must lament to see these its abuses or drawbacks. But our
commercial world is full of such anomalies. The cause is readily traced
in the excessive number of persons engaged in the various trades. Not
many years ago, the number of bakers in a town known to us, of the
same size as one of those above referred to, was fourteen, while
everybody acknowledged that four might have sufficed. In such
circumstances, it is not wonderful that expedients like that of the van
are resorted to, notwithstanding that it can only diminish the aggregate
of profit derived by an already starving trade.
Few persons who walk along a street of nicely-decorated and
apparently well-stocked shops, have the slightest conception of the
hollowness of many of the appearances. The reality has been tested in
part by the income-tax inquisition, which shews a surprising number of
respectable-looking shops not reaching that degree of profit which
brings the owner within the scope of the exaction. It may be that some
men who are liable, contrive to make themselves appear as not so; but
this cannot be to such an extent as greatly to affect the general fact. In
the assessing of the tax, no result comes out oftener than one of this
kind: Receipts for the year, L.2200; estimated profit at 15 per cent.,
L.330; deductions for rent of shop, taxes, shopmen's wages, and bad
debts, L.193; leaving, as net profit, L.137. The commissioners are left
to wonder how the trader can support his family in a decent manner
upon so small a return, till they reflect that possibly a son brings