proportioned to the length of time involved.
This follows from the peculiar nature of the work which tliese great captains of industry have in hand, and more remotely, therefore, from the peculiar character of the earnings which induce them to undertake the work. Their work, though I it is of the gravest consequence to industry, is not I industrial business, in that it is not occupied with I anything like the conduct of a continuous indus', trial process. Nor is it of the same class as commercial business, or even banking business, in that there is no investment in a continued sequence of transactions. It differs also from stock and produce speculation, as that is currently conceived,' in that it does not depend on the lapse of time to bring a change of circumstances ; although it has many points of similarity with stock speculation. In its details this work resembles commercial business, in that it has to do with bargaining ; but so does all business, and this peculiar work of the trust promoter differs from mercantile business in the absence of continuity. Perhaps its nearest business analogue is the work of the real estate agent.
See, e.g., Emery, Speeutation on the Stock and Produce Exchaisgt qflht UniUd Stala, ch. IV ; Hadlej, Sconomic, ob. IV.
THE USE OF LOiN CREDIT 123
The volume of credit involved is commonly verv great ; whereas the credit period, the lapse of time, is a negligible factor. Indeed, if an appreciable credit period intervenes, that is a fortuitous circumstance. The time element in these credit operations is in abeyance, or at the beat, it is an indeterminate magnitude. Hence the formula shown above (p. 95. n. 3) is practically not applicable to business of this class. So far as bears upon the credit operations involved in these transactions of the