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1
378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
359
The
same
restoration
of
order
was
seen
in
the
business
of
importations,
which
had
been
hitherto
almost
a
matter
of
guess-work.
A
merchant
who
wished
to
buy
silks
in
Lyons,
sent
out
his
orders
months
in
advance,
and
of
course
somewhat
at
random,
not
knowing
how
the
market
might
turn,
so
that
when
the
costly
fabrics
arrived,
he
might
find
that
he
had
ordered
too
many
or
too
few.
A
China
merchant
sent
his
ship
round
the
world
for
a
cargo
of
tea,
which
returned
after
a
year's
absence,
bringing
not
enough
to
supply
the
public
demand,
leaving
him
in
vexation
at
the
thought
of
what
he
might
have
made,
"if
he
had
known,"
or,
what
was
still
worse,
bringing
twice
too
much,
in
which
case
the
unsold
half
remained
on
his
hands.
This
was
a
risk
against
which
he
had
to
be
insured,
as
much
as
against
fire
or
shipwreck.
And
the
only
insurance
he
could
have
was
to
take
reprisals
by
an
increased
charge
on
his
unfortunate
customers.
This
double
risk
was
now
greatly
reduced,
if
not
entirely
removed.
The
merchant
need
no
longer
send
out
orders
a
year
beforehand,
nor
order
a
whole
ship-load
of
tea
when
he
needed
only
a
hundred
chests,
since
he
could
telegraph
to
his
agent
for
what
he
wanted
and
no
more.
With
this
opportunity
for
getting
the
latest
intelligence,
the
element
of
uncertainty
was
eliminated,
and
the
importer
no
longer
did
business
at
a
venture.
Buying
from
time
to
time,
so
as
to
take
advantage
of
low
markets,
he
was
able
to
buy
cheaper,
and
of
course
to
sell
cheaper.
It
would
be
a
curious
study
to
trace
the
effect
of
the
cable
upon
the
prices
of
all
foreign
goods.
A
New
York
merchant,
who
has
been
himself
an
importer
for
forty
years,
tells
me
that
the
saving
to
the
American
people
cannot
be
less
than
many
millions
every
year.
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