Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/222



S bearing on the system of credit, which the reader already perceives to have been far beterbetter [sic] developed in pre-Meiji Japan than is generally supposed by foreign observers, reference may be made to the manner of dealing with goods from the time of their leaving the hands of the producer or owner until they came into those of the consumer. The motive power of the whole machinery of distribution was credit. In the first place, the wholesale merchant either made advances to the producer or received the commodities on commission without any previous accommodation or security. He then offered them for sale by auction to middle-men (nakagai), and immediately on the completion of the sale he paid over the proceeds to the owner, less his own commission and charges. The broker, however, did not immediately pay the wholesale merchant. He merely became responsible for payment at a fixed future date, selling the goods meanwhile en bloc to the retailer, who also obtained them on credit