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TRACY, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1830-), American lawyer and soldier, was born in Owego, New York, on the 26th of April 1830. He was educated at the Owegp academy, was admitted to the bar in 1851, was district-attorney of Tioga county in 1853–1859, and was a member of the state Assembly in 1862. In 1862 he organized the 109th and the 137th regiments of New York Volunteer Infantry and (Aug. 28) was made colonel of the former. In September 1864 he became colonel of the 127th United States Colored Infantry; in 1864–1865 was in command of the prison camp at Elmira, New York, and in March 1865 was breveted brigadier-general of volunteers. He received a Congressional medal of honour in 1895 for gallantry at the Wilderness in May 1864. He was United States district-attorney for the eastern district of New York in 1866–1873, and an associate judge of the New York court of appeals in 1881–1882. In 1889-1893 he was secretary of the navy in the cabinet of President Benjamin Harrison, and then resumed the practice of law in New York City. He was chairman of the commission which drafted the charter for Greater New York, and in 1897 was defeated as Republican candidate for mayor of the city. In 1899 he was counsel for Venezuela before the Anglo-Venezuelan boundary arbitration commission in Paris.

TRADE (O. Eng. trod, footstep, from tredan, to tread; in M. Eng. the forms tred, trod and trade appear, the last in the sense of a beaten track), originally a term meaning track or course, and so surviving in “trade-wind” (q.v.), a wind which always blows in one course; hence a way of life, business or occupation, and, specifically, the handicraft in which a man has been trained and which he makes his means of livelihood, or the mercantile business which he carries on for profit, as opposed to the liberal arts or professions. A further development of meaning makes the word synonymous with commerce, comprehending every species of exchange or dealing in commodities.

TRADE, BOARD OF. The greater part of such supervision of commerce and industry as exists in the United Kingdom is exercised by the “Committee of Privy Council for Trade” or, as it is usually called, the board of trade. As early as the 14th century councils and commissions had been formed from time to time to advise parliament in matters of trade, but it was not till the middle of the 17th century, under the Common wealth, that any department of a permanent character was attempted. Cromwell's policy in this respect was continued under the Restoration, and in 1660 a committee of the privy council was appointed for the purpose of obtaining information as to the imports and exports of the country and improving trade. A few years later another committee of the council was appointed to act as intermediaries between the crown and the colonies, or foreign plantations, as they were then called. This joint commission of trade and plantations was abolished in 1675, and it was not until twenty years later that it was revived under William III., Among the chief objects set before this board were the inquiry into trade obstacles and the employment of the poor; the state of the silver currency was also a subject on which John Locke, its secretary, lost no time in making representations to the government. Locke's retirement in 1700 removed any chance of the board of trade advocating more enlightened opinions on commercial subjects than those generally held. It had only a small share in making the constitutions of the American colonies, as only the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nova Scotia were formed after the reign of Charles II.; and in 1760 a, secretary of state' for the colonies was appointed, to whom the control drifted away. In 1780 Burke made his celebrated attack on the public offices, which resulted in the abolition of the board. In 1786, however, another permanent committee of the privy council was formed by order in council, and with one or two small exceptions the legal constitution of the board of trade is still regulated by that order. Under it all the principal officers of state, including the first lords of the treasury and admiralty, the secretaries of state, and certain members of the privy council, among whom was the archbishop of Canterbury, obtained seats at the board ex officio; and ten unofficial members, including several eminent statesmen, were also placed on the committee. The duties of the revived board were made the same as they were in the beginning of the century, but the growth of commerce necessarily threw new administrative duties upon it. The board of trade thus became a mere name, the president being practically the secretary of state for trade, and the vice president became, in 1867, a parliamentary secretary, with similar, duties to those of a parliamentary under-secretary of state. At present, besides the president, who has usually a seat in the cabinet and whose salary is £5000 a year, there is a parliamentary secretary with' a salary of £1200, a permanent secretary (salary £1500, rising to £1800), and four assistant secretaries (each with a salary of £1200) for the harbour, marine, commercial, labour and statistical, and railway departments. There are also other important officials in charge of different departments, as mentioned below.

1. The Commercial, Labour and Statistical Department is the real remains of the original board of trade, as it combines the charge of the trade statistics with the general consultative duties with which King Charles II.'s board was originally entrusted. The statistical work includes compiling abstracts, memoranda, -tables and charts relating to the trade and industrial conditions of the United Kingdom, the colonies and foreign countries, the supervision of the trade accounts, the preparation of monthly and annual accounts of shipping and navigation, statistics as to labour, cotton, emigration and foreign and colonial customs, tariffs and regulations. The commercial intelligence department collects and disseminates accurate information on general commercial questions, and collects and exhibits samples of goods of foreign origin competing with similar British goods. It keeps register of British firms who may desire to receive confidential information relative to their respective trades and supplies that information free of charge. The labour statistics published by the department are exhaustive, dealing with hours of labour, the state of the labour market, the condition of the working classes and the prices of commodities; annual reports are also