Incompetence and corruption were prevalent in the management of affairs. The worst abuses of our modern corporations give one but a faint idea of the enormities that were perpetrated in the early period of joint stock history. In spite of all, the joint stock companies accomplished the purpose for which they were created; they attracted capital at home, stimulated the prosecution of a definite policy abroad, and extended commercial interests as individuals or other forms of association would have been unable to do. The American reader may remember that Virginia was founded and Massachusetts was developed by joint stock companies. Other forms of association, especially partnership, were more suitable for many purposes, and increased constantly in number; but alongside them several hundred stock companies grew up in Europe of which perhaps a hundred were founded to develop great commercial and colonial undertakings. QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 1. Write a report on the break-up of the manor and the rise of modern farming in England. [Cheyney, Indust. hist., chap. 5, or one of the other manuals of English economic history.] 2. Write an essay comparing the restrictions of the guilds with those of modern trade-unions. 3. What are the functions of wholesale merchants and hence what was the importance of their rise at this time? 4. Who were some of the notable merchants of the period? [Bourne, Romance, chap. 12, or English merchants.] 5. What examples can you find nowadays of the different classes of commission merchants mentioned in the text? What commission do they charge? 6. Write a report on the rise of the modern postal system. [See Encyc. Brit., articles Post-office, Postage stamps.] 7. Write a similar report on the history of the newspaper. [Encyc. or Bucher, **Indust. Ev., chap. 6.] 8. Endeavor to understand the reasons for mercantile association, and for the requirement of this association by the government, by reviewing the changes in conditions since this period, and seeing why association is not necessary or compulsory now. 9. Study Cunningham, Growth, vol. 2, sect. 188, on regulated and joint-stock companies, and pick out examples of each type in the following sections. 10. Write a report on the various forms which the (English) East India Company assumed during the first century of its existence, and the reasons for the changes. [Cunningham, or Hunter, **Hist. of British India.] 11. Write a report on abuses and corruption in this company. [Hunter.] BIBLIOGRAPHY A bibliography accompanies the chapter by Cunningham on **Economic change, Cambridge mod. hist., vol. 1, which furnishes the best brief account in English of topics considered in this chapter. Histories of various countries at the period of the Reformation present descriptions of their agricultural, industrial, and commercial organization; but I know of no general and comprehensive treatment in English of topics treated here.