244 
INTERNATIONAL TRADE 
trade. . . . The comparative smallness of the ordinary flow is 
due mainly to the fact that international trade, long-maintained, 
has already brought about such a distribution of the precious 
metals, and such a range of prices in the several countries, that 
their exchanges balance very closely. It is only when great 
economic changes occur that a large movement of specie takes 
place; and even then it is commonly distributed over a period of 
several years.”