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.”