Chapter 298 The Transformation of Merchants’ Status

The two people who were talking happened to meet Prime Minister Venizelos who was also leaving the meeting room. Read 520 official website

Hearing the topic the two were talking about, they immediately attracted attention and stopped.

"Why did Prince Andreas think of such a question?" Venizelos asked curiously.

"After serving as a director of the Royal Bank during this period, I have been dealing with business people almost every day. In the office, I need to meet and talk with many businessmen who come to borrow money to handle business and participate in various social occasions. Even today, the meeting organized by the government is full of business elites." Andreas said helplessly.

In addition to government officials, the people who came to the meeting today also included a large number of representatives sent by large and small companies in the Greek business community.

"When you contact them, the core of the issue you talk about is always inseparable from money"

"After participating in the meeting today, I suddenly became curious about the changes in the status of the business community." Andreas gave the same explanation to Venizelos.

Constantine and Venizelos looked at each other. Although Andreas might just be trying to come up with a sudden idea, this question successfully attracted the attention of both of them.

Before the Industrial Revolution, the status of merchants was suppressed in both the East and the West.

In the East, there were scholars, farmers, merchants, and artisans. Merchants belonged to the bottom of society and the lowest class.

Even the imperial examination system explicitly stipulated that the children of merchants were prohibited from participating in the imperial examination.

The suppression and discrimination against merchants were obvious.

Some people may object that scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants did not truly reflect the real social class division in ancient society. At least, the status of "farmers" was overestimated, which was contrary to the public impression that the status of farmers in the feudal era was generally low.

There may be some misunderstandings here. The "farmers" among scholars, farmers, and artisans want to become a member of the "farmers". The minimum standard is also a self-cultivating farmer who owns his own land.

Although tenants, a group that rents other people's land, belong to the majority of the general public, they do not belong to the "farmer" group.

In other words, the "farmer" in the category of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans should be considered as the landlord group, which is more appropriate.

In the West, the status of merchants is also not high.

In Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, the impressive miser Shylock has been a timeless literary figure. Mentioning the merchant Shylock will make people think of words such as "greedy", "stingy" and "vampire".

Shakespeare extracted the disgusting ideas of the people in the real society at that time towards merchants, and created the literary image of Shylock through artistic processing.

Although people hate Shylock, his Jewish identity is an important factor, but the Jewish community is rejected by Europeans, and their merchant identity is the main reason.

To this day, greedy, stingy, and vampire are still words that are often heard to scold merchants.

Christianity, which has a strong secular influence in Western countries, also has a doctrine full of contempt for merchants.

In the Middle Ages, Christian culture was also against business, and the rich could not go to heaven.

The famous Medici family of Florence, Italy, made their fortune by lending money. Even though they were rich enough to rival a country, they could not stop the secular people from judging them. At the beginning, the Medici family was expelled from Florence three times.

The legendary American Benjamin Franklin once wrote a pamphlet that was popular in North America. In the book, Franklin deliberately relieved those businessmen who felt guilty because of making money.

Even in the Eastern Roman Empire, which was at the crossroads of East-West communication, merchants were a suppressed group. The rulers of the Eastern Roman Empire only regarded the merchants who came and went as merchants who collected tolls.

In the feudal era, whether in the East or the West, the status of merchants was not high. They were a class despised and scolded by secular morality.

If everyone has a negative attitude towards the merchant group, there must be a profound logic behind this phenomenon to support everyone to do such behavior. This is not a coincidence.

The reason is also very simple. Merchants do not produce.

In the feudal era before the Industrial Revolution, merchants themselves did not create wealth, they were just the porters of wealth.

Merchants only acted as intermediaries in their buying and selling.

They really had nothing to praise.

In ancient times, land cultivation was almost the only way to produce wealth, and the political power was held by landlords of all sizes, who would of course exclude the merchant class.

From the emperor or king to the lowest small landlords, in essence, they were all landlords of all sizes, and their power came from the control of the land.

They were the powerful class in the feudal era.

The merchant class and the landlord class were in a competitive relationship, and the target of the competition was the limited wealth produced from the land. How could the powerful landlord class give a good face to its competitors?

Land is the "eternal wealth" that can be inherited by future generations and continuously produce wealth-food.

No matter how much money you have, it is floating wealth before it is converted into land!

This is not land worship, but the reality of ancient times. Apart from land, you can't find other investment channels, let alone value preservation and appreciation.

There is no stock market, bank, national debt, factory, and you have no other way to invest money except land.

After officials or businessmen in ancient times became rich, they would quickly return to their hometowns to buy land and become new landlords.

Why was lending money reviled in ancient times?

In Dream of the Red Chamber, Wang Xifeng lent money at high interest rates and was accused of damaging her virtue. Later, after the Jia family was raided, the loan notes were found and Wang Xifeng's husband Jia Lian was convicted.

In the West, Christianity directly denounced lenders as vampires.

According to the moral concepts of the 21st century, it is natural to repay debts. Although the high interest rates of usury are controversial, if you borrow money, you should indeed pay reasonable interest.

So why was lending a shady profession in ancient times, regardless of the East or the West?

First of all, the money in the 21st century is different from the money in ancient times.

The 21st century is paper money, while the ancient times were precious metal currencies.

The cost of issuing paper money is almost negligible relative to its face value and will gradually depreciate over time.

If the number of banknotes lent and recovered is the same, the borrower has indeed suffered losses due to currency depreciation, and it is reasonable to ask for interest as compensation.

In ancient times, money was generally precious metal currency, gold, silver or copper. Under the premise that the quality of the currency remained unchanged, there was no currency depreciation.

There was no claim that borrowers demanded interest compensation due to the loss of currency depreciation.

Secondly, in later generations, money was one of the production factors and could be invested in production activities to generate income.

People often hear how much GDP has increased compared with the previous year and how much it has increased month-on-month, so it is reasonable for borrowers to demand interest as income.

But before the Industrial Revolution, the situation was completely different. Society was static.

The annual harvest depended entirely on the quality and quantity of the land.

If you invest twice as much money in a piece of land, can you get twice or more income?

Before the Industrial Revolution, there was no claim that borrowing money to invest in production would generate profits!

Wealthy people would definitely not borrow usury, and those who borrowed were almost all poor people.

What should I do if I can't pay back the usury?

Those who can engage in usury are all powerful people, and there is no possibility of defaulting. You have to repay it even if you sell your house, land or even sell yourself as a slave.

When it comes to lending, everyone will associate it with bankruptcy and family ruin. Who would have a good impression of lenders?

It is appropriate to scold Wang Xifeng for lending money at high interest rates.

Therefore, lending in ancient times was indeed a way to earn bloody wealth, and the social morality was not wrong to accuse and despise lending.

After careful consideration, Venizelos agreed with Constantine's explanation of the low status of merchants in the feudal era, thinking that it made sense.

"Then after the Industrial Revolution, the status of the merchant group has undergone a more fundamental change," Andreas said thoughtfully.

Venizelos explained: "Everything changed after the Industrial Revolution."

Merchants after the Industrial Revolution are no longer simple merchants. To be precise, they should be industrial and commercial, and this is the key factor in the transformation of the status of merchants.

After the Industrial Revolution, merchants themselves are the main producers of social wealth. Factories replaced land and became the main tool for wealth production.

Industrial output value has become a data that governments of various countries pay attention to.

In fact, merchants replaced the former social status of the landlord class and held power in society.

Just like in the feudal era, the landlord class who controlled the land held the political power.

After the Industrial Revolution, merchants became the most dynamic and creative group. Theoretical science, after being transformed by merchants, was commercialized and became a technology that could be applied in practice.

"Whoever creates wealth holds wealth. For this reason, the most advanced industrialized countries have successively undergone capitalist revolutions. Its essence is that the merchant class replaced the previous landlord class and held the state power," Constantine added.

Although it was just a few simple sentences, it can explain the wave of reform that swept the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

"So, Andreas's feeling is completely correct. The current merchant class does have a wide influence in society," Constantine said to Andreas.

"The Royal Bank is an important layout of the royal family in the economic field and a link between the royal family and the merchant class. You should now understand the meaning of this sentence better. Your work is very important to the royal family." After solemnly admonishing Andreas, Constantine said goodbye to the two.

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Valvis's white short-sleeved shirt and blue denim overalls were washed and faded, but they were clean. He carried a schoolbag made of worn-out linen by his mother. Although he was already twelve years old, he looked a little short and thin because his family had been affected by the war recently. He and his younger brother, Loves, were rushing home from school.

Valvis came to the intersection as usual and suddenly noticed a crowd of people gathered together, seemingly watching something.

The young man's curiosity was aroused. Valvis took advantage of his young age and short stature to squeeze into the crowd and finally noticed the scene in the crowd: several workers peeled off the old notices on the notice board, applied paste, and carefully posted several new notices on the notice board.

Valvis, who was already in elementary school, noticed the words "The government encourages landless people to reclaim 50 acres of wasteland" on the notice, and he let out a scream. His little face turned red with excitement, and after squeezing out of the crowd like a loach, he dragged his younger brother, Little Loves, who had no time to react, and rushed into the alley.

"Mom, mom, come and see!" Valvis shouted loudly when he was still far away from his own house.

In the low stone hut, Kalia was mending a few old clothes given by neighbors today. Because they were too big, they needed to be trimmed before they could be worn by the two brothers, Vilvas.

Hearing her son's cry, she thought something had happened and hurriedly opened the door: "What's wrong, Vilvas, can't you be more obedient and don't get into trouble again?"

Although she was only 29 years old, Kalia's face was full of fatigue and dark circles under her eyes due to the difficulties in her life in recent times.

"Mom, the government's notice is about reclaiming wasteland," Vilvas said breathlessly.

Kalia's family originally lived in the Eastern Rumelia region of Bulgaria. After the war between Greece and Bulgaria broke out, the situation of Greeks living in Eastern Rumelia suddenly deteriorated.

After Eastern Rumelia was controlled by Bulgaria in 1885, due to the small population, most of the locals were Bulgarians, and the Greeks living there began to be discriminated and suppressed by the Bulgarians.

After the outbreak of the war between Greece and Bulgaria, the contradictions between the two sides further intensified. The Greeks living in Eastern Rumelia were looted by the Bulgarians, their land was confiscated, and their property was looted.

When fleeing to Greece, many Greeks were attacked and killed, and Kalia's husband was one of them.

Because her husband died during the escape, Kalia, who became a widow at a young age, took her two young sons and relied on begging or the help of the Orthodox Church along the way. In the past month, she moved to the small town of Kavala.

Because she had no income and was a widow, her life in Kavala has always been very difficult. Fortunately, the two brothers' income was in Greece's compulsory education, so they could go to school for free and try lunch for free at school, which greatly reduced Kalia's burden. Otherwise, Kalia, a woman alone, would have no way to support two children.

After the war, there have been rumors that the Greek government will introduce measures to encourage people to reclaim wasteland, granting uncultivated wasteland to the public for free. This has become the only opportunity for Kalia's family, who have no source of income.

"Really?" Kalia exclaimed, and then, without stopping, she pulled the two brothers to run to the intersection.