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(Download PDF) Horngrens Financial and Managerial Accounting The Financial Chapters Tracie L Miller Nobles Online Ebook All Chapter PDF
(Download PDF) Horngrens Financial and Managerial Accounting The Financial Chapters Tracie L Miller Nobles Online Ebook All Chapter PDF
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Horngren’s
Financial & Managerial
Accounting
THe Financial cHapTers
Global Edition
FiFth Edition
Tracie Miller-Nobles
Austin Community College
Brenda Mattison
Tri-County Technical College
Authorized adaptation from the United States edition, entitled Horngren’s Financial & Managerial Accounting, The Financial Chapters, 5th edition,
ISBN 978-0-13-385125-0, by Tracie L. Miller-Nobles, Brenda L. Mattison and Ella Mae Matsumurato, published by Pearson Education © 2016.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a license permitting restricted copying in
the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC 1N 8TS.
All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. The use of any trademark in this text does not vest in the author or publisher any
trademark ownership rights in such trademarks, nor does the use of such trademarks imply any affiliation with or endorsement of this book by such owners.
ISBN-10: 1-29-211710-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-29-211710-2
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Typeset in 11/13, Adobe Garamond Pro Regular by Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd
Printed and bound by
About the Authors
Tracie L. Miller-Nobles, CPA, received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees
in accounting from Texas A&M University and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in adult learn-
ing also at Texas A&M University. She is an Associate Professor at Austin Community College,
Austin, TX. Previously she served as a Senior Lecturer at Texas State University, San Marcos,
TX, and has served as department chair of the Accounting, Business, Computer Information
Systems, and Marketing/Management department at Aims Community College, Greeley,
CO. In addition, Tracie has taught as an adjunct professor at University of Texas and has
public accounting experience with Deloitte Tax LLP and Sample & Bailey, CPAs.
Tracie is a recipient of the Texas Society of CPAs Rising Star Award, TSCPAs
Outstanding Accounting Educator Award, NISOD Teaching Excellence Award and the
Aims Community College Excellence in Teaching Award. She is a member of the Teachers
of Accounting at Two Year Colleges, the American Accounting Association, the American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the Texas State Society of Certified Public
Accountants. She is currently serving on the Board of Directors as secretary/webmaster of
Teachers of Accounting at Two Year Colleges, as a member of the American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants nominations committee, and as chair of the Texas Society of CPAs Relations with Education Institutions committee. In addi-
tion, Tracie served on the Commission on Accounting Higher Education: Pathways to a Profession.
Tracie has spoken on such topics as using technology in the classroom, motivating non-business majors to learn accounting, and incorporating active
learning in the classroom at numerous conferences. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her friends and family and camping, kayaking, and quilting.
Brenda L. Mattison has a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in account-
ing, both from Clemson University. She is currently an Accounting Instructor at Tri-County Technical
College in Pendleton, South Carolina. Brenda previously served as Accounting Program Coordinator
at TCTC and has prior experience teaching accounting at Robeson Community College, Lumberton,
North Carolina; University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg, South Carolina; and Rasmussen
Business College, Eagan, Minnesota. She also has accounting work experience in retail and manufac-
turing businesses.
Brenda is a member of Teachers of Accounting at Two Year Colleges and the American
Accounting Association. She is currently serving on the board of directors as Vice President of
Conference Administration of Teachers of Accounting at Two Year Colleges.
Brenda previously served as Faculty Fellow at Tri-County Technical College. She has presented
at several conferences on topics including active learning, course development, and student engage-
ment.
In her spare time, Brenda enjoys reading and spending time with her family. She is also an
active volunteer in the community, serving her church and other organizations.
3
Brief Contents
Chapter 1 Accounting and the Business Environment 25
Chapter 2 Recording Business Transactions 79
Chapter 3 The Adjusting Process 141
Chapter 4 Completing the Accounting Cycle 207
Chapter 5 Merchandising Operations 270
Chapter 6 Merchandise Inventory 348
Chapter 7 Internal Control and Cash 398
Chapter 8 Receivables 447
Chapter 9 Plant Assets, Natural Resources, and Intangibles 498
Chapter 10 Investments 547
Chapter 11 Current Liabilities and Payroll 579
Chapter 12 Long-Term Liabilities 620
Chapter 13 Stockholders’ Equity 669
Chapter 14 The Statement of Cash Flows 722
Chapter 15 Financial Statement Analysis 788
AppENdix A—2013 Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. Annual Report 851
AppENdix B—Present Value Tables 899
AppENdix C—Accounting Information Systems 901
GlossAry 959
iNdEx 973
phoTo CrEdiTs 987
4
Contents
Chapter 1 What Is the Trial Balance? 103
Preparing Financial Statements from the Trial Balance 103
Correcting Trial Balance Errors 104
Accounting and the Business Environment 25
How Do You Use the Debt Ratio to Evaluate Business
Why Is Accounting Important? 26 Performance? 105
Decision Makers: The Users of Accounting Information 27
The Accounting Profession 28 ■ review 107
What Are the Organizations and Rules That Govern ■ assess Your progress 114
Accounting? 30 ■ Critical thinking 139
Governing Organizations 30
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles 30
The Economic Entity Assumption 30
The Cost Principle 33
Chapter 3
The Going Concern Assumption 34 The Adjusting process 141
The Monetary Unit Assumption 34 What Is the Difference Between Cash Basis Accounting and
International Financial Reporting Standards 34 Accrual Basis Accounting? 142
Ethics in Accounting and Business 34 What Concepts and Principles Apply to Accrual Basis
What Is the Accounting Equation? 35 Accounting? 144
Assets 36 The Time Period Concept 144
Liabilities 36 The Revenue Recognition Principle 144
Equity 36 The Matching Principle 145
How Do You Analyze a Transaction? 37 What Are Adjusting Entries, and How Do We Record Them? 146
Transaction Analysis for Smart Touch Learning 37 Deferred Expenses 147
How Do You Prepare Financial Statements? 43 Deferred Revenues 153
Income Statement 43 Accrued Expenses 154
Statement of Retained Earnings 44 Accrued Revenues 157
Balance Sheet 45 What Is the Purpose of the Adjusted Trial Balance, and
Statement of Cash Flows 46 How Do We Prepare It? 162
How Do You Use Financial Statements to Evaluate Business What Is the Impact of Adjusting Entries on the Financial
Performance? 48 Statements? 164
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. 48
How Could a Worksheet Help in Preparing Adjusting Entries
Return on Assets (ROA) 48
and the Adjusted Trial Balance? 165
■ review 50
■ assess Your progress 55
AppENdix 3A: Alternative Treatment of Recording Deferred
■ Critical thinking 77
Expenses and Deferred Revenues 167
What Is an Alternative Treatment of Recording Deferred
2
Expenses and Deferred Revenues? 167
Chapter Deferred Expenses 167
Deferred Revenues 169
recording Business Transactions 79 ■ review 170
What Is an Account? 80 ■ assess Your progress 178
Assets 80
Liabilities 80 ■ Critical thinking 204
Equity 82
Chart of Accounts
Ledger 83
82
Chapter 4
What Is Double-Entry Accounting? 84 Completing the Accounting Cycle 207
The T-Account 84
Increases and Decreases in the Accounts 84
How Do We Prepare Financial Statements? 208
Relationships Among the Financial Statements 209
Expanding the Rules of Debit and Credit 85
The Normal Balance of an Account 85 How Could a Worksheet Help in Preparing Financial
Determining the Balance of a T-Account 86 Statements? 213
How Do You Record Transactions? 87 Section 5—Income Statement 213
Source Documents—The Origin of the Section 6—Balance Sheet 213
Transactions 87 Section 7—Determine Net Income or Net Loss 213
Journalizing and Posting Transactions 88 What Is the Closing Process, and How Do We Close the
The Ledger Accounts After Posting 99 Accounts? 215
The Four-Column Account: An Alternative to the Closing Temporary Accounts—Net Income for the Period 217
T-Account 101 Closing Temporary Accounts—Net Loss for the Period 219
5
How Do We Prepare a Post-Closing Trial Balance? 221 ■ review 305
What Is the Accounting Cycle? 223 ■ assess Your progress 316
How Do We Use the Current Ratio to Evaluate Business ■ Comprehensive problem for Chapters 1–5 344
Performance? 224 ■ Critical thinking 345
AppENdix 4A: Reversing Entries: An Optional Step 226
What Are Reversing Entries? 226
Accounting for Accrued Expenses 226
Chapter 6
Accounting Without a Reversing Entry 227 Merchandise inventory 348
Accounting with a Reversing Entry 228 What Are the Accounting Principles and Controls
■ review 230 That Relate to Merchandise Inventory? 349
■ assess Your progress 238 Accounting Principles 349
Control Over Merchandise
■ Comprehensive problem 1 for Chapters 1–4 265 Inventory 350
■ Comprehensive problem 2 for Chapters 1–4 266 How Are Merchandise Inventory Costs Determined
■ Critical thinking 267 Under a Perpetual Inventory System? 351
Specific Identification Method 353
8
Changing Estimates of a Depreciable Asset 512
Chapter Reporting Plant Assets 513
How Are Disposals of Plant Assets Recorded? 514
receivables 447 Discarding Plant Assets 514
What Are Common Types of Receivables, and How Are Credit Selling Plant Assets 516
Sales Recorded? 448 How Are Natural Resources Accounted For? 520
Types of Receivables 448
Exercising Internal Control Over Receivables 449 How Are Intangible Assets Accounted For? 521
Recording Sales on Credit 449 Accounting for Intangibles 521
Recording Credit Card and Debit Card Sales 450 Specific Intangibles 521
Factoring and Pledging Receivables 452 Reporting of Intangible Assets 524
How Are Uncollectibles Accounted for When Using the Direct How Do We Use the Asset Turnover Ratio to Evaluate
Write-Off Method? 453 Business Performance? 525
Recording and Writing Off Uncollectible Accounts—Direct Write-Off AppENdix 9A: Exchanging Plant Assets 526
Method 453
Recovery of Accounts Previously Written Off—Direct Write-Off How Are Exchanges of Plant Assets
Method 453 Accounted For? 526
Limitations of the Direct Write-Off Method 454 Exchange of Plant Assets—Gain Situation 526
How Are Uncollectibles Accounted for When Using the Exchange of Plant Assets—Loss Situation 527
Allowance Method? 455 ■ review 528
Recording Bad Debts Expense—Allowance Method 455 ■ assess Your progress 533
Writing Off Uncollectible Accounts—Allowance ■ Critical thinking 545
Method 456
Recovery of Accounts Previously Written Off—Allowance
Method 457
Estimating and Recording Bad Debts Expense—Allowance
Chapter 10
Method 457 investments 547
Comparison of Accounting for Uncollectibles 462 Why Do Companies Invest? 548
How Are Notes Receivable Accounted For? 464 Debt Securities Versus Equity Securities 548
Indentifying Maturity Date 465 Reasons to Invest 548
Computing Interest on a Note 466 Classification and Reporting of Investments 549
Contents 7
How Are Investments in Debt Securities Accounted For? 551 What Are Bonds? 624
Purchase of Debt Securities 551 Types of Bonds 626
Interest Revenue 551 Bond Prices 626
Disposition at Maturity 551 Present Value 627
How Are Investments in Equity Securities Accounted For? 552 Bond Interest Rates 627
Equity Securities with Less Than 20% Ownership (Cost Method) 552 Issuing Bonds Versus Issuing Stock 628
Equity Securities with 20% to 50% Ownership (Equity Method) 553 How Are Bonds Payable Accounted for Using the Straight-Line
Equity Securities with More Than 50% Ownership (Consolidations) 556 Amortization Method? 629
How Are Debt and Equity Securities Reported? 556 Issuing Bonds Payable at Face Value 630
Trading Investments 556 Issuing Bonds Payable at a Discount 630
Available-for-Sale Investments 558 Issuing Bonds Payable at a Premium 633
Held-to-Maturity Investments 560 How Is the Retirement of Bonds Payable
How Do We Use the Rate of Return on Total Assets Accounted For? 635
to Evaluate Business Performance? 561 Retirement of Bonds at Maturity 635
■ review 562 Retirement of Bonds Before Maturity 636
■ assess Your progress 568 How Are Liabilities Reported on the Balance Sheet? 638
■ Critical thinking 576 How Do We Use the Debt to Equity Ratio to Evaluate Business
Performance? 639
13
Accounted For? 592
Bonus Plans 592 Chapter
Vacation, Health, and Pension Benefits 593
Warranties 593 stockholders’ Equity 669
How Are Contingent Liabilities Accounted For? 595 What Is a Corporation? 670
Remote Contingent Liability 595 Characteristics of Corporations 670
Reasonably Possible Contingent Liability 595 Stockholders’ Equity Basics 671
Probable Contingent Liability 595 How Is the Issuance of Stock Accounted For? 674
How Do We Use the Times-Interest-Earned Ratio to Evaluate Issuing Common Stock at Par Value 674
Business Performance? 597 Issuing Common Stock at a Premium 674
■ review 598 Issuing No-Par Common Stock 675
Issuing Stated Value Common Stock 676
■ assess Your progress 604 Issuing Common Stock for Assets Other Than Cash 677
■ Critical thinking 618 Issuing Preferred Stock 678
How Is Treasury Stock Accounted For? 679
Chapter 12 Treasury Stock Basics 679
Purchase of Treasury Stock 679
long-Term liabilities 620 Sale of Treasury Stock 679
How Are Long-Term Notes Payable and Mortgages Payable Retirement of Stock 682
Accounted For? 621 How Are Dividends and Stock Splits Accounted For? 683
Long-Term Notes Payable 621 Cash Dividends 683
Mortgages Payable 622 Stock Dividends 686
8 Contents
Stock Splits 690 Tools of Analysis 789
Cash Dividends, Stock Dividends, and Stock Splits Compared 690 Corporate Financial Reports 789
How Is Equity Reported for a Corporation? 691 How Do We Use Horizontal Analysis to Analyze a
Statement of Retained Earnings 691 Business? 791
Statement of Stockholders’ Equity 692 Horizontal Analysis of the Income Statement 792
How Do We Use Stockholders’ Equity Ratios to Evaluate Horizontal Analysis of the Balance Sheet 793
Business Performance? 693 Trend Analysis 794
Earnings per Share 693 How Do We Use Vertical Analysis to Analyze
Price/Earnings Ratio 694 a Business? 795
Rate of Return on Common Stock 694 Vertical Analysis of the Income Statement 796
■ review 696 Vertical Analysis of the Balance Sheet 796
Common-Size Statements 798
■ assess Your progress 703
Benchmarking 799
■ Critical thinking 720
How Do We Use Ratios to Analyze a Business? 800
Evaluating the Ability to Pay Current Liabilities 801
Chapter 15
Financial statement Analysis 788
How Are Financial Statements Used to Analyze a
Business? 789
Purpose of Analysis 789
Contents 9
This page intentionally left blank
Changes to This Edition
General
Revised end-of-chapter short exercises, exercises, problems, continuing problems, comprehensive problems, and critical thinking cases.
NEW! Added three comprehensive problems in managerial chapters.
Chapter 1
NEW! Added discussion of the Pathways Commission and incorporated the Pathways’ Vision Model.
Clarified and simplified the financial statement presentation.
Chapter 3
NEW! Added discussion of the new revenue recognition principle.
Replaced the word prepaids with deferrals to better align with the presentation of the other types of adjusting entries.
Chapter 4
Increased the usage of the classified balance sheet as a requirement for end-of-chapter problems.
Chapter 5
NEW! Added section on income tax expense and updated income statement presentation.
Chapter 9
Expanded the discussion on partial-year depreciation.
Chapter 11
NEW! Added a discussion on income taxes payable.
Updated the payroll section for consistency with current payroll laws at the time of printing.
Chapter 13
Moved coverage of treasury stock before dividends to increase students’ understanding of dividend transactions.
Modified the presentation of dividends to match the material presented in earlier chapters (Chapters 1–4).
http://www.pearsonglobaleditions.com/horngren 11
Financial & Managerial Accounting…
Expanding on Proven Success
New to the Enhanced eText
The Enhanced eText keeps students engaged in learning on their own time, while helping
them achieve greater conceptual understanding of course material. The worked examples bring
learning to life, and algorithmic practice allows students to apply the very concepts they are
reading about. Combining resources that illuminate content with accessible self-assessment,
MyAccountingLab with Enhanced eText provides students with a complete digital learning
experience—all in one place.
12
NEW! Learning Catalytics—A “bring your own device” assessment and classroom activity sys-
tem that expands the possibilities for student engagement. Using Learning Catalytics, you
can deliver a wide range of auto-gradable or open-ended questions that test content knowl-
edge and build critical thinking skills. Eighteen different answer types provide great flexibil-
ity, including graphical, numerical, textual input, and more.
NEW! Animated Lectures—These pre-class learning aids are available for every learning
objective and are professor-narrated PowerPoint summaries that will help students prepare
for class. These can be used in an online or flipped classroom experience or simply to get
students ready for lecture.
13
End-of-Chapter Continuing and Comprehensive problems
14
Chapter openers
Chapter openers set up the concepts to be covered in the
chapter using stories students can relate to. The implications
of those concepts on a company’s reporting and decision
making processes are then discussed.
On November 10, Smart Touch Learning performed services for clients, for which the clients
will pay the company later. The business earned $3,000 of service revenue on account.
This transaction increased Accounts Receivable, so we debit this asset. Service Revenue
is increased with a credit.
Notice that Smart Touch Learning credited the amortization directly to the intangible
asset, Patent, instead of using an Accumulated Amortization account. A company may
Why was the credit an intangible asset directly when recording amortization expense, or it may use the
account Patent account Accumulated Amortization. Companies frequently choose to credit the asset
credited instead account directly because the residual value is generally zero and there is no physical as-
of Accumulated set to dispose of at the end of its useful life, so the asset essentially removes itself from
the books through the process of amortization.
Amortization—
At the end of the first year, Smart Touch Learning will report this patent at $160,000
Patent? ($200,000 cost minus first-year amortization of $40,000), the next year at $120,000, and
so forth. Each year for five years the value of the patent will be reduced until the end of its
five-year life, at which point its book value will be $0.
Try It!
Total Pool Services earned $130,000 of service revenue during 2016. Of the $130,000 earned, the business received $105,000 in
cash. The remaining amount, $25,000, was still owed by customers as of December 31. In addition, Total Pool Services incurred
$85,000 of expenses during the year. As of December 31, $10,000 of the expenses still needed to be paid. In addition, Total Pool
Services prepaid $5,000 cash in December 2016 for expenses incurred during the next year.
1. Determine the amount of service revenue and expenses for 2016 using a cash basis accounting system.
2. Determine the amount of service revenue and expenses for 2016 using an accrual basis accounting system.
Check your answers online in MyAccountingLab or at http://www.pearsonglobaleditions.com/Horngren.
For more practice, see Short Exercises S3-1 and S3-2. MyAccountingLab
redesigned iFrs
The redesign includes clean and consistent art for T-accounts, Information on IFRS provides guidance
journal entries, financial statements, and the accounting equa- on how IFRS differs from U.S. GAAP
tion. New art types include clear explanations and connection throughout the financial chapters.
arrows to help students follow the transaction process.
ASSETS LIABILITIES EQUITY
Contributed
= Capital Retained Earnings
Common – Dividends + Revenues – Expenses
Stock
16
28 chapter 1
investors
Outside investors who have some ownership interest often provide the money to get a
business going. Suppose you’re considering investing in a business. How would you decide
whether it is a good investment? In making this decision, you might try to predict the amount
of income you would earn on the investment. Also, after making an investment, investors can
use a company’s financial statements to analyze how their investment is performing.
You might have the opportunity to invest in the stock market through your com-
pany’s retirement plan. Which investments should you pick? Understanding a company’s
financial statements will help you decide. You can view the financial statements of large
companies that report to the SEC by logging on to http://www.finance.yahoo.com,
http://www.google.com/finance, or the Security and Exchange Commission’s EDGAR
database (http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml).
Creditors
Creditor Any person or business to whom a business owes money is a creditor. Before extending
Any person or business to whom a credit to a business, a creditor evaluates the company’s ability to make the payments by
business owes money. reviewing its financial statements. Creditors follow the same process when you need to
borrow money for a new car or a house. The creditor reviews accounting data to determine
your ability to make the loan payments. What does your financial position tell the creditor
about your ability to pay the loan? Are you a good risk for the bank?
taxing Authorities
Local, state, and federal governments levy taxes. Income tax is calculated using accounting
information. Good accounting records can help individuals and businesses take advantage
of lawful deductions. Without good records, the IRS can disallow tax deductions, resulting
in a higher tax bill plus interest and penalties.
That grass does not grow on stones is not the fault of the rain.—Oriental Proverb.
The traveller is struck with the various ways in which the relation of
the sexes, that obtains throughout the East, has modified the
manners, and customs, and the whole life, of the people. Female
society is impossible. Women are not seen in the Mosks at times of
prayer; and, we are told, are seldom known to pray at home, never
having been taught the ceremonies requisite for prayer. One may
walk through a crowded street and not see a woman among the
passers by. A woman cannot, in the regular order of things, see the
man who is to be her husband, or hold any converse with him, till the
marriage contract is executed, and she has entered his house. Nor
after marriage can she, with the exception of her father and brothers,
have any social intercourse with men. One cannot but ask what it is
that has given rise to manners, and customs, so opposite to all we
deem wise and desirable in this matter. We see at a glance that they
are the offspring of distrust and jealousy, and of a distrust and
jealousy, which, though unfelt by ourselves, exist in a high degree
among Orientals. What, then, is it that gives rise in them to these
unpleasant feelings? It must be some fact which not only has the
power of producing all this distrust and jealousy, drawing after them
consequences of sufficient reach to determine the whole character of
the relations of the sexes to each other, but it must also be
something that is peculiarly their own. Now, all these conditions are
fulfilled by polygamy, and by nothing else.
The fact that a man may possess a plurality of wives, and as many
odalisques as he can afford, and may wish to have in his
establishment, is the one element in oriental life to which everything
else must accommodate itself. Reverse the case, and, setting aside
exceptional instances, consider what, on the ordinary principles of
human conduct, would be the general working of the reverse of the
practice. What would be the state of things, and the customs and
manners, which would naturally arise, if the wife had to retain the
affection of a plurality of husbands? Would not, in that case, each
woman, supposing they had the power of establishing, and
enforcing, what regulations they pleased, take very good care that
their husbands should have as little as possible to do with other
women? Would the singular wife allow the plural husbands to see, or
converse with, any woman but herself? Would she not confine them
in the men’s apartments? Would she allow them to go abroad
unveiled? The distrust and jealousy the women, under such
arrangements, would feel, have, under existing arrangements, been
felt by the men. They have acted on these feelings, and hence have
been derived the manners and customs of the East in this matter.
There is nothing in the objection that all do not practise polygamy.
All may practise it, and that is the condition to which the general
manners and customs must adjust themselves. What all recognize
as right and proper, and what all may act upon, is what has to be
provided for.
But we have not yet got to the bottom of the matter. Certain
manners and customs may be seen clearly to be the consequences
of a certain practice: the subject, however, is not fully understood till
we have gone one step further, and discovered what gave rise to the
practice. The attempt is often made to dispose of this question
offhand, by an assumption that passion burns with a fiercer flame in
the East than in the West. This is what a man means when you hear
him talking of the cold European, and of the fiery Arab; the supposed
excessive warmth of the constitution of the latter being credited to
the fervour of the Eastern sun. There is, however, no evidence of this
in the facts of the case, nor does it account for them. If this is the
true explanation, we ought to find polyandry practised as well as
polygamy. But there is no evidence that this flame burns with a
fiercer heat in Asia than in Europe. The probability is that it is what
may be called a constant quantity.
In investigating this, just as any other matter, what we have to do
is to ascertain the facts of the case, and then to see what can be
fairly inferred from them. Now, undoubtedly, the main fact here is that
there is a certain polygamic area. It is sufficiently well defined. It
embraces North Africa, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, and Persia. I do not
mean that polygamy has never been practised elsewhere. Like all
other customs it may have been carried beyond its proper
boundaries: we know that it has been. What I mean is that the area
indicated is, and ever has been, its true and natural home. The
monogamic area of Europe is equally distinct. Asia Minor is an
intermediate, indeterminate region, which, though it is an outlying
peninsula of Asia by situation, approximates more closely to Europe
in its general features.
Now this polygamic area has one pervading, predominant,
physical characteristic: it is a region of dry sandy deserts; or, rather,
it is one vast sandy desert, interspersed with habitable districts. This
renders its climate not only exceptionally dry, but also, from its
comparative cloudlessness, exceptionally bright, which is not an
immaterial point, and, too, exceptionally scorching. An excess, then,
of aridity, light, and heat, is its distinguishing peculiarity. These
influences are all at their maximum in Arabia, which is in every way
its true heart and centre; and, in particular, the seed-bed and nursery
of the race best adapted to the region, and which, at last, flooded the
whole of it with its blood, its customs, and its laws. These are all
thoroughly indigenous, and racy of the soil—as much its own proper
product and fruit as the date is of the palm, or the palm itself of the
region in which it is found.
But of the woman of this region. It is an obvious result of the aridity
of the air, its almost constant heat, and of the floods of light with
which everything living is ceaselessly bathed, and stimulated, that
she is, in comparison with the woman of Europe, forced into
precocious development, and maturity, and consequently, which is
the main point, and, indeed, the governing element in the matter, into
premature decline and decay. To signalize one particular that is
external and visible, this climate appears to expand, to dry, to wither,
to wrinkle the skin with a rapidity, and to a degree, unknown in our
more humid and temperate regions. A woman, under these trying
influences, is soon old. Between nine and ten is the age of
womanhood. Marriage even often takes place at this age, or soon
after. She is quite at her best at fifteen; decay is visible at twenty;
there are signs of age at twenty-five.
Men, too, from reasons easily explained, marry much younger
there than is customary—I might say than is possible—with us. Our
civilization is based on intellect far more than theirs; and it takes with
us a long time for a youth to acquire the knowledge he will find
requisite in life. School claims him, with those who can afford the
time, till he is eighteen; and with many the status pupillaris is
continued at the university for three years longer: and no one would
think that even then the age for marriage had arrived. And here,
again, much more is required for supporting life through all ranks of
society. This is another prohibition against a young man’s marrying
early. He must first work himself into a position, in which he will have
the means of maintaining a family in the way required here, or wait
till he has a fair prospect of being able to do so. All this requires time;
but in the East, where wants are few, and not much knowledge is
needed, a youth may marry very early. I saw at Jerusalem the son of
the Sheik of the Great Mosk of Omar, who was then, though only a
lad of sixteen years of age, already married to two wives.
And so it follows that, in this region, before men have attained to
even the prime of life, their wives are getting old. A necessary
consequence of this must be that polygamy will come to be as
natural as marriage itself. It has, at all events, been so hitherto.
The facilities for divorce which law and custom provide in these
countries (all that is needed is a writing of divorcement) are a result
of the same causes: they are, in fact, a corollary to the practice of
polygamy. They enable both the man and the woman to escape from
what, under the system of polygamy, must often become an
insupportable situation, and have the practical effect of making
marriage only a temporary arrangement. Indeed, sometimes even
before the marriage contract is entered into, the law of divorcement
is discounted in this way by the mutual agreement of both parties.
That ‘age cannot wither her’ is, then, precisely the opposite of
being a characteristic of the Arab, or even of the oriental, woman.
Had it been otherwise with them, polygamy would never have been
the practice over this large portion of the earth’s surface.
In our cold, humid, dull climate opposite conditions have produced
opposite effects. Here the woman arrives slowly at maturity; and,
which is the great point, fights a good fight against the inroads of
age. Man has no advantage over her in this respect. And when she
is marriageable, she is, not a child of ten years of age, but a woman
of twenty, with sufficient knowledge, and firmness of character to
secure her own rights. The consequence, therefore, here is that men
have felt no necessity for maintaining a plurality of wives; and if they
had wished for it, the women would not have allowed them to have it.
Voilà tout.
Nature it is that has made us monogamists. No religion that has
ever been accepted in Europe has legislated in favour of the
opposite practice, because it was obvious, and all men were agreed
on the point, that monogamy was most suitable to, and the best
arrangement for, us. The exceptional existence of the Arabic custom
in European Turkey is one of those exceptions which prove a rule.
Suppose that, in the evolution of those ups and downs to which
our earth’s surface is subject, it is destined that the waves of the
ocean shall again roll over the vast expanse of the Sahara, which, as
things now are, is one of Nature’s greatest factories for desiccated
air. Then every wind that will blow from the west, or the south-west,
over the present polygamic area, will be charged with moisture, and
will bring clouds that will not only give rain, but will also very much
diminish the amount of light which is now poured down upon it.
Suppose, too, something of the same kind to have been brought
about with respect to the great Syro-Arabian desert. Northerly and
easterly winds will then also have the same effect. What now withers
will have become humid. There will be no more tent life. Better
houses will be required, more clothing, more food, more fuel. Men
will not marry so early. Women will not get old so soon. Polygamy
will die out of the region. Religion will be so modified as to accept, to
hallow, and to legislate for the new ideas, which the new conditions
and necessities will have engendered. Religion will then forbid
polygamy.
CHAPTER XLIII.
HOURIISM.
Can the oriental mind be roused into new life and activity? Can it
be made more fruitful than it has proved of late, in what conduces to
the well-being of communities, and of individuals? I see no reason
why Egypt and Syria should not, in the future, as they did in the past,
support populous, wealthy, and orderly communities, which might
occupy a creditable position, even in the modern world, in respect of
that moral and intellectual power, which is the distinguishing mark of
man. But what might bring about this desirable result among them
could only be that which has brought it about among other men.
The first requisite is security for person and property. No people
were ever possessed of this without advancing, or were ever
deprived of it without retrograding. The pursuit of property is the
most universal, and the most potent of all natural educators. It
teaches thoughtfulness, foresight, industry, self-denial, frugality, and
many other valuable, if secondary and minor virtues, more generally
and effectually than schools, philosophers, and religions have ever
taught them. But where the local Governor, and the tax-collector are
the complete lords of the ascendant, the motive to acquire property
is nearly killed; and where it does in some degree survive, it has to
be exercised under such disadvantages, that it becomes a discipline
of vice rather than of virtue. Such, for centuries, has been the
condition, under the rule of the Turk, of these by nature, in many
respects, highly-favoured countries. The first step, then, towards
their recovery must be to give them what they never have had, and
never can have, we may almost affirm, under Eastern despots,
perfect security for person and property. That would alone, and in
itself, be a resurrection to life. It would lead on to everything that is
wanted.
An auxiliary might be found in (which may appear to some equally,
or even more prosaic) a larger and freer use of the printing press,
that is, of books and newspapers. This would, of course, naturally,
and of itself, follow the security just spoken of. It would, however, be
desirable in this fargone and atrophied case, if some means for the
purpose could be discovered, or created, to anticipate a little, to put
even the cart before the horse, and to introduce at once, I will not
say a more extended use, but the germ of the use, of books and
newspapers. I am afraid the effort would be hopeless, as things are
now; and I know it would spring up of itself, if things were as they
ought to be. Still the effort might be made. It is the only useful
direction in which there appears to be at present an opening for
philanthropic work.
And, to speak sentimentally, what country has a more rightful
claim to the benefits of the printing press than Egypt? It is only the
modern application of the old Egyptian discovery of letters. To carry
back to Egypt its own discovery, advanced some steps farther, is but
a small acknowledgment that without that discovery none of our own
progress, nor much, indeed, of human progress of any kind, would
ever have been possible. There are a printing press, and even a kind
of newspaper at Cairo, and, of course, at Alexandria; and at
Jerusalem it is possible to get a shopkeeper’s card printed. But what
is wanted is that there should be conferred on the people, to some
considerable proportion—if such a thing be possible—the power of
reading; and that there should be awakened within them the desire
to read. No efforts, I think, would be so useful as those which might
have these simple aims.
The great thing is to stir up mind. Great events and favouring
circumstances do this naturally, by self-acting and irresistible means;
and literature is one of the spontaneous fruits of the stirring of mind
they give rise to. And the work does not stop there; for literature re-
acts on the mental activity which produced it. It stimulates to still
greater exertions; and, what is more, it guides to right, and useful,
and fruitful conclusions. Perhaps it is hopeless to attempt to get
literature to do its work, when the conditions which are requisite for