The Iceland year-book - 01.01.1927, Blaðsíða 75

commercial firms in Iceland, and of these one-
fourth were foreign. The total number has now
risen to about 800, of whom only 25 are counted
as non-Icelandic. Since the beginning of the pre-
sent century the trade with Great Britain has
vastly increased, and during the same time Ice-
landic trade methods have been thoroughly re-
volutionized. Until 1895 practically all Icelandic
trade was barter, but in that year the present
British Consul, in partnership with two young
Scotsmen, opened business on a large scale in
Reykjavik and introduced the principle of buying
and selling for cash. Co-operative societies were
formed during the last quarter of the 19th century,
and through many vicissitudes and failures the
movement has since continued to gain in strength,
especially among the rural population, and the
majority of the organizations have now combined
and formed what is known as the Federation of
Icelandic Co-operative Societies. Wholesale houses
are now numerous, but most of these have been
established during the last ten or twelve years. In
1917 the Icelandic Chamber of Commerce was
formed under the presidency of Mr. GarSar Gisla-
son, who has since almost uninterruptedly con-
tinued to fill that office. The Chamber publishes a
monthly journal, the Verzluna.rti8in.di, or Com-
mercial Gazette.
The foreign trade of Iceland has increased
very rapidly during the last quarter of a century, in
fact since the trade restrictions were removed.
About that time the total value of imports and
exports was only some 3 million kr.; at the end
of the last century this had risen to 22 million,
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