Korean precedents of enterprise and association, as well as new colonial patterns merge in the chaegye to establish enduring capitalist legacies. Associations can foster professionalism, provide fora among the chaegye for gaining information on markets and government policy, and facilitate links among state, Korean business community and the Japanese zaikai. What we meet in the mills and minds of brokers and their associations is nothing less than the interests and organization of an emerging private sector evident in the port chaegye. Guilds, commercial associations, and chambers shed light on the organization and priorities of an emerging chaegye. The organization was dissolved with the Chamber decree of 1915 mandating joint Japanese-Korean chambers in the colony, yet the seven year span of the Korean chambers at Pusan and Inch’on permitted further consolidation of a chaegye at the ports. Local brokers responded to Japanese penetration with their own chamber and trade associations, a critical step in the formation of an ethnically distinct chaegye.