Glemata kesin
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THE FRIEND OF CHINA AND HONGKONG GAZETTE.
gular facilities for the mufa extension of business to arge amount, with comparatively little labor. And the employment of a much smaller ezphát thủn the same amount of business would require any. where else.
to any ta payahin
Thus, for In the rast warehouses of that great metropolia, Co, have twenty or thirty | belonging to variona worthy companies, and co. persons; they give checks wering cares upon acres of ground, surrounding the on their bankers, Glyn, Balifas Loumerous docks, and thing the crowded Thames nerom the face of wash check thing on both sites, ore stored the prodgets and inter- Letiren which they write the name change of every clime. The wines of the sunny, ker with whom the house they owe it to vine-growing regions of Europe and Africa. the sewoont, if they know 11; if not, they silks and cartons of Europe, India, and America, verite te Co.,'" laaring their clerk to fill up the sugars, cafes and spices of tropical regions, are when he pay it away. Supposing this the vast imports from China, the multito lo of Ame do go out with de chocks and lose thempory rican artinies of merchandisa, and portions of all that to be framnuently disppard, and wishful to abscondeurth has of luxury, food, or clothing are stored in ce an amount in either case the checks | ample vanks and warehouses, rendered nearly fire. deme, as the bankers on when they are proof in their structare, and into which fire or all nely pay thems when presented by the cine is not allowed to enter, except under severe
mgulations. banker to whom they are arosand; and that banker will carry the money waly to the credu of the party payarlama tray check is payable, and who, afe mrse; Pans, a clerk may have TC of crassed checks, abbiately valueless, teral to the person in whom they are payable : | vakuelas aven to that person, except when part ta and presented by Al bunter, so that the socu
conplete.
fato Cuate warehouses. (the proprietore of which Kive bond so the Crava for the carom duly charge. ale on the ganda warehouse.) aro sent the pro- dreta of every clime---the property of thousands of 4$rent nasehan's. When these goods are re- quired for sae, and to be removed from the ware house, than the dates are paid to the crown. They arty, however, lay ten or twenty years, or longer, When I was fire in business in Lendon, I was without pymons being required. They are always accumamed to pay in specio or bak antaa, and to ready for export, without the trouble of obtaining polen recounts in the same curtest zy, When the | dinoback if they are not required for homo use. amondta were very large, I was easy until the Such goods are freq tently sold from hand to hand, peying or collecting clerk came in. Jest the temos
many times over, without any payment of duties, fas olpounding e› much arulable money should dee, which at course, is a simpler mode of doing be too much for his honesty, and induce him to 1, Huess, nato in repairing less capital than if the phacond. Frequently I was in the halot of callinger swa durs link hoen paid on arrival, and the goods For burgers panu dally, rather than o ust a clerk, ¦ se novd is the private warehouses of the proprietors. which, of course, profilessly occupied my ave The companies to whom thean bonded and storage more ralable time. Bet of fate years, from the warehouses b-dang, are responsible for the safely admirable system of paying a "crossed cheeks, of the goods themselves Their officers, and the I could send the humblest clerk & had, to pay and ullivers of the reown also, weigh or gange, tare and recaire Bonsands of paands, with at the shehtest mark these 205ls, divide them into convenient por- fear; sive money he pasi bong only avaitole t its, mal biving stared them in their separate my clients and their bankers; the inaneya he re apartments, they send to nach owner" & WARRANT ceived, being only availble to me through iny UN WARRA" for his portion. Thus, an the land- pankers.
́nug of a pargo of in from Chinn, it is stored in the One wintry day in Landon, a clerk had been eat ta wareh.wase of some of the dock companios. collecting money, and, in returning to the counting. The dick and am en officers jointly weigh and tare house, fell upon a piece of slippery pavement. Flu t, as in iad marking each package with the na- poster-book few eat, and was in-tantly picked up me of the shop in which it was imported. the gross and conmeyed away by some of the dexterous thoses | weight, and the tare, together with a consecutive always prowling about that metropolis. It vou; number, cumpinene ng at F. for each ship, and going taineįeiga checks creese kto my bankers, in 1 pay, jog to the highest number of chests. The chops able to me or bearer, minbunung, in the aggregate, poftea von nich sirel ont and placed by themselves, 12,500 acering. The poor fellow came home betongous, Supleng Pekoen, Hysons, Gunpowders in sad afright. I wis not, however, so the alarm kor, unda dellaste place in the warehouse assigned ed. for I was aware that nothing could be made of j theờ n. Warrands are then issued for every six ibem. I found that they had Allen into most ex- chests of len These warrants specify upon the pert hands. The low Jews of Hounds žuton and Pet. | laro of them, for instance, that the London Dock Recoat lave had them offered, but they e suid da Compang hold six chest of len, entered as Souchong, nothing with them, they knew the several bank rs i enports by Barng. Brothers & Co., in the Alex. en whom they were drawn would♫ x pay them jander Buring, Captain Jones, from Macao, July unless they were presented by my bunkers, ma 1st, 1844, marked B. B. & Co., number 200-206, whom they were crossed. If the and hundetench one weighing so much gross, laring so much, them to my bankers for presentation, than would, of leaving so much net weight. These teas the dock course, have passed them to my ereda anl, pro | company engage to deliver to the holder of that bably, apprehended the person hol ing them. IF
warrant properly endorsed, upon demand. the case of one check, a min presented it for pay mant to Meserey Jones, Llozi &c Co., on whom st was drawn, representing k-ro-elfti ei me from my benkers, at all he took by how unsepdent wred Marrow escape frene being DORAN ARDIN, wodu loss of the check, which Jours, 15, vd & Chr. Brined, and sent to the Panitera
In three days, ad the cheers were offered na be restored firpenty pounde, na chy or rewaty sha jaga. which refund da gave, wh in Ley arena nd restored per pout, excent the one attempted to hu
ashed at Jones. Florida Cɔ%,
Merchants in Londen will frequently take their check books and sign twenty or tiny bank checks, draw two biges across them all and lease them out for theic clerks o fill up with the proper amounts, Rod pay away during their whsenrg, Frequently large amounts are collected and paid away by clurila in whom they pisce na pauculir muglence, with. put their supervision, simply ben je tue cheris passing through those clerks' hands, are of no pre- sible me to them, and connot be muscunsere l. But these merchants would as soon think of fly og as of trusting to those some clerks, in such a funne peother specim, notes, or uncrossed checks, which might be presented by any one at the bank counter In many hours turning over a realling sterling per annum, there is never more available currency geen by the clanks than fire or ten pounds of petty cash; in fact, there is seldom more than that sum about the office. Many merckouts and brokera instruct their clerks to -130 to take any payment except k
greased checks from town houses, such their conviction of the security, famility, and ex actress, this system impacts to their business.
Boch'r system, it wai be raid, causes some risk la taking checks from parties who have no funda to meet them. In ung experience, I have only known move or two cases of a check being given wétiacut ad agate funds to meet euch a thing is regarded as tits death-blow of a man's credit. Of course his cheeks are ever after declined, and the majority of hontes will refuse to transact business. with him at all, even for cash. Thus it rarely Sappens that a dishonored check occurs. At times person cannot pay when called upon; but, in this szze, ho gives a check for part, and arranges for the Jest lle never skermpla 10 overdraw his accuunt with his banker. If he has security to offer, money, aturazy pracurabla; but the Lentoy bankers
Ceran "overdraws" of their customers ac
Their ctstomers, therefore, never attempt
beyond their balances
The relief which this system of to the merchant. It enables him teach more to clerks with erwise do. It enables g and keeping,
From this system very great facilities are afforded: 1st The merchant is not required to have large storehouses, attendants, servants, &c, with all the cor and expense these enlaf”.
21 He halls his goods by these warrants as se- curely, not much more portably than if he had !i in his own warehous, where they would be fable to loss and pillage.
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These last are closely scrutinized; the
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during times of pressure; and quables the merchant; | discount. &c, nt # times to keep hit stock, his dowd stocks, credit and means of the acceptors or endorsers are in a form as rendly available for obtaining loans or weighed and re-weighed; the credit and means of adrances as though it were bille of exchange the borrower himself carefully considered, re-co instead of bales of cloth, or hogsheads of sugar. sidered, ferreted out and loquired into, uld be
Take, for instance, a commission perchant in gals almos folked and inquired into discrete.
With warrants of Londos, and one in New York. From New York, independent man hates this.
goods of a stated value, he goes with a defend consignment of $100,000 worth of deur is made 10 London, again which the shipper draws on feeling. He asks the advare upon the credit of his agent, at sixty ar ninety days after sight, for the goods, upon the rule of the property, and t 260.000, with the hills of landing. The inichant upon his own credit, though, of course, that in New York has a consignment of calico, &c, to pleitged also. Yet that is not the point to scronianze a. inquien into; it is the value of the goods thom. the amount of £20.000, from Ashchester, against which the shipper draws at equal dates, to the extent selves, be it more or less-divir intrinsic market of £14,000
vad, which farms the subject of inquiry and ex- In these two casess, it is generally expected that mniantion; and which, of course, is done without the goods will be partially or entirely couverted quistioning any person's meana or respectability, into funds before the accopied bills become payable. In London, I know many houses of immense But suppose the market at both ends to be seized business, whose transactions extend to the ends of with a temporary dulness: some pecuniary spasm, the earth, literally speaking, and amount to bun. perhaps, his tightened for a few weeks the purse-dreds of thoasnuds sterling during the year, whose strings of capital; a momentary panic or depression setive capital is almost ridiculously small. In has come upon the money world; such things will | fact, it does not pay them to employ large capital; and do frequently occur, and sales of produí e cai- it is more remunerative for them to take at market not be forced except at ruinouely low prices, invol- price, and for short periods, jast such sums as they Fing, perhaps, a 10 or 30 per cent loss,
requiro, rather than keep large floating expitals, In this dilemma, the London merchant is com. Wholesale dealere, too, can mostly bold their cours paratively calm and confident; he views the up-stocks in hands, and conduct large businesses with. proach of his drafts to mstarity without alarm, bo- out warehouses, stores, &c.; no paraphernalia, ex. cause he knows that, by the time they are to be cept a small office and a few forwarding clerks, paid, his consignment of flour will be safely housed denote their immense transactions. They can al le some public warehouse, and the warannts will
ways buy at convenient seasons very largely, with be in his safe. A day or two before his drafts be.
nut increasing their working capit
us they can come due, he walks, down to his hapicer, or into always depend upon obtaining any money they re- Lombard street, amongst the money brokers, with quire, upon these warrants. This, again, tends to bis warrants in his hand, and a proper certificate of preserve the equilibrium of the markets, and pre- the quality, vaule, &c, of the four. Along with vents an article getting extremely low, because the the bundle is a policy of insurance against fire, from dealers instantly commence buying up and laying some good office, the Sun, the Globe, or the Royal by for future use; a thing they would neither have Exchange, for £25.000. He walks with a confi- capital nor room to do if they had to remove the dent step into the bureaus of the money autocrats, goods to their own warehouses, and pay for them and states that he wants the son of £14,000 against in the usual mode. such a day, upon £20,000 worth of goods, of which he presents the warrants, certificates of value, and policy of insurance. The lender, at a glance, per- ceives the validity of the documents, and begins to talk of the price; if money is abundant, 24 or 3 per cent per annum will probably be asked; if scarce, perhaps 4 or 4 may be screwed out of the borrowet. That matter settled. the lender requests the war- rants to be left, in order that his broker may exa- mine the goods, which being satisfactory, the time is arranged, not to exceed so many months, and a power is given to the holder to sell, in case of defal- cation in payment, The money is forthcoming, the bills are paid, and the goods are not sacrificed but held for a better market, If the market im proves the next day, and the merchant sells a thousand barrels of the flour, he sends to the lender. a check for £2300 or £1,000, and lakes away war rants for one thousand barrels. Thus he releases the goods and extinguishes the loan as he can command sales. When the whole is paid off, the interest account is made up, and he finds it amounts, perhaps, to thiny or fifty pounds; a payment which has saved him and his principal, perhaps, £3,000 00 £5,000
In New York, I am cognizant of. many instances in which merchants and wholesale doniest have their warehouses full of produce and goods, and are notwithstanding, frequently quite at a loss for portable security to offer when they require the temporary use of money. They have abundance of bulky value on their own premises, which they cannot transfer to the iron safu of the capitalist, and they feel that to attempt to borrow money on their own personal security, is always a hard and ungra. cious task; is ia, in fact, humiliating it subjects. them to doubts and inquiries which are injurious and unpleasant causes their private life, their business speculations, and their personal and family expenditure to be looked into and watched by others; in short, they are put under aurreillance, and the babbling of lying mischief, or the of malignant slander, may, in a few sneaki skulking words, blast their credit, and bring their creditors down upon them, when they are unprepar ed, and not expecting them. A system of businçat which shall enable a trader to keep it to kind of corps de reserve, ready to support credit at any moment, instead of being a dead weight round his neck, must certainly be an invaluable improvement in business tactics,
The New York merchant, on the other hand, receives his consignment into his owa warehouse, and looks to the sale of the goods in order to meet the drafts he has accepted. The market turns flat, several parcels of goods arrive of the same kind, and buyers hang off. The vision of his coming drafts fits ominously before his eyes, and distoris the collectedness and calmness of his thoughts; ans xiety perturbs his judgment, and interrupts that clear and concentrated flow of exertion and action, which are necessary to effective success; and he thee, whose norurnoy or honesty is never question-burries on the sale of his consignment. The more being disinterested parties. Consequently, all he will sell, the more buyers toont purchase. He haying or selling is made on the basis of these of spoils the market and defeats his own objects: noverments and speculations of his business; be can But weights, for inaccuracy in which the docktheless, he must sell; but the sacrifice necessary to timpanes are responsible.
41. 1 here is no trouble or dispute about weigh ing or faring These are done by official authori
discount. He perhaps meets his drafts; but he has half-ruined his principal, injured his own business, and spoilet the market for every body else,
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By these facilities, and those which runity from, and are contingent upon them, in innumerable sha pes, it will be evident that the merchant in London has a decided advantage. The facilities for the payment and receipt of large sums of money in so aale a manner, the facility for the warehousing and transfer of goods in the public warehouse, and the facility of converting dead stock into the best of se curity for loses and advances of money, cables a merchant to dopote, in a great measure, the detail of his business to others, Thus his mind is left free to digeat and reflect upon the leading move. calmly consider the effects of a sale or purchase; maks deters and frightene him. He is pained to Ph Not only does he avoid the care, expense,
of an import or export; he watches the markets cause so much loss to his principal, and so much attentively, and considers them in regard to foreign. and crumble of warehousing, servants, and weighing, discredit to himself; and hoping against hope, he markets, and both in regard to the interests of his But he take the transfer of these goods made with holds on to the last, and the recklessly and com business. Thus he keeps the grand course clear way great case If he sells a lot of ten, or a thou-pulsively BELLS, at, perhaps, 20, 30, or 40 per cent beforehand the results of his movements. His mind sand lers, instead of having them actually carted
is kept comparatively free from pecuniary trouble. tem bis Malennus to the purchaser's, he simply bands him the rents and the bearer of the
He keeps his means under his thumb. His stocki murrants bepnuns the pussessor of the goods with-
properties, ventures, are made so that he can con If there had been a public warehouse, and war- est fumber troule
vort them into securities for obtaining necessary Probably these goods are rants issued for these goods, he could have had them means at any time; and thus he marshals his fores sold a dazeo ames over during a season, before in a portable from, to band to any capitalist having keeping all his operations active, setting in motion tonlly required for removal, Instead of the waste, spare funds, or ready to deposit with his banker fordistan and complex springs of industry; his sur Trouble, and great expense of carting and recarting those goods a dozen times, the warrants" are sim-curity, which may, perhaps, depreciate for a time, various departments; everything around him belly a temporary advance; a solid, real, substantial se bordinates trained to still, rapid action in, their ply hunden from hard to band, the goods actually re- but cannot ful; a security superior to the best bill employed, while he himself appears mining instatu quo, in their original place of deposit of exchange, as containing not promises to pay. He is never in a hurry; there is no turmoil or ample leisure. I know many very large importing merchants contingent upon the ability of the promisers to do bustle, and you might imagine that he had little or who could take a visiter för miles, almost, of ware- so, but actual existent, bona fide property, which nothing to do. It would be quite a mistake,, h house room, between high lanes and passager made can neither melt away nor become insolvent. I ever; he is extremely wide awake, with the piles of their own imports, who have a say, if he had his imports in such form as this, he to make money, and, what is better, to keep what he enough small, quiet, back parbor, at 6fty pounds per annum, could, probably, have obtained the sum requisite to makes. for an office, and a single said, elderly clerk, with retire his drafts, have preserved his credit, protected one or two young men as custom-house or out doer his principal, kept the market stiff, and his own clerks, to transact the whole of their immense bu. mind calm. collected, and easy, whithout which 8106Pa Their brokers will make sales to the extent the energy and action of his business must ever be of £50,000 be them in a day, and at the bustle nerveless and disjointed. I know that bundreds perceivable, is one quiet clock calling and taking who read these lines wall re echo these sentiments. away a bundle of warrants, for the various goods, The London merchant writers to his correspon and some following day calling again and leaving dent abroad, and informs him that he regrets the a crossed check for the amount, with his "account soles." There are two brothers in London, who signment of four at remunerating prices; that, in market has not enabled him to dispose of the con- are amongst the largest importing merchants from fact, if he had forced a sale, it must have been at China, who nasolutely have neither office nor clerkaeveral thousand pounds sacrifice on the parcel; he in town. They themselves reside some miles in would, therefore, retire the drafts he had accepted, the country, and usually come in every day for an hour or tan vist their various brokers, stroll down he would barely charge his client & per cent per sud hold on the flour for superior prices, for which to the deck warehonges to look at their imports, sonum, for the money advance. The correspondent sign a check or tub, or a bundle of warrants for Fabrood, is naturally pleased; he is impressed with their brokera" use, and home again. Ad Last Indin dhe thoughtfulness and hopesty of his agent in thus merchant who arrived in London by 18e overhand mail, expressly to see the Jarge impostera, Measra
protecting his interest. He is impressed, too, with J. & F., was surprised lo and they had neither
his wealth; he must be a rich man, he argues or be could not so readily spare $60,000 al 5 per cent, counting-house Dor clerk, and that their names
to hold on the flour. even were not in the director
Bat, 5th The great advantage Forded by the warehousing system of randon, is the
rdino- ry facility t
The New York, merchant has a widely different tale to tells and a widely different reception meets is advices.
both be men of equal capital, equal business lent equally honest
energete
Lear
active
has more personal labor; there is more of the The New York merchant, on the other hand,
actual sweat of the brow, and less of the presiding influence of mind. The detail of business is not left to subordinates, but occupies, most unprofitably, the attention of the principal. There is bustle audi discomfort in the offices, fidgetiveness and anxiety on the countenances, and a hurried, grasping action cantile community. There is an absence of that in the business movements of the New York men quiet leisure and substantial assurance, amounting to a sense of certainty, which marks the London merchant. But the defect la one, partly of cin of wealth will remedy; partly of that prejudice and enmstances which only time and the accumulation habit which impels a:New York merchant to do everything himself, instead of ordering a perfect system of detail, and resigning its care to subordi nates; but mostly from the want of more perfect systems of monetary transfer and warehousing c commodations, which might, without much difficub, sy be invented and adopted.
I intended to have instanced many other points of contrast, but this paper has reached a greater length than anticipated, and further observations Bust be reserved dur a future
the merchen
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