1400l; nay, in busy times, thousands of bales are often bought on the first inspection of the samples, without leaving the spot. No contract other than an oral one passes between buyer and seller: such bargains are annually entered into to the amount of dozens of millions sterling, yet disputes are almost unknown, and are, when they occur, generally settled without trouble or expense by reference to brokers not interested in the disputed transactions.
Payment for cotton bought, is due (less three months’ interest) in ten days from the date of purchase. In the supposed sale just recorded, the buyer paid for the cotton th of a penny per pound less than the price first asked, and if the seller had not made this concession, the transaction would probably not have taken place; and though at first th of a penny appears a trifling matter, yet when it is stated that the average weight of American bales is about 440 lbs., it will be seen that on one hundred such, this ths represents to the spinner a saving of between 11l. and 12l., sufficient to pay part of the carriage to his mill, besides his broker’s commission for buying, viz. 10s. per 100l. value. This does not seem a very large remuneration, yet a little calculation shows that the buying and selling commission on the average daily sales of 9000 bales must amount to nearly 1000l. per diem, or at the rate of more than 300,000l. per annum. In addition to this commission, the samples are for the most part, after they have served their purpose, a perquisite of the broker;—no insignificant one either, though each separate sample weighs but a few ounces; it being understood that the yearly value to many firms is sufficient to defray all their counting-house expenses.
We noticed that many of the buyers, in making known their wants, objected to “sand,” and it was intimated that there was something further to be stated on this point. Of course everybody has heard of what is called the San Juan difficulty; but not everybody, perhaps, has heard of another dispute respecting American territory which is now in progress. The American nation not being particularly ready to cede to Great Britain, or to any other Power, that to which it conceives it has any claim, it will probably surprise many people to be told that a large portion of American soil has lately passed into British possession; and not only so, but that it is absolutely in England at the present moment, though it must be confessed that England has paid pretty dearly for its acquisition. It was not to be expected that an article of such importance as cotton could escape the usual lot, and remain free from adulteration. Accordingly, when the spinner comes to open and inspect his purchases at the mill, he frequently finds concealed therein substances which are certainly not cotton. Formerly flint stones were the principal articles selected as substitutes; and the manufacturer used often to discover that instead of the “fair bowed” which he had bought and paid for, he was favoured with a considerable weight of geological specimens. But it seems at length to have struck certain individuals on the other side of the Atlantic, that this was at best but a coarse and vulgar fraud, unworthy of an enlightened age and people, and that it was possible to carry out the principle of sophistication on a far more extended scale, and in a much more refined manner.
Accordingly the system of “sanding” sprung up, and instead of bales consisting of American cotton, they are frequently found to consist of America itself, to the extent of 10, 20, or in many instances of more than 30 per cent.
The extent to which this practice has reached may be imagined, when it is known that, taking the adulteration at 10 per cent. on the import of the last crop, which is stated to be a very low estimate, a quantity of sand equal in weight to more than 200,000 bales, or 40,000 tons, is found to have been bought and paid for as cotton by Great Britain, at an expense of upwards of 2,000,000l. sterling; and that there are now lying at Liverpool at least 100,000 bales of this sanded cotton, which spinners will not buy at any price.
But it may be asked, “cannot they purchase it at an allowance in price proportionate to the amount of adulteration?” To this it must be answered that cotton is now bought by sample and not by inspection of the bulk of the article, which indeed would be almost impracticable from the nature of the packages and other causes. When the cotton is warehoused on its arrival from abroad, a sample is taken from each of the bales, but these are pressed so hard, that it is impossible to penetrate more than a few inches into them. If, therefore, as is generally the case, the surface layer be clean cotton, it is evident that the sample can be of no value as an index of quality; but supposing the sample when first drawn to be fair, in the very act of drawing, and at every subsequent examination it is liable to lose some of the sand which it contains, and very shortly to become nothing better than “a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.”
This sandy adulteration, too, is more difficult to deal with than the simpler one before mentioned: when stones are found in cotton bales, it is at once evident that they have no business there; they were not represented in the sample, and were, therefore, not expected; consequently an affidavit is made of their presence, and a claim for compensation is preferred. It is true that a spinner has occasionally suffered the inconvenience of having his mill burned down, in consequence of contact between a flint and the iron machinery; but as this is not of very frequent occurrence it may, perhaps, be taken out of the account.
But as regards sand, which is nominally, if not actually or fairly, represented in the sample, it is plain that if the spinner make a claim on this score, he is liable to be told that the price he paid, was calculated upon the fact of the presence of this sand, and that it would be a point of no small difficulty to settle such a claim equitably, if allowed at all. No wonder, therefore, that there are so many bales of cotton at Liverpool which manufacturers decline to touch.
The money actually paid to America for this stuff does not represent the extent of the evil; freight, warehouse rent, and other charges are all incurred on this mass of useless earth, just as though it were what it ought to be; to say nothing of the damage caused to machinery, and the detri-