PREVENTION OF TRADE FRAUDS.
Ax outory has been raised in Manchester against the newly de- nounced practice of mixing sand in the packing of cotton bales. If any persons have really adopted that practice, it has recoiled upon themselves, and upon their trade ; for ()cotton which is even suspected of being thus packed is now nearly unsaleable. But what shall we think of the Manchester men who make this out- cry against the mixture of sand with cotton, and who employ that very, cotton to spin it and place it on reels which purport to carry 100 yards while they actually carry sixty yards, fifty, or even less ? " When the shoe pinches the manufacturers call out loudly enough, but what is the difference between the dishonest cotton manufacturer or grower and the manufacturer who has not honour ?" This question is put by Mr. C. Brook, of the firm of Jonas Brook and Brothers, at the meeting which was held in the Guildhall Coffee House on Friday last week, "for the purpose of taking into consideration the practice of selling goods falsely labeled, and to adopt measures of putting an end to such practices."
It is now seven months since we drew attention to the trial which brought this subject before the public.* It appeared to us at the time that the gentlemen in that case had rather a stern measure of justice dealt out to them. They explained that, although under a past management cotton reels bearing the name of their firm had been issued to the public with short lengths, the present managers had entirely abolished that temporary practice. It was contended on the other side that there were still such goods in circulation; but the representation appeared to us worthy of comparatively little notice, since the goods which are brought into the market are taken out of it again within the space of a few months. On the general subject we did not hesitate to express our opinion, as we have done for years upon years past ; and the meeting which was held in the Guildhall Coffee House, convened by leading firms in Glasgow, Paisley, Huddersfield, Birmingham, Luton, Carlisle, and London, shows that the principal men of the trade are perfectly agreed with ourselves in reprobation of the practice. We have it on the same authority that we did not in any de- gree exaggerate our statement of the practices. At Friday's meeting Mr. W. Willis, of Luton, said that during the last few years a large quantity of American cotton had been used in their trade as a substitute for straw in the manufacture of bonnets. There are two parties who sell this cotton braid. One of them, desirous of outwitting the other, went to a mill-owner in Man- chester, and bought some thousands of pieces of cotton braid of fifty yards length, to be sold as sixty ; and he took off twopence halfpenny a piece,—just enabling him to undersell his competitor. The other dealer went down to Manchester, and found another manufacturer, from whom he got braid at 464- yards, to be sold for 60 at the lower price. Thus the whole " dodge" ended in leaving the trade of all parties very nearly where it was, save that the character of the dealers must be seriously damaged. Nor is it the individuals alone who suffer ; the injury extends to others of any cognate trade. It has gone so far in many branches of business, that the name of an article no longer indicates the thing that you desire to purchase. The customer himself be- comes an accomplice in this general deterioration, and in refusing to give a fair price for a good article, he gives the dealer or manufacturer a pretext for saying that he is " compelled " to furnish such an article as the price allows. The ultimate effect is, that in many branches of trade it is nearly impossible to obtain such a commodity as will really answer its purpose, or stand due wear and tear ; customer, salesman, and manufacturer, all cheat- ing themselves through each other.
The result of Friday's meeting was the assumption of a resolu- tion " That in the opinion of this meeting the practice of making up goods with marks or false labels denoting a Freater quantity than they ,really contain is a serious evil, and it is incumbent on all manufacturers and traders to discountenance the practice by every means in their power " ; and the forming of an Association
8peatator, April 9, 1859.
for the purpose of putting a stop to the practice ; a Committee being appointed on the spot, with power to add to the number. The report of the meeting does not tell us what is to be the course taken by the Association. Mr. Brook said that Parlia- mentary interference is unnecessary, since he had it on the dis- tinct opinion of counsel that the existing law is sufficient to do all that is requisite ; there may, however, he said, be some diffi- culty in the enforcement of the law ; particularly where great ingenuity is adopted for its evasion. We have heard it suggested, not unfitly, that in London City the guilds of the several trades might constitute themselves a species of inquisition to examine stock, and to take cognizance of charges against flagrant prac- tices; they have the power, and they offer the machinery fur bringing such charges under the cognizance of law. Still ft would leave a difficulty arising from the stimulant to ingenuity in the contrivance of evasions. More than one legislator is well aware that you cannot contrive any clause of any statute, which will not leave a loophole for evasion ; and where judges exercise any nice discrimination in the execution of Acts of Parliament, the very imperfection of language frequently arrests the hand of justice. Of course some good may be obtained, and not a little, by the due development and enforcement of the existing law. It will on the one hand punish those who are the most flagrant violators, and on the other it will constitute a deterrent example for men of less audacity. Such a course, however, would be com- paratively. powerless unless it were supported hyts:ro others which are in no way incompatible with it, but on the contrary strictly auxiliary.
The very first step which an Association of the kind can take is at once the easiest and the most efficient ; it is to throw the ut- most light of information and publicity upon the whole question. In this respect nothing has been of more advantage than the articles of the Lancet on adulterations of food ; it awakened the customer to the fraud put upon him ; it revealed to society the sources of disease ; and it supplied the opportunity for honest dealers to prove how much more they desired the confidence of the public than those who were merely ostentatious of grandeur in their premises or of a fictitious moderation in their prices. Adulteration of clothing is scarcely less injurious to the cus- tomer ; it may even inure his health ; indeed, by abating his means, in the vast majority of instances it invades the very sources of health through the stinting of sustenance. Let the amplest publicity expose the folly of the public which insists upon sacrificing the sterling to the " cheap," and the lie of the dealer who takes the money for one article to sell another, and we shall see the practice disappearing, as pocket-picking, foot- padry, and many other offences, have gradually, disappeared in our towns through the superintendence of the police aided by the light of gas.
There is a third course, not perhaps so sudden in its effects, but not less powerful and strictly cumulative with the other means. It is that members of the Association should themselves observe strictest rules of honourable exactness. Let every mem- ber of the Association stand pledged to supply what he professes to supply—neither more nor less, neither better nor worse ; let him openly challenge tests ; and the machinery of the Association would readily afford the means for any customer or dealer who may mistrust his goods ; and by that means the members of the Association would not only take the highest advantage from their initiative in restoring honest standards, but they would inevitably compel the rest of the trade to obey the example.
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