BRIBERY IN BUSINESS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "Sricr•roa."1
SIR,—In your article on "Secret Commissions" in the Spectator of April 2nd you rightly say that the nineteenth century might not unfairly be described as the century of commissions. These commissions are for the most part secret, necessarily secret, and I may relate to you an instance as common as it is flagrant. A traveller called on the manager of a leading commercial firm in this city and solicited an order. "We are not in want of anything at present" was the prompt reply. Some conversation followed, and it became evident that the traveller was not going away without an order. Gently lifting the inkstand, he placed under it a 25 note, and, having intimated the fact in terms befitting the situation, he secured an order and left. Can nothing be done, Sir, to stop bribery such as this, secretly carried on and justified by some men with consciences of india-rubber, and who glory in nefarious practices of the kind, which are so characteristic of this nineteenth century of ours ? —I am, Sir, &c.,
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