1 82 Early History of American Auctions 



traditional methods of commerce and consumption; the changes 

 in dress, for instance, were toward "cheap but showy fabric" 

 and were noticed by contemporaries.*^^ The auctions served par- 

 ticularly the humbler domestic manufacturers with a means of 

 reaching the market, and some who were too small to maintain a 

 sales organization did all their selling through auctions.*'*' 



The strongest argument and apology for the auctioneers were 

 that they tended to lower prices to the retailers and con- 

 sumers through their economies in selling.*'^ Certainly the sale 

 at auction of a lot of merchandise at a sacrifice tended to give a 

 very public expression of the apparent values of that sort of 

 merchandise and set a presumptive low value on all the existing 

 stock,*'^ but such an assessment of value is a common objection 

 to price-cutting in any sale however conducted. It was often 

 alleged that auctioneers sold more goods daily than they adver- 

 tised ; that often the advertised lot was sold at a good price but 

 other lots of the same goods were auctioned at successively 

 lower prices ; and that, this practice of the auctioneers being 

 known, the price of the advertised lot was not bid up and there 

 was therefore a general depression of prices."^ 



Undoubtedly there was much confusion as to values. Oppo- 

 nents of auctions claimed that the original diminution of prices 

 to consumers soon ceased to exist and was compensated for by a 

 reduction in quality.'" Others dwelt upon the fact that auction- 

 eers provided much less service for their customers, as catering 

 to individuality, delivery, better inspection, store open every day 

 at all hours, book credit, etc.'^^ 



Other opponents denied outright that prices were any lower. 

 It was argued that it was impossible that three-fourths of the 

 imports into the United States could be sold for a series of 

 years at a loss, and that since those sold at auction were subject 

 to additional expense of about 5% above those sold at private 

 sale, this added expense would be added to the cost of the 



"^Ibid., 1530. 



«°Ibid., 1532. 



°' "Remarks upon the Auction System," 9. 



"'Niles, 17: 22,7. 



*"" Niles, 34 : 260. 



'"Niles, 18: 421. 



'^^ "Ruinous Tendency," 8, 34-5. 



