i8o Early History of American Auctions 



"On the arrival of their goods, their general practice" was "to 

 hand over their invoices and endorsed bills of lading to their 

 auctioneer, leaving it to him to enter their goods at the custom 

 house and give bonds for the duties." The auctioneers were "in 

 the habit of making advances on goods so placed under their 

 control, to an amount equal to two-thirds of their value, and to 

 pay the balance on sales as soon as they" were made out and thus 

 enabled "the agent to make an immediate remittance to 

 shippers."^* It was frequently charged that these agents inter- 

 fered in American elections, contributing substantial "sums of 

 money for electioneering purposes . . . as well as for printing 

 of pamphlets, &c., about the tariff, and for the support of agents 

 at Washington when it was under discussion. "^^ 



Besides the general advantages to the British principal of tend- 

 ing to stifle our manufactures and of finding a market for his 

 goods, the agent auction system gave him the certainty of an 

 immediate sale and immediate remittance. It gave him the benetit 

 of the customs credits and thus increased his working capital ; 

 the auctioneer became his bondsman for the duties at the custom 

 house, as the law required that the sureties should be American 

 citizens. ^° The expenses of selling were greatly reduced com- 

 pared with those which were unavoidable to a regular mercantile 

 establishment — house and store rent, stationery, fuel, insurance, 

 clerk hire, family expenses, taxes, bad debts, expenses of col- 

 lections, fall in value of the goods left on hand — expenses which 

 were estimated to amount to 73^ to 10%.^^ His agents tended 

 to become experts, "and by constantly attending public sales, 

 and becoming perfectly acquainted with the market, kept their 

 friends advised of every change ; so soon as any article sold at 

 a profit, it was instantly ordered, and transmitted with great 

 rapidity."^^ They were said "to be always on the alert to obtain 

 copies of orders sent to England by the old and experienced 

 American importers, and the articles directed by them to be fur- 

 nished as suitable for our market" were "hastily prepared and 



" Ibid. 



'' Niles, 35 : 83. 



"^ Bolles, I, 389; Annals of Congress, i6th Congress, ist session, 2295. 



"Niles, 18: 419; Annals of Congress, i6th Congress, 2d session, 1650. 



'* Bolles, I, 389. 



