GODEFFROY AND CO. 235 



One remarkable circumstance in respect to the operations of 

 this famous mercantile house, and to which their great success 

 may in some degree be attributed, is that they pay as a rule 

 very low wages, but liberal commissions. Thus masters of 

 ships belonging to them, and ranging from 500 to 1000 tons, 

 receive no more than $25 per month on voyages which extend 

 from one to three years out and home ; but over and above 

 this, they receive 3 per cent on the net profits of the ven- 

 ture . . . The profits on their European goods are very great, 

 insomuch as a strict regulation exists among them all that to 

 no person whatsoever, including the servants of the firm, are 

 they permitted to sell any article of trade at less than 100 per 

 cent, advance on the cost price, exclusive of freight and com- 

 mission. The manager for Messrs. Godeffroy, in the choice of his 

 employes on the various isles of the Pacific, takes little account 

 of nationality ; many of his agents in the outlying groups are 

 English or American, as are most of the mariners who have 

 run wild in these seas during past years, and so got a thorough 

 knowledge of the native language and habits. Theodore 

 Weber is a very shrewd man of the world, although young, 

 and the great development of the Godeffroy house is largely 

 owing to his enterprise. He had but three questions usually 

 to put to a man who sought employment of him : ' Can you 

 speak the language V ' Can you live among the natives with- 

 out quarrelling with them ?' ' Can you keep your mouth 

 shut V i.e., concerning your masters' business when you meet 

 with white men. To a man who can return satisfactory 

 answers to these queries, Godeffroy never refuses employment. 

 He gets the means of transport to those isles upon which he is 

 to be at home ; everything necessary to build a stone house, 

 and a stock-of-trade to put into it. They pay no salaries ; they 

 simply trust a man with so much goods, and expect of him, 



