JOBBERS AND COMMISSION MEN 771 



unsystematic. The country merchant added poor handHng and 

 additional delay to the movement of the produce, while the train 

 equipment, and slow movement of freight generally, rendered ex- 

 tremely doubtful the quality of that portion of the produce which 

 eventually reached the primary market. 



Then, too, there were grave moral hazards as well. Anyone 

 familiar with this line of work could not fail to be impressed with 

 the general lack of a sense of business integrity on the part of 

 both the producer and the local shipper. Assurance might be 

 given of the shipment of produce of high-grade quality, while the 

 distinguishing characteristic of the returns would be oftentimes 

 an utter lack of such quality. 



The lack of a moral business sense on the part of the producer 

 or local shipper was not only equalled but greatly exceeded by 

 that of the average commission man handling the produce in the 

 primary markets. However, it is only as we realize the peculiar 

 position he occupied that we can appreciate the practices usually 

 attributed to him. 



The commission man was far enough away from his principal 

 to feel reasonably free from surveillance of any sort. He could 

 report account sales on initial shipments so as to indicate big 

 returns and, having thus gained the confidence of shippers for 

 further business, juggle the returns on large consignments to his 

 own pecuniary advantage. It would naturally be his endeavor to 

 handle as big a volume of produce as possible, regardless of the 

 care given to it, inasmuch as his own income varied with the 

 amount of the traffic. There was similarly an inducement for 

 him to spread his own margin of gain beyond the nominal rate 

 of commission by reporting the sale of produce at grades lower 

 than those actually secured or by reporting sales at current prices 

 when actual receipts involved an additional premium. 



Such a system placed the local shippers at a grave disadvantage, 

 of course. They were represented at a distance by men whom 

 they did not know and in transactions they could not scrutinize. 

 Fortunately for them another avenue through the primary markets 

 eventually opened up. This came with the advent of the jobber. 



It was, however, only after changes had made possible the 



