NINTH ANNUAL MEETING. 43 



other markets, and it will be necessary for you to find a 

 good commission merchant to consig-n to — and here is 

 another particular thing to attend to, for I can tell you right 

 here that all commission merchants are not honest, and I 

 can also tell you that there are plenty of them that are and 

 men who will look out for your interests. Therefore, ship 

 your goods to a well-established house, that has a good 

 reputation, and do not be fooled by new houses that are 

 constantly springing up in our different cities and are send, 

 ing out fictitious quotations as a bait to get shipments. 

 Some will even make sales on the first and second ship- 

 ments way up above the market in order to get larger 

 shipments into their hands, and then, after they have 

 secured those, you can whistle for further returns, but 

 they will never come, and the looked-for check you will 

 never have to take to the bank to get cashed. 



Now, when you find a good house — one that tries to do 

 right — stick to them; put confidence in them, and do not 

 turn them down if they happen to make you a poor sale 

 once in awhile, for I can tell you that there is no commis- 

 sion house in existence who can so regulate the market as 

 to always make good sales. We always strike days in 

 every season when the market is overloaded, and those are 

 the days when we commission merchants work the hardest 

 and get the least praise, or rather, get the most curses; 

 and it is not an uncommon thing for us to get letters tell- 

 ing us what poor sales we made on their goods — which we 

 very well knew, before they told us — and in the same letter 

 saying they will ship us no more goods, but will ship to 

 some house that will give them an honest sale. Now, this 

 is very consoling, after you have got up in the morning 

 before daylight, worked hard and in all ways you could 

 think of, to dispose of your shipments to the very best 

 advantage. But we get used to all such letters; or, in 

 other words, I suppose we get hard-hearted, and are not 

 troubled by such letters so much as you might think we 

 would be, for it is often the case that a shipper, who has left 

 once, returns to us after a few days of wandering, and when 

 they do come back they make the best of shippers and men 

 whom we can depend on for regular shipments thereafter. 



