COTTON. 105 



of Liverpool send out the price lists of cotton that is actually in the 

 market, or that is expected to arrive by certain vessels which have set 

 sail from America. Almost every private firm or spinning company has 

 either one or more brokers upon whom they rely for their samples and 

 for quotations of prices at which cotton can be bought. 



As a rule, brokers have been trained to the buying and selling of 

 cotton. They get accustomed to the exact length and quality of staple 

 that will best spin the scale of counts their clients or spinners are 

 engaged in. Certain empirical rules are laid down by the Cotton 

 Brokers' Association, and these must be adhered to. 



When a spinner or firm has given an order to the broker for a number 

 of bales, an invoice like that given below is sometimes sent to the mill. 



" MESSRS. THE LANCASTRIAN MILL Co., LIMITED. 



"DEAR SIRS, We have this day sold to you (200) Two hundred 

 bales of Mobile cotton. Quality middling, staple equal to sample marked 

 JB.E.N., good colour. Shipment during latter half of 1899 by steam, at 

 threepence one-eighth (3 J-) per lb., including cost, freight, marine insurance, 

 and 6 per cent, allowance for bands and tare. Marine insurance shall 

 cover 5 per cent, over nett invoice amount. Loss in weight guaranteed 

 not to exceed 1 per cent, gross invoice against gross landing weight. 



" Reimbursement by seller's or shipper's drafts at sixty days sight for 

 invoice amount on the Lancastrian Mill Company, Limited, payable in 

 London, with shipping documents (attached) against acceptance, or 

 payment shall be made in exchange for shipping documents or delivery 

 order on or (at buyer's option) before arrival of the vessel or vessels ; or, 

 failing previous arrival, not later than due date, by cash, less customary 

 rebate for any payment. The due date of invoice shall be the seventy- 

 fifth day after date of bill of lading, payable in Liverpool. 



"Loss in weight to be ascertained by weighing on arrival at port 

 of discharge, before sampling, due notice of weighing to be given 

 in writing by the buyer to the seller (or his agent), each side paying 

 their own share of weighing expenses. Allowances to be made for 

 missing bands and ship pickings. Cotton shipped under one contract to 

 form one weight settlement, even if shipped by more than one vessel. 



" Claims for falsely packed or unmerchantable cotton shall be 

 allowed, if properly substantiated (and accompanied with full marks 

 and shipper's numbers), at the value of the sound cotton on the day of 

 return, if such return be made and a claim sent in within two months 

 from the last day of landing. 



" When guaranteed equal to an American sample, a difference of # 



