THE HOP TEADE. 313 



hj agents or buyers, working on salary or commission, and 

 sometimes doing a little on their own account as well. 

 'Their endeavour is, of course, to buy good hops on the 

 lowest possible terms ; and by reason of their experience, 

 skill and other qualities they are occasionally able to beat 

 the grower down in price to his great disadvantage. As 

 a rule the small grower knows little or nothing of the course 

 ■of the world's market, and therefore often falls a ready 

 victim to the wiles of the buyer's agent, his superior in 

 comraercial knowledge. Frequently the agents in a district 

 •settle a scale of prices among themselves and worry the grower 

 with tales of over-production, large stocks of hops left over 

 from the previous year ; decry the quality of his wares ; 

 ■exhibit diffidence in the matter of striking a bargain— in 

 ;short, leave no means unused for bringing the sellers to 

 waver and part with the hops at a low price. For such 

 practices the districts widely removed from marketing centres 

 prove a remunerative field. So long as the agent is down 

 in the country " over-production " is a word that flows 

 glibly from his lips ; no hops are "good enough " for him, 

 etc., etc. : but when he interviews a consumer he tells a 

 very different story ; deplores that this season good hops 

 •cannot be got except at high rates ; avers that estimates of 

 the new crop are all wrong, etc., etc. To buy as cheaply 

 and sell as dear as possible is his sole maxim and rule of 

 conduct. Of course this is a fundamental rule all through 

 the commercial world, and is not confined to the hop trade ; 

 and there is no objection to- it so long as business methods 

 are based on a solid foundation, since it is the natural 

 course of events. But when every possible means — right 

 ■or wrong — is employed to make the grower faint-hearted 

 and induce him to part with produce, won by the " sweat 

 •of his brow," for a song, one can no longer regard such 

 -conduct as respectable dealing, and it should be opposed in 

 the most resolute manner. 



