THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



441 



termine the character of the article inspected. 

 How, then, can he be an impartial arbiter, 

 when allowed to become the vender of the same 

 article he inspects? Your Committee are 

 clearly of opinion, that if the law were fairly 

 construed, it would confer no such privilege, 

 and the practice, in our opinion, should be 

 discontinued. 



And further, the Commission Merchant is 

 taxed a per centum upon every hogshead of 

 Tobacco he sells, and the State derives no in- 

 considerable revenue from this source ; but 

 the Inspector, who is a Commission Merchant 

 in fact, by virtue of his office, is freed from 

 such taxation, and may be termed the privi- 

 leged Commission Merchant. Hence they be- 

 lieve the evils of which they complain, and 

 set forth in this report, arise chiefly from the 

 clashing of interests of Inspectors with those 

 of Commission Merchants ; and they believe 

 a different state of things would soon be ex- 

 perienced if those officers were confined alone 

 to inspecting, and not selling Tobacco : they 

 therefore charge, 



1st. That, in their opinion, the Warehouses, 

 under proper management, might have been 

 made to contain one-half more Tobacco than 

 is now stored in them ; if "rydering" had been 

 commenced a month earlier, which would have 

 prevented the necessity of storing a large 

 quantity of Tobacco in private Warehouses, 

 at an additional cost of one dollar to one dol- 

 lar and twenty-five cents per hogshead. 



2d. They charge that the Inspectors receive 

 and store Tobacco consigned to themselves, 

 and at the same time refuse to receive Tobacco 

 sent to Commission Merchants, thereby com- 

 pelling th :m to store Tobacco in private Ware- 

 houses at an additional expense, which dis- 

 crimination they have no right under the law 

 to make. This charge can be substantiated by 

 the statements of Messrs. R. H. Dibrell, J. B. 

 Duruy and Walter Martin. 



3d. They charge that in "listing" Tobacco 

 at Shockoe Warehouse, the Inspectors have 

 time and again, preferred the Tobacco sent to 

 them for sale over that controlled by Commis- 

 sion Merchants, and this is done by blank 

 lines at the head of the list book, for their own 

 exclusive use, giving their Tobacco priority 

 over Tobacco listed by Commission Merchants 

 prior to theirs, which is a violation of a known 

 and long standing custom in all the Ware- 

 houses in this city. This charge can be sup- 

 ported by Messrs. Fred. W. Hobson and J). H. 

 Smith. 



Be it therefore, Resolved, 



1st. That the Inspectors be requested not to 

 list any Tobacco sent to them for sale, nor to 

 allow any Commission Merchant, or' any one 

 selling Tobacco, to list any Tobacco not in the 

 Warehouse, or in the city. This resolution to 

 take effect from the 1st day of August, 1857. 



2d. Resolved, That a Committee of five be 

 appointed to select a room, and have it fitted 



up, to be used as a " Sales Room," or Ex- 

 change, for the public and private sale of To- 

 bacco, and any other produce. 



3d. Resolved, That a Committee of five be 

 appointed to wait on his Excellency, the Gov- 

 ernor of Virginia, and request him to author- 

 ize the Inspectors at the several public Ware- 

 houses to inspect all the Tobacco stored at 

 private Warehouses ; provided the laws of 

 the State permit him to do so. 



Mr. S. R. Eggleston then moved, and the 

 meeting adopted the following resolution : 



Resolved, That we, Commission Merchants 

 of the city of Richmond, will write to our pat- 

 rons throughout the State, and urge upon 

 them the importance of holding county meet- 

 ings to instruct their delegates to the next 

 General Asssmbly, to make such alterations in 

 our " Inspection Laws," as are best calculated 

 to remedy the evils complained of ; and that 

 a Committee of five be appointed to draft a 

 petition to the " Farmers' Assembly," at its 

 next meeting, setting forth such reforms as 

 they may deem necessary, and ask its co- 

 operation in the effort to accomplish our ob- 

 ject. 



A motion was made, and carried unani- 

 mously, that the thanks of the meeting be 

 tendered to Col. Adkins for the use of his 

 rooms. 



A motion was made and carried, ordering 

 the Secretary to prepare a copy of the pro- 

 ceedings of the meeting for publication, and 

 requesting the editors of the city to give it one 

 or more insertions in their respective papers. 



Whereupon, the meeting adjourned. 



T. JAMES DEANE, Chairman. 



W. IT. Maddux, Secretary. 



COMMITTEES: 



The Chairman has appointed the following 

 Committees, in pursuance of resolutions adopt- 

 ed by the Commission Merchants : 



1st. The Committee to select and fit up a 

 Sales Room— J. M. Shepard, Mr. Pannill, Geo. 

 Gwathmey, and R. II. Dibrell. 



2d. The Committee to wait on his Excel- 

 lency, the Governor — Mr. Read, D. P. Gouch, 

 Peter McKinney, G. W. Williams, and P. J. 

 Archer. 



3d. The Committee to present a petition to 

 the Farmers' Assembly — Messrs. S. R. Eg- 

 gleston, W. H. Maddux, C R. Barksdale, T. 

 J. Deanc, and Walter K. Martin. 



To Preserve Flowers in Water. — 

 Mix a little carbonate of soda with the 

 water, and it will preserve flowers for a 

 fortnight, but the water in flower-pots 

 should be changed every day in summer 

 or it will become offensive and unhealthy 

 even if there is salt in them. 



