The Express.
London, England, 1861-10-21 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, OCT. 21.

TO OUR READERS.

SPORTMO INTELIJGEiCE.

A !ate edition of the Express is published every
evening during the racing season, containing the
results of the day's races.

THAT the condition of the internal trade of the
country is not very satisfactory is shown by various
indications which do not seem to have yet attracted
the amount of attention which might have been
expected. Ono of these is the increase iu the
number of small bankruptcies announced from
day to day. We do not now refer to the
failures of large firms, which have been of
late, perhaps, rather fewer than usual, but to
those of tradesmen, shopkeepers, and °them, in
the lower walks of business, whose position
reflects pretty accurately the general state of
trade. The lists of bankrupts in the Ga.:ate show
a disposition to lengthen. Last Friday's publics-
tion comprised the unusual total of fifty names in
England ahem ; and though the coming into ope-
ration of the new bankruptcy regulations may
perhaps have had something to do with the length
of the list upon this occasion, a new bankruptcy
enactment evidently does not cause the
insolvency of any trader. Another unfa-
vourable sign is the increased number of small
bills which, on arriving at maturity, are returned
unpaid. As is well known, it is the custom in
many branches of trade to date the bills on the
Ist of the mouth following the one in which a
purchase is made. In the majority of instances
the bills mature in either two or three iuonths.
For example, let us suppose that a country shop-
keeper conies to London this month to replenish
his stock, buys a few hundred pounds worth of
goods, and gives the seller his bill at three months,
dated the lit of November. On the 4th of Fe-
bruary, when (allowing for the customary days of
grace) ho ought to be prepared with the cash, he
cannot gLt it together, trade hav;ng been bad, and
the good+ remaining on his hands. Meanwhile, his
bill, together with hundreds of others, has probably
been passed by the wholesale house into the handed
some bank or monied establishment, perhaps tho
Bank of England, which has discounted tbe whole
of them, covered with the endorsement of the
wholesale firm. The country dealer is for the
time at the end of his tether, and is obliged to
beg indul;ence at the hands of his provider. Ile
probably gives the wholesale dealer such portion
of the amount as he can get together ; ho buys •
few more goods ; the old bill is cancelled, and a
new one drawn, and our country friend has • little
more breathing time. No doubt there are firms
who act upon the strict rule of not dealing twice
with a customer who fails to meet his engage-
ments at maturity ; but we believe that the num-
ber of these is relatively small, and that the sys-
tem above described prevails extensively. It will
be obvious that a retail dealer who falls into
embarrassment in this way is at the
mercy of the wholesale house, which, if unscrupu-
lous, may make him pay heavily in many points,
as, for example, by putting upon him old goods.
On a larger scale, this would be peseisely similar
to the plan which petty shopkeepers work upon in
pour neighbourhoods, getting their customers into
their books to the amount of a few pounds, and
then binding them by this liability, which they
can never shake off, to consume indifferent articles
at exorbitant prices.
Let us not be supposed to insinuate that
the general trade of the country is conducted
upon an unscrupulous system like this ; we are
merely pointing out how the system is omit
&Meetly abused. Bearing in mind the many mil-
lions sterling of bills connected with the internal
trade which fall due on the 4th of each month,
there can be no better criterion of the con-
dition of business and of the ratio of profit
than is afforded by the way in which they are
met ; and for some months past tho number
not met at maturity has been gradually increasing.
On the 4th instant this feature again appeared
to an extent which excited the attention of close
observers. It would be strange, perhaps, were
the fact otherwise. The trade of the country has
not yet recovered from the effects of the bad
harvest of 1860. There was less money to be
spent at home, because more had to be spent
abroad. Shopkeepers saw embarrassment thicken-
inggraduallyaroundthem. Theirgoodsdidnotgo off.
In the textile branches the singularly unpropitious
character of the seasons last year would of itself
account for much of the difficulty experienced.
As there was scarcely any summer last
year, summer goods remained on the shelves.
It may be imagined, perhaps, that the
difficulties of 1860 must have passed away with
the year, and that the harvest now gathered in,
though scanty in quantity, will serve further to
smooth them away. But this is to take • narrow
view. The effects of • bad season do not vanish
swiftly, unless, indeed, • bad season be immediately
followed by • remarkably bountiful one, which is
not the case now. Trade has still • great deal to
contend against. The approaching dearth of cotton,
and the prostration of our trade with America, are
severe trials, and effectually preclude briskness of
general business. It is no unimportant feature
when the rate of profit, of wages, and even of em-
ployment, declines heavily in the most thickly popu-
lated manufacturing districts of the kingdom. Retail
traders being, as • body, solvent, have been able
to bear up against the difficulties of the time, but
the fact that the adverse indications to which we
have invited attention are only now acquiring
prominence tends to show that the pressure caused
by a bad harvest does not show all its effects
until after a considerable interval. The losses
of the acrieultiiral interest of last year are still
impairing the elasticity of the home trade. Apart