The Sun.
London, England, 1827-10-31 00:00:00

finthimlimk `,Vic **Ude and &cep-
tionsVist-eki: 't; sisoma extent, oarrie4
on, andeWhieVti' -.„ clity checked, will
c9thOteit-1143"ItY'Ciirfiliitin transactions of life.
banishd e.aTlihngeralleinare, then, certain-
hocUns:sd;intocew,haicnhdyfOlur
have already alluded, which* i grand depo-
sitories, or it may be said pesk from whence
these shops are supplied with goods.. Although
the public in general mat. not be so well ac-
quainted with them, - they; aro: so notoriously
frh
known in the trade, that were you speaking of
such transactions, to allude to them as " a cer-
tain house, not a hundred Miles from Skinner-
street," or " a hundred miles from Cheapside,"
or " Bread-street,". and so on, with respect to
some others, theretis not a man in the city, or I
believe in the metropolis, connected with busi-
ness, who would not immediately recognize them.
These honsek are in the habit of setting up a
number of young men in•business, and of plant-
ing shops all over the town•and Country as cheap
sellers. If, these persona succeed, they. -retain
them as customers, as. a brewer would a publi-
can ; but if they should be found, going wrong,
they. generally draw out, and credit is obtained
of .other honaes, who, when: he breaks, are the
innocent' sufferers, and who are often ruined
thereby. • ThegoOds 'they sell -are mostly of the
worst•descriPtiOn; and often made to bear a near
resemblance to those of abetter quality, by which
the buyers are easily deceived, and the most
barefaced cheating is frequently practised. Some-
times these persons have been brought. before the
magistrates, but they have generally prudace
enough to settle the matter without appearing
there.
It remains now to be shown how these great
house, by.which4hese shops are of up and sup-
-66faiif e their 'Therwoate Several
ways. It is trVe,..4tS in 'four: article you have
stated,- that goada that have been fraudulently
obtained find their way into such receptacles ;
but, however' considerable that quantity may be,
it would •be impossible that the immense quan-
tity of goods—which pass through their hands
could bie obtained in that way ; and were it so,
and were auch,an opinion. to prevail, it is to be
feared that it'would not deter purchasers. It
would, in fact,' only whet the appetite of your
,rue thorough-paced '"bargain-hunters, and make
them run after them more keenly ; , for it has
been known that where such suspicion has at-
tached to a.house, customers have only flocked
in great shoals; and this propensity is not con-
fined to any-particular class, but to be seen
where least expected, although all have not the
candour to make the avowal, as a good lady pf
no ordinary station in life lately to a tradesman,
whom she had told she could buy the same arti-
cle at a less price, and after he had said I will
produce the manufacturer's invoice,and convince
you that it cannot be sold for lower, unless it
has dishonestly obtained, replied, " Why,
Sir, it.Js Of no consequence to me how they
get their goods, I carry my money with me, and
have aright to go where I can get cheapest."
It is; however, a fact, thathouses of this des-
cription seek out persons in embarrassed circum-
stances, and others who have obtained goods to
a large amount upon credit, for the purpose Of
raising money, and defrauding their creditors, of
whom they 'purchase them by entire biles, brA
making payment in cash or bills, with a . large4'
deduction of 20 to SO per cent., or more, from
the original cost. How many innocent families
are involved in ruin and distress by the frequency
of such practices I need not describe, but ought
it not to make every honest man shudder to see,
that, instead of feeling any shame or renignoil
these very circumstances are held out as induce
ments to purchasers, and seem to be one of the
greatest excitements ? Had they seen, as I have
done, the want and misery into which "families
have been plunged,—the bitter. anguish of wivee
and children,—they must have been struck with
remorse.

Another method by which such houses obtain
their goods, is by employing neeay and unprin-
cipled manufacturers to make goods of an inferior
description ; and "no sooner does 'any reputable
house introduce any` new article of a superior
quality, but they pillage the pattern and imitate
it in one of an' inferior description, thus robbing
ingenuity of its just reward, and subjecting the
fair trader to a loss upon his stock on hand, and
an imputation of having overcharged his customers,
and practicing. a gross deception upon the public,
as well as depreciating the manufactures-of the
country.
There is yet another source from whence a
very consderable part of their supply is obtained.
In all the regular houses where goods are first
delivered from the manufacturers, the respectable
tradesmen make their selection of patterns and
quality, all the
.inferior goods are rejected by them
and those that are found imperfect or damaged
returned upon their hands. As often as those
rejected and damaged goods accumulate, those
other houses, who are not inaptly termed by the
trade " scavengers," come and take what is called
" the sweepings of the warehouse." These are
the sort of goods which used formerly.to be sold
as imperfect, at a low price, to persons in a
lower situation in life, but are now sought with
avidity by our bargain-hunting nobility and
gentry, who, in the end, find themselves egre-
giously cheated.
I have given you a brief, but
true statement, as far as it goes. I need not
remark upon the 'ruinous consequences that must
arise from such a system of fraud and deception.
Should you give it publicity, I may furnish you
with other very important information.
AN OLD TRADER.

Being a sufferer, and knowing the truth of
many
appeared o f thei sv a e 0 ot:
Id 7
eelphe
aaoeTtyftarti-
cleseeorwtiac-
quisitionlons
( Fnn o t
yourt Ai iorl tuxait Cl O Itj VIIP
l, lei N' T;
r)t
headed 4 4 Abuses in Trade," which recently
add my testimony to that part of it more parti-
cularly which refers to calico-printers., It is no-
torious that'after incurring considerable expense
hi getting 'Op designs by artists of taste and. ta-
lent employed in their factories, they are iiiime..
diately pirated by an individual who boasts he
can obtain impressions of any patterns now in
progress for the next spring delivery—an avowal
that could scarce be credited except in these de-
generate days, since the informations can be ob-
tained only by bribing the servants of the various
calico-printers in the neighbourhood of. London.
This highly reprehensible conduct is the more an -
noying,inasmiich as the Town printers carry on their
o f
Manchester, at
w considerably
here greater
oesxt poefnstehtehapnritnhtoinsge
works no designer is kept, they trusting for a
supplycolours, -
tr
iaOaels patterns
leuwdedo top topurloin
r lboteihsniedtehnse7i
printers vie with each other in producing durable
for the purposes of underselling, foist upon
the public an iinitation, certainly, but a sorry *,
one, since, by merely moistening the print
with the tongue, and then rubbing the thumb over
the part, its baseness is immediately died
. ..