The Sun.
London, England, 1827-11-15 00:00:00

,ABUSES IN TRADE.

There is another class of traders, more decen

their mode: of committing Fobberf than the ruffi ns.
1
that turn round ninon timid women,' who are di !r-
-elined to purchase trash, and charge theM with be ng
inen nevertheless ":ge in
shoplifters. Those trades
their
_goods by night,' and if an . orgentneces ty
should occur, they,would adopt the aboveMenti n-
ed flagrant alternatiVe to obtain a customer without
iiclay. The u.xpo:anre of their." way of doing busi-
ness" will arm the public against a very extensively'
practised frank conducted as it is sometimes by a
juggle before the very eyes of the purchaser. I{ is
to the public alone we must .look: for the punishir4rit
of all the frauds we have at various times describH,
and the only manner, in which that punishment can
'be inflicted is, by a withdrawal of custom ;. advi6e,
reproach, or execration having no more effect upon
,uch crirdinals, than it would have upon the most
;irofligate convicts in Newgate, and the lawbein* a
machine which can.. be employed to the successful
defence of the most 'atrocious villains that everli-
belled humanity. The% cla'Ss..we now speak of ias
more respectable thievesthan -woe others, support
Si character of selling cheaper than the general run of
'tradesmen, and the bargain-hunters cry them up
all over the town. as infinitely surpassing the
'pld established -shopkeepers in the. articles which
thy exhibit. Those 'gentry offi-ir their goods, at
tirime cost, and sometimes at, less,. and. conati,
tote a profit by overcharging the-measure, especially
in cases where whole pieces are sold, and the
lengths are .considerable. -We could prove that an
illustrious lady made a purchase at moot' the puf-
fing concerns tit the west end of the town of some
sheeting which wag sold to her at the cost price,
and she was astonished and pleased' at her bargain,
although it . was• nothing more nor less than what is
called adena-rebbery. We believe that she never
to' this day' discovered that she was charged as 62 or
6.5 yards, what in reality measured no more than 51
or• 51 yards—a mameuvre by which her Royal,
Highness was made to pay for about 11 yards in
60 more than had been charged to the draper, who
depends for his security against detection upon the
chance that purchasers in general do not take the
trouble to measure articles of such bulk. : This cal-
culation is upon almost all occasions accurate. If, how-
ever contrary to his expectations, a customer should
measure and return a commodity, tin...knave gets
out of the scrape without disgrace. He evades
even the snspicion Of fraud, by referring the,party
to the mark of the length, of the piece, which he.
styes was charged to him accorelingly„kitt .by.tuA-
take no doubt, although he had himself a short time
before cut- away the manufacturer's mark of. the
length, and. substituted his own fraudulent descrip-
tion. In the event of such formidable examination,
upon the part of the buyer, the money overcharged
is refunded with great apparent readiness, and with
' the Most polite assurance of regret at the manufac-
turer's error. Now, this trick is, we know, daily
practiced in the flash shops, and a little reflection
will show what :i...vast advantage it. affords to them in
their dealings with bargain-hunters over the honest
and neglected,4tidesman. The latter, Nye shall suppose
by, way orilluSmation, offers to a lady, who,wishes to
purchase a stock of .bed linen, a piece of, Barnsley
sheeting which cost him Is. 9d. per,yaril for 2s. (a
fair retail profit): she complains of the price and
•heapens the article, but the retailer's heavy ex-
penses will not allow him to sell for a smaller profit;
and his conscience revolts at the' only means of ac-
to'' tpmodating her—that of reducing the price and
treating in the nielMife.—aiid he loses the expected
ittfle., The'lady then flies off to an apposite charae-
:*and asks for the article She has been in quest of.
',,'-'' shopkeeper;44ier the usual formalities of bow-
l. !.' d seat ,' -.,customer, in the first place in-
q. :4 , what , -.i?tit'S, she wants. Having ascertained
the„• he kn. lsavhat.plan to pursue. He shows her
lineitai4thekearrre kind, perhaps manufactured by
the:ifilail, as had been exhibited to her just be-
fore, and asks her cost price for the whole. The
goods appedAo her of course to be much cheaper than
those which:Ole former tradesman offered, and she
purchases:, The invoice is made out of the price
fixed upon, but each piece is charged at the rate of
10 or 11 yards more than it 'measures '(it is but
once in twenty times that they are measured at all).
The imposture remains undiscovered, and the duped
customer, highly delighted with her bargain, leaves
the rascal with whom she has been dealing with an in-
'creased reputation for selling cheap, and at the same
time in possession of more-profit (plunder it must be
called in his instance) than' his honest neighbour
would have gained by
,supplying her according to
iris principle. Suppose, for instance, one of the latter's
sheetings, offered at 2s, a yard, measured .50 yards;
and cost him Is. 9d., he would have gained 12s. 6d.
by the sale, while the rogue who rivals him by such
baSe arts, by selling a piece of the same quality at
Is. 9d., which cost him the same money, amid charging
for the pretended length instead of 59 yards, the real
length, would have gained 17s. 6d., thus plundering
the bargain-hunter,of SS. more than she would have
paid to. the fair dealer in an honourable transaction.
Perhaps the difference goesin some instances to the
housekeeper or maid as hush-money, and a futtire re-
commendation for custom. .

Another trick, which is technically called " ringing
the changes," is resorted to in the sale of articles of
less bulk and shorter lengths than sheetings measure.
For instance, Irish linens, which run from 24: to 28
yards each piece, cannot be overcharged in the measure
without almost instant detection ; for, besides that
the lengths are Well known to purchasers, they are
stamped in printed letters upon a corner of the piece
which, in.folding up, is made to obtrude at one end.
Therefore, in order to meet and manage thorapacity
of a thorough-paced bargain-hunter, and secure a sale,
the worthy who sells deniands no more than 2s. 6d.
a yard for a piece which perhaps cost 3s. in the Colin-
iry where it was manufactured. The bait is swallowed,
and if the purchaser wants other articles, a hint
is given to another shopmau, who, while the
lady's attention is directed to a new exhibition,
contrives slyly to substitute in place of ,the bargain
a coarser piece, upon which ample profit is obtained.
If, on the other hand, the lady, as is sometimes the
case, be suspicious of the fellow, who figures add
prates away before her, and determined to keepher eye
upon the cloth and take it away herself, another plan
is ready at hand to circumvent her. A piece, which
perhaps cost 2s. a yard, is packed up in a distant part
of the shop, and placed, unobserved by the buyer,
at the feet of the seer, who, as soon as the invoice
is made out, proCeeds quite above board, in sight of
the customer, to pack up the piece which had been
selected the moment before, and, just as he has
finished the operation, and is in the act of cutting
the string, down falls the piece, as if by aceident,
behind the counter. He immediately stoops, but
.by another accident he brings up the coarser corn-
modity,,previously deposited by his colleague, pack-
ed up in the same kind of paper; and the lady,
whose bad opinion does not extend to such a depth,
carries off her bargain with perfect satisfaction. It
is frequently the case, too, when the seller believes
that the fraud is too palpable to eseape the eye of
the most ordinary customer, he slips the card of a
neighbour into the parcel;: so that if the buyer, upon
going home, ,loses her admiration of what she has.
bought, she.can have but little hope of obtaining an
exchange far an inferior article, from a person with.
whom she has had,no dealing.
Were those base tricks confined in their effects to
the dishonest trader and the bargain-hunter, there
would not be much to regret, except that the former
derives a sure profit from the system ; but vast
numbers of unsuspecting purchasers, who are willing
to give a fair price for what articles they want, and
at the same time are not judges Of the value of those
articles, are treated in the same manner,—are
subject 'to similar depredations ; and multitudes of
young men, the inmates of flash shops, are daily
ttained up in habits of deceit and robbery for the
benefit of their masters, and the acquisition of the
experience upon which they are to build their own
hopes of fortune and•advance of reputation in life.
Whatever may have been the habits of a young man
previously, however rigorously educated and under
whatever moral restraints, the instant he enters such