The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1868-09-24
The Merchants Protective Union.

influence ana actual power IN producing or
/ prejudlcing the standing and credit of busi-
ness men throughout the Union. Having
| their own secret agents in nearly every city,
! town, village, and at almost every cross-road
in the length and breadth of the whole land,
| these concei ms have become interviewer with
/ the whole mercantile system of the country.
! Every merchant, trader, manufacturer, AMI
| banker, whether likely or not to make puT-
| ch4ses on tine or TO ask for credit in any Of
| the principal cities, is fully reported at their
/ headquarters-his business, means, ''re-
| spectability." standing, are published, and
/ even his private habits are detailed aud open
| 10 the inquiry Of their customers. So com
! plete and thorough a system Of espionage as
! these concerns have everywhere extended is
! probably unknown even to the police depart
| ments of France or Austria.
! So long as business shall continue to be
| done upon the credit system, establishments
of this nature will probably continue to ex-
! ist, IN some form or another but the mode
| il which they have been conducted-nameIy,
/ by printing Books Of Reports. in which tens
| of thousands of business mcD are denoted by
a dash q, or an asterisk -, an iuterro-
/ CATION poiut }, or some similar mark, sig
nifying that the party so indicated is "pot
| recommended for credit" or that the Gus
/ toner should inquire at the office"-must,
! in view of recent decisions in slander and
! libel suits, be materially modified.
Those establishments, with their numerous
! clerks standing behind long rows Of desks,
I on which lie ponderous volumes wherein can
| be learned story, whether true or false, of
every merchant In any part Of the country
! whatever, will probably modify their bust
/ ness, or pass away-the liability, in view of
recent decisions TO slander suits arising out of
| their operations, being too heavy to incur.
In the Mercantile Agency case of Boards
/ ley against Isppan, the plaintiff recovered
( ten Thousand dollars and upon a motion for
/ a new trial, made before the United States
/ Circuit Court for the Southern District of
/ NSw-York, the Hon. Samuel Nelson, one Of
! the ab4est Justices of the Supreme Court, has
/ delivered al opinion denying the motion,
| holding that the publicity given to informa-
! tion depreCiatory Of the standing and char
acter of merchants, "by recording the libel
! Gus words in book, deprived tae commu-
! nication of its otherwise privileged charac-
1 ter" he was further of opinion that ''to
| legalize these establishments ia the manner
/ and to the extent used by the defendant, is
/ placing one portion of the mercantile com
/ munity under an organized system Of espion-
/ age and inquisition for the benefit of the
other. exposed. from the very nature Of the
/ organization, TO perverSion and abuse"
| With the view of obviating the objection
| able features Of the former systems COM
! pany, with a capital stock of 100000.
/ divided into $40 shares, has been organized.
/ and incorporated under the laws of the State
/ of New-Nork, under the title of The Mer
! chants Protective Union, on basis which
! seems to be free from the evils, difficulties,
/ and embarrassments under which these here
/ tofore in existence have labored.
| The plan adopted by the Merchants Pro
| tective Union, though analogous in some
| particulars to that Of the establishments
! above referred to, yet differs in such material
! respects not to be amenabe to the obj-c-
| tions urged against them, the main points of
difference being the following:
! First. All necessary information as to
| the pecunlary responsibility or financial con
! dition and standing of business men will BE-
! based upon the written statements of the
! parties themselves-so far as attainable-to
/ be furnished at least twice each year, the
/ agents of the Union examining and revising
such statements when deemed erroneous
/ and, where same can not be obtained from
/ the parties themselves, by reason Of their
! declining or refusing to furnish it. such in
/ formation will be supplied oy the reliable
and responsible correspondents Of the insti-
tuition, whose name will also be published in
| the Mercantile Reference Reports, to be is
! sued every six months. The character of its
/ correspondents, and the publicity thus given
/ to their connection with the organization,
| will prove sufficient guarantee of the cor
rectness of the information thus obtained,
and the justice Of the reports furnished by
/ them There will be nothing ''secret'' or
I strictly confdentiap in its reports of the
ratings and markings of the credit and capi-
tai of business men-there will be Do futile
| prohibition to the effect that suCn informa-
ton "shall never, in any way, be communi-
Gated to the persons reported"-there will
! be nothing that may not te exposed to the
| light OF day.
Second. The reports and information fur
rished by The Merchants Protective Union
will be confined TO those who are considered
worthy of credit of some grade; and the
names of none who can not be recommended
for some line or degree of credit will be men
toned or in any way referred to.
l: is believed the above plan, I'D ped after
consultation with some of the abiest counsel
! in nearly every State, will avoid the evils Of
! those heretofore in operation will be pro-
ductiIe of no harm will work substantial
! justice to all and will, at the same time,
/ furnish reports more truthful and complete.
and therefore of much greater value than
any previously issued.
! 1t will be seen. from their announcement
in another column, that in September the
| Merchants Protective Union will publish in
one large quarto volume The Mercantile Re-
| ference Register. coLtaining, among other
| things, the Names. Nature of Business,
Amount of Capital, Financial Stan ing, and
| Rating as to Credit, of over 400 900 of the
/ principal merchants, traders, bankers, mau
| ufactuTers, and public companies, In more
than &c, 900 of TIE cities, towns. villages, and
settlements, throughout the United States,
| their territories, and the British Provinces
of North America and embracing the most
| important information attainable and ne
cessary to enable the merchant to ascertain
at glance the Capital, Character, and De-
gree of Credit of suck customers as are deem
ed worthy of any gradstion of credit; with
| a Newspaper Directory. containing the title,
character, price, and place of publication,
with full particulars relative to each journal,
being q complete guide to the press of every
county in the United States.