The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1871-04-20

By J. z. oEoEaE.


4 TX.
1 A fact0r-also called a commission
merchants one who sells The propcrtv
4 of his customers ON commission az for
1 certain hire and reward which a called
his commission. II il the duty Of
factor to sell his customers property for
/ the best price he can get. and he IS
bound 10 the exercise of reasonable dill
cence and skin IN making sales. He
ought also to keep the property Of each Of
his customers separate and distinct from
his own, and also, from that Of other
customers, and In making sales he should
sell each customers property BY itself
! and on its own merits. 40 that the price
he receives for It may be fixed and de-
termined by the sale ITSELF A. violation
of this rule would make him liable for
/ the market value of the property, in case
he should receive less than thar for Il.
1t is a custom in New 0rkhns, and in
some other commercial cities, which has
prevailed so long and been so universally
acQuiesced In, to sell cotton BY the list
system in violation of the above rule, that
/ suppose it may be considered now as
settled that whoever sends cotton to
factor IN New Orleans, for sale, consents
TO its being sold in that mode, subject,
however, to the responsibilities herein
after expressed. Sales in that way are
made thus: A cotton factor, having
cotton for sale for various customers,
samples a number Of bales, say 100,
and puts the samples on his table for
sale; part of this cotton win be the
property of A, another will belong to b,
and another TO Z, and so on embracing
in some instances the cotton of dozen
men. This cotton Is not all Of the same
quality, and therefore not of the same
market value; but when it is sold, it as
all sold at the same price per pound, as
III, or IL, l4c. In settlement of this
transaction between the factor and buyer,
the amount of money the factor gets is
just the number Of pounds In all the 100
bales multiplied by the price agreed on.
Thus if the total number Of pounds in
the 100 bales be 4I,326, and the price
per pound be ID cents, the whole amount
the factor will receive will be 81, 099 20.
This sum belongs to all the persons who
own cotton in the lot sold, but what is
each mans share, is not ascertained, nor
Will II be ascertalned, by multiplying the
number of pounds belonging to him by 10
cents, for the sale does not fix and de-
termine that the price Of each pound in
the whole LOFTS 10 cents, but that is the
price for the average of the lot. Some
of this cotton may be ordinary, some
middling, and some good middling, and
so on, running through quite all of the
grades in which cotton is classified.
The highest grade in the lot may be
worth is or IL cents, and the lowest not
over 10 or IL per cents pound. If the
cotton factor were to return all at Is
cents it would be a manifest injustice TO
the persons owning the higher grades.
So the next thing to be done after the sale
IS made and the money passed over, is for
the factor to Jlr and determine what price
each customer shall receive for his cotton.
This is done by classifying each mans
cotton and adjusting the price according
involves nice calculations, SO that no ba-
lance OF 81 ,O99 20 shall remain UNI
divided, and so that no dehcit remain TO
be made up by the merchant. 1t is at
once seen that the price each customer
gets for his cotton, is not the result Of an
agreement between the factor and the
buyer, Except only SO far that the sum
received IN gross for all the lot shall be
diUlded and dppoTttoned among them,
but is the result of the action and Judg-
ment of the factor himself. Hence 1t
follows that as the cotton factor under
takes to determine for each customer
what price he ioiu ottolo hun for hiscotton,
this undertaking is accompanied in law
with the implied promise on the part OF
the factor that ne will give to each custo-
mer that price which the merits and
classification OF his cotton demands,
which is but another way of saying that
he lOOalId GLlOao him the market price Of his
cotton on the day 1t lCds sold. Any other
rule would put the customers property
at the mercy and AAprice of the factor.
If he sold the property of his customers
by itself and for price agreed on be-
tween him and the buyer, then he would
have been liable only for reasonable care
and skill in making the sale; but when
he omits to do this, and makes a sale by
which the price is not determined,
reserving TO himself the power and the
privilege of fixing for each customer the
price he will allow him, think it clear
that he become guarantor that he al
lows to each the market price. The
rule would be different, probably, if the
sale included cotton only of one grade,
and the price returned was the price
really received.
Whoever, therefore, thinks he gets
too little for his cotton, has but to knolo
the grade to which it belongs and refer
to the price current of the day of the
sale and see whether he has received