The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-04-30
TOBACCO INSPECTIONS.
IMPORTANT NEW MOVEMENT ON
THE PART OF THE TRADE.
ESTABLISHMENT OF PRIVATE
WAREHOUSES; FAVORED.
THE PLAN PROPOSED.

| On the 9th instant The Richmond Tobacco
Exchange. referred to their standing Com
mittee on the Tobs eco Trade the following:
"Resofued, That the standing committee
be instructed TO inquire and report what ii
any action ia necessary TO be taken in orde,
to the proper conduct Of the warehouses o
this city and to the establishment of its TO.
bacco trade upon sound and healthy basis. ,
The committee have just prepared their
report, and it will be considered at NEE
ing of the Exchange to take place at Il
o'clock to-day. The committee, after reci
| ting the unsatisfactory condition of
THE INSPECTION LAWS
Of the State, and the repeated efforts to alter
and improve them, say:
1.-TWO remedies for our difficulties sug-
gest themselves to your committee. One is
the immediate conversion, or within Spe-
| cited time ninety days of all our pub
lie into private warehouses, under the pen
atty, in the cases Of failure to convert within
that period, on the part of any public ware.
house, OF refusal Oh the part OF buyers to
buy any Of the inspections Of said ware
house. Precisely this course was pursued
in Louisville, and resulted in their present
system and In the practical abolition Of the
inspection laws, which have never been re.
pealed in Kentucky by legislative enactment.
This course was pursued in LyBchburg, and
with The result we have indicated, their
course being sustained in great part by the
Court Of Appeals, their own bold, vigorous
action accomplishing the rest, and finding
entire sympathy In the very Legislature of
the State itself. This course will enable you
to accomplish at once all necessary and i'm
portant reforms by your own regulations
and without being trammelled by antedilu-
Wan and unsuitable legislation and you
may at once place your sampling on the basis
adopted at Cincinnati, which, upon the
whole, your committee believe to be the best
system yet adopted--the most promotivc OF
the interests of all concerned, whether pro-
ducers, sellers, or buyers, and of trude.
growth.
"On the other hand, if buyers fear TO
EXPORT THEIR PURCHASES
beyond seas without inspection, the strictcSt
construction making the inspection laws ap-
| ply only to tobIcco exported hey ond the
! limits of the United States, and not to TO.
| bacco used locally or shipped to other States
| Of the Union, you Iray permit single pub
| lie warehouse to remain open, which shall
| be devoted exclusively to the inspection OF
| export tobacco. In every event, however,
whether you retain the system of public
warehouses as they at present exist, or adopt
| the plan of single export warehouse, the
remaining warehouses in that event to be.
come private. or insist upon the conversion
of al! public into private warehouses within
the time and under the penalties already in.
dicated, it is our clear conviction that you
should proceed at once to elect
| GENERAL SAMPLER
for the city, whose duties and responsible.
ties for his samples shall be such as are indi.
Gated by the regulations OF the trade at Gin
clnnati, and who shall give bond expressive
of the guaranty Of the samples he draws
similar to the one given there. Certainly il
all the warehouses were private such sam.
pier might be elected by this trade. 1t is
| equally the conviction OF your committee
that such a course may be pursued even In
the case of our public warehouses.
"The most rigid construction and the closest
scrutiny of the present inspection laws will
fail to show that it is anywhere made
the duty Of the public inspectors either
TO draw or especially to furnish sample
! IHere the law-sections II, IS, and 19 ol
chapter So of the Code-is reciled.]
| "The word sample or the furnishing a
sample, are nowhere mentioned in the Code,
still less the duty Of doing the latter any
where incucuted Truth is, that when the
duties of inspectors were first prescribed nc
samples were furnished. Tobacco vas sold
at specified price, and the notes Of the ia
sDectors passed as currency, because the
weights being given by the notes, and the
price being fixed and not varying as TO quail
| ty. their value was readily estimated with.
out any samples.
| "THE FURNISHING OF THE SAMPLES
is purely of tue courtesy of the inspector
ANY commission merchant or owner Of TO-
bacco may draw his own sample-nay, may
insist on doing so after the business OF IN.
spection is done, which is wholly dscor-
pected, whether in the customary meaning
of the term or of that affixed to it by the
law, from the idea OF sampling. II com
mission merchant or owner may sample his
own tobacco he may certainly employ some
one else to do so for him. Indeed, it has
been his custom to employ thai other IN the
person of the inspector, who is not required
By law to do it, but does 1t Of bis courtesy
But it is not advisable, in the opinion ol
your committee, that a*. -..
| THE INSPECTOR
shall continue to sample. He is by law the
lessee of the public warehouses. His reve'
nues are entirely dependent on the patron
age of the owners and sellers of tobacco. His
predictions are;entirely on their side, and
| his interests lead him to cultivate their favor
Beyond this he is prohibited by law from be-
coming responsible for the correspondence
between bis samples and the packages
whence drawn after the delivery OF the lat
ter from bis warehouses and on this account
the very object which we seek to accom-
| Dlish-viZ this ponSiblity-wouId be i'm.
possible under his samping. No bond that
an inspector could or would give to assure
his responsibility could he enforced in the
courts. It would be void ab initio and on
its face. It would not do for the commission
| merchant TO sample, because be, too, is i
marty thoroughly interested, like the inspec'
| tor: and although he might give bond to
confirm his responsibility, vet you would
have. in case of his becoming sampler, 10
take and examine q multiplicity of bonds.
and continue taking and examining them
whenever anv of his bondsmen should be
adiudged to be bad, as they constantly mlShl
be. .-
q WHAT YOU WANT
in SAMPLER is man entirely disinterested
whose positIon and revenues are solely de-
nendent on his fidelity and accurate per-
formance of his duties, who has no interest
in warehouses. and who SHALL be prohibited
under penalties from buying, Or selling TO-
baceo either Oh his own or others account
such an officer, if OF high character and IN
telIigence, would be invaluable to you, &c
your reputation abroad, and to your inter, 81,
ests at home ; and not only to- you, but; to ths
producer, who may be sure Of the resso
-, ,na maintenance of the standard o