The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-08-29

that these lines have notified rs. II u con-
t1nues, they will demand prepayment OF
ali charges through 10 destination. thus
practically shutting OF this trade. - far
IS those lines are concerned. Our - Paul
people are afraid that If these lines take
suit, which will shut OF the shingse snip
ruenEs almost entirely. Please consult
with shippers OF shingles. and zee II tns
trouble cannot be avoided.
The csnses for this state Of affairs are
various. said sfinrse shipper yesterday.
I'm few cases consignees are forced 70
this course because Of the financial strtn-
geney. Some cases. however. are per-
feetly outrageous. In many cases the re-
fusai to accept eonsignments ID mere
trick TO force the shipper into taking
lower price for bis product. In others u
Il - the shippers fault in sending cars
away on speculative orders: that is, the
orders are not positive and open, bat
mostly hampered with conditions, some
OF which are beyond the power Of the ship
per 10 control, such as getting the goods
10 their destination by certain date. etc
Many Of the shippers have no agent on the
ground to find other purchasers for the
rejected goods or TO note their condition.
ing that the shipper here Is in hole.
unable 20 protect himself and under the
necessity cf taking what be can get rather
than have row or lawsuit or any great
delay. they therefore make bluff By
saying they won't accent the consign-
ment. and offer price only half
Of what il should be. This sort OF
treatment IL only accorded 20 the small
shipper who has no agents in the East TO
look after his interests. Again, there are
the speculative and irresponsible Eastern
shingie brokers, who order cars shipped in
advance of sales, their custom being TO
have the cars forwarded to the local point
after they have made sale. These cars
fiji up the sidetracks and lie kicking
around the yards until the railroad COM
panies get tired OF them. But the chief
reason why consignments are rejected is
because Of filing speculative orders and
the outrageous IL not criminal BUSH
ness methods pursued by some concerns.
These tricks are not practiced generally by
retailers, because as rule they are straight
enough. Those who do practice il do so
tor the sake of pure robbery. and do 90 on
. scale large enough to make the gain an
object. Some of the largest and Wealth.
est wholesale houses in the East pursue
these confidence-game tactics. They buy
the goods under one set of representations
and sell them under another at an advance.
for the purpose of having them rejected by
their customer. Then they make roar
that the order has not been properly filled
and wind no by Offering big shave. They
make small concession to their customer
and get big profit in the scalp. In some
cases they resort 10 downright swinding.
Here 10 case in point: Il shingle
manufacturer here received from a
big Chicago wholesale firm an or
der 10 ship O carload OF shingles
TO a small town in Iowa where they had
already sold 10 to q customer of theirs.
The car was shipped as directed and the
bill of iading sent TO the Chicago house.
After few weeks this firm sent him word
that the car was rejected and they refused
to pay for the shipment on account OF too
long delay in transit. The shipper did
not know what TO do. He had no agent
in the East and did not know where he
could dispose Of the car. Being busy at
the time he didn't do anything for several
weeks, but one time while in Seattle he
went to broker and asked him to sell
that car load of shingles for him. The
broker agreed TO do 1t and commenced
writing to dealers in the neighborhood of
the town whether the car had been ship
ped. One Of the first men he wrote to
happened to be the same dealer to whom
the Chicago house had sold the shingles.
This man wrote back that he had accepted
the shingles and paid the Chicago house
for them nearly three months before.
Now, perhaps. this big Chicago house did
not mean to blk the Washington shipper
entirely out of that car load of shingles
and only played this trick in order to gain
time, but it shows what wolves some men
are in business