The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-06
FALSE PACKED ROSIN.
Some Recent RGClaimS Made on Car
goes Shipped to Foreign Ports.

Every now and then there comes COM
plant from some Of the buyers OF naval
stores about false packed rosin, and while
little publicity is given to it a report Of
some such complaint occasionally leaks
out.
There have been two or three such com
plants made recently. Buyers have
taken rosin which they thought all right,
and on investigation have found that
among the lot somewhere there are bar
rels which contain good rosin on
top and poorer grades on the bot
tom. Or there may be high grade
rosin on top and bottom and poor grades
between. AS the sampling is generally
done from the top, it is hard to discover
such deception unless careful inspec-
ton is made. In other cases the discov-
cry has not been made, and in fact, such
is generally the case, until after the cargo
has been shipped and a reclaim is made
against the buyer for the amount which
represents the difference in the grade
ordered and the grades shipped.
A FEW CASES OF RECENT COMPLAINTS.
Without giving any names, few Incl
dents and examples may be given which
w III SCI fC " SliON llAlb biAC COLlHldtiAb ID
justihable and that it is by no means UNI
common or unusual.
Some days ago q well-known buyer
secured cargo of 5000 barrels for a
foreign firm. An inspection of portion
of the stock was made after it had been
purchased and it was found that Just 10
per cent of it was false backed. The
cargo was shipped under the circum-
stances, but the buyer expects to get a re-
To- fNSaF h f.k0 &c
the difference in the values of the differ
ent grades shipped.
A similar incident, but one which in
vOlved a heavier loss, happened one day
last week A well-known naval stores
firm here shipped large cargo of rosin
| to the foreign house which it represents,
supposing that it was all right, and up to
! the samples taken from the head of the
barrel. They discovered their mistake
only after the cargo arrived on the other
side, when they learned that they would
have to stand a loss of pence hundred
weight on the entire cargo, On'aCcOunt Of
the lower grades of roSin that were
packed in with the grade ordered, which
amounts TO a loss of about 40 cents on
barrel of $50 pounds
This is the heaviest reclaim that has
been reported from this cause in some
time. 1t was followed up the very next
day by another very similar occurrence,
where reclaim of three pence per hun
dred-weight came back to a different
firm on a 500-barrel cargo. This amounts
to about l6 or II cents on a barrel of 2S0
pounds,
THE COMPLAINTS SEEM FREQUENT.
The complaints about false packed
rosin seem to be getting more and more
frequent. The three mentioned above
have occurred within a space of ten DAYS.
H. ,,,ft - - fpg 10 a
that there is not near so much of it now
as there was last season.
| In cases where false packed rosin is
discovered before il is shipped it is at
once returned to the factors, but the dis
covery before shipment is a hard matter,
as the railroads will not allow the stock
to be inspected by the buyers on their
rosin yards or wharves, as there is not
room enough for it. The result is, that as
q general thing it is bought from the fac
tor on the yard and dumped right into
the ship without inspection. This is cal
culated rather to encourage, than to dis
courage the practice.
When such a case is reported to a
factor and a complaint is made to the
producer from whom the stock came it is
said that very little satisfaction is OBJ
tanned, as the almost invariable reply is
that the distiller has made a mistake,
structions, or that some negro employe
has disregardCd instructions and put the
good rosin in the wrong barrel. These
stories are numerous.
There is no doubt however, but there is
frequently some truth in these claims
Sometimes a distillermakes a claim that he
can get so much high grade rosin out of
a given number OF boxes, and frequently,
to make good his claim, he has to resort
to some such plan, which may, no doubt
be unknown to the producer. Occasion
ally half barrel Of low grade after one
distillation may be filled in with good
rosin when a new distillation begins This
latter, however, would not occur fire.
quently and will not account for much Of
the product that is found mixed in the
manner complained of.
COTTON IN IT, TOO.
Cotton is subject to the same complaints
and numbers of bales come in with poor
grades packed between the good. This
is detected and corrected, however, much
easier than in the case of rOsin and very
little is said about it.
A good story is told of a South Caro-
lima farmer who got hard up and packed
his grindstone in the middle of a bale
that he sent to 2 Charleston factor with
whom he had been doing business. He
was paid for the cotton and grindstone
too, and had almost forgotten the matter
when short while afterwards he or
dered a barrel Of sugar from that factor
In the sugar he found grindstone, and
he wanted to kick at once But he
couldn't An inspection showed him that
it was his own grindstone.
A case of false packed cotton, in which
the blame was put on the gin
ner, like that of rosin on the
distiller, comes from South Georgia ;
a cotton buyer, purchased a bale from a
farmer, who was also a country preacher
On sampling it he found it TO contain two
or three grades, some Of which was very
poor in quality. When he next came to
town the matter was brought to his at
tention, and he appeared very much sur
prised. He had had no idea, he said
that the cotton had been packed in that
way.
why" he said II took both grades to
the ginner and told him to pack it to the
best advantage. l didn't know he had