The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-13
W f ON MEMORANDUM
PIWNBRoKERs STEAL A MARCH ON
WHoLEsALE JEWELLERS.

eW@V
Memorandum, Unless the Contract or the
Conditional sale IL Publicly Recorded.
Wholesale jewellers are preturbed by the
provisions OF q measure relating to the sale OF
Foodn on memorandum, passed by tho Lcgisla-
turo last April and made public for the first
time yesterday. 1t promises to reduce the
memorandum business materially. and 1t was
passed In the interest OF the pawnbrokers to
protect them from loss Of moneys advanced on
diamonds sold ION memorandum and pawned
by the " buyer"
The law 10 to be found in Article TX, sections
l12 and ll3 OF tho Revised Statutes. These
sections say;
Except az otherwise provided In this article,
all conditions and reservations In q contract for
tho conditional sale of goods and chattels. ac-
companiod BY Immediate delivery and contin-
ued possession Of the thing contracted to DO
cold, to tho effect that the ownership OF such
roods and chattels 10 to remain In the condi'
tional vendor or In q person other than
the conditional vendee. until they are paid
for. or until the occurrence OF a future
event or contingency, shall be void as
against subsequent purchasers. plodgees or
mortgaeees In good faith. and as to them the
sale shall be deemed absolute, unless such con-
tract Of sale, containing such conditions and
reservations, or a true copy thereof, be MED as
directed in this article. Such contracts shall be
Alod in the city or town where the conditional
yendee resides. IL he resides within the State at
the time of tho execution thereof; and II not, In
the city or town where such property Is at such
time"
In Now York and Brooklyn the place Of filing
is tho Registers office; elsewhere, tho Town
Clerks office or the County Clerks, when there
10 one In the town. These articles are kindly
excepted from tho law
Household goods, pianos. organs, scales. butchers
and meat market tool and fixtures, wood cutting
machinery, engines, dynamos, ooilen portable Iur.
ssiSs:, BOISE Sofss 1SS ss%' Moving pHsp '%ssh intssII rssp %s.
hsrvos,ers, grain drills and attachmenss, dairy sizes
oarriagrS. buggies. phaetons, and other vehicles, 6icy.
S Sa&;s sp'I bower, iiffI the S' Contract ea'V for the 4 sale tSereof e
executed in duplicate. and one duplicate delivered to
the purchaser.
That such a law had been passed was news to
s sssd 'Swi IN !h sh. ge, seSy rfA ci re- R11V'SIlS eard iSs;
f sncw sn Sow a if Il had had been been p passed 'R Without %aR' sSo dG
R Ri st ne ' sg ssS ssiIsf'' sS Tfs in'Fs saSiy !a &
April and the jewellers got 1t killed.
While they were gSnsratsIStins th ssa" Nt ION on
pawnbrokers. was thinking: He consulted his
lawyers, TEuax. Grandall & Hoy; They hap,
i isnH'i In order der to ei have he W. Work Of the commit,
amendment to the law. which is quoted above
and submitted 1t to the Legislature. The amend
mont was passed. WITHOUT question II lhCOTpo-
rated in the Revised Statutes relating to liens,
TO go into effect on Sept. l.. The jewellers have
S SSsn sTsf h siaf s.s Ap enacs Guiding n 0 ts,. tint 9i@. sH DEAN a
Simpson has had u never vanishing smile on his
When diamonds are sold " on memorandum"
they are simply turned over to a retailer. or TO
some other middleman. who represents to the
customer. II the middleman is dishonest he ia
very likely TO pawn the DIAMONDS and disap-
protective association, usually get the middle
man into jail and get the diamonds
under the new sWo law az the diamonds in such /. case.
unless there is a record in the Registers office to
sas S%en s5s sxs sss E fas l%RfS1o &c tx # law shs ea RISFs sSe
.ssy ssa's s s ssS!sssi Syltt&s !sEsllsr from the
member Of the Middleton and Brainerd Company,
with our doing business in our own way; About
20 per cent. OF the wholesale jewellers business
men aG may. Generally Speaking. be divided into
two CLASSES. The arst and largest class is com.
Sustained by anybody are tridins. The other
GLASS is composed of men, and some women. who
on memorandum. 1t has got SO now that whole
sale jewellers have become very careless. Al
ance with a Wholesale house may obtain goods
on memorandum. The terms OF a memorandum
fffG9 pse mns to whom %fs ns Wa Ea tse s Sr sTs shs GOODS Ssy.;
turns up, at the end Of the time with money or
goods "a al Is, f. well YELL. Ii hsdon ,t, wv we ANY hTn H. for So6 the
in a pawn shop and replevin them. With this
law on tho books jewellers must be much moro
S dSls.u'T nUo result sip1 viii be Su that eoG The G bus MiseT viii
Be greatly reduced and that's what we object to.
brokers take chances With us. Not more than 5
per cent: of those who take jewelry on memoran-
Charles Brodek Of Wilcox & Brodek. counsel
for the Wholesale Jewellers Association. said:
Ollera object to this law. and object to IL BtrenL-
ously. First, the wholesalers do not care to
Ia ; 1t knO ,yy1, that hat they sell 1n,s on n, me, me% e
that a jewelIer must make, PUBLIC, the volume
Of his most numerous sales. The jewellers
hold that it Is nobody's business how they con-
They consider the law inquisitorial and entirely
who receive goods on consignment don't want IL
known that they do business that way. Most
their finest jewelry on memorandum. Under
this law q copy OF every memorandum must be
rs "i there enc is 'U NOT q s'o county at c eES : n oiiiee.
Country, merchants, viii stop buying. and tho
m0pesi than 9' hall. AND I oaS the law wrn was pS u wholly un!
necessary. The Court Of Appeals has held that
when goods are sent out on memorandum, with
no specification as to whom the goods shall be
sold to. tho title passes absolutely to the per.
son to whom the goods are consigned, and with
What more does the pawnbroker wantT"
Another jeweller had this to say; " No jew.
orandum. Our memorandum reads that the
goods mentioned in 1t are absolutely our prop.
srty, that they are sent out solely Tor inspection,
and must be returned to us on demand. No ono
getting goods on such a memorandum has any
title 70 them whatever. The trainers Of this
new law were SO cute that they got caught In
their own trap. They meant the law to cover
memorandum sales, but as IA matter of fact, II
covers only conditional sales. which are quite
different"
When the point made by the jeweller, quoted
above, was brought to the attention OF Mr.. Gran
dali, no said: The point is not well taken, be
cause the courts have held that u memorandum
sale Is a conditional sale, when the facts show
no matter how the memorandum reads, that tn,
Intent and custom of the wholesaler was to hav,
the memorandum man sell the goods. In min,
QaaeA out of ten nrnnf Of thia Ia any