The San Francisco call., 1898-01-05
They Pay No Taxes, No Rent and No Attention
 to Fair Dealing.
License Collector May Reach Out for Them and Again
 Test the Law.
Resident Jobbers to Combine Against the Class Known as Manufac-
 turers' Agents.

The San Francisco Directory con- tains the names of PAP men who are listed as manufacturers agents. The list embraces some well-known firms composed of merchants who reside in this city, pay taxes and license and are Identified with the fortunes of the community. Others belong to a class of raiding agents. Failing to get rep utable and leading houses of estab- lished character to handle their wares they have engaged in the business of selling to the trade in any form by which buyers can be reached. They sell by sample and catalogue, and in or der to obtain the lowest rate on freight so as to compete with the resident job bers, go from one retail dealer to an- other until sufficient orders can be se- cured to Justify the shipment of car load of goods. The car containing packages for ten or twelve customers is consigned to one individual in order that the regulations of the Traffic As sociation may be observed in letter while violated in spirit It Is said by railroad men that the transportation companies have no right to inquire into details regarding the consignment of
 
 so long as the record shows the ship ment of a carload from one consignor to one conSignee.
 This system of traffic which menaces legitimate commerce, is not confined to one. two or three lines of trade, but ex- tends to all lines of business. The city is literally swarming with agents. Res ident jobbers are now determined to take steps to break up the practice. There is no intention of prescribing commercial travellers or agents for Eastern manufacturers who conduct their mercantile operations according to the established usages of trade. but there is a purpose to ignore the agent who sells directly to the retailer.
 Yesterday a representative of The Cali visited the establishments of Mack X O., George H. Fay Company and Miller, Sloss & Scott. All remarked that the town was full of agents who were soliciting orders from the retail dealers of the city and interior towns.
 So far as this house Is concerned" remarked MT. Scott of the last named firm, I've do not buy goods from manu- featuring agents who sell to the retail trade and go about the city and coun- try soliciting orders for their wares No agreement or compact among wholesalers is needed. Simple observ- ance of the ordinary customs of trade is all that is required. When we find that an Eastern manufacturer has es- taolished an agency in San Francisco and that the agent insists on selling to retail customers. we simply decline to handle the goods Of that manufacturer. The tobbing merchants of San Fran cisco, in my judgment, are able to protect themselves The Call, in ex- posing the system by which these man. ufacturing agents are conducting bus mess, is rendering the mercantile con- munity service of great value.'
 While License Collector Bonnet is willing and anxious to assist the local merchants in the fight for their rights he Is handicapped by the existing laws The decisions of the higher courts are against the imposition of a license tax on drummers and agents representing firms outside the State. All that he can do is impose merchandise license tax on agents who are found selling goods in broken packages. The Su- preme Court of the United States has decided that a license tax on drum mers soliciting sales from sample is unconstitutional, and therein the whole trouble exists.
 There are several hundred agents of Eastern manufacturing concerns in this city, and as they claim that they only solicit sales from samples there is no way of imposing a tax on them. In few instances they have been de- tected selling their samples" and a merchandise license tax has been inn posed on those offenders. While the License Collector is certain that many of the agents have the goods shipped to them and sell them direct. he is unable to secure the necessary proof to compel them to pay a merchandise tax license.
 'The great difficulty" said Chief Deputy Fay of the license office yester- day, Ifs to catch these Eastern agents selling from broken packages They claim that they only solicit orders from sample, and that under the law they are exempt from paying any license tax If any large quantity of goods IS round in their possession. they claim that the goods were shipped to them 10 deliver to customers who made purchases from samples. It is only when we catch them selling to dealer from broken packag ges, that we can enforce the payment of a merchant dlse license. We have of late caught several agents selling direct from their so-called samples and forced them to pay license the same as any other retail or wholesale dealer Unless we eaten them selling goods from a bro Ken package, they claim that the goods they carry have been shipped to fill orders given from samples, and we are n ~A