The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-02-03
BOGUS AUCTION SALES.
\ Complaint Against the Impositicns
Prncticed Upon Reputable Mer-
chants md the Conn munIfx

Prncticed Upon Reputable Mer-
chants and the Community.
To the Editor Of The Times:
am Washington merchant, as you
know, steady and sometimes liberal
patron OF the newspapers l wonder IL you
will have the fairness and courage to give
this communication conspicuous publica-
ton. or will you. like some OF your neigh
bors. attempt to run with both sides, and
make money out of each.
Great injustice is being done every regu-
lar city tradesman by the frequent and. in
many cases. fraudulently advertised dis
solution, retiring from business" 'as-
signee. and bankruptcy sales.
Jewelry. furniture, and rug sales are
hamed into our eyes and dinned into our
ears every week or so. One or two parties
make a regular business Of II. and one has
already consumed two or three years in
bringing to close these emergency"
transactions
A small basis OF the stock In each case
IS probably genuine. but the pretext is
used to flood the town with the poorest
kind OF trash, which, although claimed 10
be standard goods. would attract no atteu-
tion, and find no buyers II confined to the
Pidces Wneie lHey DelOng-
A fairly good name il used, however
and the masses, always on the alert for
bargains. are taken in and made TO pay
almost as much for trash as they would
be asked for frst-class goods.
In articles which require expert knowl-
edge to estimate their value, the swindling
is enormous. l saw last week a vase. de-
clared to be "Sevres,' for which the owner
paid SIS at one of these perennial dis
solution sales" or course 1t had never
seen Sevres or any other reputable fac
tory. II was a cheap. bald. tawdry imita-
ton, and dear at So. | could enumerate a
hundred swindles in Persian rugs" bril-
liant with analyne dies; Chippendale. an
tique furniture. made out OF Western bass
wood; cloisonne and silver counterfeits,
but of what use? Every merchant In the
city knows how far extended are the
swindles, and how they injure legitimate
trade.
Look at it for a moment I hire COM
modious store. for which pay rent every
month in the year. / have a bevy of
clerks, all of whom are employed the year
round. They live here, hire houses or
rooms, and have their families and de-
pendents with them, and add. every one OF
them, to the business of the city. | pay
Federal and District licenses and taxes on
my stoch- OH every MANU- am GtQulTtu
to discharge a part Of the cost Of the
Of the District, whether bust
ness is good or bad. have certain ex-
pendltures to make and to meet.
These other people come to Washington.
get hold of a firm that has led a preca-
rious existence for years, having failed or
assigned two or three times, and announce
a great clearing out sale. An auctioneer's
name Is hired for nominal sum- and then |
the swindle begins TO run as long as 1t
makes money; as long as people can be |
imposed upon.
Meanwhile / and other honorable mer-
,hants suffer. The trade fairly ours is
ured away by devices which would not
bear examination, and among the greatest
If them is the advertising which you al
ow them to do in your papers. and which
leceives people into a belief that the sales
Ire genuine; that the failures are bona
ide, and that as a quick clearing must be
lad people can buy good goods, as good as
We keep or offer, at half or less than half
ur prices. OF course, in time the swindle
S exposed In time the buyers find what
gorthless stun they have paid their money
or, but there is no redress. The schemers
ave got through and are far away doing
ONE other community and injuring an
Their set of merchants.
Now, you may ask what can be done to
emedy these wrongs or to prevent them
D the future. others can answer that
uestion as well as myself, but l will sug-
est one or two possible remedies.
In the first place. let every regular ad-
ertising merchant who is a steady Gus
omer of the newspapers insist that they
hall. to fair extent, be protected from
ne guerrilla gentry.
Second, let the merchants get together |
nd employ some proper person to draft,
resent, and push a bill by which these ,,
eople will be obliged to submit their pro-
osed sales to scrutiny, and regulation as
, announcements, the same as many Of
1T merchants are now required to do.
Third, require that in all auction sales,
dialogues shall be prepared and goods ,,
posed for comparison and che seller held ,
sponsible to the extent of the guaranty.
hese provisions will at least prevent ALI ,
e-year-round'' auctions, where the ,
lelves are filed up every morning to re-
ace the plated and bedizened trash sold ,
ON them the day before. c
Fourth, provide for per cent tax. to be !
lid by the seller on all goods disposed of I
an auction other than real estate and
reclosure sales-a tax large enough to de- s
ay fair share of the police. lighting. /
ttt titdhiht. anu othti cApNhSSS VI eht / q
strict. which we have to pay whether '
E do business or not. T
Now, The Times can aid us largely in d
inging about the needed reforms. 1t is I
,erally supported by the active, busting 7
erchants of Washington and We have al
,ys felt it was their friend. Whenever We
we called upon il, it has responded cor I
ally and generously. :
Some of US remember with gratitude that l
% years ago it refused two or three page
vertisements of fake clothing concern J
lich came over here from New York to :
indie Westinghouse with a '10-cent-
the dollar fire sale
One good turn deserves another. Help
again. Help us put down these equally
ke auction assignee, dissolution. and | !,
,aring-out sales. II necessary, refuse q
pir advertisements. The loss will be n
,de up to you perhaps not the same week :,
month, but in good time. We shall know N
10 our friends are and remember them,
d We shall expect you TO also advocate b
assist us in procuring such legislation al
will otherwise right our wrongs. by pro- il
ting honest merchants and taxpayers 81
IN outside dishonest raiding. Of
A WASHINGTON MERCHANT. b,
Voice From MinnesOta. d
Drnr i ~