bring an action for forty-five shillings ;
and a man so foolish as to defend it !
Few lines had more truth in them,
than two which he would quote to the
jury
" Causes are traversed, and so little won,

That he whoffains them, is at last undone."

Tailors' Bills.

THE model tailor is the gentleman's
best friend. Sometimes, it must be
confessed, he sends in his bill, though
payment, generally speaking, never en-
ters into his thoughts. But then he is
soon ashamed of the liberty he has
taken, and apologizes most profusely
for it. He is fully sensible that he is
doing wrong, and blushes in his soul
for the shabbiness he is guilty of. It
is only that he is terribly distressed for
money, or else he would not think of
" troubling " you. He is greatly sub-
ject to that heaviest of all social ca-
lamitiesa " little bill." He asks you,
as the greatest favor, to let him have a
" trifle upon account," and leaves you
happier than poets can express, if you
promise to let him have something in
a day or two. Should it be inconve-
nient, however, he never presses the
point, and will look in some other time.
Should you express astonishment at his
demand that you cannot have had his



bill more than two years he excuses
himself in the most penitential manner,
and begs your pardon for having men-
tioned the subject. The next day he
inquires if you want anything in his
way ; the generous creature forgives as
quickly as he forgets. His anger is
only aroused when you leave him to
go to another tailor. In his anger he
has been known to send a lawyer's let-
ter ; but if you go to him, and tell him
what you think of his conduct, and or-
der a new wrap-rascal, he will settle
the matter himself, and assure you that
the thing is purely a mistake, and that
no one can possibly be more sorry for
it than himself. As might be supposed,
the model tailor rarely makes a fortune
unless he has been very unfortunate
through life. An insolvency just puts
him straight ; a first bankruptcy leaves
him a handsome surplus, and a second
one enables him to retire. The sad
truth is, that the simple child of Eve
knows he owes all his business to the
fact of her biting the apple, and he has
not the heart to distress any son of
Adam for the clothes he wears. Per-
haps he feels that it would be like
pocketing the wages of sin. His as-
signees, therefore, are obliged to col-
lect his debts for him, and accordingly,
the oftener he fails, the richer he be-
comes.

An Unsettled Commercial Question.

ONE of the commercial questions of
the day which remains to this time un-
decided, is, whether the fact of a gen-
tleman having No TIN may not have
something to e do with the answer he
invariably sends of NOT IN, when any
one calls upon him with a bill ?

Hotel Keeper's Advice to his Sen.

" IF there's been a grand dinner, al-
ways get the party to settle before leav-
ing. The dinner bill, my son, is never
so severely scrutinized as when a gen-



406



COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.



tleman looks over it the next morn-
ing !

Royal Promissory Notes.

A PRUSSIAN, of the name of Mylius,
found among his father's papers a
promissory note of considerable amount,
which the Prince Royal, afterward
Frederic the Great, had given him. He,
therefore, immediately sent it to the
king, with the following letter :

" SIRE : Among my father's p<apers I
have found the enclosed note. I can-
not tell whether it has been through
negligence, or any other means, that it
has not been cancelled. I know not,
but I leave the matter to the disposal
of your majesty." .

The king immediately sent for My-
lius, and said that he well remembered
receiving the money from his father,
and that, if there was any error, he
would be the loser himself. He at once
paid the money, with interest.

An Insolvent Tradesman in the
Clutches of Old Audley.

A TRADESMAN, named Miller, unfor-
tunately got into arrears with his mer-
chant, whose name was White. Many
fruitless applications were made for
the debt, and at last Miller was sued
by the merchant for the sum of two
hundred pounds. He was unable to
meet the demand, and was declared in-
solvent.

At this stage, the notoriously greedy
shark, Audley, whose wealth was only
exceeded by his heartless avarice, went
to White, and oflFered him forty pounds
sterling for the debt, ^ich the mer-
chant gladly accepted. He then went
to Miller, and undertook to obtain his
quittance of the debt for fifty pounds,
upon condition that he entered into a
bond to pay for the accommodation.
The drowning man catches at a straw,
and the insolvent, with many protesta-
tions of thanks, eagerly signed a con-
tract which, without consideration, he



regarded as one so light, and so easy
in its terms, as to satisfy him that the
promptings of benevolence and friend-
ship could alone actuate his voluntary
benefactor. The contract was, that he
should pay to Audley some time with-
in twenty years from that date, one
penny progressively doubled on the
first day of twenty consecutive months ;
and, in case he failed to fulfil those easy
terms, he was to pay a fine of five hun-
dred pounds. Thus acquitted of his
debt of two hundred pounds, Miller ar-
ranged with the rest of his creditors, and
again commenced business. Fortune
turned, and he again participated liber-
ally in her smiles. Every month added
greatly to his trade, and at last he be-
came firmly established. Two or three
years after signing the almost forgotten
contract, Miller was accosted one fine
morning in October by " old Audley,"
who politely and humorously demand-
ed the first instalment of the agree-
ment. With a laugh, and many re-
newed expressions of thankfulness, the
hopeful tradesman paid his penny. On
the first of the succeeding month, Aud-
ley again called, and demanded two
pence, and was as politely satisfied as
before. On the first of December he
received a groat ; the first of February,
one shilling and four pence. Still Mil-
ler did not see through the artifice, but
paid him with a gracious smile; per-
haps, however, there was something
cynical in the look of Audley as he left
the shop this time for the poor trades-
man's suspicions were aroused, and he
put his pen to paper, as he ought to
have done years before, to ascertain the
amount of his subsequent payments.

According to this arrangement, the
amount of the payment due on the first
of the twentieth month the sum the
little penny had become would be no
less than 2,180 ; and the aggregate of
all these twenty monthly payments, the
enormous sum of 4,366 11s. 3d. Of
course, Miller refused the payment of
his bond, and forfeited 500 by the be-



THEIR LEGAL AND JUDICIAL ASPECTS.



407



nevolence and charity of his " volun-
tary benefactor."

Convenient Substitute for Money.

THE principal market in Guernsey
was built without money. The gov-
ernor issued four thousand market
notes, and with these paid the work-
men who built it. These notes circu-
lated through the island, until the
market was built and occupied; and
when the rents came in, these notes
were received in payment of the rents,
and were cancelled. In the course of a
few years, the notes, being all paid in,
were publicly burnt in the market.
The Water Works, Upper Canada,
were constructed by a similar use.

What the Word "Pay" Signifies.

THE word "pay," in ordinary lan-
guage, is only used to signify the deliv-
ering over of money, or other valuables,
in discharge of a debt. But in its
original meaning, it seems to have had
a particular reference to the act or
manner of blotting out the record of a
debt. This was done in times not
long past, and is sometimes done now,
by drawing a line, or more commonly
two lines, crossing each other, athwart
the writing in the book ; and from the
custom, it is often said by country peo-
ple, when they have paid a debt, that
" the book is crossed." But at the time
when very few were able to read what
was written, not only would it be
thought unsatisfactory to have nothing
more than a written receipt entered in
the book, but this drawing a line
across the record of the debt was sup-
posed too slight a matter ; and, there-
fore, the obliteration was made by dip-
ping the tip of the finger in ink, and
smearing it over the writing. This
blotting out of the record was what
was particularly understood by the
word paying, and not simply the act
of delivering the money; and hence



the mercantile application of the words
to pay is only an extension of the origi-
nal meaning, when it is applied to the
smearing over of the bottom of a ship
or boat with pitch. When a new coat
of tar or pitch is thus laid on, the boat
is said to be payed over.



"Bankrupt."

FEW words have so remarkable a his-
tory as the familiar word bankrupt.
The money changers of Italy had, it is
said, benches or stalls, in the bourse or
exchange, in former times, and at these
they conducted their ordinary business.
When any of them fell back in the
world, and became insolvent, his bench
was broken, and the name of broken
bench, or lanco rotto, was given to
him. When the word was adopted
into English, it was nearer the Italian
than it now is, being " bankerout " in-
stead of bankrupt.



" Dun."

SOME have derived this word from
the French word donnez, signifying
give, implying a demand of something
due ; and others, from the Saxon word
dunon, to clamor. Both are wrong.
The origin of the word is proved to be
simply this : In the reign of Henry VII.
a famous bailiff, named Joe Dun, lived
in the town of Lincoln. This man was
so extremely dexterous in his rough
business, that it was usual, when a per-
son refused to pay his debts, to say,
" Why don't you DUN him ? "that is,
"Why don't you send Dun to arrest
him ? " And hence the custom of call-
ing a person who presses another for
the payment of money, a Dun. It is a
custom which has been in vogue since
the days of Henry VII.

Subduing a Creditor's Fury.

IT is related that Filippo, the cele-
brated singer, having been arrested by



408



COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.



one of his largest and most enraged
creditors a trader from whom he had
been long skulking made no other re-
ply to his abuse and threats than by
sitting down to the harpsichord and
singing two or three of his most pleas-
ing and touching airs to his own ac-
companiment ; the fury of the creditor
was thus, gradually, so perfectly sub-
dued, that he not only forgave his
debtor, but lent him ten guineas to
appease the clamor of other creditors
who threatened him with speedy jail
quarters.

Great Failures in Hamburgh, in 1799.

THE year 1799 was memorable for
the havoc which befell the great mer-
cantile houses of Hamburgh. Within
the space of only a few weeks, some
one hundred and thirty-six failures oc-
curred, amounting to no less a total
than fifteen million dollars, and crip-
pled or prostrated every branch of busi-
ness and business connection. The
largest of these failures was that of
Messrs. De Dabbeler & Hesse, for an
immense amount ; the next, that of J.
D. Rodde. Of all the rest, only three
were enabled, afterward, to resume
payment and fully satisfy their credi-
tors.

During this convulsive state of the
Hamburgh Bourse, the London Ex-
change bestirred itself, since merchan-
dise and bills of exchange could afford
no immediate relief, at a time when
discount had risen so enormously, and
merchandise had fallen thirty-five per
cent, in price, to render aid by cash re-
mittances, and procured from Govern-
ment the use of the frigate Lutine,
which took on board over a million
pounds sterling worth of silver, and
sailed for the Texel. The anxiety with
which the arrival of this ship was look-
ed forward to was very intense ; as was
also the disappointment that followed,
when the terrible news came that the
frigate had been wrecked on the Dutch



coast, near the Texel, and lost, with all
on board except the third steersman,
who alone succeeded in saving his life,
and brought the disastrous intelligence.
Among the great houses w T hich were
compelled to suspend payment at this
time, was that of the Brothers Kauf-
mann. It appears, however, that one
of these gentlemen, who had just mar-
ried, had presented his wife with a
ticket in the Hamburgh City Lottery.
The highest prize was one hundred
thousand marks-banco, or about thirty
thousand dollars. About the same time
the tickets of a lottery, to be drawn for
a prize of some thirty thousand dollars,
in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg,
were put in circulation, and the win-
ning number was to be the same that
should draw the prize in the Hamburgh
lottery. Mr. K.'s bride had taken it
into her head to purchase the same
number as the one on her Hamburgh
ticket in the other lottery, and make a
present of it to her husband. They
were the winners ; and with the means
thus gained, the house began again
some time afterward, and completely
reestablished themselves.



Kentucky Banker who kept Resuming-.

AT the height of one of the feverish
runs upon the banks and bankers in
Louisville, Ky., a German banker of
that city, named John Smidt, found
that he had paid out all his money,
and that he was compelled to stop.
Instead of writing a card for publica-
tion, he frankly announced his suspen-
sion by a handbill affixed to his open
doors, in which he said he had no
money on hand, but expected in a day
or two to make some collections, and
that he would then resume payment.
Accordingly, in a day or two, another
handbill appeared on his doors, announ-
cing that he had collected some fifteen
thousand dollars, which he would pay
to those of his creditors who should
first call on him for it. This was soon



THEIR LEGAL AND JUDICIAL ASPECTS.



409



paid out, and the first handbill again
displayed; and in a few days he an-
nounced that he had collected some
more money, which he was ready to
pay on demand. This frank and
straightforward course had the effect
which was to have been reasonably an-
ticipated. His German fellow citizens,
seeing that John S. was in earnest
about paying his debts, and was not
disposed to higgle for an extension,
concluded he was a man who ought
to be sustained, and accordingly came
forward and deposited the sums they
had withdrawn, and induced others to
do the same thing. There was no long-
er any " run " on J. S.



Quaker Merchant's Thousand-Dollar
Fee to Mr. Webster.

A QUAKER merchant doing business
in Nan tucket, Mass., one day called
upon Mr. Webster, at his office in Bos-
ton, for the purpose of securing his ser-
vices in a suit which was about to be
tried on the island, and wound up his
application by demanding the terms.

" I Yv T ill attend to your case for one
thousand dollars," replied Mr. Webster.

The merchant demurred, but finding
that the lawyer would not visit Nan-
tucket for a less amount than the one
specified, he promised to pay the pro-
posed fee, provided Mr. Webster would
agree " to attend to any other matters
that he might present during the sit-
ting of the court," to which Mr. W.
consented.

The appointed time arrived, and Mr.
Webster was at his post. The leading
case of his client was brought forward,
argued, and decided in his favor. An-
other case was taken up, and the Quaker
assigned it to the care of Mr. Webster,
when it was satisfactorily disposed of;
another still, and with the same result ;
and still another and another, until Mr.
Webster became impatient, and de-
manded an explanation : whereupon
the shrewd Quaker merchant remarked :



"I hired thee to attend to all the
business of the court, and thou hast
done it handsomely ; so here is thy
money, one thousand dollars."

Salting- an Invoice.

WHEN the " Dictionary of Commer-
cial Slang," comes to be written, it is
to be hoped that the lexicographer will
not forget to give due prominence to
the word " Salting," which is used to
describe a peculiar operation that is
sometimes performed on " the market."
In the report of a commercial trial in
one of the English courts, mention
having been made of one of the in-
voices involved in the litigation, the
defendant alluded to the custom of
salting invoices as very prevalent at
that time in the Australian trade. On
being asked the meaning of the term,
he replied that the price inserted in
the invoice is not the true price given
for the goods it is a larger one, and
the goods in Australia are sold at an
advance upon the invoice price; the
invoice is shown to the customer, and
he believes the sum mentioned in it to
be the real price. This practice is very
common. The judge remarked that in
most criminal courts, such a transac-
tion would be called obtaining money
under false pretences. In answer to
this it was remarked, that the buyer
has the goods to examine, and that it
was a general custom. An English
writer, commenting upon this acknowl-
edgment, says, it is strongly to be sus-
pected that, according to the rules of
morality which, however, by common
consent, are not supposed to apply to
trade half the business in the nation
is carried on upon the principle of ob-
taining money under false pretences.
Nor is it to be wondered at, that when,
in old comedy, there comes in the clap-
trap about " the honor of the British
merchant " and the " integrity of the
British tradesman," there is a super-
cilious sneer from the boxes, a gentle



410



COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.



giggle from the pit, and a lusty laugh
from the gallery. It has been common
to say that commercial roguery is con-
fined to the petty tradesman, and that
the " merchant princes " are quite above
anything of that sort ; but then, what
can be said of this " general custom "
among wholesale houses of " Salting an
Invoice ? "

Soliloquy of a Debtor.

" IT must be confessed that my cred-
itors are singularly, peculiarly unfor-
tunate. They invariably apply the
day after I have spent all my money.
I always have to say to them, ' Now,
this is very provoking. Why didn't
you come yesterday, and I could have
paid you in full ? ' But no, they never
will. They seem to take a perverse
pleasure in arriving always too late.
It's my belief the rascals do it on pur-
pose."

Disreputable for a Broker to be Hon-
est toward his Creditors.

A MEMBER of the London stock ex-
change, who fails and gives up his last
farthing to his creditors, is not, at least
by a considerable portion of the other
members, thought so favorably of as
he who takes care to make a " reserve "
for himself. An instance of this oc-
curred in the case of a person who used
to go among the members and act, as
it was supposed, for a party connected
with a large newspaper estate, and who
lost on one account fifty thousand dol-
lars. He paid the amount without a
murmur, but lost his credit from that
moment, and never afterward recover-
ed it ; for it was thought the payment
of so large a sum must have broken his
back, he being, in stock exchange
phraseology, but a " little man," that is
to say, of but moderate means.

But a still more striking illustration
of how integrity is regarded among the
fraternity, is afforded in the case of M.
De la Chaumette, a gentleman of for-



eign extraction. He had previously
been in the Manchester trade, but been
unfortunate. Being a man much re-
spected, and extensively connected, his
friends advised him to go on the stock
exchange. He adopted their advice,
and became a member, establishing at
once an excellent business as a broker.
Not only did he make large sums in
the shape of commissions, on the trans-
actions in which he was employed by
others, but one of the largest mercan-
tile houses in London, having the high-
est possible opinion of his judgment
and integrity, intrusted him with the
sole disposal of an immense sum of
money belonging to the French refu-
gees, which was in their hands at the
time. He contrived to employ his
money so advantageously, both to his
constituents and to himself, that he ac-
quired a handsome fortune. Before he
had been a member three years, he in-
vited his creditors to dine with him on
a particular day, at the London Tav-
ern ; but concealed from them the par-
ticular object he had in so doing. On
entering the dining room, they several-
ly found their own names on the differ-
ent plates, which were reversed, and on
turning them up, each found a check
for the amount due to him, with inter-
est. The entire sum which M. Chau-
mette paid away on this occasion, and in
this manner , was one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. Next day he went
into the exchange as usual ; but such
was the feeling entertained of his con-
duct, that many members refused to do
a bargain with him to the extent of a
single thousand. They looked on his
payment of the claims of his former
creditors as a foolish affair. He even-
tually died worth nearly three million
dollars.

Advantage of Prison-Life to a French
Debtor.

AN immensely wealthy French bank-
er, and formerly prefect of a depart-
ment, found his way to Clichy, the



THEIR LEGAL AND JUDICIAL ASPECTS.



411



French prison, in this case, as in some
other notable instances, without com-
pulsion. He recognized the doctor of
the establishment as his physician in
former days. The doctor expressed his
astonishment at finding so great and
wealthy a man in such a situation.

" What would you have, my friend ? "
was the response ; " I have a rent-roll
rather a large one but it had to go
to pay the interest on my debts. Now,
I receive it without deduction; boil
my own coffee in the morning ; an ex-
cellent femme de menage prepares my
dinner ; I have five or six capital fel-
lows to share it ; I spend the evening
in whist and punch a jovial life, of
which I shall certainly not be tired for
five years. I shall then go abroad into
the world not owing a sou, and with-
out the disagreeable necessity of re-
ceiving my rents only to hand them
over to other people."

It is the commonest thing in French
society to hear men expatiating on the
delights of their " little boudoir in Key
street," Rue de Clef, the cant term for
Clichy, among all " choice spirits."
Another term is " the palace of debt,"
arising from its gay courts, where flow-
ers, water, trees, and a well-swept lawn
afford the occupant amusement in the
sunny hour ; a joyous companion and
good cheer when the sun no longer
shines; a well-stocked library of ro-
mance, and the knowledge that all re-
straint will end in five years, without
the stigma of bankruptcy, or the dis-
tasteful gathering of creditors.



Easy Creditors.

As showing the anxiety on the part
of some men to " trade," it is stated that
there was a London tailor who used to
make periodical visits to Cambridge,
almost forcing his coats and trousers
upon every one to whom he had the
shadow of an introduction, charging
high prices and offering infinite credit.
One of his customers left the university



much in his debt, and the tailor lost
sight of him for years. At last he
found him and took the liberty to pre-
sent his bill. His quondam customer
fairly told him that he could not pay
him. The tailor fidgeted, remonstrated,
threatened. What was the use? the
man had no money. At last the tailor
said, " Well, sir, if you will not give
me my money, at least give me an or-
der, that I may not quite have lost my
time." With this he was content. He
belonged to that class of tradesmen
who will furnish goods on credit when
they are morally certain of never being
paid. With these men " to trade " is
everything. If they can " do " a certain
amount in the day, they go to bed hap-
py, and lull themselves into forgetful-
ness as to how much of that amount
will ever be paid for perhaps safe
enough, as they know after all, for the
profits on their genuine business are the
established and ample set-off against
all losses. That's it.



Hard Old Creditor.
THE foreign papers mention that a
certain well-known speculator has been
trying to raise a loan of seven millions
on the Amsterdam Bourse. That sum,
however, large as it is, will not suffice
to get him out of his difficulties. Even
if it should enable him to extricate him-
self from the tight crack in which he is
placed, there will still be ' the devil to
pay.' ^^

Presenting- a Frivolous Bill against
Girard.

ONE of the greatest improvements in
the city of Philadelphia was that effect-
ed by Mr. Girard, in Second, below
Spruce street, where he erected a range
of stores and dwellings, and caused the