"All right, but from whom will you take the money which is required by this modern way of doing business? The local money-broker has no spare cash for it."
"No, father, but I can assure you, that in London people are not adverse to assist the legitimate trade, and besides, several of the great London Bankers come from this neighbourhood and are very well disposed towards Bremen."
The "Augusta" brought, besides her cargo of tobacco, 1038 bales of cotton, quite a big quantity for that time.
QUESTIONS OF LAW
IN THE PAST.
According to the Universal German Commercial Law, and later, according to the Civil Code of Law, the buyer has the right to cancel the contract, or to demand a reduction in price, if the goods delivered do not equal the quality guaranteed.
Experts had to decide, whether the quality tendered was up to the guarantee.--These experts were appointed by the law, in accordance with the proposals of the parties concerned. The cotton trade followed, in olden days, this same procedure, but the weak point, was the verdict of the experts, because there were no experts in Germany outside Bremen, and no party could forecast the likely result of the verdict. A far worse consequence of the Law Conditions was for the cotton trade, the fact, that the law made no difference, whether the goods differed much or little from the stipulated quality. In both cases, the buyer had the right to place the goods at the disposal of the seller. The result of this, was most damaging to the Trade, sometimes, the sellers had the worst of it, sometimes the buyers. A few examples taken from actual experience will best explain this:
Extracts from business letters
of past years.