Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES.

THE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES IN THE UNITED STATES, UNITED KINGDOM, FRANCE, AND GERMANY.

[blocks in formation]

FOREIGN TRADE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.
TWELVE MONTHS ENDED DECEMBER 31ST.

IMPORTS FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES AND BRITISH

POSSESSIONS.

[blocks in formation]

EXPORTS OF BRITISH AND IRISH PRODUCE AND MANUFACTURES.

[blocks in formation]

4,072,415

96,618,472 105,329,505

21,265,363

6,006,210 6,776,920 7,641,231 8,459,394

34,487,808

33,549,088

16,282,085

17,014,250

70,263,511 74,757,178

[blocks in formation]

52,085,336 47,241,991 85.038,387 81,379,534 14,139,314 14,330,575 1,004,930 1,012,357

Total value....

£451,238,683 £441,808,904

All other articles, either manufact'd or partly manufactured.. Parcel post..

.....

[blocks in formation]

EXPORTS FROM THE UNITED STATES FOR THE CALENDAR YEARS 1897 and 1896.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

PENSION STATISTICS.

NUMBER OF PENSION CLAIMS, PENSIONERS, AND DISBURSEMENTS, 1861-1897.

Army and Navy

Total No.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

790,385.00 1,025,140.00

[blocks in formation]

22.446

[blocks in formation]

4,564,617.00

[blocks in formation]

50,106

85,986

8,525,153.00

[blocks in formation]

27.294

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

18,619,956.00

[blocks in formation]

24,010,982.00

[blocks in formation]

82,859 105,104

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

87,521

111,165

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

33,077,384.00

[blocks in formation]

30,169,341.00

[blocks in formation]

Beginning with 1893, the total number of applications filed and the total number of claims allowed include army nurses and survivors and widows of Indian wars.

DISBURSEMENTS, 1897.

-Army

Amount disbursed at United States pension agencies during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1897

Grand

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

6,546,055.13

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Columbus.

[blocks in formation]

Concord.

[blocks in formation]

Des Moines..

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

In addition to the above there was disbursed during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1897, the fol jowing sum, chargeable to the appropriation for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1896: Fees of examinIng surgeons, pensions, $193,682.64.

LEGAL DECISIONS.

The "REPLIES AND DECISIONS" regularly appearing in the JOURNAL OF COMMERCE AND COMMERCIAL BULLETIN have long been considered high authority upon questions relating to finance, business, law, and commercial usage. The publishers have often been requested to publish them in a more permanent and accessible form than is afforded by the columns of a daily newspaper, and the appearance of the more important of them in this place is in partial compliance with these requests. The "REPLIES AND DECISIONS" here printed are a small part of those which appeared in the columns of the JOURN.L OF COMMERCE AND COMMERCIAL BULLETIN between October 1, 1896, and November 1, 1897. From this compilation we have omitted all questions of a mere temporary or personal interest; also all which depend for their solution upon the statutes of a 'single State, and those statistical questions which are indirectly answered by compilations in other parts of this volume.

The "REPLIES AND DECISIONS" here inserted are not exhaustive of any branch of commercial law, but principally relate to questions of general interest and of frequent occurrence. As other questions of like import arise and are determined, they will find their appropriate place in subsequent issues of the COMMERCIAL YEAR BOOK; and its annual volumes will thus, in the course of a few years, furnish practically a complete treatise upon all the more important branches of commercial law and trade usage.

LIABILITY OF COLLECTING AGENCY.

AGENCY.

We enclose a blank receipt of the collection department of a commercial agency. Please inform us whether, if a claim is placed in their hands for collection and collected by their agent or attorney and not accounted for to them or to us, they are responsible or not.

REPLY.-The Llank form enclosed in our correspondent's letter recites that the collection agency has received from its client certain claims for the following purpose: "To be transmitted for collection or adjustment to an attorney or attorneys, to be selected by us for plaintiff, with the express understanding that we are not responsible for any loss caused by the acts or omissions of said attorney or attorneys, or for any moneys collected by said attorney or attorneys, and not actually paid over by him or them to us." The agency, therefore, does not undertake to make the collection, but simply to transmit the claim for collection to agents to be selected by the agency. It is expressly stipulated that these agents are to be selected "for the plaintiff," and not for the agency itself, and that the agency is not to be responsible for their acts. This is an agreement which the courts will enforce in strict accordance with its terms. The mercantile agency has undertaken to select an agent for its client and to forward certain claims to this agent. It is bound to use reasonable care and skill in attending to this duty. If it selects an agent known to be dishonest or otherwise unit, or if it makes a selection carelessly and without reasonable investigation, then it is liable for a loss arising from the dishonesty or negligence of the agent so chosen. If the mercantile agency, on the other hand, uses reasonable care in selecting an agent and in forwarding the claims to him, it has done all it undertook to do, and it is not liable for the agent's acts or defaults.

AGENT MUST MAKE NO PROFIT FOR HIMSELF.

A traveling salesman, all of whose expenses are paid by his house, obtained a pass over part of his route. When he turns in his expense account he charges full fare for the whole distance trayeled by him. Is this a lawful charge against his employer?

REPLY.-An agent is in all cases legally bound to make as good a bargain as possible for his principal and to allow the latter to reap the full benefit of it. He is entitled to reimbursement for all expenses actually incurred for the principal's benefit, but to nothing more. The employer, being bound to pay the expenses, whether they are great or small, provided they were actually incurred in an honest endeavor to further his interests, is equally entitled to any advantage arising from decreased expenditure. It has often been held by the courts of this and other States that an agent will not be allowed to make a profit for himself out of the business of his agency, over and above such compensation as by law or agreement he may be entitled to. A salesman cannot legally charge his employer with the value of a pass upon which he has made any part of his journey.

AGENT'S RIGHT TO COMMISSIONS.

An importer places an order with his European manufacturer, who, accidentally learning the name of the importer's customer, and believing it to be more to his advantage, ships the goods directly to customer, who receives and pays for them, the manufacturer totally ignoring the importer in the transaction. Is the importer entitled to claim his profit on the transaction from the manufacturer and deduct it in paying former invoices?

REPLY. If there is an understanding between an importer and a foreign manufacturer of goods

by which the manufacturer agrees to pay a commission upon the goods ordered by the importer, then he must pay such commission on all orders he accepts, whether he ships the goods to the importer or directly to the buyer; or if, in the absence of any definite understanding, the manufacturer accepts an order sent by the importer, knowing that the importer is acting merely as agent and that it is customary for the manufacturer to pay the agent's commission, in this case also he is liable. In either case the importer is justified in retaining from the proceeds of former sales enough to satisfy his present claim.

LIABILITY OF DEL CREDERE Agent.

A is a manufacturer, consigning goods to B, a commission merchant, who, for a certain commission, agrees to sell the goods and guarantee the sales. In the course of his business he sells goods to a certain customer, who fails. Believing there was intent to defraud, B replevins what goods he can, sold to the failed customer, which he charges back to A, on the ground that he is merely acting as agent for him, and the title to the goods had not, in consequence of fraud, passed. A objects to this procedure as not just to him, since he pays for guaranteeing the sale, and also to the fact that the goods seized and charged back to him are broken lots and to a certain extent unmerchantable. The question is, Is B strictly within his legal rights, or has an injustice been done to A?

REPLY.-The agent is liable for the value of the goods in this case. An ordinary agent is bound only to use ordinary care in making sales, and, having done so, is not liable for losses. But an agent acting under a del credere commission re

ceives a valuable consideration for his guaranty that all of his customers will pay. When he sells goods and delivers them he becomes liable to the principal for payment of the bill, exactly as if he had bought the goods himself. If there is any invalidity in the contract of sale which allows the broker to recover the goods, he may take advantage of it for his own benefit. But the principal is not bound to make that act his own. He is entitled to regard the sale as made, and to refuse to revoke it. It is not a case in which an attempt to sell goods has failed; it is a transaction which may or may not be regarded as a sale, at the option of the seller.

LIABILITY FOR NEGLIGENCE.

A employs B to sell goods on the road for two years at a stipulated annual salary. Before the end of the two years B becomes very remiss in his duties; he neglects to send in orders he has taken, and some of those that are sent in are incorrect. He persists in selling to irresponsible persons, and pays no attention to the instructions of A. Would A be justified in discharging him upon these grounds before the expiration of his term of service?

BEPLY.-It is an impliet condition in every

contract of agency that the agent has and will use such skill and care as are possessed by persons of ordinary capacity engaged in the same pursuit; that he will not wilfully disregard any reasonable and lawful instructions of his principal, and that he will not purposely or negligently allow the principal's interests to suffer. A failure to fulfill these implied conditions, whether it arises from incapacity or from negligence, is a sufficient warrant to the principal to discharge the agent without incurring any liability. The principal must be prepared to prove affirmatively all the facts upon which he relies for an avoidance of the contract, because every man is presumed to have done his duty until the contrary appears; but having established these facts he has shown such a breach of the contract on the part of the agent as relieves the principal from further obligation under it.

AGENT CONTINUING AFTER TERM.

A & Co. employ B on the first of January, 1890, at $1,000 per annum salary. They continue him in their employ, paying him in monthly instalments of $83.33. In 1897 they decide to liquidate the business, and B is informed that his services might be dispensed with any time at a month's notice. Can B legally hold A & Co. for the balance of his salary to the end of the year?

1890, at a yearly salary, and continue him in their REPLY.-If A & Co. employ B on January 1, employ from year to year afterwards, an implied contract arises on the 1st of January of each following year for a year's service; that is, if B is allowed to continue in the employment on and after January 1, 1897, without any new agreement, he is entitled to hold his employers for the whole of 1897. In the case our correspondent puts, it appears that no new arrangement was made on or before January 1, 1897, and that the

employé was not notified that his services might be dispensed with during the year until after the year had begun. If this is the fact the employé can hold his employers for any loss he may sustain by reason of their breach of contract. The damages will not be greater than the amount of his salary for the remainder of the year, and they may not be so great. The employé cannot deliberately remain idle until the end of 1897, and look to his former employers for his salary. He must endeavor diligently and in good faith to find other employment. If he can find another situation of the same general nature as that in which he was formerly employed he must take it. If his salary there is less than in his former position his previous employers must make good the loss. If he does not succeed in finding any situation his former employers must pay him the whole of his salary for 1897; but in order to recover he must be able to show, to the satisfaction of a jury, that he has made every reasonable effort to find employment with some other house, and has not succeeded.

FINAL ACCOUNTING.

ASSIGNMENTS.

Has an assignee in Kings County, New York, a legal right to throw out an account that has not been verified, although he had the account in the list of creditors when he made the final settlement and was discharged by the court? Also, is he not obliged by law to notify each creditor the time limit of filing their claims and to appear at

the final accounting before he is discharged as assignee?

REPLY.-When an assignee wishes to make his final accounting and be discharged the law requires that "a citation to all persons interested must be served on all parties other than the petitioner who are interested in the fund, including assignors, assignees and their sureties, except

« AnteriorContinuar »