SHOE TRADE OF LYNN.

The Lynn News, in publishing an article on Lynn, which forms one of our series of papers relating to the "Commercial and Industrial Towns of the United States," further states that shoes are sent from Lynn to Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, to be made; and a large number of expresses, running in all directions, find a great amount of business in carrying the stock and shoes out and back between the manufacturers and the workmen. Much of the prosperity and growth of other places is owing directly to the enterprise of Lynn. The News thinks it would be safe to say that three-fifths of the boots and shoes sold by Lynn manufacturers, are bound and made out of the city.

BLEACHING POWDER-CHLORIDE OF LIME.

Bleaching powder is chloride of lime, and chloride of lime is bleaching powder, a preparation wholly unfit, in any state, to be put in the hold of any vessel with an assorted cargo. I called the attention of the public to this subject in a communication, under this head, published in the Courier and Enquirer of the 10th inst., in which I stated the substance of a letter which I had received from David Keazer, Esq., one of the owners of the ship China, dated October 6, 1853, in which he stated the damage to goods in that ship from seventy casks of bleaching powder (chloride of lime) taken in at Liverpool, April 5th. The vessel sailed on the 13th of that month, and arrived at Boston on the 1st of June. The casks appeared in good order when the vessel arrived, but on being moved fell to pieces, so affecting the men at work in the hold that some bled at the mouth, some at the nose; others vomited, and others were so faint that they were obliged to be helped out of the hold. A wind-sail of new Russia-duck, in a few hours, was completely spoiled in ventilating the hold of the vessel. In two days after this statement was published, a telegraphic dispatch from New Orleans announced that the ships Hudson and Espindola had arrived there from New York, with fourteen casks of bleaching powder, (chloride of lime,) and that eighty thousand dollars' worth of the cargoes of the two vessels had been destroyed by the chlorine gas from this bleaching powder, (chloride of lime.) The cause of the damage was imputed to the bad quality of the powder--the quality must have been very good to have had such powerful action on the cargoes, and was probably like that which came from Liverpool in the ship China. When the telegraphic account arrived here it was by some thought to be incorrect; but the New Orleans papers, since received, confirm fully the telegraphic report. We have been told by the president of one of the insurance companies that these are not the first cases; it is, therefore, high time that shipowners, underwriters, and merchants shipping valuable goods, liable to be injured by being stowed as cargo with chlorides, should be put on their guard against the great hazzard of such goods being stowed with bleaching powder. There are many kinds of hardware goods that receive injury from being put up in white paper, the rags for the making of which has been bleached by chloride of lime, (bleaching powder.) A large shipowner, to whom we mentioned the subject two weeks ago, expressed surprise when we informed him that bleaching powder was nothing less or more than chloride of lime-and he then stated to us that he would give notice to his correspondents abroad not to receive any more bleaching powder on board of their vessels.

E. MERIAM,

MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES.

TRADE-ITS TRICKERIES AND ITS USAGES.

The Merchants' Magazine, as every attentive reader will have learned ere this, has advocated a high tone of mercantile morality and honor, and while under the control of its original projector, present editor and proprietor, ever will. It is with such views that we collect and arrange under our “ Mercantile Miscellanies,” such excerpts as the following, which we find in the Evening Bulletin of Philadelphia. It is an admirable piece of mercantile criticism, treating with no undue severity certain methods of obtaining customers, which should be discountenanced by all honorable men.

There is probably no branch of human affairs that has been more completely revolutionized within the last half century than trade. The increase of wealth and luxury, and the consequent augmentation of the wants of mankind-the great mechanical and scientific discoveries of the age, and the wonderful facilities for rapid and easy communication between remote parts, which have grown out of these discoveries-have all contributed materially towards bringing about this result. The supplying of necessities that were not dreamed of fifty years ago, now affords lucrative pursuits to thousands, while the sphere of operations of our local business men has been extended to an almost incredible degree. If the demands of society have increased, the supply to meet these requirements has also increased in a corresponding ratio, and competition has assumed an activity which would astonish some of the past generation of business men, could they re-enter the bustling arena of trade.

Men who would prosper must be industrious and stirring; the old-fashioned, slow-and-sure merchants are behind the age; they who were wont, in days gone by, to stay in their stores and counting-houses, and without any effort to make themselves and their wares known outside their immediate circle, wait patiently for their customers to come to them and purchase what they needed-would now find themselves laggards in the race for fortune. These slow-coaches suited the primitive times in which they plodded, but in these locomotive-days a different system is practiced, and men who would keep pace with their fellows, and with the age, must, we repeat, be active, energetic, and enterprising. Advertising is, of course, the great and effective medium of communication between the buyer and seller, but in several branches of business the employment of special agents to operate directly upon those whose custom it is desired to obtain, has become general. To point out certain abuses which have grown out of this system is the principal object of the present article.

We refer particularly to the class of individuals know familiarly as "borers" and drummers." These persons, as is generally understood, make it their business to seck out customers for the houses with which they are connected, and by means of tactics peculiar with themselves strive to secure for their employers the patronage of the buyers thus sought. The system, when first introduced, was not a little reviled by houses that were opposed to what they conceived to be an illegitimate mode of doing business, but the habit has now become so general that

we suppose there are but few of our dry goods jobbing houses, or other establishments in the Southern and Western trade, that do not employ" drummers."

We do not wish to be understood as offering any objection to a house seeking out customers by these means, or to its inducing them to purchase goods, either by the superior quality of their stock or by the favorable terms upon which they are willing to sell. This is obtaining patronage solely on their own merits, and is, we conceive, as fair and legitimate a transaction as if the buyer had gone voluntarily to the store of the seller, and made his purchase on the faith of an advertisement in the columns of a newspaper.

But, unfortunately, unprincipled men, in their over-zeal for profit, and in their anxiety to secure the patronage they covet, have recourse to expedients that are always mean and ungenerous, and not unfrequently absolutely criminal. Many of the greedy individuals strive to grasp at every advantage for themselves, and hesitate at no means, however unfair, which will aid in the accomplishment of their selfish and illiberal object. Persons not familiar with the trickery of these knaves would suppose that after a Southern or Western dealer had purchased his goods, he would be free from the machinations of the dishonest drummer; but this is not the case. Either to gratify the malevolence of the borer's heart, or to secure a customer on the next semi-annual visit of the latter to the city, the knave will make inquiry of his intended dupe concerning his purchases, and the houses from which they were made; a peculiar smile or a shrug of the shoulders at the recital will excite the fears and doubts of the merchant, and he naturally urges the drummers to explain their meaning; the latter demurs and pretends to scruples about exposing people, &c., but finally, after getting his victim ready for the snare, he binds him to say nothing about what he is going to communicate; and then, in a pretended spirit of friendly confidence, the mind of the unsuspicious merchant is poisoned by the drummer spinning out a tissue of lies, intended for the double purpose of making the purchaser dissatisfied, and of inflicting an injury on a rival establishment. The house, the unprincipled slanderer says, is in the habit of making up for low prices by light weight and short measure; their customers, he intimates, buy one article and receive another-and so on, through the entire catalogue of villanies, which are the coinings of the scoundrel's own brain, and which proves his own inclination to do business in the precise manner he pretends to denounce, should opportunity offer.

The dishonest borer, whether in the position of principal or employee, who thus seeks to defame our best business houses for the purpose of profiting by an unfair and dishonest competition, inflicts a serious injury upon the mercantile community in which he lives by his treasonable denunciations of really high-toned and respectable establishments.

The knave at times pursues a different course, knowing that his dupe has made all his purchases, and pretending to be ignorant of the fact, he will offer, on behalf of the house he represents, to sell goods at a much less price than that paid by the merchant, and at a rate in reality much lower than they could be sold without loss. This plan often has its desired effect, and the merchant returns home dissatisfied with his purchases, and the house from which they were made.

A plan sometimes adopted by the dishonorable agent, is to endeavor to array the feelings and prejudices of new buyers against certain houses, by alleging that they are severe upon their customers in the collection of their bills. There are a

variety of other schemes resorted to for the purpose of alarming timid credit buyers.

There are, of course, different degrees of proficiency among these Iagos of trade; some bunglingly proceed to boldly lie away the credit of our best houses, while others saying nothing openly, will intimate much; they make up in inuendo for what they lack in bluntness, and insidiously

"Convey a libel in a frown,

Or wink a reputation down."

We have no charitable considerations for this class of rogues, and whether they are bold or sneaking in their villanous machinations, we consider the penitentiary their appropriate destination.

We should advise all merchants for their own security to shun these graceless rogues, and the houses which employ slanderers, as dangerous. The longer the knaves practice the trade of lying and stealing the good names of reputable houses, the more dangerous they become from the proficiency they acquire, until they run their career, and their misdeeds redound to their own discredit and ruin.

There are several classes of drummers-local drummers-traveling drummers— special drummers, i. e., those employed by a single establishment-and general drummers or agents, who are employed by several houses in different branches of trade, and who receive a commission on all the sales they effect. When a country merchant visits the city for the first time for the purpose of making purchases, he is often pounced on by one of the dishonest class before described, as a rich prize. The houses who have the harpy in pay are eulogized, while all competitors are recklessly slandered; ingeniously concocted stories of fraud and dishonesty, or of ill credit and inability to purchase their stock on favorable terms, are told of rival houses, and if the stranger is of a credulous disposition, he is induced to suspect that there are no honest and honorable houses in town, except those with which our borer is connected. Sometimes, after much trouble and anxiety expended in getting the customer in proper train for the operations of the drummer, the former will show signs of "kicking in the traces," and of overturning the deep-laid plans of the schemer. In such cases a third party is called in, an individual familiarly known and aptly enough called a "killer," whose business it is to "kill off" business for houses not paying him a salary for his dirty services. These two worthies, by acting in conjunction, frequently succeed in their iniquitous designs; and as the houses they slander are our best mercantile establishments, the consequences to the business reputation of the city may readily be conceived. These things effect their own cure in their good time, and the lying stories of the slanderers redound to their own and their employer's discredit.

CALCUTTA TRADE OF BOSTON.

According to a well-informed writer in the Boston Traveler, the Calcutta trade has attained an importance at the present time which was little dreamed of by the pioneer houses in the business. Within the memory of the writer, the trade was carried on by a few houses at Boston and Salem, in small ships and brigs of two to three hundred tons burden! These ships brought assorted cargoes of va rious kinds of goods, but not great quantities of the heavier kinds of merchandise, such as linseed, saltpeter, hides, hemp, &c. Since that time, and especially within

the last few years, this trade has increased with great rapidity, and has become one of the largest branches of business pursued from this port. The importations of linseed at Boston are enormous, and almost rival in quantity those of Indian corn. During the year ending September 1st, 1854, nearly nine hundred thousand bushels were imported into Boston. There were also brought from Calcutta 238,000 gunny-bags, 20,000 bales of gunny-bags, 120,000 bags of saltpeter, 10,000 bales of hides, &c., and vast quantities of other goods. The importations this year will probably greatly exceed those of any previous season, as we have a constant fleet of ships arriving from the East Indies, with enormous cargoes in comparison with those of former years. At the last accounts some twenty-five ships, mostly owned in New England, were loading at Calcutta for London. The American trade with Calcutta is almost entirely from this port, save now and then a cargo to New York and Philadelphia.

COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION OF THE LAKES.

The magnitude of our lake Commerce, says our cotemporary of the Union, giving employment to thousands of men and millions of money, while it affords an unfailing source of true pride at home and an increasing wonder abroad, has also drawn public attention in a direction which we agree with the Union in trusting will be attended with the most advantageous results. The loss of life and property on these inland seas is enormous. In the recent report of the grand jury of the United States Court of the Northern District of New York, we find the following passage :—

"We have examined a large number of gentlemen engaged in the Commerce of the lakes, and those whose occupation and business enable them to speak intelligently upon the questions submitted to our consideration, from which it appears that the increasing Commerce of the lakes has produced an increased demand for vessels and seamen, while the supply of competent and worthy men has been, for a few years past, diminishing. A large number of the best men are constantly drawn into Australia and California, leaving the lake service to be supplied by others, to say nothing of a want of other qualifications.

It is also very apparent that, with the increase of Commerce and the demand for a larger class of vessels, the number of qualified seamen has not been increased, nor has that kind of discipline been enforced by the masters of said vessels so important to the security of property and life.

"It has been made to appear that the overloading of vessels is a prevailing practice, and one which should be suppressed by a special enactment.

"The temptation to overload is very great when freights are high, and equally so when low; in the one case to increase the gain and in the other to diminish the loss. The inexperience of seamen, their negligence and inattention to duty, and being overworked and underpaid, when competent and deserving, have had a ruinous effect upon the service."

The statutes are then examined, and it is shown that the United States laws are not complied with as to lights, &c. :—

"The frequent loss of propellers and sail vessels is caused, first, by overloading, making the vessel unmanageable in a storm; second, by the reckless crowding of sail and steam; and third, by the want of a proper number of seamen to manage the larger and heavy sails. Some more stringent regulations seem to be required in relation to the number of seamen each craft shall have, their ability and qualifications, and the enforcement of the statutory regulations in regard to lights and watch to be kept at night, and the cargo to be taken on board.

"We beg leave further to state that the insecure condition of the harbors along