Page 135 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

L21.
these corrunodities required very specialized skills. As the

China trade expanded, increased competition rendered the

cormnerce more complex. The resident agent's replacement of

the supercargo was a direct response to this development. The

Canton market was very speculative, as prices fluctuated
wildly, often changing daily. Merchant entrepreneurs who

necessarily remained at home required professional specialists
35
.
on t h e scene o transact usiness. M oreover, as arger nu ers
b
mb
1
t
entered the China trade, competition stiffened rapidly. By
1820 several resident agents were established at Canton.
Gradually every major American merchant engaged in the China

trade consigned his vessels to a particular American resident
36
at Canton.

To keep abreast of the trade, the merchant in the United

States had to maintain as frequent corrununication as possible with

his resident agent (and later corrunission house) at Canton.

Although the Canton agent made many of the decisions in filling

a cargo, he received major orders from his consignor in the

United States concerning what goods to purchase. As the market

was so unpredictable, the orders usually listed many alternatives

of commodities with maximum prices to be paid for each. The basis

on which the merchant composed his orders was the corrununications

he received from Canton. Although there was no regularity in

35
Letter, B. & T.C. Hoppin to S. Russell, Jul. 20, 1820,
Russell & Co. MSS.
36
Kenneth W. Porter, John Jacob Astor, Business Man (2
vols.; Cambridge, 1931), II, 605-06. For information on how the
agent established himself, see Letter, Bryant & Sturgis to J.P.
Sturgis, May 13, 1818, Bryant & Sturgis MSS.