Page 136 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

122.

vessels sailing between the United States and China, the agent

at Canton wrote almost daily summaries of market conditions,

including information on despatched vessels, volume and types
· · 37
o f sa es, prices current an d prospec s or various commo i ies.
d·t·
t f
1
Whenever a vessel left for the United States, the agent closed
his communications and sent them aboard. These summaries were

the only tangible evidence by which a merchant could judge

the Canton market and its prospects. Although letters took

up to six months to reach the United States, successful mer­

chants learned to read conditions at Canton by transactions

and trends noted by their agent. Combining these observations

with their own commercial skill, they became very adept in the

China trade.

In addition to the necessity of frequent communication,

there was the necessity for strict confidentiality between

a merchant and his agent. Disclosure of inside information could

mean the difference of thousands of dollars in profits. So

many factors governed the trade that foreknowledge of an im­
portant change in any one of them could determine types and

amounts of goods to purchase. If such knowledge became common,
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the competitive edge was, lost. For this reason seacaptains

first delivered letters addressed to the agent or house to whom

37
Every manuscript source consulted is full of these
communications. An excellent example (although somewhat late
in the period) is Letter, Nye, Parkins & Co. to A.A. Low, Nov. 4,
1843, Low Family MSS.

38
Advices of this nature are in Letters, Perkins & Co. to
J .. & T.H. Perkins, Sep. 27, 1820, Jun. 25, 1823, Harvard Business
School, Baker Library, Perkins & Co. MSS.