Page 92 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

78.

Hong merchants tried to profit from selling cheaper quality goods

at high-quality prices or from sending merchandise of a differ­
47
ent quality than was contracted to be shipped. These merchants

gained a reputation that quickly spread. As American merchants

began to reside at Canton, this practice of cheating soon
1
dwindled. After the mid-1820 s very little concern for such

deceptions was noted in communications among Americans en-

gaged in the Canton trade.

Until 1840 there were very few complaints by American

merchants concerning the 11Canton system. 11 For the system as

it existed then, this was remarkable. The Hong mercharts com­

pletely controlled all business transactions from the time a

vessel anchored at Whampoa until the vessel left again. Such a

system left vast areas for extortion on the part of the Chinese,

48
through the Hong merchants. All foreigners, including Ameri-
11
cans, realized at the time that their trade was squeezed," but

the demand abroad for teas and silks and the profit in importing
them overrode all resentment. Also the honesty and integrity

displayed by the Hong merchants enabled both groups to trans­
act business agreeably and profitably. No written contracts

ever existed, all business deliberations were oral. Some con­

tracts were made a year in advance of actual sales, but no one

47
f
.

An examp 1 e o t h' i . s is in Letter, C. Butler and E.
Carrington to S. Russell & Co., May 10, 1820, Russell & Co. MSS.
48
Tyler Dennett, Americans in Eastern Asia: A Critical
Study of the Policy of the United States with Reference to China,
Japan and Korea in the 19th Century (New York, 1922), p. 49.