Company News and Views

NECESSARIES? Much depends on the condition of the person who buys
Of course it is not always easy to answer this question, WHAT ARE
NECESSARIES? Much depends on the condition of the person who buys. A
merchant would be safe in selling more to a minor living in an
affluent condition of life than to another living in a much humbler
way. Quite recently the question has been considered whether a
dentist”s bill is a necessity, and the court decided that it was a
proper thing for a minor to preserve his teeth and to this end use the
arts of the dentist. Again, is a bicycle a necessity? If one is using
it daily in going to and from his work, surely it is a necessity. But
if one is using it merely for pleasure a different rule would apply,
and a minor could not be compelled to pay for it. Cigars, liquors,
theatre tickets are luxuries; so the courts have said on many
occasions.

Two illustrations of bills of exchange are given in this lesson. Each
is drawn in duplicate. The original is sold or sent abroad, while the
duplicate is preserved as a safeguard against the loss of the
original. When one is paid the other is of no value. Notice the
similarity between bills of exchange as shown here and commercial
drafts as shown in our last lesson.

but he must make those that are necessary to preserve the house from
injury by rain and wind
A tenant is not required to make general repairs without an agreement,
but he must make those that are necessary to preserve the house from
injury by rain and wind. If the shingles are blown off or panes of
glass are broken others must be put in their places; and it is said
that he would be bound even for ornamental repairs, like paper and
painting, if he made an agreement to return the house in good order.

prominent firms of keeping on record all the information obtainable
relating to their customers
Mercantile agencies had their origin in the system adopted by several
prominent firms of keeping on record all the information obtainable
relating to their customers. In 1841 ‘The Mercantile Agency of New
York City’ began its history, and was the forerunner of the present
great agencies whose record books of credits and ratings include the
names of all the business houses and corporations in this country and
Canada. The pioneer institution of this character in the United States
was the one bearing at present the name of ‘R. G. Dun & Co.,’ an
outgrowth of ‘The Mercantile Agency of New York City.’ Since 1860 it
has borne the name of Mr. Dun, who was formerly a partner with Mr.
Douglass when the agency was known as ‘B. Douglass & Co.’ Another
popular and influential concern is the one known as ‘The Bradstreet
Company,’ familiarly spoken of as ‘Bradstreet”s.’ Besides these two
leaders there are many others, whose reports on credits are limited to
particular lines of trade. The larger agencies soon found it necessary
to establish branches in all the business sections of the country. A
particular field of investigation is allotted to each branch, and an
interchange of information is in constant progress.

second city in the British Empire
CALCUTTA (862,000) is the capital of the empire of India and the
second city in the British Empire. Although situated on an arm of the
delta of the Ganges, eighty miles inland, Calcutta is an immense
seaport, but its sea-going privileges can be maintained only by great
engineering works, because of the silt which the Ganges is constantly
bringing down and depositing in its seaward channels. Calcutta enjoys
almost a monopoly of the whole trade of the Ganges and Brahmapootra
valleys, and until the building of the Suez Canal it had almost a
monopoly of the outward trade of the whole Hindustan peninsula. Its
total trade is even yet very large, aggregating for outward and inward
business together about $700,000,000 per annum, a sum which can be
appreciated from the fact that it is about equal to the total import
trade of the whole of the United States. BOMBAY (822,000), the second
city of the Indian Empire, owes its eminence to three things: (1) the
opening of the Suez Canal, which has made it the port of India nearest
England; (2) the starting of the cotton-growing industry in India,
owing to the American civil war (the cotton-growing district of India
is adjacent to Bombay); and (3) the development of the railway system
of India, which is making Bombay rather than Calcutta the natural
ocean outlet for the trade of the country. MADRAS (453,000), the
third city of India, is also the third seaport. But it has no natural
harbour, and its shore is surf-beaten and for months together exposed
to the full fury of the northeast monsoons. An artificial harbour,
however, has recently been built. Besides the cities above mentioned
there is one (HYDERABAD) with a population of over 400,000; there are
two (LUCKNOW and BENARES) with a population of over 150,000 each, and
eleven more with a population of over 100,000 each. There are besides
forty-seven towns with a population more than 50,000 each, and over a
thousand towns with a population of about 10,000 each.

FORFEITED STOCK. Stock is usually sold on certain explicit conditions,
such as the paying of ten per cent. down and the balance in
installments at stated intervals. If the conditions which are agreed
to by the shareholder are not met his stock is declared _forfeited_,
or he can be sued in the same manner as upon any other contract.

credit of the drawer is good
Drafts are often discounted at banks before acceptance where the
credit of the drawer is good. In such cases the drafts which are
dishonoured are charged up against the drawer”s account.

commerce ‘among the several States,’ but the jurisdiction over
intrastate traffic lies with the State governments
The Constitution of the United States gives Congress power to regulate
commerce ‘among the several States,’ but the jurisdiction over
intrastate traffic lies with the State governments. The States began
to pass general laws for the regulation of railroads fully twenty
years before Congress acted, and two thirds of the States have
established commissions to administer those laws.

Another element in a contract is the meeting of minds of both parties.
_Both must understand the matter in the same sense._ For example, a
person offered to sell another ‘good barley’ for a stated price, and
the other offered to buy ‘fine barley’ at the price mentioned. There
was no contract between these persons, because it was shown that ‘good
barley’ and ‘fine barley’ were different things in the trade. This,
therefore, is one of the essential elements of a contract–the meeting
of the minds of the contracting parties. Whether they have assented or
not is a question of fact, to be found out like any other question of
fact.