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423
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all the material, and they will go consigned to E. G. Vickers & Co., Naples, via American Express, which we find is about the only way to send things from here with any certainty of their reaching you within a reasonable time. I have had a very lengthy discussion with the officers of the American Express Company, which finally ended in the Assistant Agent of the Foreign Department calling here, acknowledging the very unsatisfactory service heretofore rendered, and volunteering to refund the extra charges we had to pay on shipments which went to Genoa. In future, our packages will be sent billed direct to Naples, and whenever the packages are large enough to make charges, which will warrant the Express Company in paying the extra cost of bill-of-lading, which amounts to about $5.00 for each bill-of-lading, they will assume it, but when the charges on the packages are very light, that is, when packages are small, we will have to pay for the bill-of-lading. The taxing of bills-of-lading on foreign shipments grew out of the Spanish-American war, and is likely soon to be repealed. When the law became operative, some two years ago, the Express Company found it desirable to issue only one bill-of-lading for all express matter sent on each ship, regardless of its destination, hence shipments intended for Naples were put ashore at Genoa.
The bills enclosed herewith will, I trust, be self-explanatory. All the hardware, both for our house and Freddie's, I