Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 9.djvu/149

 134 PEDEBAIi EKPOBTEB. �the true character of this instrument, and of the true relation of the parties to it, to treat it as if the maker were engaged in the business of issuing negotiable seeurities, which he is bound to protect at all hazards in the hands of a bona fide purchaser for value ; or, as it is expressed in argument here, to protect those who innocently and in good faith deal with it. This entails a liability dehors the con- tract. It makes the carrier an insurer or guarantor of Etrangers to the contraet against loss incurred by a use of the instrument in which the carrier has no interest, and binds him to a liability for which he is not paid; for the comparatively small sum he receivea as compen- sation for carriagewill not, and is never intended to, cover or insure him against loss incurred by such a liability as that. The considera- tion he recoives is not commensurate with the liability sought to be imposed, and if it is determined to exist carriers must necessarily add to the freight a sum sufficient to indemnify them, as insurance com- paniea are ; and this for the protection of outside parties dealing in matters not pertaining to the carriage of the gooda. Moreover, it obstructs the carrier in his proper business, and entails upon him the selection of agents possessing not only the ordinary mental and moral qualifications essential to the receiving, handling, and carriage of merchandise, but those having the relatively higher qualifications required of bank cashiers or other agents entrusted with the duty of issuing, signing, and handling bank notes, negotiable bonds, or like seeurities. It does not seem to me in the interest of commerce to compel carriers either to so increase the rates of compensation or to confine them to the selection of agents as banks and trust companiea are oonfined. �And these considerations cannot be overlooked or overborne by the supposed benefits of having the commercial world supplied with an assurance against inconvenience in their dealings, not with the; car- rier, but each other. To illustrate by this case, it is plain that the Bank of Madison, when it discounted the draft and took the bill of lading, could have known, being in the same town, by sendingames- senger to the agent, depot, or warehouse of the company, that this was a false bill of lading. So, although these plaintiffs in New York could not so readily have ascertained that fact, they could have pro- tected themselves by refusing toaccept thedraftsuntil the cotton had arrived, or until by telegraph they had assured themselves of the existence of the cotton. 16 Am. Law Eeg. (N. S.) 1. They both, no doubt, trusted more to the ordinary honestyof human nature and the particular honesty of Chilea, thau they did to this bill of lading, or ��� �