A Deal in Jute

By this preamble I am not suggesting that Bones was a fool. Far from
it. Bones was wise--uncannily wise in some respects. His success was
due, as to nine-tenths, to his native sense. His x supplied the
other fraction.

No better illustration of the working of this concealed quantity can be
given than the story of the great jute sale and Miss Bertha Stegg.

The truth about the Government speculation in jute is simply told. It
is the story of an official who, in the middle of the War, was seized
with the bright idea of procuring enormous quantities of jute for the
manufacture of sand-bags. The fact that by this transaction he might
have driven the jute lords of Dundee into frenzy did not enter into his
calculations. Nor did it occur to him that the advantageous position
in which he hoped to place his Department depended for its attainment
upon a total lack of foresight on the part of the Dundee merchants.

As a matter of fact, Dundee had bought well and wisely. It had
sufficient stocks to meet all the demands which the Government made
upon it; and when, after the War, the Department offered its purchase
at a price which would show a handsome profit to the Government, Dundee
laughed long and loudly.

And so there was left on the official hands, at the close of the War, a
quantity of jute which nobody wanted, at a price which nobody would
pay. And then somebody asked a question in the House of Commons, and
the responsible Secretary went hot all over, and framed the reply which
an Under-secretary subsequently made in such terms as would lead the
country to believe that the jute purchased at a figure beyond the
market value was a valuable asset, and would one day be sold at a
profit.