The common transportation papers, familiar to all shippers, are the
(1) _shipping receipt_, (2) _bill of lading_, (3) _waybill_.
ORIGINAL RECEIPTS, stating marks and quantities of goods, go with each
separate lot of merchandise to the freight sheds or vessels, and these
are summed up in a formal bill of lading, for which they are exchanged
when all the cases or bundles belonging to the particular shipment
have been delivered. The duplicate receipt, or the part commonly
marked _invoice_, is kept by the receiver of the freight, and the
other end, commonly marked _original_, is given to the drayman. In
making ordinary shipments it is not usual or necessary to make out a
formal bill of lading. Of course, when no bill of lading is made out,
the receipt should be preserved by the shipper. The full contract is
usually printed on the receipt, but it must be remembered that a
receipt is not a negotiable instrument and cannot be used as security
for money.
[Illustration: A shipping receipt (original).]
A BILL OF LADING is an acknowledgment by a transportation company of
the receipt of goods specified, and contracts for their delivery at a
certain place, under conditions stated thereon, upon payment of
freight and expenses. Bills of lading are negotiable and maybe
transferred by indorsement, but are of no value apart from the goods
to which they give title. A bill of lading goes with certain _named_
goods and cannot be transferred to other goods, even though of
precisely the same kind and price. Marine bills of lading are usually
made in triplicate; one is kept by the shipper, another by the
vessel, and the third is sent by mail to the person to receive the
goods.
[Illustration: A steamship bill of lading.]
The parties to a bill of lading are three--the shipper, the consignee,
and the transportation company. The declaration of having received the
goods in good order and condition, and the consequent obligation,
subsequently expressed, of delivering them in like good order and
condition, is sensibly lessened in its importance by the additional
clause now adopted by almost all transportation companies--namely:
"Contents and condition of contents of packages unknown." Should the
goods or part of them be shipped in a damaged condition, or in a bad
condition of packing, a note to that effect should be made by the
transportation company on the bill of lading, which ceases then to be
a _clean bill of lading_.
[Illustration: A local waybill.]
Like any other instrument of credit, a bill of lading may be deposited
with a creditor as security for money advanced (or it may be
transferred to a buyer) by means of indorsement, and the property or
goods will be thereby either mortgaged or assigned. Acting upon this
principle, the shipper declares in the bill of lading that the goods
shall be delivered unto the consignee or his assigns. When a shipper
is unable to insert the name of the consignee at the time the bill of
lading is made out, a _bill to order_ is drawn up wherein the
consignee's name is superseded by the words _shipper's order_, or
simply _order_; it being thus understood that the goods shall be
delivered to whomsoever presents, at point of destination, the bill of
lading duly indorsed by the shipper. By such a simple arrangement as a
_bill to order_ the merchant is enabled to sell the goods while they
are at sea, or in transit, and a consignment of merchandise may change
hands several times before arriving at its destination.
When a case of merchandise to be shipped has been properly entered and
weighed it is then ready to be _manifested_ or _waybilled_, as no
shipment is allowed to go forward without a waybill. The WAYBILL is
simply a memorandum of the consignment, together with full and
complete shipping directions, giving also the number of the car into
which the case has been loaded, and the point to which the car is
"carded." The freight conductor has waybills for all goods which he
carries. They are turned over with the merchandise to the agent of the
railroad at the point of destination.
Our illustrations show (1) _a shipping receipt_--the half marked
"_original_"; (2) _a steamship bill of lading_; (3) _a local
waybill_.