"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." ~~Thomas Jefferson

"Who will protect us from those who protect us?"

Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. ~ Thomas Jefferson

"None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free." ~~Goethe

28 June 2013

Slush fund...

From David P. in W.V.


"On this day in 1635 (give or take a decade or two), the British merchant fleet learned
yet one more thing from their Dutch antecedents.
 
As you will recall from fourth Grade (yes, Sister, I promise I'm listening, put down dat
ruler please!), at about this time, the Brits, French and Spanish were busy fussing
about things like primogeniture and feudal estates or 30 year wars (give or take a
decade or two). Meanwhile, the Dutch were trading the astrolabes off everybody.
While most nations were taxing, taking, shooting and sinking other folks, the Dutch
were building ships for merchandise not munitions. In addition to promoting free
trade, free ports and building ships designed to minimize labor and increase cargo,
the wooden shoe crew knew they needed accountability….and that meant
accounting."
 
Each ship sailed with enough of an allowance to provide for the needs of the ship, the
officers and the crew during the voyage as well as for the purchase of the goods to be
brought back. Unless you are an MBA, you may have already realized that having the
most money available for purchase of goods for cargo might make you a very wealthy
captain when and if you got home safely and when and if the ship's owners whacked
the profit up with you.
 
Now even if you are an MBA, you may already realize that this might lead captains not
to be too free with money, fresh fruit and grog with the crew. In fact, the crew had
little control over anything except what they ate....er….rather how much they ate of
what was served. (Don't get tired we're almost to the point.)
 
Anyway, the English sailors introduced an entrepreneurial and democratic spin on the
rules laid down by the accountants. Since their main compensation was not set till
the end of each voyage and then only by the random price for cargo in the port when
they arrived, the sailors tried to find a way to match their efforts to their ships success.
Their provisions were mostly beans and salt pork. If you didn't eat all the salt pork on
your plate, the cook could rend the scraps down to a kind of tallow which on board
ship was called slosh or slush. The slush was used to make candles to fuel lanterns, or
to grease capstans, masts or blocks. But sailors found that some ports into which they
sailed lacked animals and thus they had little tallow or slush to make their own
candles, etc......so they would pay a premium for the slush. The money that was
gained from the sale was used by the crew for needed repairs that the bean counters
either didn't envision or wouldn't pay for. And thus, on this day (give or take a
decade or two), the special account from the slush or the "slush fund" was
established.


~~~~~

Stay safe.


2 comments:

David P said...

That quote comes a newsletter called "Cashin's Comments", and written by Art Cashin.

Blue said...

Thanks, David :)