This was enough; the squatters left, the landing was
cleared, and business went on smoothly.
In addition to my ordinary duties as a judicial officer and as general
supervisor of the town, I acted as arbitrator in a great number of
controversies which arose between the citizens. In such cases the
parties generally came to my office together and stated that they had
agreed to leave the matter in dispute between them to my decision. I
immediately heard their respective statements--sometimes under oath,
and sometimes without oath--and decided the matter at once. The whole
matter was disposed of without any written proceedings, except in some
instances I gave to parties a memorandum of my decision. Thus on one
occasion a dispute arose as to the rate of wages, between several
workmen and their employer; the workmen insisting upon twelve dollars
a day and the employer refusing to give more than ten. To settle
the dispute they agreed to leave the matter to me. I heard their
respective statements, and after stating that both of them ought to
suffer a little for not having made a specific contract at the outset,
decided that the workingmen should receive eleven dollars a day, with
which both appeared to be well satisfied. On another occasion parties
disputed as to whether freight on a box of crockery should be charged
by measurement or by weight, a specific contract having been made that
all articles shipped by the owner should be carried at a fixed
price per hundred pounds.
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