New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-01-30
$50.
SGGTHEHS MERCHANTS AEE3 YgKTYY-
ERN DREIaTENS

4 SOUTHERN MERCHANTS AEE3 NORTH
ERN DEssDLsTENS.
u has been custom with the wholesale mer-
eiants o this city, and other Southern cisies We
presume, 70 employ class Of young men called
Drummers' 9 whose business it Is to trave. exten.
sigely over the Southern States, form acasaint
ances with the planters and small merchants II
Tie interior, solicit orders for goods and make
themselves useful in bringing the house Of their
employers into notice, and advancing their inter
ests generally. 10 fil the position of drummer
with credit requires qualifications Of 4 pecuIiar
natnre-qs1ickness, shrewdness. industry. insight
INTO human character, knowledge Of the world
prudence, temperance, and love Of adventure.
are all called into play by q successful drummer
dnI1ng seasons campaign. Most Of these traits
are pecnlIar to the Yankee character. And hence
Wefind that seven-eighs Of the business drumners
VINO perambulate the country are young men Of
Norfhern birth and education, who come to our
| city At the opening of each business season III
hoeks, and who manage TO make more by i've
| months employment with us than thev could by
twelve months steady labor if they staid at home.
Onr merchants pay them good salaries, and he-
sides, foot all the bills for their necessary
I ing expenses; and some are even allowed CON
tingent amounts to cover outlaws for treating,
| customers. aud making themselves extensively
| agreeable to those among whom they hapnerl "a
| temporarily sojourn.
Graduaily the system Of employing drilmnlers
| has grown up among our wholesale traders and
importers, until now very large portion Of South
! ern business is controlled by this class of en-
| ployes. The merchants themselves in rare in
| stances, become personally acquainted with their
interior customers and the latter send their orders
to houses here merely because they have been So
| iicited to do so by some 4 sck-taIking'' specimen
Of Vermonter, who has spent a few weeks III
their village, and got acquainted with every man,
woman and child in the county, upon all of whom,
~ ms agreeable address and berality with his
patrons money, he hasleft favorable impression.
Inc New Orleans merchant, while filing the or
der, is content with the activity of his agent He
l y relieved Of disagreeable part of his business,
| ana enjoys the profit of the transaction. He sees
the number of his customers increase by new names
IN various parts OF the country, and he fatters
himself he il becoming firmly established in great
business
| This goes on for several years. when our mer-
| chant is surprised that his accustomed drummer
does not make his appearance at the beginning Of
the season as usual. Another il employed in his
place, but somehow, almost unaccountably, num-
4 and transfer their trade to New York or Boston.
Subsequently, being in one of those cities, our
New Orleans wholesale man is astonished to find
his quandom drummer established as head sales
man, or Junior partner of some huge house there !;
and he learns, on inquiry, that the consideration
which said individual paid for his new position was
the Soathe,ntrale he aras able to iaf,tences Then
the New Orleans merchant wakes IN 10 the con
viction that for years he had been educating. at
great expense, a keen young gentleman to rob
him Of his business; and his eyes are opened to
some OF the features of the system of drumming -
which before he had never reflected upon. In fine
| ne begins to debate within himself the wisdom Of
continuing q practice which has already served
him scurviIy.
There are many merchants in this city who
would find il greatly to their interest 10 renec,
upon this matter also. We are assured that New
York is full of statesmen and clerks who have been
trained az tie erpease Of otti. mercantile CON.
'ait'1ay These young men serve three or four
years at the South. They are introduced every.
where, and forced into an extensive business ac-
quaintance. Then they go to New York, and sell
their qualifications. They say, 81 can Influence
1000 worth of trade per annnm in the South
west. Who will give me $1,000 or 5000 salary,
or take mein as partner?n In this manner the
trade Of our city is undermined and treacherously
carried abroad to enrich our Northern rivals
What is the remedy2 A short one Abolish the
drumming system. II was mistake to have ever
fallen into il, and it s the hight Of folly longer to
continue it. We do not believe that our country
merchants or planters require solicitation to in
daee them to buy. On the contrary, we have re.
paatedly heard complaints from such Of the annoy.
anee of being bored by drummers whenever they
visit the city. They say they cannot make their
appearance in the rotnnda of the st. Charles, oil
the parlors Of the St. Louis or the City Hotel with
out being besiegcd by drummers. in a disgnstingly
tiresome manner. We, then, believe the people oil
the country would gladly second an attempt Of our
merchants to abolish this mischieyous class: and,
fer our part we should like to see movement Of
this kind inaugurated.
What the planter and interior merchant require
to Know are the names and places of business Of
the wholesale merchants with the description of
goods they have for sale and the terms upon which
they are willing to dispose Of them we contend
that the only respectable and legitimate way for
the merchant to lay this Information before his
customers is to advertise in the city and country
papers. And if our wholesale houses instead of
spending ten or fifteen thousand per annum upon
drnmmers, would devote half, or third, of those
information that they desire to reach the public, we
feel certain that they would be five or six times as
much benefited as they by drummers. The
newspaper is the great lever that controls business
in modern days. Whoever recognizes this fact
most completely and acts up to it the closest, sue
ceeds the best-whether he be vendor of mills OF
sewing machines, the proprietor Of patent sar
saparilla or the editor of weekly ledger. Lei
our merchants cease the dangerous practice Of EN-
ployng any other intermediary between them ant
their customers than the advertising columns
the newspaper.
DIVORCES IN CALIFoRIA.--In the Galiforni:
papers, received by the mail just in are publishe,
some statistical tables Of the divorce suits com
menced and granted in the county of San Fran
cisco during the past three years. By these it ap
pears that in 1857 there were III divorce suit
instituted in that county; in 1858 the number wa
90: and in 1859 but 76. This shows an extraord
nary prevalence of domestic unhappiness, but ais
indicates that it is the decline 1t appears tina
vast majority of the applicants for divorce ar