The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-01-23
COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS.
INTERESTING INSIDE VIEW OF THE LIFE OF
THESE UBIQUITOUS GENTLEMEN.
IAN. Y Sunl

10 l.
81 "Cf again. said to well-dressed ma
d hurrying along with a travelling bag in on
hand and a shawl in another ''Where ar
you bound now?" He was a commercial
r traveller, and worked for one of the larges
# houses in the city.
EYES, he replied cheerily, I'm off again
/. I'm always of, and never on. 1 don't know
my own wife. One of these days I'm going
to stay at home long enough to get acquainted
kind of a woman. I've got to catch the trair
at Forty-second street in an hour, Jump il
the car and go little way with a fellow; cam
+ you? That's the only way can say how dye
do to my friends l did as he reauestsd,
following the biblical injunction, '.If any
man compel you to go mile, go with him
twain.
'This is queer sort of life you lead, -
laid, on being seated "Dont you enjoy 90
ing about the country, living at first-clsss
hotels, riding in palace cars, smoking the best
meet, and, in word, making a long spree of
life at other peoples expense? Seems to me
commercial traveller has mighty easy berth
of it. I'd like to be one myself"
He listened to all | said with an amused
twinkle in his eye, and replied: ''Well, now
it is strange that about every man outside of
the business has just exactly your idea of it
which is just exactly the wrong one. There
never was more incorrect idea of the duties
and animus of commercial travellers than the
popular one. Why, man alive!" he said,
spiritedly. 'you mustn't suppose the mer-
| chants OF New York are idiots, or that they
| lose sight Of us the moment we leave the
| store. They know all about US, and we know
| that they know it, and take care that they
shan't know any harm of us.
SELLING GOODS.
"Our calling is our bread and butter, and |
we have to earn it by the hardest kind of |
labor. You needn't laugh, it is So Business
OF all kinds now adays is done by actual per-
sonal representation and solicitation A mer-
chant has certain kinds of goods which he |
puts on the market; he advertises them fully,
and then follows up his advertisements by his |
travellers, and rakes in all he can Commercial
travellers are more numerous to-day in all lines |
than ever before. When you see a smart.
active man going from store to store, in SUBJ
urban cities, talking with the proprietor con-
fidentlally, and producing book in which he
makes notes from time to time, that man is a
commercial tourist, as we call ourselves for
fun, and is doing as much business in his way
for his house as they do for themselves. No
firm can get along without them. Some have
twenty travellers securing the country at the
same time, and others have two or three, ac-
cording to their line and extent of trade,
You spoke of seeing the country. You'd
laugh if told you that l never saw Niagara
Falls in my life until was thirty-five Years
old, though had been within two miles of it
hundreds of times. l is so. never had
time. At last was ashamed of it and abso- 4
lutely took day, and wrote the house 1 was
going to the Falls on a spree. I went there
md stayed couple Of hours, and happening o
20 think of a man l wanted to see in Buffalo. !
ook the first train tor that city, and let the :
Falls go to pot ; the fact is, when I am on +
business can't take any pleasure in fun. l
scarcely know one place from another, except T
~ the business houses in them, and as for n
cenery-the finest scene | know of is mer-
liant calling at your hotel two or three times q
efore you arrive wanting to know if YOU :,
aven't come yet, so he can buy bill of goods a,
f you.
HOW THEY LIVE. h
" We do stop at tirst-class hotels, and we s
ways get Just as good accommodations as p
1ere are in the house. Why? Because we W
ay our bills; because we are the biggest kind b
walking advertisement for a hotel, and the NJ
len who know how to keep one understand
lat fact. We can send hundred dollars 50
orth OF business to hotel or drive hundreds ce
way from It, simply by reporting to each n,
her bow we are treated We get together ce
smoking cars and in our rooms nights. and a,
etail every mean act and petty extortion. be
I'd you bet that landlords don't make any l.,
lllons out OF us by crowding US. Some of
have our regular rooms-best family RI
oms, too, we occupy every month for years, or
I'd we always get them, every time, no mat ~
r who is in them. The head walters know NJ
like book, and so do the boys; and You
It we don't get any tenderIoin steaks or 20
oiled chickens or birds and things Oh no !. DID
ey amt for us N't
SAMPLES AND EXPENSES %
" Samples yes, of course, we carry sam
IS; some OF us have half dozen big trunks
II OF EN-; regular store in itself to lug
ound. Dry goods, hats, boot and shoemen ter
have EN-, and at the end of their trips
~ sell the lot tor what they can get to some
cap John; trunks and all; unless thew are
nple trunks made on purpose for their Iio
slness Some have samples which they q
ny IN hand, and those are the worst of ali. tor
uery men catch it heavy on these They Ke
It heavy enough to put in the baggaoe-car. !
they have to be toted around from store to Z
re; weigh twenty-five pounds, some of EN-. CI
u take one OF them, carry it all day in the
lntry town or city, talk all the while and fro
haps make no sales after all-find some {
'p has been ahead of you and done it all S
you and when it comes night, if you don't \
tired you're horse, that's all. ic;a
SALARIES. 4
Via. w we SeL! On, certainly that's Bat
question; no otfense whatever. We get r
what we are worth, like every other man
he world. Our salaries vary from $500 per A
r and expenses to $4,000 and ditto For six.
get $500. which is fair, 1 consider Stat
ugh earn every cent of it. My house is was
BOD one to work for, that's one comfort, pro
~ never write me scolding letters, blowing me
up when have done my best; but thew dres
MIR Jlnks you have had hard trip this 'sW
& ce'ter go nome Tor few days and see abo1
wife, and then come back and try it rapi
IL . tho,
can't keep away from the store two days at she
ne, though. We represent the house. Won "W,
W, away from home, and shrewd mer- it. I,
i !, 1ahe care IhaS tnelr representatives dres
Sc in this city depends more upon its ont
elers than upon its partners for trade and
cityin conducting it, and if they lost them TT
Id be in d box. I have known travellers Ora,