Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-06-25
A Few Words about Travelling Agents.

several minutes wept uncontrollably.
A Few Words about Travelling Agents.
There are to-day 100000 able-bodied men,
mostly young, getting a fat living IN these
United States, who deserve starving instead,
because they are too lazy to work. This
army of leeches is annually taking $780,
600, 900 out of the pockets Of the laboring
nobility of this country, without a proper
equivalent in return Who need wonder
that there is a growing at high prices? If
the scorpion Of public Indignation could drive
this dainty horde Of impudent iuposters forth
to the pillow, the mine and the workshop, it
would be a blessing to our land equal to that
which comes at the end of a pestilence! 1t
is utterly astonishing that a free and i%ntelli-
gent people should be willing to tolerate such
an enormous imposition, and no other evidence
is needed to prove American patience under
wrong. The undeniabie fact that we are, as
users and consumers, paying on scores and
hund reds of articles Of manufacture and
trade, strictly domestic, an advance Of from
one to five hundred per cent above the " first
cost" certainly shows that there is wrong
somewhere. But when it can be proven that
a machine or other article Of manufacture
cannot be bought even in the very town
where made, without a profit Of two or three
hundred per cent, it becomes painfully evi.
dent that there is a system in the iuHiction
of this wrong. That what l here state is a
fact, no one dare deny. There are no people
IN the world who tolerate such an imposition
from their own countrymen as the American
people; and we endure it only because of
our amazing capacity for bearing burdens.
But the thing must have an end. The day is
not far distant that will witness a mighty
reformation in this matter. The American
public will not much longer support this
loa6ug army of lying leeches, in their kid
gloves and shining broadcloth, for the privi-
lege of being imposed upon, and in many in
stances abused aud insuited. And the whole
impudent pack want US to honor them with
the title Of agent Every lazy fellow who
has conceit enough to consider himself adapt
ed, and brass enough to push his presumption,
immediately sets out on his career of lying
and deception. Taking all classes Of society,
there are more young men asking for agen-
cies, or easy positions as middlemen, in which
they get a living without labor, than such as
seek employment in oil the various useful and
homo rable ~callings and industries combined.
In a days journey how many young men
W ould be found in the homes of our average
ia rmers, who have chosen farming as their
pr ofession2 Why, the once rare and distin.
guished privilege Of securing a liberal educa-
ton, is now in many instances despised and
rejected for the ease and profit Of an agency!
A nd thousands of individuals, advanced in
life, and established in business that affords
them home and comfort, are annually abau-
donin & legitimate calliugs to become agents.
Should this Vagabond army continue to in.
crease in the same ratio as that which has
marked its increase during the last decade,
ten years from this time there will not be
left laboring men enough to manufacture out
fits alone for the tramping multitude, let
alone the blowing, sowing and reaping
necessary, that their hungry mouths may
eat. Ii every agent we're required to wear
a red coat, as an English regular, every
steamboat, rail car, and canal packet, and
mail coach would blossom like a bed Of peon-
les Aud if a regulation were put in force,
requiring numbering as hacks at a camp.
meeting, or tickets in u lottery, new recruits
would soon have to begin to wear a half side
Of sole leather strapped to the back, so as to
afford surface on which to indicate their
place in the series.
But in sober earnest, is not this system
something alarming to contemplate ? Can
the people of these United States afford to
pay annually to agents the sum Of $780,
600, 600 as salaries for the privilege Of in
surance in its several branches2 Can we, in
addition to paying q just price for dry
goods, groceries, &o., afford to pay the sala-
ries Of a score thousand Of soliciting agents,
at from $50 to 500 per month Can we
afford TO pay the fourth agent $50 for the
sewing machine, which the first agent bought
at Br~idgewater for $202 Aud wherein is
the advantage of this system TO be found
Must this country subsist this army Of men
without work If 50, | would suggest that we
might enlarge certain public institutions, ale
ready existing in all partsof the land and thorer
in board and clothe these semi-vagrants, at a
less rate than $500 or $1,000 a head per
annum What are the arguments used to
justify this system Z The manufacturers
and dealers say, " through our agents we can
push our business and enlarge our profits"
never stopping to ask whether the public is
benefited by a pushing Of their business.
The lazy man says, "bY this agency can
make an easier LIVING" This is the extent
and strength Of the arguments. There is
neither reason nor morality in them. Aud
as to the middlemen themselves, there is
neither honesty nor honor in them aud their
system. Let every honest and industrious
man drive them from his door, IS q public
pest and nuisance.-Amsriean Lutheran.