Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-09-19
THE DRUMMER BOY.
Some Points About the CONNER
claI Traveller.
Interviews az 10 His Usefulness
and Success.

Interviews as TO His Usefulness
and Success.
Armed with a copy of an Eastern
newspaper containing an alleged in
terview with various merchants on
the drummer question, a reporter Of
this journal visited a number Of lead
ing merchants to learn if possible if
their views werei in sympathy with those
said to have been expressed, The
animus of the article was that East
ern merchants had fully tested the
drummer by stern business and found
it to be fraud and productive Of poor
results, and that many of the leading
houses Of the country would
REMOVE THEIR AGENTS
from the road.
DO you expect to make any change
of the kind?" was asked of one.
mo, l do not"
do you believe that the Eastern
merchants will do what it is said they
will?"
"No."
Your house employs several travel
ing men, l believe. Do they earn
their salary?'
Indeed they do. Without them
we would hardly know what to do.
They have grown to be a necessity
"Who was the first drummer"
81 reckon I'll have to go foot on
that, unless
TT WAS ANANIAs.
81 amt very good on catechism. The
teacher cracked me on the knucks
once for saying Jonas fed ten thousand
people on whale and four crackers
and l haven't taken much interest in
Sunday school since"
OF another merchant .-the reporter
asked: "Have you any idea Of dis
charging your drummers?"
"Not until I 60 out Of business.
The drummer is a sort of agency for
taking the store to the customer to
save the customer the trouble Of com
ing to the store. A country merchant
sees our advertisement in the paper
and presently a drummer hands him a
card bearing the same address with
his name added. The house is intro
duced by mean Of the advertisement,
and the drummer usually has wit
enough to introduce himself.
BOTH ARE NECESSARY
to each other and to US. A house
which has no drummers and no no
tees in the papers isn't likely to dc
much business these days"
"How much salary is paid travelling
menu"
"They get from $75 to $3.50 amonth.
according to experience and capabili.
ties. A good man can always get !
place and a good salary"
DO you lose much on account o.
bad sales made by them?"
"Not a great deal. Experience
teaches them whom to credit ant
when to stop. They are pretty shrewt
fellows, as a rule. All men who trave
much learn something on the principl,
CT absorption, if they have no capacit!
to learn it any other way. I'll go ever
further and venture to say that HON,
clerks make more mistakes of tina
kind than they do"
what other advantages are derived
from the sys'em2"
"Well, the men are brought int
active and personal competition will
each other. They cultivate a goOt
address, as they appreciate its value
and as each one is a sort of firm all By
himself, the
PRIDE HE TAKES
is almost personal. We have number
Of customers we do not know and havr
never seen. Their trade has beer
brought US by our travelling men WHIT
would probably succeed in carrying
much oft away with them when the!
severed their connection with us tt
join another house."
Several country merchants who
heard.the above seemed deeply inter.
ested, and one of them remarked:
mo, don't take away the drummel
boys. They are the ~jolliest set of fel
lows in the world, and we would b,
lost without them. Their visits are
regularly looked for, and they are sur,
to bring sun shine with them. Oh, no
we can't do without them, and l, fol
one, don't intend to listen to anything
Of the kind"
Itmay be remarked here that, in
addition to other wares in which thu
commercial traveller deals, is a varied
assortment of anecdotes, the very
cream of the cream.