The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1882-03-22
WILES OF Statesmen.
How the Country Merchants Are Enter
tanned by Them.

philadelphia sun
In IN interview with n restauranteur
reporter asked "Who arc your best
customers?' p
Statesmen, by long odds,' was the
reply.
.'That augurs well for the prosperity
of the salesman" remarked the re-
porter, glancing at bill of fare whose
prices would not give any particular
precedence to those of the West End.
''They must have almost rs much
money to throw away as reportersY
"You don't suppose it comes ont OF
their pockets, do you?" asked the pro-
prictor. cts mighty little OF it they
pay for. The general expense account
is what suffers
"And why should the general expense
account suffer for salesman's dissipa-
tions ?"
"Because it makes business. The
statesmen who spends money here arc
those who entertain country customers.
| have them here at all times. Some
times they'll come in for breakfast after
nights spree. Then it's champagne
cocktails to begin with, and brandy and
soda rs a settler. got up q breakfast
for n salesman and two gentlemen from
the West this morning that cost him
S2j. Lunches and dinners that run
from $25 to $50 are common, and have
them heavier, too. Champagne is the
pet drink of all the country merchants
who come to Philadelphia. They think
no ore here with any pretentions to
fashion drinks anything else, and if
they are good buyers, the statesmen sup
plies them without stint. 1t is the Gus.
tom to treat all customers, big and
little, Hospitality, but the statesmen never
waste money"
The dealer who has bill Of q few
hundreds of dollars gets good dinner
or two with bottle or so of wine, but
none OF the gilt-edged banquets and
cobwebbed bottles come his way. The
people who get them pay for them in
directly, you may be bound. However
big the salesman's expense account runs,
it is always well within the profits OF
the department in whose interest it Is
built up.
The system by which the restaura-
teur profits so much is one which has
become fixed feature of the commercial
system of the city. Nowadays the visit
Of heavy buyer to Philadelphia always
means spree to him, if his tastes are
at all convival. If they are not, the ac-
commodating salesman will take him on
nice qniet drives, with nice little lunches
and dinners at each end Of them, and q
swell church to drop in on Sundays, and
weave business with pleasure oil the
while until the buyers whole trip has
been quite as ecstatic dream to hls
taste as that of another rural trader Il
who has anatomized the elephant from
tusks to tail, and who carries home will
him head which is as heavy as his bill
"a dream from which he, possibly
awakes when the invoices begin to come
in out in Greentown, and cold common
sense demands the auditing of bills. o
course, the buyers spend something oi
their own accounts, but the salesmel
spend more, and spend it with dasl
that makes it show for double its actua
amount. II is the saleman's business t,
impress the customer with an idea of tn
lavish generosity of the great house h
deals with. That impression in ninet
cases out of hundred, means bigge
bill than the impressed party would eve
dream of contracting il it were not fo
the delirious recklessness into which hi
princely entertainment transport him.