The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1885-10-04

WHAT The Drummss System Stands ~
Country h. Annually.
IL 10 the univsrsA complaint Of
every person doing business ct the
present time that, notwithstan ding tn
necessity Of rstrsnchmsnt In ali ex.
penditures, 1t seems almost impossi.
bic to accomplish that purpose, be-
cause the basiness methods now In
vogue are rsdically different from
what they were 80 years ago.
Formerly the Wholesale merch ant
would advertise. perhaps iibsrsllv. in
the public prints, aud also Issue circu-
lsrs 70 his customers. He did not do
20 large an amount of business a. now.
put the profits we're more satisfsc torv
on his trade, a. his percentage we
larger, while his expenses were lar
But the introduction of the DOM.
merctal traveller revolutionissd eli
tnts policy. The expenses Of the mer.
Snsnt are nov vastly greater and
als prints m1cn less, while his risks
Of this extended trsffic. Fsw
realize into what formid s0le armv
commercial travellers have srovn
There are now over 100000 Ia The
United States, Chicago alone sendi No
out 1900 to ransack the country And
TO offsr easy credits. The salaries And
expenses OF commercial trsvalera
amount annually to 500, OOO, 900. This
70 an additional tax on merch ants In
dependsntly Of their for mer ex pen sea
for store rentals aud clerk hire, An
aRed ana leading merchant Of this city.
who has enjoyed . large measure Of
success under both aystems, said 70 ne
9 few days ago that he thought the out.
goes required for commercial travel.
ers, uniess soon checked, " ,uld roiu
all the wholesale mercnauts In the
United States.
Many ofths merchants have tried to
mnderate the expense by giving fixed
salaries, but the current hes been 40
strong In favor OF salaries and ex.
pensas, that 1t is virtually imp ossible
70 eff,ct anything In that direction,
The expense account Of the traveller IL
frequently larger than his salary, aud
1t ID found that the prudent German
who becomes commercial traveller IL
lean.
s 'me Wholesale houses have tried to
Do without commercial travellers. The
late Robert Hsney refused to counten.
anoe what he deemed q modern nut
ssnce, but OF course his business
largely declined under the competi.
ton Of other houses which employed
this adjunct, Yet, perhaps his profits
were ~ satisfactory % II he had done
three times the business with four
times the expense.
Tho IN as In "a 40 II A.
ses OF doing business Ia beo0mtug one
Of the most difficult problems to solve.
The more 1t 10 studied the more
troublesome is 1t to handle; for 90 Ions
% rivals In business persist in certsiu
methods, 1t IL very difficult for any
one to stand out against those
methods. However much the expensf
Ia to be dopl0red, the merchant fiud1
he must submit to the inevltble, and
practically act % others In business
act.
The American system OF commercial
travelling was taken somewhat from
England, and there the expenses
amount TO hardly aHything. Al Eng
land 10 "a tight little Isle" trade 10 con,
centrated, and Que comm erOial trsv.
eler will suffice tn lido" large town
But In the United States perhaps one
commercial traveller will partially
cover 10 States. and travel th0usan IL
OF miles. He IL also cOnstraiue ia
offer much more hospitality to his Gus.
toners In the way OF drinks, etc., than
In England
Az an evidence Of the colossal OK
pense which the system of DOM mer-
cisi travelling entails, 1t 10 stated that
the mere fees to porters ON the differ.
eLt lines OF sleeping oars amount ID
the course OF the year to $500, 900.
These payments have become no large
that the owners OF sleeping cars do moi
pay the salaries WHOM they form srly
did, but make the portsrs earn Q nor,
ton OF their living by preying on com
mercial travelsrs.-[D xchange.