The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1885-12-05
STREET HucKSrERS.
How the Legitimate Members of tho Pro.
fession Are Undersold.

How the Legitimate Members of tho Pro-
fession Are Undersold.
There are honest and trustworthy
street hucksters as well as dishonest
ones" said a member of the profession
last week; ''and with most of us huck-
stering is as much of a regular business
as bookkeeping or any other occupa-
ton, and we have to preserve our rep
utations and keep the good opinion of
our customers the same as all kinds of
tradespeople. There is great rivalry,
too. among regular street hucksters.
and know l have to keep my eye
skinned and my wits about me to pre-
vent being double-banked by snides
who 60 over my route and try to under
sell me and make the housekeepers think
/ am selling them stale truck at big
prices.
1.-The regular hucksters go down to
the wharf at very early hour in the
morning and purchase from the pro-
duce commission merchants the best
and freshest truck they have and pay a
good price for it and Immediately go
on their daily routes. The other EEL
lows go later in the day and buy up the
leavings and hawk it about the streets
and at back gates as fresh truck. They
can sell for less than we can, but their
purchasers always get fooled.
There has been a regular business for
many years of hiring out huckster
wagons. There are number of "boss
hucksters," and some of them keep
twenty-five or thirty wagons. When a
man wants to try his fist at huckstering
he goes to one of the bosses and hires a
horse and wagon. He pays from $l.75
to $3.50 per day. Sometimes they can
hire a wagon that has truck to sell in
it. and in that case he has to pay down
the value of the truck.
"A huckster's license costs ten dol
lars year for one-horse wagons, and
fifteen dollars year for two-horse
wagons. Whenever a boss huckster
hires out a horse and wagon he makes
the man who hires it pay twenty-five
cents every day to go towards the license,
which the boss is supposed to pay him
self The men who hire the wagons
out do not in reality pay any license for
them, for they get the full or more than
the. full amount from the men who do
the work. There are some twelve or
fifteen boss hucksters in the city and
they own from eight to thirty wagons
each. They make considerable money
and many of them are well off and own
property"
''How much can q regular street
huckster make day ?''
I'm the summer time, if he attends
to business and has a fair run of
custom, all the way from two to four
dollars. Hucksters do not make that
much in winter time, when fruit,
berries and some kinds of vegetables
are out of season. Hucksters work
only five days a week. Monday is the
hucksters' holiday and has been for
years. No fresh truck can be obtained
on Monday mornings. and housekeepers
generally lay in provisions enough on
Saturday to last over Sunday and Mon
day.
Nearly all the truck is bought OF
commission men, for regular huckster
knows he can always get fresh truck
from them and the right kind OF
measure. The farmers in the market
who sell truck wholesale are generally
looked upon with suspicion by buck
sters. The farmers do not sell by
weight. but by measure, and a buck
ster often finds that the measure is
short. There is plenty of skinning
going on all around in the huckstering
business, and the regular huckster has
got to look out or he will find himself
euchered very often.
Summer time is the huckster's best
season and think sell more tomatoes
than anything else and they last all
summer. When they are in season
watermelons, cantaloupes, peaches and
berries Of all kinds sell very rapidly.
The smallest sales are among crab
apples, grapes. pears and plums. Next
to tomatoes l think sell more corn in
summer than anything else"
.'HOw about winter?"
Nothing sells more rapidly in winter
time than apples. l sell them right
along. Sweet potatoes sell well in
winter and also oranges, lemons.
bananas and pineapples.
"A huckster is generally hard at
work from two o'clock in the morning
until four o'clock in the afternoon and
when that time comes my voice is husky
and my throat sore from continuous
yelling in streets and alleys. l COM
mence to boiler at about six o'clock in
the morning and keep it up until three
or four o'clock, when l am usually
pretty well worn out. never heard
that there was any particular throat
disease among street hucksters. My
voice is always ready for the following
day" --Phiiadelphia Times.