Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-02-19
THE DRUMMER.
How the Commercial Traveller Works Up
His Trade on the Road-The Influence
of Wines and Cigars on the Country
Merchant.

uOluS Iut tlilHS up biONA, Saul IL
commercial drummer, as he stood at
the desk of one of Boston's swell hotels
paying his check, at the same time
pointing to a table where a young,
stylishly-dressed man and one of more
mature years were seated, enjoying an
elaborate dinner.
Nothing slow about him." he con-
tinued, as he saw the waiter bring a
couple of bottles of champagne to the
table mentioned. He is good one,
l tell you"
'Who is it?' was asked.
''Oh, he travels for large New York
wooden house. They do big business
in Boston, and that elderly gentleman
you see with him is one of their best
customers"
''Rather reversing the order of
things, isn't it, for a customer to take q
salesman out to dinner?n
Don't make any mistake of
that kind, my boy. That ven
cradle party won't pay anything for
that dinner, be assured of that. My
friend the drummer wouldn't listen to
such proposition. No, no; it is the
same old story. The merchants being
worked IN In6 regular way
''You speak as though it was COM
mon occurrence for drummers, who as
rule don't get princely salaries, to set
up their customers regulcrly to so or
$40 dinners. Certainly they can't do
that unless their employers foot the
bills"
''Their employers don't foot many
bills of that kind, you may be sure.
That is, not if they know it. One of
our statesmen, when he was fresh at the
business, made trip out west and
spent small fortune for wines, din
ners, and cigars for men to whom he
tried to sell. He had heard the boys
tell about doing this sort of thing, and,
of course, thought it was all right.
When he got back from his three
months trip he put upon his expense
bill: TO treating customers, $780,
Well, perhaps he didn't get a dressing
down from the firm. You should have
been there to hear the fun. The senior
member, one of those gruff old fellows,
told him he must be a fool and asked
him if he thought he was sent out to
keep country merchants supplied with
vine and cigars. He had to stand the
racket himself, and you may be sure he
never got caught in that scrape again"
ellis customers, [ suppose, got no
more dinners at his expense?"
ooh, yes, they did, just as many as
ever. Only they didn't appear on his
expense bills any more"
E'Paid for them himself, eh?"
"Well, n-n-o, not exactly" was the
response, accompanied by sly wink.
eve drummers, I know, are a pretty
fresh, innocent lot, but we don't 90
quite so far as to spend all our salary,
and more too in treating our customers.
Not much"
perhaps I didn't quite follow you,
but [ understood you to say that the
one of whom you spoke continued to
spend money for the purpose men
toned, and yet didn't charge it to the
firm. How, then, did he escape pay
ing it himSelf?h
E'HaYe a cigar" said the commercial
man, as ne nonchalantly lighted one
himself and tossed the match away,
"and come over here and sit down
while I tell you about it. -
Comfortably seated, he went on:
''You see, drummer's life is peculiar
in many respects. In the first place it
is rowing, restless sort of an exist
ence that keeps him always on the go.
Whatever success he achieves is due to
his own individual eXertions. The COM
petition in almost every line of trade is
intense, and if a man wants to sell any
goods he has got to make himself
solid, as the boys say with his GUS
e., 10 II
this is to make himself popular. Now
popularity in nine cases out Of ten is
due to an off-hand good-felloWship and
iberality that drummers as a rule must
possess in order to succeed. It is alb
solutely essential for him to be liberal
with his customers, and occasionally IN
Vite them to dinner or to the theater.
He must do this even with his old
customers, and when he wants to
catch on to man to whom rival is sell
ing it is even more essential. Well,
now, of course the drummer can't
stand the expense of these rackets out
of his salary They would soon eat it
up. How, then, does he fix it?''
81 really give it up"
"The only way obviously is for him
TO CaIcn on 10 some extra source Ol III
come. And this, as a matter of fact,
is what most of US do. Whether the
means that we take to do this are al
ways just what anyone would call per
fectly square is a question. However,
I'll give you my idea of what they are
on the strict %. t. you understand,
and you can Judge for yourself.
Suppose now, for example, that [
travel through the western part of the
state or in Rhode Island or Connecticut.
Of course [ pass over the same roads
very often, and in time come to know
all of the conductors, ggagemasters,
and other railroad employees very well.
1.-The conductor passes through the
train, recognizes me, stops and shakes
hands. and, after a little chat, passes
on, never thinking to ask me for my
ticket. I don't think of it either, and
the result of it is that next time I 90
over the road the same ticket answers
my purpose. Now, who shall profit by
~, 10 ,n 1,,1v-