St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-03-24
A DRUMMER,s REVELATION.
How the Commercial Traveller Works Up His
Trade on the Road,

the thing up brown" said commercial
Boston IS swell hotels paying his check, at the
same time pointing to table where young,
stylishly-dressed man and one of more
mature years were seated, enjoying an elab-
crate dinner.
Nothing slow about him. he continued,
as he saw the waiter bring couple of bottles
of champagne to the table mentioned. "He's
good one, l tell your
''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"
s'Rather reversing the order of things, isn't
it, for customer to take salesman out to
dinner?'
Don't make any mistake of that kind, my
boy. That venerable party wont pay any
thing for that dinner, be assured of that.
My friend the drummer would not listen to
such proposition. No, no; it is the same
old story The merchant is being worked in
the regular way.
"You speak as though it was common oc
currence for drummers, who, as a rule, don't
get princely salaries, to set up their customers
regularly to $40 or $50 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,
if they know it. One of our sales
phar he OF
made a trip out West and spent small
men 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 treat
ing customers, $780, Well, perhaps he
didn't get 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 fool, and
asked him if he thought he was sent out to
and cigars. He had to stand the racket him
self, and you may be sure he never got
caught in that scrape again.
His customers, suppose, got no more
dinners at his expense?"
Only they didn't appear on his expense bills
any more"
''Paid for them himself, eh?'
swell, n-n-o, not exactly" was the re-
Spouse, accompanied by sly wink. ''We
drummers, l know, are pretty fresh, inno-
cent lot, but we don't go quite so far as to
spend all our salary, and more, too, in treat
ing our customers. Not much"
''Perhaps l didn't quite follow you, but
understood you to say that the one of whom
you spoke continued to spend money for the
purpose mentioned, and yet didn't charge it
to the firm. How, then, did he escape pay
ing it himself?" SEX
"Have a cigar" said the commercial man,
as he nonchalantly lighted one himself and
tossed the match away, "and come over
here and sit down while tell you about it. :"
MAKING THEMSELVES POPULAR.
Comfortably seated, he went on "You
see drummer's life is peculiar in many re-
spects. In the fret place, it is rowing,
restless sort of existence that keeps him al
WAYS on the go. Whatever success he
achieves is due to his own individual exer-
tons. The competition in almost every
line of trade is intense, and if man
wants to sell any goods he has got to make
himself solid, as the boys say, with his
customers. The only way for him to do
this is to make himself popular. Now, popu-
larity in nine cases out of ten is due to an
off-hand goodfellowship and liberality that
drummers as a rule must possess in order to
succeed. 1t is absolutely essential for him
to be liberal with his customers, and oc-
casionally invite 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 selling 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 its''
~ really give it up.'
''The only way obviously is for him to
catch on to some extra source of income.
And this, as matter of fact, is what most of
us do. Whether the means we take to do
this are always just what any 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, flor example, that l 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 con ductors,
taggagemasters and other railroad employees
very we'll.
RAILROAD RACKETS.
ttThe conductor masses through the train