Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-10
LAW FOR PEDDLERS.
A Supreme Court Decision That Will
Affect the Class.
CANVASSERS IN THE SANE BOAT.
They Must Be Citizens and Come Under
License Regulations.
PERENpToRY NOTICES ARE PLENTIFUL

PEREMPT0RY NOTICES ARE PLENTIFUL
teNo beggars, peddlers, or canvassers
allowed here" Is q notice that greets you in
most door-ways and elevators in public
buildings nowadays It is said that all the
world loves lover and it seems to be al
most universally the case that people dread
q book canvasser or, in the rural districts,
fruit-tree agent, but many people who
lack sufficient brusqueness to get rid of a
book canvasser, especially one of the tender
sex, will be glad to learn that the Supreme
Court of this State has decided that can
vasser Of any kind who goes from house to
house and does retail business,
whether in taking orders for q
book or for fruit or ornamental trees,
currant bushes or posy plants is q
peddler, and is liable to be hauled over the
Goals by any of his victims. if he cannot
show a peddler's license in districts or coun-
ties where such Licenses are provided for,
and it is safe to say that not one book-sub-
scription canvasser in thousand, and very
few peddlers of any kind, except disabled
soldiers, have license.
The case in point is that of the city Of
Titusville versus j. w. Brennan, a can
vasser, who was fined $25 and costs by the
City Recorder for canvassing for subscrip-
tions in that city without first getting q
license as required by an ordinance Of the
city.
The Opinion Pointed One.
Justice williams wrote the opinion Of the
Court and it bristles with illustrations sug-
gestive of the Judges residence in the
rural districts, where sharpers get unsus-
pecting agriculturists to sign agreements
which subsequently prove to be notes
which are discounted by innocent
parties, thereby rendering the dupe re-
sponsible to the uttermost farthing. Justice
Williams in the opinion discusses the entire
range of the Interstate commerce act and
holds that canvasser who goes from house
be construed to be dealer in original pack
ages nor drummer, alias commercial trav-
e1er, as the latter sells to the trade and not
to private families and persons.
He cannot be held to be an impoQter, but.
is simply q peddler and his occupation is
characterized as ''domiciliary invasion"
with gusto which seems to indicate that
His Honor has been numerously the victim
of pretty and fascinating book agenteses
from whom few men are able to escape ex-
cept by unconditional surrender and SUBJ
scription for Captain Willard Grazier's
book or something else of the same character,
and in fact the title and pretensions of the
work for sale do not relieve the canvasser
holds that canvassers of all kinds come
under the police regulations of the State
just as clearly as the crimes Of larceny and
false pretense, and that humbugging and
swind1ing in the past have been carried on
by canvassers of all kinds to an alarming
extent, that robs honest industry of many
thousands of dollars each year.
Held to Be q Peddler.
The canvasser is held to be q peddler,
even If he does not deliver the goods, and,
while enforcement of the law may work an
injury to some honest people, they must
submit in order to break up the nuisance of
peoples houses being invaded at all hours
Of the day by persons who may
be legitimate canvassers, but who
may also, under the guise of venders Of
morus multicaulis seeds, self-setting and
selfbaiting mousetraps, patent churns, hay
rakes, ETC., be swindlers or burglars in dis
guise, taking observations and wax impress
sions of locks, or simply door-mat thieves or
hAll-rack plunderers The idea held out is
sity for such distributors when stores are
numerous and railways and mails within
reach of buyers
In this connection it is interesting to
learn, from the Clerk of Courts Office, that
while you can scarce travel five miles in
any direction from the city without encoun-
tering from one to half dozen pack ped
dlers, yet but two licenses have been taken
out, aside from those granted to disabled
soldiers, who are specially provided for.
Soldiers who want license to peddle must
show that they have suffered injury in con-
sequence Of military service, and when they
get peddler's license they need not renew
it. but all other peddler's must take out
under the impression that the peddling
was about extinct and was aston
ished to learn that at least 200 fitted out
their cargoes every Sunday on the hill and
on Monday morning started toward all
points of the compass, considerable con-
tingent leaving the city on the Brownsville
packet every Monday morning, returning
for fresh consignments on Friday or Satur-
day evening.
Citizenship a Necessary Qualification.
According to law peddler must be q
citizen, but it is doubtful whether ma
jority Of these peripatetics have even de-
clared their intentions The writer saw
one some nine miles from the city
one day last week who said he
had come from Poland and had
been but seven weeks in the United States.
though he had conquered sufficient English
to mako trades It is believed that the un-
healed scars of the knout might be found
m <hn hooHs nf cnuoo IF %hncn nadd1arc
They are shrewd traders, too, and the one
noted said he cleared from g to $40 a day.
They fare plenteously, if not sumptuously,
at small cost, and in some parts Of the rural
districts get good treatment from farmers
who are afraid to refuse them entertainment
as buildings have been burned by people
who have been refused lodging.
A few weeks since one stopped at the
house Of man named Robb, some eight |
miles from the city and near the Steubenville
pike, and asked for his dinner. No one was
1T home except Mr.. Robb's mother and she
Is over 80 years Of age. She told him she
was not able to cook dinner for him, but
he refused to 90 without 1t and rendered her
Impudence reused her wrath and made her
forget her fears, but he finally rendered two
skeins, and she weakened and gave the Slav
his dinner and since then she has been max
ing inquiry for some one who wants to dis
pose OF q cross dog
They Don't Like the Dogs.
Most of these peddlers are more afraid of
cross dogs than Of anything else, but their
leslre for gain supports them under great
fear. Many of these peddlers carry loads of
tinware heavy enough to make Mexican
burro grunt and yet there is Especial license
costing $36 80 year, (Which it is certain
khev do not nav \ rennired of tin neddlars