The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1894-02-23
THE PEDDLER NUISANCE.
So Long as This Swindler Is Patronized.
Just So Long Will He Flourish.

80 @01
Just So Long Will He Flourish.
II there is one thing that makes the
life Of a housewife a burden more than
another, it is the constant and unremit-
ting visits of that p~eripatetic vender of
"'sheap" merchandise yclept the ped
der. A knock at the door or a pull at
the bell arouses her and disturbs her
household duties, and with the expecta-
ton that it is some dear friend she tides
her hair, arranges her dress, and with
her sweetest smile responds to the sum
non
Her smile of pleasure gives way to a N
expression of disgust. however, when in
stead of meeting the expected friend she
is confronted by an unkempt and dis
reputable son of faraway Italy or some
other foreign cline who importunes her
to examine the wonderful array of bar
gains to be found in his foul smelling
pack. If she yields, and after allowing
him to scatter his goods over her chairs
and sofas she fails to buy, he frequently
becomes insolent and is got rid of with
difficulty.
That they are a worry and a nuisance
is the universal verdict of all household
ers, but how to suppress them is another
story. Kicking the interloper off the
stoop and into the street may relieve an
individual case, but those who come aft
er him, and their name is legion, do not
seem to be deferred by the inhospitable
reception given their compatriot, but
persist in their calls as long as the neigh
borhood gives them patronage. The
class of customers who encouraged the
peddler are often caught by a sly insinu-
alton from the cunning dealer that the
goods have been Struggled or secured by
fraud or thieving in order to explain
their ~cheapness. But if the woman who
welcomes him to her house paws over
his wares, buys his goods and encour-
ages him to repeat his visit could view
the surroundings of the foreign hawker
when at home and before he starts on
his pilgrimage to the rural districts, she
would hesitate before allowing him to
cucumber her parlor with his goods or
expose her family to the contaminated
air engendered by his presence.
Imagine the headquarters of the ped
dlers, as described in one of the great
daily newspapers some months since,
where hundreds of them, male and fe-
male, with their packs of merchandise.
baskets Of decaying fruit, fish and vege-
tables, were packed together IN a dark,
unventilated cellar, like sardines in a
box. When the reporter visited n of
these places, the noisOme odor was so
great that he was almost overcome and
was obliged to retreat to the fresh air
outside. Vermin crawled all over the
walls, over the packs, the baskets and
| over the bodies of the men, women and
children.
Out from these fever breeding kennels
lage homes and farmhouses, bearing with
them the seeds of disease and c~ontagion,
to be scattered among the innocent chill
dren of the bargain seeking housewife.
The peddler is the citizen of no com
munity. He seldom possesses the first
| elements of honesty, and he is ready and
eager to make any guarantee or repre-
~sentation in order to palm off his goods
upon the unsuspecting, fully aware Of
the fact that he will not pass that way
| again and will therefore not be called
upon to make his word good when the
fraudulent nature of his transactions are
discovered. Only thoughtless people pa
tronize the fly by night hawker. and they
invariably receive their just deserts by
being thoroughly swindled. The safest
/ plan is to Danish all the unsavory breed
from your houses when they call and
forbid them repeating their visits. Buy
only from those whom you know, whose
antecedents are good, habits decent and
whose regard for their business reputa-
tons, if not their innate honesty, would
deter them from disappearing their
merchandise and obtaining your money
under false pretenses.