The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-11-28
THE TRAVELLING
SALESMAN Is
An Institution That Brings Lots
of Money to Canton
FOUR THOUSAND A MONTH
Estimated to Come to Canton, Spending a
Big Sum to the Benefit of
the Grocer, Butcher
and Baker.

When the American people get down
to work investigating the question of
trusts, and 1t comes to a campaign
based strictly on whether or not the
octopus shall continue to live, the
great army of men of commerce known
as "the drummers," will be found ar
raging themselves in behalf of which
ever party promises the speediest and
most complete relief from its clutches.
There is no one industry perhaps which
is so directly and positively affected
as that of the brethren of knights of
the Grip and, at every meeting or op-
portunity, they do not hesitate in their
denunciation. Consolidation and or
ganization of two, three, four or more
concerns, each with its own representa-
tives on the road into one company
which can be represented by a frac-
tion of the number employed before
naturally throws large proportion out
of employment and they, as naturally
are opposed to any institution so mani
festly hostile to their interests. The
element is a powerful one, both
numerically and influentially. Cover
ing so much territory and coming into
contact with so many men, generally
men of influence in their own coms
munities, the fraternity has greater op-
portunities for proselyting than men
in any other line Of employment and
are consequently influential out of pro-
portion to their numerical strength,
which is not inconsiderable, running in
to the hundreds of thousands. A party
of travelling men discussing the situa-
ton in the lobby of a local hotel the
other evening actuated a curiosity in
the breast of a ws-Democrat re-
porter as to how many of the travelling
craft came to Canton in the course of
a year, and what effect they had on
local business. Examination at three
leading hotels showed that in the past
thirty days there have been almost
fortyrfive hundred registrations. AS
suming this to be fairly average
month and that a fair portion of these
registrations were not of travelling men,
and adding a reasonable number of
members of the profession who do not
stop at a hotel or do stop at other
hotels, 1t may be safely said that four
thousand month. or in round num-
bers, fifty thousand a year, of the
craft come to Canton, offering bargains
and defying competition in prices. or
course every one of these pays his
hotel Dill ana, allowing them about
dollar day apiece for cigars, appeti-
zers and other incidentials, the man
with the grip who comes whence we
know not and goeth whittier we know
not leaves annually in Canton, to be
distributed to the grocer, the baker, the
butcher and the merchant, not less than
one hundred and fifty thousand dol
lars Then, too, his coming keeps the
home merchant from going and the
ten or fifteen or fifty dollars OF expenses
IN going to Chicago, or Pittsburg, or
New York, to buy goods is kept at
home. The travelling man also makes
competition in business and lowers
prices in the home market.
Taking all things together the
travelling man is a great institution;
great in himself. great in his en-
ployers interest or his employer would
not have him; great to the men he sells
TO, or the man would not buy Of him;