The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-06-11
DRUMMER DOOMED.
Passing of the Man
with Samples and
Stories.
TRUSTS ARE HIS FINISH.
Unique Figure in CONNER
cial Life Disap-
pearing.
TRUSTS ARE HIS FINISH.

In no line is the effect of the trust
craze that is sweeping the country
more keenly felt than in the ranks
of the commercial travellers.
Whatever the ultimate effect of the
gigantic massing of capital and ten
dency to centralize every important
branch of trade that is at present stir
ring the alarmists into spasms of pro-
test, it is certain that the immediate
blow comes upon the commercial
traveller.
Statesmen are realizing the change
Among travelling representatives of all
the lines of trade that have fallen I'M
der the ban of the trust. familiar faces
to the trade are disappearing with
alarming rapidly The hustling, bus
Ting, well-clothed and glib-tongued
drummer is fast vanishing from the
places that knew his winning ways
and unless the present tide that has set
in against him is stemmed, the red hot
competition that existed between rep
resentatives of rival houses is doomed
to extinction. The thoughtful drum
mer has long since ceased to rehearse
his funny little jokes in favor of sit
ting up nights figuring out when his
turn will come and his finish with it.
The cause need not be sought far
When a consolidation of interests is
brought about by the combination, the
first move is to cast about lines of
economy. Cost of production can not
be materially reduced by gigantic capt.
Tal- Tho har nf hands q re
required in manufacturing and in
handling as before. Only in cost of
placing the completed product on the
market can immediate saving be made,
and clerks and travelling statesmen are
the first to suffer
1t is safe to say that the aver
age salesman received SIS a month
with perhaps an added commits
sion on his sales. Add to this an
expense bill of $125 a month, and the
total holds out a very tempting bait
for the man who is looking for a line of
economy. By consolidation, competi-
ton perishes and in many cases one
commercial traveller may do the work
of three when his rival in the same line
of business is taken within the wing of
a sheltering trust that may practically
control the market
Since the American Tobacco Compa-
ny completed the deal whereby a half
dozen small concerns were absorbed, Sc
travelling statesmen have been laid off
in New England alone. This same
course has been pursued by the biscuit
trust, the envelope trust, the nail trust
and so on down through the long list of
combinations that have been recently
perfected. And the end is not yet in
sight, in the opinion Of more than one
observer of the course of affairs. AS
competition becomes less and less keen
the reduction in the selling force en-
ployed, especially in the staples and
important branches of trade, will con-
tinue while the drummer mourns his
lot.
Not a travelling salesman can be met
at the Bay State or the Lincoln House
but has a tale to tell of the blight upon
the craft. Faces that appeared period
ically on the round of the New England
circuit are gone The low salaried men
are not the only ones to suffer. The fact
that wide acquaintance or a business
capacity aided a man of experience to
build up a vast trade does not avail
him when competition is removed and
his rival is enlisted under the wing of
the trust. The trade is to be had the
easier now, and if either is to go, the
high salaried man is the first to fall.
Buyers in WOrcesters larger retail
stores have noticed the change in the
order of things and are now beginning
to wonder what is to become the art
full dodge of pitting one salesman
against a rival in securing the best dis
counts to be had. r is estimated that
about 70 per cent of the travelling
statesmen who visited Worcester a year
ago are making their calls this year
and in some lines, particularly tobac-
CO. the reduction has been at least one
half. Nor does this change in affairs af-
feet the commercial travellers alone
Hotels are suffering under the new or
der of things. At the Bay State House,
Landlord Frank P. Douglass notes a
vast change in the length of his regis
ter. To The Spy man he said that the
change is recognized by hotel men the
country over, and many of the strictly
commercial houses that cater particu-
larry to commercial travellers, view the
disappearance of the genial and liberal
drummer with alarm.
At the Lincoln House the falling off
of visiting statesmen over the number
last year, is noticeably conspicuous. If
the trusts have no other enemies in the
country, the hotels are arrayed in oppo-
sition to monOpolies in any form. What
strikes the commercial traveller strikes
at once at every hotel in the country
It will be interesting TO note when re-
turns are in from the railroads, what
effect the reduction Of the travelling
force of the big lines of trade will have
on the passenger traffic. 1t is beyond
all possibility of reckoning, nor can it
be estimated, but it is acknowledged
that all manner of transportation lines
are noting the effects of the trust or
TIE commercial traveller.
The Commercial Travellers National
league has begun an exhaustive study
of the question, and will be represent
ed at a hearing before the industrial
/ commission at Washington Wednesday
| P. f. Dove is collecting data on the
! subject and will present TO the com
mission an exhaustive report on the ef-
! fects of trusts on commercial travellers
Later in the month the Civic Federatio
/ to convene at Chicago will discuss the
| same question.