New-York tribune., 1899-07-23
TRUSTS AND DRUMMERS.
EFFECTS OF CONSULTATIONS ON COM
MERCIAL TRAVELLERS.
THOUGHT TO BE LESS THAN GENERALLY
FEARED-THE DRUMMER NOW AND
IN EARLIER DAYS.


five thousand commercial travellers Will be
thrown out OF employment. and many men who
have grown old in a business which required
much study and close attention will be com
PEELED 10 seek other means for making living"
This paragraph appeared IL the newspapers re
Gently. similar statement was made before
Congressional committee, and many people be-
Ieve that the commercial traveller, the drum
mer who has been the maker of business for
nearly all the large mercantile establishments, is
about 10 disappear from the scene There is just
enough truth in the belief 10 entitle the matter
10 consideration BY the consolidation Of large
Industries like cotton and woollen mills, paper
making establishments and various other com
mercial enterprises there will naturally be
shrinkage in the size Of the selling force.
That is always held out of the objects
OF consolidation While a MILL when it did bust
ness alone and in competition with all others,
required six or eight statesmen to sell the product
o. the road. the united companies sell the prod
net of ten or dozen mills with nearly the same
force
MEN WHO WILL BE OUsTED
Many men whose concerns have been 'syndl-
Gated will certainly have 10 look elsewhere for
employment" said veteran drummer, but the
number who will be affected in that way is
comparatively small and inasmuch as the men
concerned are for the most part good statesmen
and well versed in their special line. they will
find little difficulty in securing other places, be-
cause the drummer cannot be crowded from the
scene by the trusts O. by any other combina-
ton He is as necessary to a business as money,
and he is to-day a more important factor than he
was"
There is nothing remarkable in the fact that
he srv,-
portant part played by the commercial traveller
IN the business world. but 1t is strange that
many business men are uninformed the sub
iect The men who know all about it, and to
whom the abolition OF the drumming system
would mean financial ruin. the hotel men.
From one end OF the country TO the other in
large places and in hamlets they depend for
their business on the men who were once known
the knights Of the gripsack, but who have de-
veioped into the lords Of the Saratoga trunk.
Hotels are planned for their accommodation, and
ar run 10 please them, because il Seems 10 be
understood that the i'll viii Of the travelling
class can do hotel more injury than Of any
other class.
IN Tnk EARLY DAYS.
IL the early DAYS Of commercial travelling the
average drummer when he came TO town
his samples, which he carried out in parcels to
his customers. He was a combination porter
and salesman. and when he reached the point
where ne employed a 10 carry his samples
for him he was considered a member Of the high
toned class. The drummer Of those days was
usually a man of good address who could tell a
good story and mix a bit Of fun with selling
goods Some members Of the fraternity whose
neId Of activity was South and West counted
aItncss at cards and capacity TO hold a certain
amount Of liquid entertainment as points in their
favor and men became popular and built up
large trades who had little knowledge Of the
goods they We're handling.
Those were the days said a member Of
the Merchants Association when the coun-
trv merchants depended the drummer
FOR their goods for styles. for news and for
the latest thing in jokes-jokes for the club.
for the home circle and for quilting bees. But
conpetition in trade brought about change
Merchants had 10 come 20 market 10 look about;
they became better posted. and the drummers
roijnd that stories and talk became less valuable
IN their business and that the men who carried
the best stocks at the best figures got The busl-
ness.
The quality Of the men also changed CON
Germs sent superior representatives on the road
they Daid them better solaries, and the drum
r-e-s abandoned the cheap hotels for first class
houses and hired large apartments IN the
hotels where they displayed their wares, instead /
- having them taken 10 the stores Of their GUS
toners Some people still cling to the mex
peusfve way Of travelling, and thousands of
travelling men still patronize the cheap hotels