The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1900-06-07

n s II & s e. ISL 81
some friendly gale win bear TO every isle
that dots tho SECS. to every mariner Who
rides the waves, to every hut and cabin
under the sun. that the incidence Of the
capitalist has been rebuked. and this gov
ernment, this republic has been transformed
into cooperative commonwealth, pure
and simple
Most respectfully yours.
A. v. BRETT.
The foregoing letter. like one we re-
Gently published from the PEN of Eugene
Hough, has about it an earnestness and
apparent honesty OF purpose that Is
commendable and entities 1t, lengthy as
It Is, to space in our columns. We can
not, however. let such letters pass with
out pointing our readers to some Of their
more glazing Inconsistencies.
Mr.. Bretz makes his first bad break
when he classes all the commercial
travelling men as parasites. Within the
memory of men now living commercial
travellers. or drumpers. were unknown
and every country merchant went to the
wholesale centers two to six times each
year to select and purchase stocks. Mr..
Bretz has forgotten the time and travel
ing expenses of every trip made by the
country merchant was charged up to the
consumer and that the aggregate ex-
pense OF these trips could not be much
less than the expense of the present
army of drummers. In q small town Of
10000 people, we will say, there are Ave
dry goods stores and during the year
each OF these dry goods merchants
makes four trips to Chicago or New
York, and the~expense Of these 20 trips
is charged to the consumers under the
old system. Under the drummer system
we will say Ave rival or competing
wholesale dry goods houses send
drummer with samples four times dur
ing the year to each of these merchants.
The drummer system is. In fact. in
such instances, least expensive because
each drummer would cover large num-
Der of towns on each trip, visit hundreds
OF local merchants, save time, car fare
and expense of local merchants seeing
the big city on his frequent trips.
Mr.. Bretz may claim that under So
cialism, or state ownership of mer-
chantile industries, drummers could be
dispensed with and no substitute be re-
qufred. and cites as proof the fact that
trusts have discharged many drummers.
1t is true that trusts have thrown out
OF employment many travelling men and
added their salaries to trust profits.
Consumers did not profit by It, 1t is
also true that the country merchant is
now In such cases compelled to 20 to
the trust factory or dealer to inspect
goods before purchase. or rely upon
catalogue descriptions and in many
cases get what he cannot sell, and in all
cases charge all expense to the con-
sumer
In the final analysis Of this drummer
question (Mr. Bretz, through prejudice,
calls them parasites) the consumer has
to pay all the expenses of his local mer-
chant inspecting goods before purchase.
Socialism attempts to inspect all these
goods by proxy, and on general prin-
ciples proxies are rarely satisfactory.
Socialism would discharge the middle
man with no provision for the perform-
ance of his very essential work
Mr.. Bretz propounds a pumpkin con-
hndrum, and asks how we are to get rid
OF middlemen In the pumpkin industry
under individual ownership and opera
tion of farms.
He starts with . pumpkin raised on
his farm, and traces 1t through the
steamship transportation company to
San Francisco, through the commission
house and the retail merchant to the
consumer, and shows how these middle !
men all get slice off that pumpkin.
If Mr.. Bretz could save ANYTHING nv
personally delivering that pumpkin di-
rest to the consumer he would, under !
our present system, certainly do SO.
1t should be clear to everyone that,
under either our present system or So |
cialism. some man or men must carry
and deliver pumpkins between producer
and consumer. These men are entitled
under any system to living compensa-
t1on. AS long as they are getting that
and nothing more, and are performing
necessary work, they are plainly not
tObbing anybody.
Socialists look at these transactions
and exclaim: Down with the merchant.
the drummer, the commission man, the
hgent, the transportation company, and
let all be merged in the state" Popu-
lists analyze the transactions more care
fully, measuring the work of each man
by two standards, to-wit:
First, is the work necessary or an
economy?
Second, Is the middleman getting UNI
duly rich?
Measured by these two standards,
Populism finds that the drummers. the
retail merchants, little shop keepers,
men and most so-called
are doing work that must b.
dOno NV anrnohodv orA f,rthor that