Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-08-22
DAILY SHORT STORY
Truthful James Ross.

ICopyI light. 1902. by c. p. Lewis.1'
When Truthful James Ross applied
for position as traveller for the whole
sale drug house of Brush & Co, he
said of himself:
Il am Truthful James Ross. / am
called Truthful because 1 cannot tell n
lie. 1 will go on the road with your
goods, tell the truth under all clfcum-
stances, and If 1 cannot do so per cent
more business than the liars I will
gladly resign
Mr.. Brush had never met with
truthful drummer before, and. though
a little doubtful as to the experiment,
he agreed to give Truthful James u
show. In few days the young man
was ready to start out. and from one
source and another have cleaned his
adventures as drummer. He was
put on a route which extended as far
west as Toledo. but his first objective
point was Buffalo. The train which
bore him and his sample cases had
scarcely rolled out of the Central depot
when Truthful James opened his ca
reer of virtue and integrity. He dis
covered that his fellow passenger was
man who loved the truth above all
else, and he gave it to him ut whole
sale rates.
He was the go" of Brush & Co.
He had put in a million dollars against
Mr.. Brush's experience and certain
discoveries. He was making a trip in,
order to have n personal talk with
druggists. One of the discoveries was
an ointment which would grow hair
on q bald head In two weeks. There
was a case of it right before the mans
eyes. The luXuriant growth of hair
on Mr.. Ross head had all grown in
seventeen days.
Rival houses had been cutting the
price of soaps, but Truthful James was
not I'm the cut. His house had its own
factory. 1t was not situated in the
midst of marsh, where every cake OF
soap imbibed certain amount of ma
laria, nor did it make use of the fat
of cats, dogs, cOOns, possums and pole
cats. His factory was built on hill
top, kissed by, the rising sun and
braced by the ozone of the Atlantic.
The fat used was all taken from ga
zelles raised on the firms own ranch
in Montana, and every cake was sub
mittcd to a pressure of 100 pounds to
the square inch before being sent forth
into the world. Crowned heads used
1t, and every American arlstocrat cried
for It.
Truthful James went over his route
speaking the truth on oil occasions
| and never forgetting that integrity is
the stepping stone to success, and,
though he didn't do so we'll as he hoped
for, he laid the foundations of his
career on a sure and certain basis.
Very few of the retail druggists had
ever met with q truthful drummer.
They were inclined to believe that
Truthful James was no better than
the rest. Some did not hesitate to cnIl
him prevaricator, and at the western
| terminus of his route he was thrown
out of a drugstore. body and boots,
for what was thought to be cheek,
but he was not discouraged. On his
second trip he found things better,
and on his third he was welcomed as
an old friend and found orders all
made out for him in advance. have
treasured up some of the truths told
by Truthful james during his career
as traveller and will give them here
do an INCENTIVE W DeSihhSlS VA q
career:
He claimed that the hot water bags
sold by his house had cured hun
dreds of cases of enlarged liver, even
when only applied to the feet of the
patient.
His porous plasters had drawn needles
and pins out of patients without caus-
ing the slightest pain and thereby
removed chronic ailments.
His firm always kept at least 1000
cords of Peruvian bark on hand in
its sheds. and it's quininc was ground
fresh to order. The grinding mills were
kept open until 10 o'clock Saturday
evenings to fill Sunday orders.
| His chest protectors were not made
in sweatshops and out of material
taken from the rag bag, but by Quak-
crosses, each of whom took cold
bath every morning. and of material
manufactured expressly for the pur-
pose in an exclusive factory owned by
q religious woman. ~
Every nursing bottle sent out by his