The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1902-03-15
AUTOMOBILE MENACE.
IT Is DRIVING OUT AN IMPORTANT
COUNTRY INDUSTRY.

How the Livery Stable Keepers Are Az
| fec:ed-Their Chief source of Income,
the Travelling Salesman, Taking to the
| Horseiess Carriage - Its Advantages.
| Slowly but surely the automobile Is
making its way into the country dis
tricts, and is supplanting one of the
important industries of every hamlet
and village. says the New York Com
mercial advertiser. This is true par
ticularly in the New England states
and in New York, Pennsylvania and
New Jersey. The country livery stables
are supported almost entirely by trav-
cling salesman who sell groceries and
provisions and other staple articles,
as we'll as tobacco, cigars and cigar
cites. These men have certain regular
| routes which they cover at certain m
| tervals, and usually have a standing
order with liyerymen in towns that are
centrally located to take them out oyer
their routes whenever they come to
| town. Scores of these men, however,
have Of late taken TO the steam car
rage as a means of getting about, and
have Cancelled their orders with the
liverymen. A representative Of big
| Wholesale grocery house in Rochester
was in town lnis week looking over
the various steam carriages with
view Of purchasing one in the spring.
II was going to wait for O while
longer" he said, "but / have figured
the whole thing over, and find that
| can save quite little money on a
trip, and besides, l can cover my terri
tory much quicker. and can lengthen
out my routes. I don't know as would
get it. though, II my rival who works
the same route. had not gotten one
some months ago, and find he is beat
ing me out on every trip. The way he
works the scheme is to start out on
Monday morning and work out to his
most distant point, then strike OF
across the territory and work back.
We used to go out, say, to Newark,
N. j., hire team there and drive
south, taking in stores and villages not
on the railroad, until we got over along
the line of the Auburn road. then work
| back by another route anu put up at
Newark. The next day we started out
to the north. going to the R., W. and
o. and back. The next day we go IN
to Lyons, repeat the operation, then to
Clyde, and SO on. The same livaryman
took me every time, and the prices
| were about the same each time, vary
| ing between Sc and So.
with steam carriage, however.
| my rival runs east to the end of his
route without stopping for orders, then
he starts back, running north and
south, taking in all of the villages and
stopping at the cross-road stores rs
| well, and he gets about much quicke.'
and covers more ground than he lid
| before. We used to divide matters up
e bit. He took a certain number OF
the merchants in out-of-the-way cor
ners of the territory, and I took the
| others, and in that way we saved our
selves considerable expense and LOT
| of trouble. But of late find that he
has been running among out-of-rhe-
way dealers, and he has sometimes
gotten In ahead of me. The second
week we always work the territory to
the west in the same way.
"If the steam carriage works as we'll
as we figure 1t will, we will be able, not
only to cover our territory much more
/ > al k,,% mill ha nh IN
tend our trips. OF course, we can go
no further to the north on account Of
Lake Ontario. But we never have
worked that very thoroughly because it
has been awkward to get at, but we
will be able to go further south and
get into the sections now looked after
| by other firms in Auburn or SYRIA
cuse; so you see we ought to be able
to do a great deal more business and
save big bill of expenses. OF course.
we would have to drop the extra Sec
lions in the winter. and l suppose tina.
the liverymen would get back at us by
raising their prices, but then We dor't
do as much in the winter, anyhow, be-
cause the roads are often drifted UP so
we can't get through"
Another salesman, who travels for a
firm in this city and who works a
route in Pennsylvania, which extends
as far as Lancaster. has purchased an
automobile and has used it Ior four
months. He says that he has reduced
| his expenses considerably as he had
been able to reduce his trip by week
or more. He ships his machine to Lam
caster by freight, every time he starts
out, and goes out on train. He sets
his automobile up as soon as it ar
rives. puts in his samples and starts
eastward, running back and forward.
and hither and yon, covering all OF
the hamlets and towns in his section.
He says the plan works much better
than he expected and that the greatest
source of comfort to him is the fac5
that he is able to stop his work about
|sundown every night. by a little
planning" he continued, Il find that
can reach a town about o'clock and
put up for the night. When l had 10
depend on liverymen, | often had to be
lout until 10 or IL o'clock. for we always
had to get back to the stable, and as
mad usually covered all of the route on
the way out, it would have been Use
less to stop at the other end and let
the driver go back alone; besides,
usually had some of my belongings at
the hotel in the town from which We
started. and had to get back before
could go anywhere else. Now take
all of my stuff with me. and If get to
the other end of the route by nightfsll
simply put up for the night, and in
the morning, skip across for five miles
or so and work my way back by an
other route"