The San Francisco call., 1903-12-30
HOTELS WORRY
THE DRUMMERS
Action Taken to Better Condi-
tions at Meeting of CONNER
cial Travellers Association
ESTABLISHES FREE BED
Organization Makes Prepara-
ton to Care for Sufferers.
Salary to Be Given President
ESTABLISHES FREE BED

Salary to Be Given President
| A meeting of the Pacific Coast Com
mercial Travellers Association was held
yesterday in Elks Hall to hear the an
nuaI reports and elect officers for the
ensuing year. The retiring president,
Robert H Davis, was in the chair.
Not least in interest before the meet
| ing was the subject of hotel accommo-
+ dation and the treatment accorded the
members by hotel proprietors. There
was a discussion on this matter that
lasted for some time and in which
numerous members of the organiza-
| ton took a lively part.
! There had been some complaints, said
President Davis, which had been aired
! in the associations journal, the Official
Bulletin, but when the matter came
! UP for settlement or investigation the
| in case of threatened action for libel
! even evaded his responsibility.
! S. Baruch was-foremost in the argu-
ment and informed the members that
| whenever a complaint was made by the
! association as to treatment of members
! in hotels those that were responsible e
! for any shortcoming quickly came to
/ time and remedied defects and the in=
! attention complained of.
Alfred A. Kelly brought the matter
/ to a vote and it was determined that
/ after refusal or neglect of an offending
! hotel proprietor to remedy evils the
, board of directors shall advise the
members through the columns of the
{ Official Bulletin, publishing all reports
and correspondence pertaining thereto.
The proposal to give a salary to fu-
! ture presidents was taken up and it
| was shown that that officer was de-
serving of some consideration since
| the office was one that demSr an
! outlay. The matter will come before
the new board of directors for final
decision.
FREE BED IN HOSPITAL.
! A vote was then taken and resulted
J in favor of establishing a free bed for
members in some reputable hospital.
| The question of increased payment TO
! the secretary was also considered and
| will be left to the directors to de-
/ termine whether the monthly salary
! shall be increased from $50 to $15 or
! more.
Reports were heard which were in
| every sense gratifying to the members
| and were accepted with acclsnation.
! President Davis in his annual report
! had the following, among other things,
! to relate for the Information of his
! associates:
/ "Non-members OF the Pacific Coast
! Commercial Travellers Association
! have been very prolific during the year
! in their desire that the organization
I should take uD their fight in localities
where they have been imposed upon.
/ They have had no attention paid them,
as we are not a charity organization
nor a collection agency. If a travel
| ing man will not spare the small sum
/ of so cents a month"; the associations s
! dues, with few exceptions. he is either
! a nickel-in- -the-slot artist a natural
/ born miser or a high-boTn aristocrat,
whose cowardly nature. in places where
he cannot be detected. scorns joining
an association where religious lines are
| not drawn. Such commercial travellers
| for laborers wages and small expenses.
HONESTY BEST POLICY.
! Honesty is the best policy and when
/ travelling men will deal as honestly
/ with transportation companies as they
J exact from all who trade with them,
! then possibly the railroad companies
will be glad to simply issue a plain
1 oroia1 fra W0larS
all the rights and privileges of their
| trains.
"The constitution and bylaws. ar
! ticle 5, section 6, state positively that
! the associa ton shall not authorize the
use of it's cooperative name, initials
or seal to any person as an indorse-
ment for the sale of any merchandise.
/ IF any member offer for sale mer-
chandise bearing the corporate name,
initial or seal, he shall be liable to ex-
pulsion.
! Recently some members have en-
deaVored to place a bottled article on
/ the market and have been guilty of
bringing the name of the association
/ into the deal both by inference and
| plain statement so as to procure greater
! pressure on the buyer. This is against
! the best interests of the association
and against the interests of members
who are handling a like product. If
this association permits any company
! to use it's influence in placing wares
| of any kind on the market, it will es-
tablish a precedent that will entirely
disrupt the organization.
| lone of the greatest accomplish
ments obtained by the association was
the defeat of a bill during the last
Legislature which, had il become law,
would have deprived % per cent of
the travelling men of California of en-
ployment and forced as great a per-
centage of merchants of California out
of business.
YOUNG MEN SUSPENDED.
There are 790 members in good
standing. The list of suspended mem
bers during the year was much larger
than usual owing to the fact that dur
ing the busy years of 1902 and 1903
travellers who had been for years on
the road were able to obtain inside sit
uations, and in consequence felt that
the association would be of no further