The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-06
THE PEOPLE LIKE IF.

Why Is 1t that most people like to be humbugged? We know it was one of Barnum's standing claims that "the American people like to be humbug- Eed," and if there was ever a man who had good reason for believing in his theory 1t was Barnum. for he had thriven on 1t, and practised 1t as thor oughly as any man ever did. of whom we now have any recollection.
 It is not merely in the matter Of shows that this disposition of the American people Is exhibited. Curios- ity and expectation may lead people the old as we'll as the young, to pay their money on the mere hope of get ting the worth of it, but 1t doesn't stop fer themselves swindIed when they should know better. Advertisers of fake goods and fake bargains know this. They will advertise their wares as lavishly and cunningly that people will send their money freely for some- thing they have no chance to investi- gate. and often pay more than the same articles would have cost them at home.
 Another class of people who take ad- vantage of this human failing is to be found among the travelling agents or drummers. We say "to be found among them" because there are so many honest and conscientious drum mers. travelling for reliable and re- sponsible houses, that we do not care to libel them by mixing them with the other class. A case in point has been brought to our notice by The Eufauls Indian Journal, which details the slick work of an agent of an alleged grocery company in Kansas City. The Journal tells of several instances, one of the most fragrant of which was the case of widow living some miles from Flu faula. He sold her bill of groceries. extracts and other household articles for which he made out an order for S2S .65, which the woman signed and which she will have to pay. The bill was afterwards submitted to four re- sponsible dealers in Eufaula and they affixed their regular price to each item. the whole footing up $1610, the arti- cles in each case being of equal qualityi
 This was a clear robbery, for there Is no other name for 1t. The woman will pay about so per cent more for the goods than they would have cost her in her home town, to say nothing of hav- ing the opportunity to make her own selections and thus be sure of getting just what she required. As the agent was travelling all the time he is doubt less making an exceeding good thing of 1t, and 1t is reasonable to infer that the extra price charged on the bill is graft for him.
 The Journal says that a number of those who have thus been swindled have been made aware of the fact. and the paper intimates that there may be some lively times when the agent goes to collect the bills( but what will be gained by that? It is not likely that the slick drummer will do the collect- ing, and as all the parties voluntarily signed the orders for the goods they are bound to pay the claims. We doubt of kicking will do any good, ex- cept that those who have been thus done out of their money may be ex- pected to be wiser in future. Still. we wouldn't bet on that, for some other slick duck will probably come along and bleed them in the same way.
 But these Indian Territory neonIe are not the only ones who have been worsted by the same class of travelling agents, for they ply their trade in the older settled regions, and among peo- pie who should be much better. inform ed than those of the Territory It resolves itself at last into an assur- ance that Barnum was correct.