The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-05-12

HOW Trade Was DrumIned.
The first strictly Commercial Trav-
ellers in Illinois were not statesmen
selling goods either, but quasi-sociai
representatives of the leading whole
sale houses, chiefly of New York, who
were sent out to visit with the Coun.
try Merchant, instructed to make them
selves agreeable" so that when said
Country Merchant went TO markets.
lie did in those days, two to -four times
the house. and under more or less
personal obligations to buy his dry
goods, shoes, ETC., there. Naturally,
these representative travelling men
were all good fellows, entertainers in
10th solid, liquid and gaseous form.
Their chief equipment lay in thei abil-
ity to tell a good story" and to pun
ish" n amount of liquor" while en-
Geav0ring to make the said Country
Merchant feel that he would saw big
money in dealing with his people.
These men, then, were the original
'drummers," for they literally drum
med up trade for their concerns with
cut attempting to make any sales them
selves, at least, while on the road. In
those days newspapers were, relatively
scarce, and ready money, too, so that
the occasional travelling mans visit
brought a great treat to the average
Country Merchant and his clerks ON
their recurrent visits: for these bright
drummers brought all the news and
moro ahnyf what u-ac pnfnp on
thought and said outside their w lit
tie town and county than you could
shake a stick at.
FIRST REAL SALEMEN.
Toward the close of the war we be-
gan to see an occasional salesman who
attempted to make sales by sample.
The first whom / remember as calling
on father, once or twice a year, sold
gloves, travelling for a house in Glow
ersville, n. Y. The first regular gro
Gerry salesman who showed himself in
u town also appeared about this
time, or maybe as late as ga. | re-
member him as a great hustler.
Another regular salesman to call on
us sold "hoOp skirts" Wonder how
many of the readers of Queen Quality
Topics" yer saw III of these balcony
affairs? Doubtless most of you have,
however, seen prints showing the
laughable effect that these hoop skirts
had on the fashions in the sixties. The
fad was started by the more or less
notorious Empress Eugene. Well, l
have sold hundreds of these hoop skirts
and many of them exceeded three
yards in circumference at the bottom.
If our stitching o girls wore them
today we should have to q%uadruple the
floor space of the factory so as to
enable them to get and even to sit
round. The particular skirt which this
salesman sold was known as the "Du-
pick. Ecliptic Silvered Wire skirt.
Each band of fiattened wire was spun
over with a fine "Silvered" wire that
made a peculiar noise when the wear
er's skirt came in contact with any
hard object. be it church pew Or store
counter; and this rustic was as lear to
the heart of womanhOod in those days
as is today the swish n frOu frOu OF
the near silk underskirt.
In 1868 travelling statesmen in all
lines began to visit us, mostly, how
ever between seasons" They came
out after the merchants had been to
market at Chicago, st. Louis, Balti-
more, New York, or Boston. None of
them had a regular route, being sent
first through one state and then anoth-
er, as the head Of the house took a no
ton to have them go. About 1870 they
began to settle down to regular routes
and to go out early so as to sell to mer-
chants before these went to market. In
those days shoe men would start in
January and ever in February to sell
their spring goods, thus l started on my
first spring trip about January first.
How different today when u trips are
practically over by that time, and when
We at that time are already beginning;
to lay plans for the fall trade.
AS / look back over nearly thirty
years of life ION the road" l am inclin-
ed to think that it was just as hare
to sell shoes a generation ago when
it is today under the stress of enOr-
nous competition. For the merchant
then preferred to go to market for his
goods. He was still suspicious of the
man who offered to sell him anything
and all the more so Of the man who
attempted to sell him a bill of goods on
the strength of the samples he took on
the road with him, for these samples
we're considered mere bait to catch
suckers with. He wanted to handle
and see his actual purchases.-W. L.
Heaton, in Trade Newspaper.