Rocky Ford enterprise., 1907-07-12
F00L|NG THE PUBLIC
TRICKS OF THE TRAVELLING RE.
TAIL GROCERY AGENTS.
GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR
The Price May Be Small, But the
Goods Are Expensive Even At
That and Net Big
Profits.

You may know something about the
modus operandi OF the travelling sro-
Ger. and how the house after paying
him 20 per cent. commission still
makes Il princeiy profit. There may
be- some things. inside affairs that Il IL
well that the people In general may
know. II will be found on close inves'
usation that the average Mercantile
Supply company. Buyers association
or whatever name is used to gull the
unsuspccting farmer. consists of one
or two schemers. who have small
Office room In some large city. and "A
back room In the near neishborhood
where the stores" are stored and the
rc-packing and the mixing done. The
re-packins and the mixing are two
important parts OF the work OF the
company" When the representa-
tive" sells John Jones' 100 pounds Of
sugar for $3.50: fivc cases OF canned
goods at $40 case: three boxes OF
dried fruits Mt ten cents n pound. u
few gallons OF extract at n bargain
and ten or 10 pounds OF spices Mt n
profit OF 200 per cent. the order Ii
sent TO the home office There Il Is
recorded. The boy Ii sent down to the
Wholesale grocery house which gen
orally stands In with tho concern.
brings back lot OF ordinary bu'k
dried fruits. the cases OF seconds or
thirds. In canned goods. and the ave
rage run OF poor spices. In the pack
ing room the dried fruits are over.
hauled. washed up II possible IN In
the case OF pruncs. and packed In
boxes, supposed to contain full 20
pounds. but only run from IS to :.:
branded with some fictitious mark
md shipped out with tho other sup
plies. The spices are dumped out.
ana again run through = mill with u
lot Of ground nurshcils. bark or other
matter. and perhaps some bran or
other cheap material IL added. The
extracts are Of the cheapest class.
synthetic. and the pure fruit navors
arc products OF coai.tnr. doctored up
with colorinE matter to look good.
Tho label IL the only pure thing about
Il inside from the glass In the bottle
containing II.
IN iACt. thv tftCkr ot tuC boNCat
outfits are legion. The teas sold arc
never up TO the samples shown. In
ono case n schcmcr travelled over the
country carrying with him samples Of
Ccyion teas that were worth l5 cents
n pound wholesale. lie agreed to sup.
ply this tea at 80 cents. lie received
large orders. Every order was filled
with teas that cost only 20 cents u
pound. and the funny thing about II
was that there was no kicking. be-
ci.Esc the farmers knew nothing
about teas. and were satisfied rs long
aa they thought that they had fine
Ceyion article. The same way with
coirccs. II there In anything that even
coffee experts know little about 1t is
coffee. II Is wise merchant who
knows the classes OF coffccs he IN
handling. The box.car man generally
shows up n cheap big.bcrry. tells all
about II being great mountain Mocha
and sells three pounds for dollar.
and buys II ut 10 or IL cents q pound.
Should the local grocer try to sell the
same grade to his customers at such u
price. there would 20 mp roar that
would raise the roof OF the store. Still
the farmer continues to bite at such
bats. and doesn't squcal.