The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-06-07
THE U. c. T.

it entertained such gathering as that
which has held the centre of the stage
to use an expression of the street
today. The United Commercial TRAY
elers have become a necessary part of
the machinery Of modern business
cog in the wheel of twentieth century
commercialism.
Within the recollection of many OF
the men who are in attendance at this
meeting, the travelling mantle drum
mer-was a rather rare sight. Only
the largest wholesale houses could
keep men on the road, and the coming
OF the salesman with his trunks and
samples was an event of Importance
to the village and country merchant
Then he sold the goods for the next
years trade, and he handled only the
extraordinary lines. He carried his
samples and the merchant made his
selections from these. Those were the
times in our commercial history when
the merchants of importance in the
smaller towns made their annual visit
to the cities to purchase, their lines.
They were the good old days of the
commercial stagecoach and the hand
swung grain cradle.
The last twenty years have wit
messed revolution in business, as we'll
as in every other line of human ac-
tivity. The telephone has taken the
place of correspondence; the green
coffee, which was sold to the merchant
in large bags and dealt out to his
customers in packages, has made way
for the finished product-first the
roasted whole grain, and now the same
prepared for the immediate use of the
housewife; canned goods, which,
twenty years ago were limited to
peaches, with the gaudy labels, the
admiration of every hungry boy who
leotered about the store, now include
every food which is needed by man; the
hardware, which then was limited to
the old cut nails, hinges, scythes, axes
and broadhoes, now includes list of
articles which would have been rev.
citation to the staid and easy-going
merchant. These are merely illus
trative Of the wonderful changes in
mercantile lines. Every other depart
ment has been developed in the same
manner.
These changes have been produced
by the persistent and progressive work
of the travelling men. They have car
ried the new idea to the merchant
and taught him the advantages there
of, and the evolution in the mercan-
tile world has been the result. And
the consumers have been the ben
eficiaries of the work. The comforts
and conveniences Of life, without
which we would be as much at sea
as though We were living in the times
of Washington, are laid at our door.
The merchant is the purveyor of the
comforts, as we'll as the luxuries of
life, and he depends on the travelling
men for these.
And who is this great army, to
which a timetable is daily guide,
and hotel menu a daily considera-
ton? The members have been pic
tured too often as jolly, care-free,
Indifferent class, who spend their bus
mess hours in deluding their custom
ers and their leisure hours in rollicky
nonsense and ill-directed frivolity.
Never was baser SANDER uttered
against class of men.
Instead of being what the old stories
represented them to be, they are
crowd of earnest and industrious bus
mess men, who rely absolutely on
business principles for their success
and whose business integrity is the
hall mark of honor. They seek bus
mess by business methods and dis
dain-abhor, in fact-the petty trick
cries of the commercial shyster and
mercantile flim-fam artist.
They know their lines to the mi
nutest detail, and no merit is too small
to receive the most comprehensive at
tention. They are familiar with the
great business world, so far as it ef-
fects their lines, and study the needs
of the trade they serve. They know
long in advance Of the changes which
are possible in the commodities they
sell, and are often able, by this means,
to save considerable money to their
customers and, indirectly, to the great
buying public. These are the weapons
with which they fight for supremacy
In the commercial battle of this great
commercial age. It 1t little wonder
that they win.