The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1907-06-29
POOLING 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 operandl OF the travelling gro
Ger. and low the house after paying
him 20 per cent commission still
makes a princely profit There may
be some things, inside affairs that II is
well that the people in general may
know. II will be found on close inves-
tigation that the average Mercantile
Supply company. Buyers association
or whatever name is used 20 gull the
unsuspecting farmer. consists OF one
or two schemers, who have a small
office room in some large city. and a
back room in the near neighborhood
where the stores" are stored and the
re-packing and the mixing done. The
re-packing 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 $500; five cases OF canned
goods az $40 case; three boxes OF
dried fruits at ten cents a pound, a
few gallons OF extract at a bargain
and ten or 10 pounds OF spices at a
profit of 200 per cent, the order Is
sent 20 the home Office" There IL is
recorded. The boy is sent down to the
wholesale grocery house which gem
orally stands In with the concern,
brings back a lot OF ordinary bulk
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 as in
the case Of prunes, and packed in
boxes, supposed 10 contain full 25
pounds, but only run from IS to 90;
branded with some fictitious mark
and shipped out with the other sup
plies The spices are dumped out.
and again run through mill with a
lot OF ground nutshells, bark or other
matter, and perhaps some bran or
other cheap material is added. The
synthetic, and the pure fruit fiavors
are products OF eoaltar. doctored up
with coloring matter TO look good
The label Is the only pure thing about
il aside from the glass In the bottle
containing t.
In tact, the tricks OF the box.car
outfits are legion The teas sold are
never up 10 the samples shown In
one case schemer travelled over the
country carrying with him samples OF
Ceylon teas that We're worth as cents
a pound wholesale. He agreed to sup
ply this tea at so cents. lie received
large orders Every order was filed
with teas that cost only 20 cents a
pound, and the funny thing about IL
was that there was no kicking. be
cause the farmers knew nothing
about teas. and were satisfied as long
as they thought that they had a fine
Ceylon article The same way with
coffees II there Is anything that even
coffee experts know little about II Is
coffee. IL Is wise merchant who
knows the classes Of coffees he is
handling The boxcar man generally
shows up a cheap big berry. tells all
about II being a great mountain Mocha
and sells three sounds for dollar
and buys Il az l6 or ~ cents a pound
Should the local grocer try 20 sell the
same grade 10 his customers az such a
price, there would go up a roar that
would raise the roof Of the store still
the farmer continues to bite at such
bats, and doesn't sqeal