Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-16
MODERN DRUMMER
"A Soldier of Business Fighting
for Territory.
MAKES MARKET FOR FIRM
Commercial Traveller No Longer a
Good Fellow With Dealers.
THE TREATING HABIT PASSES
Merchants Concerned With Price
and Quality of Goods-Principles
of Craftsmanship on the Road.
MAKES MARKET FOR FIRM
THE TREATING HABIT PASSES
From the Independent,

| life in the midst of warm the thick OF
| the struggle of competitive business.
| The ruling class of the medieval nation
| hired soldiers to Wrest property ana
| power from the ruling class of a neigh
Dor nation. For the same purpose indi-
vdual noble contended with individual
noble In the conflict much blood was
spilled.
But the world has advanced-the
transfer of power from nation to nation.
from individual to individual, goes on to-
day, but, in the main. it is erected by
subtler means than by the clash Of arms.
1 am 1t today-I am the soldier of the
bygone age. the heroic figure of the hour
Mr.. Digby. capitalist. hires me to eX-
shoes. Mr.. Burlington, capitalist, hires
Jim Brown to do the same for his "Step-
over shoes. Jim's and my objective
point is Mr.. Dealer. Separately we talk
the goods to him and produce samples
declare on our oath as to quality and
quote prices, the Lowest on EARTH" in
termingling with all run of delicate
fattery that we ever carry as one OF our
most effective weapons. If Jim wins MI.
Dealer I lose. Mr.. Digby's shoes never
Mr.. Burlington has extended his market,
enlarged his profits and increased his
power.
And If all OF Mr.. Digby's drummers
do no better than I. Mr.. Digby Will hnd
himself eliminated from the strife of
competitive industry. He will be down
and out.
Don't you believe me? I make or
break Mr.. Digby. I am 1.-THE Ameri-
can drummer.
know it, too That's why I am be-
ginning to carry myself with unshakabie
dignity. That accounts for the self-re-
spect Digbys son wonders at. Digby's
son is Harvard GRADUATED had hand
in making him one.
Business Grew.
Digby's son has a head full of fantas-
tic notions handed over to him from the
books by the pedagogues, but he doesn't
seem to have any idea Of how he came to
be so fortunate or unfortunate as to
connect" with those notions. can tell
him. A full decade before D1gby's son
was born Digby made boots, made them
by hand in a little shop that eventually
became his own. He made good boots
and he trained the men that worked for
him to make good boots. The people
learned to like those boots and they SOLO
we'll in a local way. Then, about the time
Digbys son was born came into his lne
put strange ideas into his head. The
suggestion that Digby's shoes could be
sold outside of the county-why. 1t fa1r-
ly staggered him! But Digby hired me
as a salesman and I went at 1t. Soon
half dozen neighboring towns and went
out and sold them to the merchants or
those towns. And the business grew un,
til It covered the state. And 1t continued
to grow until today "Arcadtan" shoes are
sold all over the Union.
So have revolutionized Digby and his
business. His original idea was to build
up by the slow process of earnest In,
dividual labor a good local business ana
to place himself in comfortable circum-
stances His sons, should he have any,
should learn to work with him in the snop
and eventually he should leave the pusl-
ness for them to carry on. But my sales
manship and the revelation of what
sales campaign could do gave this idea
a solar plexus. Digby was pulled from
his bench one day and established IN his
Office as manager. "Henceforth." said 1
to him, you're going to be TOO busy
making money to work"
Since then the plant has been enlarged
a number of times and there nave been
yearly additions of complicated machin-
cry.
Now, Digby had dreamed Of LAYING by
a few thousands to meet a rainy day. but
instead of realizing his little dream he
had become worth over three-quarters
OF a million. And with part or TINS
fortune, made from such a vulgar thing
as shoes, Digby had been able to pur-
chase for his son those expensive and ex-
elusive notions that the college onered
for sale. II 1t hadn't been for that large
market my craftsmanship uncovered ana
helped to win, Digby's son today would
in all probability be seated, hammer IN
hand, in little shop helping his father
repair old shoes.
Quite probably you don't understand
me-this modern American drummer.
Honest, do you think me loquaclous ass
with a dash of the libertine In me? IL
you do you're all wrong. I am not loqua-
cious and I am not a libertine-today.
am too dead in earnest to be either. The
stress Of relentless competition holds me
together, forces me to keep on the right
side Of the traces.
Drummers' Habits.
Fifteen years ago I might have been a
man who looked often In the cup-even
| man of decidedly lax morals. For 1t
| must be admitted that the life OF the
| road itself did not tend to encourage IN
me a rigid adherence to the moral codes
| lived my days many of them, among
strangers and l was often subjected to
| peculiar temptations. 1 was beyond the
reach of those restraining influences that
| family, friends and neighbors exert upon
one. And it was to be anticipated that
would overstep the bounds OF proprlety
| at least occasionally. But for the past
| ten or fifteen years 1 have found the pur-
| lat in me talking more insistently every
day.
| II do not smoke. chew or drink
| I mean 1t when I say that I am strictly
| decent. I am a married man and l am
| loyal to my family. / regard vices as in
| cumbrances in my business"
| l am quite sure it is true that good
| fellows" OF the ultra type-the men
whose days and nights are marked by ex-
cesses of some sort or other-are slowly
but surely being eliminated from the
| drummer world. There are two reasons
for this process Of elimination. These
| reasons may be found. first, in the chang
ing attitude Of the dealer or merchant
toward the drummer; and. second. In the
changing attitude of the house itself
| toward its representative.
| AS to the first reason. In the old days
the dealer or merchant was the victim Of
the treating" habit. Only yesterday I
heard drummer tell story much like
| this:
when I first started on the road l
had to be spender. good fellow with
my prospective buyer. The other drum
mer was and I had to be or quit the road
This prospective buyer, MY dealer, ex-
pected me to warm him up-I had to buy
the drinks freely. And with a number
OF my biggest buyers it was necessary
| for me to go out on a regulation spree
| before / could write an order.
But that's all changed today. Why,
have to be careful now even about Of