The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1909-10-30
The TRAVELLER
LEADS THEM ALL
He NOT ONLY Is THE GREAT ME-
DUN OF MOD RN COMMERCIAL
DISTRIBUTION, BUT oFTENPRE.
cEDEs THE EXPLORER AND THE
MISSIONARY.

In some instances it takes big man
to see q big thing. Little people get
their ideas from others. The broad
mind takes in the situation and forms
its conclusions, unbiased by the pre-
iyailing notions The commercial
traveller iB today the biggest man in
the world, exerts a more powerful in
huence on the world Blowing his
own horn." says a host of readers. But
listen, we cannot prove this by bring
ing up one from the dead, but you will
find here statement from the editor
ial columns OF The Chicago Inter
Ocean on the subject:
The American travelling man is
holding his national convention in Chi
cago. There is not only one OF him,
there are many thousands. They are
spoken Of In the singular because it
Is convenient thus to personify a So
cial group whose members despite their
individual differences, are remarkably
and pleasingly similar in essential
character and In high quality Of public
service.
"A social and economic philosopher
has remarked that the nearest APP
proclamation in human nature to the
omnipresence of divinity is the Ameri-
can travelling salesman. In his COM
parison no irreverence was intended
and none should be felt. It is simply
an effort to illustrate the truth that
there is no American community so
obscure or out Of the way as not to
feel the influence of this ambassador
of commerce, this stirrer of stagnation,
this prophet Of prosperity, this dis
courager Of dullness
He has not yet quite pervaded all
chimes as he so buoyantly pervades
the American dominions, for we have
not yet really begun to go after for
eign trade as we cultivate domestic diff
fusion Of commodities When we do so
begin-when we seriously give our
minds to the task--there will be such
an intellectual awakening-such q riv-
ing Of the mental crusts OF centuries
as the world without the shadow of
the stars and stripes has never yet
known.
Yet, even as it is, the American
travelling man often outruns the mis-
sionary and commonly anticipates the
scientific explorer He is found
though not yet as numerousIy as he
should be for the human welfare
from the arctics to the equator and
back again-in darkest Africa, in re-
hottest Asia and in all the isles of the
sea. These, however, are specialized
pioneers, too few as yet to become
a recognized institution Of high and
welcome efficiency, as the travelling
man Is in this blessed land of ours.
We owe chiefly to the travelling
man, that while innately the most
of peoples, we are also
the most progressive. His influence
Is really wider than that of the press.
NO newspaper can have a man-to-man
touch for more than a few hundred
miles beyond it's publication Office. The
travelling salesman is a bearer who
passes his torch from hand to hand.
from ocean TO ocean and from the
tropic to the pole. He speaks not
with dead type, but with the living
voice, man to man and face to face.
He is said to be not without faults.
But he spreads the gospel message of
falth In God through faith in the aver
age decency of his human creations.
FOR the confirmed and incorrigible
pessimist is not found in these ranks.
Their attitude is never that this is
probably world of devils, in which
we might as well all be devils to-
gether If such men ever go selling
goods on the road they die young or
quickly become stock for the COM
mercial canning factory.
Not the least among our blessings
as nation is that our travelling men
are so numerous and are such rec
ognized and welcome institution In
those small towns. which, despite it's
great cities, the United States mainly
Is. For as they go and come thew
scatter not only new devices and com
modities but new stories, new ideas.
new ways Of looking at things. and.
best Of all, knowledge OF how others
look at things. They are always stir
ring the stagnant waters of thought.
breaking the mental crusts, and open
Ing new windows of vision. MAY their
powers, their shadows and their sales
never grow lessl"