The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-01-01
keokuk Attorney Was One Of the
Speakers at the Annual Social
Function Held in Burlington
Saturday Night.
HE MADE A CLEVER TALK
Said the travelling Salesman Was
One Of the Peculiar Products of
American Enterprise and Of
Distinct Type.

T. P. A., was held at the New Hotel
Burlington last Saturday evening and
as usual Keokuk contributed to the
success Of that event A number of
Keokuk members Of the order were
present and Attorney z. W. McManus
was one of the speakers. In report
Ing his address the Burlington Hawk
Eye says:
Mr.. McManus is a well known Keo-
kuk attorney and gave rafting
good talk. He evidently knows the
travelling men from start to finish.
He poked some good-natured fun at
the drummers and then wound up by
paying them tribute, saying all manner
OF good things about the men on the
road. He spoke in part as follows:
THE travelling salesman is one OF
the peculiar products of American en-
terprise His craft does not trace its
origin back to the dim legends and
traditions of the past. The child Of
commercial necessity, it was conceived
here in this western country and I'M
der the healthful influence of compe-
tition has grown apace with honest
business until today its influence
touches every phase Of American life.
1t boasts no secret ritual of myster-
ious ceremonies Within its ranks it
recognizes neither class nor caste. In
spired by the genius OF free institu-
tions it measures a man not by the
standard of wealth and family but by
the stern test of ability and achieve
ment The commercial traveller has
no pride of ancestry but like the
French General Junot he Is his own
ancestor
The travelling salesman might be
likened to the missionary, for he is to
business what the missionary is to
religion, but sad to say, there the
analogy stops 1t Is related that once
upon time tribe of cannibals In the
Fiji islands caught commercial trav-
eler, and mistaking him for mis-
sionary parboiled him and served him
over the lunch board. The effect that
boiled drummer had upon those can
nibals was something awful He was
SO tough that half the tribe choked on
him and the balance woke up the next
morning with indigestion, ptomaine
poisoning, spasms and worst of all, a
suspicious taste of gall that stayed
with them for weeks. A few of the
more venturesome ones who had
sampled the contents of his grip woke
up in delirium tremens.
A Distinct Type.
The travelling salesman is a distinct
type. II he has been on the road for
any length of time, you can pick him
out without looking to see IL he wears
a T. P. A. button An old darkey down
In Missouri once said that he could
tell travelling man from other people
because "a travelling man hain't got
no Sunday clothes, Is always looking
for game of seven-up, and never goes
to church" Those are some of the
symptoms, but 1 can pick him out by
a surer method. The real commercial
traveller always calls the dining room
girls by their first Names
The speaker related a number of
funny stories at the expense of the
commercial men among them that OF
the salesman who dropped into a hotel
dining room in a western city. The
waitress handed him an elaborate bill
of fare. He looked it over, then
turned to her and said: ~ didn't come
in here to get any of your fancy liter
allure; what want is vitals."
IN concluding. the speaker related
some touching human interest stories
taken from real life to illustrate the
good fellowship and charity of the
travelling salesman. He spoke of the
high regard in which the commercial
men hold the home, and in summing
up said:
Such is the life of the traveline
salesman: happiness and sorrow
hopes and fears. with tender affectics
and simple faith, withal human iust
like the rest of us. God grant the day
will never come when his place shall
be taken by the catalogue and mai
order, but grant that he may be with
us always TO join in our fun and com
fort us in our sorrow