The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-10-11
OBSERVATIONS
OF THE SALESMAN
INENT MANUFACTURERS.
GIVES AN OPINION OF THE
MODERN TRAVELLING SALES
MAN, FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF
THE BUSINESS MAN. ]

Chas. +. Kade, president Of the
Commercial Fixture Manufacturers
association, has an article in the cur
rent number of The Sample Case, en-
titled Travelling Statesmen 1 Have
Met. The article is an appreciation OF
the men on the road as observed by
a man in trade. 1t Is given partially,
as follows: sy -
The earliest recollection / have of,
having any business with travelling
statesmen was when l carried grips for
them, as a young boy, from the steam
boats up to the hotel, in st. Louis. I
believe it was 10 cents a grip | got,
and it was not a well paying job at
that. Since then l have met travelling
men, good, bad and Indifferent, the
good greatly in the majority, | am
pleased to say, and l think it Is hardly
possible to find a profession Of any
kind which has a larger percentage |
of good men han the commercial
travellers.
The real travelling salesman of to-
day is not only a good fellow, but a
gentleman-an artist in his profession,
a hard worker and an absolute neces-
sity. / often wonder what this old
world of our would be like without
the real travelling salesman. Go where
you will, wherever there is any busi-
ness done, you will find the travelling
salesman ION the job" If you don't
he has been there ahead of you.
Make the Wheels Go Round.
1t is the real travelling man who
makes the wheels of go
round" Take him off the road and
factories would have to close down
and railroads would "go broke" for
lack of proper patronage. He gets
the business somehow and keeps the !
goods moving. Talk all you want
about catalogues, mail order houses,
ETC., if it were not for the travelling
statesmen, who are "hustling" or the
road, there would be very little busl-
ness for factories, stores, railroads,
hotels, etc.
There was a time, many years ago.
when most people thought about, all
the travelling statesmen had to do was
to wear good clothes, stop at the best
hotel, smoke two-for-a"quarter cigars,
wear a pleasant smile and a button
hole bouquet, and live high" other
wise; that his customers met him at
the depot with a brass band and had
their order all written out for him,
and all he needed to do was to spend
a third Of his time in the hotel bar
room and the other tWO-thirds on the
street, flirting with the girls. With
out fear of contradiction, | say you
will find that this always was a mis-
taken idea, n it would be like 'look-
ing for a needle in a haystack" to
find any such travelling statesmen now.
In fact, l do not believe there ever vas
as many of the things here indicated
among the travelling men as there is
among men in any other profession
you can name.
The average travelling man today is
an artist, a diplomat, a hustler m a
gentleman in every respect, and you
will find he has very little time for
anything but business and doing what
good he can in this old world Of ours.
Most Of them have families whom
they love and by whom they are low
ed, and there are many who. will take
time, yes, even go out Of their way
to do acts of charity. I have found
the boys on the road almost in
variably the good Samaritan type.
There are many Christians amongst
them who, in their own quiet and I'M
~pretentious way, do all the charity
work they can, often even when they
can hardly spare the time or afford
it. There is not as much liberality
in any other profession that I know
of, n you can max up your mind
that it does not go into the expense |
account, either, for nowadays expense
accounts are not very elastic"
Not That Sort.
The idea that most travelling sales
men are of a sporty" nature is enron
eous. There is a large percentage of
sports and "~boozers" in almost any ,
other profession. The percentage of
Christians amongst the real travelling
statesmen Of today is just as large as
in n other profession. The Gideons |
are an organization of travelling. sales
men, and have many thousands of
members all over the United States
and Canada. They are doing a great
deal Of good, without brass bands and
the blare of trumpets, and are grow
ing more numerous every day.
Travelling statesmen have been called
commercial angels" I do not think
any real travelling salesman wants to
be called that and do not know of any
who ever posed as angels, or showed
n indications that wings are sprout-
Ing. l do know, however, that the
largest percentage are the best fell
lows on earth, and while I am not
en~deavoring to put them on a pedes-
tai with the saints, | think we will
lind just as many travelling men in
heaven as men of other professions,
some of them just holding down posi-
tons that we would not expect our
selves. For genuine good fellowship,
loyalty and for making this world big
ger, better and brighter, you will not
find a better bunch of fellows than