El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-04-18
n energetic campaign +

n betterment of conditions unde
L A which travelling men work wi
I shortly be started by the Associate
Commercial Travellers of America.
It is the plan Of the men back Of tn
organizations to limit its activities t
purely business matters. There are n
social or insurance features in eonnec
| ton with it.
In snort. it is the idea of the organ
izatiOn to guard carefully the interest
OF travelling statesmen IN all dispute
between them and public utilities. I
grievance and complaint COMMITTEE
viii be appointed in the near future b,
president NJ E. HeiSe for the purpOS
1 of receiving complaints, and deciding
what action they merit on the part o
Hotels High Rates.
zone Of the principal complaints We
/ have to make" said Mr.. HelSe TO
| New York Times reporter, lis against
/ the unreasonable rates charged BY
| many of the hotels to travelling meT
despite the fact that without the pa
/ trOnage of these men, they would have
! trouble in existing Many OF the mod
/ ern hotels in the second, third, and
! fourth class cities of the country could
not exist at all were the patronage OF
! the travelling men taken from them
1t is nothing at all to be charged 50
! ana upward a day Tor room now
| when not so many years ago room
and three GOOD meals could be had for
/ less money. This oppression on the
part of the hotels is due in a large
] measure, I think, to the belief that the
! travelling salesman is a walking mint,
! that he always has plenty of money
I for expenses which has been furnished
! by his employers, and that, therefore,
he NAV be looked upon as legitimate
prey. They do not know, perhaps,
/ that the large majority of men selling
goods on the road today are paid on
commission and that they have to pay
their own expenses out of the drawing
I accounts they receive from their en-
plOyers, and that these are deducted
when the time of reckoning comes. To
these men it is no small matter to pay
So or more a day for room. The
best hotels must be patronized in
every instance, but, though the travel
ing man may patrOnize the same hotel
trip after trip, many OF them only
few weeks apart, there is not the
slightest sort Of a concession offered
to him.
The Tipping Evil
Then there is the tipping evil. In
this business it is impossible to avoid
dealings with hotel porters, most of
whom are paid mere pittances by the
hotels employing them. In many in
stances transfer companies are giving
these pOrters q 10 percent commission
on all commercial business they turn
over. Most of the balance OF the
pOTters' earnings comes out Of the
pockets of the travelling man. In not
few instances there are head pOrters
to be considered. These men do moth
ing for the travelling man as a rule.
but if they do not get theirs there
is less done for him than ever.
mot only are we used by the hotels
to pad out the earnings of their en-
plOyes, but we are used in some cases
by the baggage transfer companies
Not very long ago there was a team
steTs' strike in one Of the middle west
erR cities. The transfer companies in
volved in the trouble, rather than lose
business even temporarily, immediate
" granted the claims OF the strikers.
Then, to make. up. the difference WITH
out loss to themselves, they calmly
tackled on an extra charge Of. 10 cents
for every piece of baggage they han
died.
another grievance We have against
the transfer companies is that they
grant concessions in favor Of theatre
cal trOupes, which cannot possibly
visit their cities more than once
year, while they charge full rates to
the travelling men who make those
cities regularly on their trips. and who
are a constant source of revenue.
Perhaps one of the most vigorous
complaints we. have TO make against
the transfer. companies is against the
service in cities where one company
controls the whole business. It is not
a rare thing in such cases for sales
man to lose two or three hours of the
business day through inability to get
his trunks to the hotel on time.
zone of the SeYeTest strains sales
man is put to is the result Of lneffl-
Client train service between the smaller (
cities and towns, and poor railroad :
faciIities generally outside of the !
larger cities. All of the trains, Of /
course, have a scheduled time OF ar /
irving and leaving, but 1T the present |
time there is no notice given at hotel I,
H-aT in is 10 a
man rushes to get his samples packed /
up and have them at the station at the .
time scheduled for the train to leave, I
only to find that it is reported 80 min /
Itcs late. He ght have packed more /
slowly and Iessened the nervous strain /
he was under if he had known the /
train was behind. or he might have /
got off q short letter to his firm or /
his family.
1T is a positive catastrophe to have /
ID wait for a late train at night in l
many Of the smaller towns. The sta /
lions are usually so dImly lighted that /
It is out of the question to read any
thing. In the spring and fall these
same stations are apt to be without
heat. This means positive discomfort:
sometimes it means pneumonia and
leath. Again the railroads make no
The Mileage Books.
Another complaint we have against
he railroads is the way IN which they
reat travelling men who use mileage
books. Take a trip from New York to
81 Louis, for instance. A man will
cave New York with a mileage book
old at the rate of 2 cents mile by
trunk line and he will also leave
With a Central Passenger association
,oolc that is good from Pittsburg
vest This book is also sold at the
ate of cents q mile, but premium
# IS is put upon it and must be paid
t the time of purchase. This money
s returned when the cover OF the
Mileage book is turned in, but IN the
meantime the railroads have had the
enefit Of doing business on that %,
long with the money contrlhuteq Dy
thousands of other statesmen working
n that territory.
Notwithstanding this premium,
owever, if a salesman comes to
aggage man in New York with these
wo tickets and asks to have his Dag-
age checked through he Is refused.
nd this despite the fact that the
oOks were paid for at tirstclass rates,
nd that through checking, may pc
ad on a firstclass ticket. he can ger
is baggage checked from New York
D Pittsburg without trouble on the
-unk line book, but when ne gets 10
ittsburg, regardless of the hour, day
= night, he must get out OF the LraIn
D have his baggage rechecked from
ittsburg to St Louis. If he goes IN
sleeper and wants TO Set I'M tes