The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1914-07-30
CHEER UP THE TRAVELLING
MEN.

tried the courage and optimism
of the travelling men more than at
any time since the soup kitchen
period of 1895. There are many
reasons for this. First, the abnor-
NAL money stringency. The gen.
eral inclination of banks to curtail
loans or call them in, and a more
pertinent factor, the widespread
tendency to buy from hand to
mouth. While orders were hard to
obtain, they also averaged small. :
! As one travelling man put it,
"It's like trying to squeeze sap
out Of brick to sell anything"
; And it takes lot of courage and
indomitable will power to keep out
and keep up during such times. We
. feel assured, also, that few of the
bosses, the firms whose men are
out, realized how much "sand" it
took for them to face these dull
times and keep on. How hard tax
it was on their courage and ner-
vous energy.
No blue and discouraged sales
man can sell goods. He positively
must keep cheerful and courageous
or it s all off with him. And none
know this better than the boys
themselves. But it was case Of
just had too, or get left. A wood
chuck situation in fact.
And the bosses have not always
been as considerate as they might
be. We recall meeting one travel
ing man during the past winter in
the dining room of popular hotel
and while we both waited the serv-
ing of our orders, he was reading
a two-page letter from his firm, as
he soon divulged.
"Do you know" he said, with
meat-ax look on his face and
folding the letter, also apparently
anxious to unburden himself upon
some one, "that I'd like to 60 into
our office and kick seventeen kinds
of stuffing out Of our business
manageri lie was never on the
road day. Has no moro concep-
tion of how hard it is to get busi-
ness than blind fool, yet writes
me call down that has horns and
teeth in it.
"I've done fairly. Small orders,
of course, just patch up in my line,
gents woolens, but what with in
ventory time, bad weather and the
cussed tariff, they have been thin.
He doesn't think of these things,
however. Doesn't think of any
thing only to slam me if orders are
small. And l never worked hard
er.o
"Why not tell him so'" we ven
turcd smilingly. "Tell the kid a
few facts ho evidently hasn't
grasped. "
"And make an enemy of him."
reioined the irate drummer. "No,
whats the use. You can't tell
such young nincompoops anything.
They know it all already. And in
the position he is he could make
it unpleasant for me, so I've just
E got to grin and bear it. +"
But such vexations are not all
the boys have to endure during dull
periods in business. They, one and
all know, when they are or are not
paying expenses and some over.
And not one worth the name of
travelling man but what feels the
same and not satisfied unless he is
making good. And so when they
| strike such hard shedding as the
past three months, yes, almost
year, it is one long hard struggle
to keep up courage and act cheer
full when they cannot feel SO.
But we predict the end of this
dull spell is within sight. Stocks of
every name and nature are low.
Nobody has full shelves or stock
rooms. All are down to the lowest
mark. And while we expect that
in some lines competition will be
keen, we still have faith in Ameri-
can brains and shrewdness and that
they will win in the trade battle
xyo ,uuqt wapa