The Chapel Hill weekly., 1959-04-20
Magazine Salesmen

Or cFer 25 years magazine sales
-1e- have invaded ne Ccape, Hll4arr-
co-o community II :eaus. They come,
r.rg doo-Dells, are often rude 70 the resi-
dents. they 81. mar magazines and
they disappear IL the past three mon
rs Z: east six such :ean1s nave been
IL ne community. They nave caused
c.a.1 reaction Of confusion and discon-
for: q the residents, tae merchants and
t1e Chapel Hill Police Department.
The procedure is simple The SAFES
-1e1 q 70 the doors &1d ask u cone
II = make sale. Tney snow their iden-
t.tica,ion ard then give their sales talk.
So1re merely say toey are selling maya
z.1eS bat cthers clalr nat their com
pa-.es VII give a. sorts q money 10
.1c4. causes for eac1 magazine sod.
When residen. rs teen convinced
M. ne Or she warts d magazine
c.ecs .s written foT ne amount IF the
subscription. TIE salesman then .eayes.
Ire .9cal res.oen. De2.12 ~ ~9rry about
- c.eck ard re sa.esmaI. The bank
j. c44ed and paynea, j. .topp.d on the
c.eck
n Ire meantime ne salesman GOES
e .pcal o4hk Dr. more of oftea, 70
Z merchant and cashes tn4 check when
the check il made out u me company
re represents, he merely signs his name
d ne agent Of the company.
At once confusion sets in. TIE bank
or TIE store has check On which pay
meIt has Deen stopped. However, after
the police ard others work On the case
: il found that the writer Of the cneck
must make god the check Il il falls
IN innocent hands" The bank teller or
the merchant (Who cAshed the maya
zine s&lesman's check after proper den
tificatlon vas given is considered in
nocent" in s4ch cases. In fact, the writ
er of slcn check would nave reason
70 complain If the check were not ac-
cepted by reputable banker or mer-
chant
Hp"eYer, when check Is made out
81 4 company which Ia. headquarters
n some distant place, the local bank VII!
Lct ca,h ,he check here teyen "hen it Is
endorsed in the name If the company
by the salesman IN question: We
Wpu.dnt under any circumstance. cash
such cneck al this bank, said William
Thomp,rn, vice president Of the Bank
Of Chape! Hill
The people here should buy their
Schpn. Students who sell subscriptions
n earn money for school projects" SAID
Mr Thompson. If they did that the
residents would have no worry about
their checks and their community would
reap the financial rewards of the sales,
he said.
Mrs Jane Whitefield, executive sec
retary Of the Chapel Hill-Garrboro
Merchants Association, suggested that
perhaps the town could impose a priv
ilege license on magazine statesmen and
suspend the imposed tax only when
the money 50 earned is given TO local
Improvement projects. She said that
the Association had been advised that
any Law prohibiting statesmen in a ter
ritOry is unconstitutional, but that a
large license tax can be imposed that
would accomplish the same ends
IL lStk L. ,f rharzI
Orange County imposed large privilege
license fees on magazine statesmen, this
community might be freed Of the 25
year scourge. Certainly something must
be done to protect our people from
these rude and often unethical intrud-
ers No home here is really safe until
adequate measures are taken. In the
meantime and at all times people