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Show 4'ANVASSINa A3 A BUSINESS. Onv Hundred Tlimiaatiri nt It III TliU Country, Though It Pay Poorly. "You often pee advertisements for ngenls to sell one article or another ! promising 100 a week to a lively man, j but there is no such money in the busi-I ness," said an old hand to a reporter the ! other day. "A clever man can clear j twenty-live dollars a week as a traveling I salesman or canvasser if he has a really j first rate thing to depose of, but that is ; about the limit. j "(if course I am not speaking of the ' regularly rjnpl'-yixl couimi.vi.m agents Who drain for large, houses and often get ! big salaries, but of the army of people, ' probably llMt.OiiO strong, who spread themselves from the big cities all over ' I the v., mtcd States in imrsiiit of cnlors for fevervtliinu; iiipIit thu sun that is IJiiirkotiiiile, from snbsri:itii.m hook to ft patent instantaneous mustard plaster. Of that Tiiimlior oh.O'iO re hook airont?. It is that line which is rliielly al!'ei tol by women, who do not hesitate to employ Mil tho luTsu.isious of their sex in tho pursuit of their industry. OiitHjsed to tiiem the male Ixiok uont is at u disadvantage, disad-vantage, having neither .smiles imr tears that would be ellective wherewith to extort ex-tort subscription from the unwilling customer. DeKidep, a woman is not likely like-ly to bo kicked out or huvo a dog set upon her. "Undoubtedly the modest sex is that in petticoats, but when it conies to sell- Y' iii'j books a woman can, usually discount j f """'' 1 II HUH IH'HPy IIIUIi.1' Wliy; T few tvO f jt in this very town who do not hesitate to ' go to receptions at private houses un- Y t-ked and tackle any one with whom they may Ret into conversation, drawing draw-ing from lH'iieath their cloaks whatever Volume they may bo pnnanod in trying to circulate. One advantage only that I know of is possessod by the male book ayent which his female rival does not possess, and that is his opportunity of, exercising his fascination upon the servant ser-vant women wherever he Joes, who are very much addicted to buying books iu that way. "In the trade there is a distinction made between the salesman and the canvasser, can-vasser, the former selling at wholesale usually and the latter at retail. A travel-i travel-i ing agent sel's either oa tho installment i plan or for cash, or lnith ways. On cash sales he gets 40 per cent, of the proceeds as his commission; if he sells on the installment in-stallment plan, hy which the purchaser pays so much on what he buys, ho receives re-ceives 20 per cent, when the order for the article is delivered by hiin to the firm which employs him. (foods are , j sent him C. O, D. for cash purehiisers; the a.';ent returns tho full amount ho re- ceives, and out of that is given his com mission. Agents are not allowed to sell goods for less than the prices indicated on Ihe lists of the firm, though they are permitted hy Bimiu concerns to sell for ; more if they can. "Ne.xt to the book agents canvassers for patented articles are most numerous, and this sort of canvassing has increased ..a very largely wil hiu recent years. Tea, .1 coffee, silverware and pictures are ex- J tensively sold in the same manner. Fe- : . If male canvassers confine themselves al- "I most wholly to light literature, such as I novels or books of poems, photograph albums, corsets, silverware and dress-making dress-making charts. I " i'es, wo lose a great deal of money ,:: by the dishonesty of people who buy on !the inslallmant. plan and do not pay. I ! suppose that we have to put down 7 or 8 i percent, of our sales on that basis as ! dead loss, but we are reconciled to it by j the fact that we chargo more for thai goods when cash is not paid enough ! additional, in fact, to recoup us. Wo can afford, therefore, to take chances. Installment buyers are notoriously slow i and delinquent in their payments, but mild threats, judiciously formulated, usually fetch the money where nothing else will serve." Washington Star. |