MANUFACTURING AND SELLING. 131 
the house sends new designs to salesmen while on the road, and all 
manufacturers expect salesmen to look out for new styles and buy 
Sple which sho send into the factory. This is considered as 
much a part of his business as selling. 
Salesmen usually sell on commission, the establishment providing 
a drawing account to cover expenses. Often one salesman will rep- 
resent several small. establishments which manufacture different 
grades of garments, so that he will be enabled to carry a full line. 
It is frequently the case in a partnership for one partner to have 
entire charge of manufacturing, while the other does the selling. 
Many partnerships are thus formed, one partner having had experi- 
ence in the manufacturing end of the business, as a designer or eres 
man, while the other partner has been a salesman. 
There is no doubt that many manufacturers are losing money each 
year by not employing competent salesmen. Numerous instances 
were observed where a small manufacturer was supervising the fac- 
tory, doing the designing, and at the same time trying to do the sell- 
ing. The idea seemed to be that this practice was a great economy 
when, as a matter of fact, a good salesman would have greatly in- 
creased the business of the factory, at the same time giving the manu- 
facturer more time to devote to the administration and manufactur- 
ing ends of the business. 
A risk which the manufacturer selling to the retail trade has to run 
is that of failures and bad debts. There is considerable loss each 
youy in this way, especially to manufacturers who have recently begun 
usiness or who have been selling to jobbers and have started to 
develop a retail trade, as such manufacturers have no established 
igesof regular customers and frequently over credit in order to get 
trade. 
Bribery among buyers.—Several manufacturers claimed that there 
was bribery among buyers. One had the following to say on the 
subject: 
Many firms usually demand from manufacturers extra time, dating, and trade 
discounts. The competition among manufacturers is keen and the salesmen of some 
bribe buyers. I know of a salesman who makes $22,000 a year and he pays the buyers. 
All merchants are satisfied if the buyers make good, even if they use bribery. 
A careful inquiry among manufacturers, however, developed the 
eneral opinion that bribery among buyers was rare. There might 
be a few isolated instances, but the almost unanimous opinion seemed 
to be that there was little, if any, going on. 
A complaint constantly heard in New York City was concerning 
the cost of entertainment for out-of-town buyers. 1t was stated that 
these buyers expect to be entertained when they visit the city to do 
their buying, and this is an expense which is constantly growing 
larger. While the buyers will not actually take a bribe, some are 
influenced by the amount of entertainment furnished by the manu- 
facturers. It was said that this is Parflegiarly true of women buyers 
who expect to be taken to the theater and to dinner at the expense of 
the firm, and that some firms actually maintain rae with 
which to entertain out-of-town buyers. 
It was further learned from salesmen that in many of the small 
towns throughout the country the buyer expects a present of an 
expensive garment after purchasing a bill of goods.