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.