Drummers, or Knights of the Grip-sack

• “Kansas City drummers numerous,” Coffeyville Courier, 6 May 1875.

• “A mob of “drummers” came in last night,” Coffeyville Courier, 24 June 1875

•  “Drummers plenty.” Coffeyville Weekly Journal, 17 March 1877.

     Were there a bunch of drummers coming into Coffeyville, Kansas to put on a performance? I was puzzled by this reference. I didn’t really think it meant men with a drum, but with one-line references there was no context. Then I came across a story about drummers and it all made sense. Drummers - drumming up business. They were traveling salesmen, wholesale, selling to retail merchants. This was something new. These weren’t the door-to-door peddlers or the self-proclaimed “doctors” in the traveling medicine shows.

They were also called “commercial travelers” and “knights of the grip-sack and sample case,” a grip-sack, or grip, being a suitcase. After a minister called them “Angels of Commerce” in a speech at a large venue in Chicago in 1886, they were also sometimes identified by this name.

A New Profession

     Salesmen have been around since antiquity. What was different was wholesale salesmen traveling to sell to merchants. The railroad, especially, made this possible. Drummers began in New York in the 1830s and 1840s, when wholesale representatives visited hotels and led customers to showrooms. They evolved to the traveling salesman we know today, a new white-collar profession. By 1900, there were an estimated 350,000 traveling salesmen. 

     A common feature of salesmanship in the nineteenth century were the temporary sample rooms salesmen set up in hotels. Merchants would be invited to come see for themselves how something worked or tasted. The Palmer House in Chicago boasted of having 400 sample rooms. The Gazette of Fort Worth, Texas had an advertising section titled “State Hotels,” many of which, as in the Feb. 23 1896 edition, courted the drummer. “Dublin, Texas, St. Elmo Hotel - Headquarters for commercial men; elegant stone building; free sample rooms.” Or “Bartlett, Texas, Bartlett Hotel: Solicits commercial trade….sample room free.” Or “Hubbard City, Texas, Hotel Caroll: Large sample room for drummers.” It was certainly worth offering such enticements to salesmen. They made up an estimated 75 percent to 100 percent of hoteliers’ business, especially in small towns. It’s understandable that some hotels catered to them, and even advertised themselves as “Drummers’ Hotels.”

     Unlike the peddler and medicine show “doctor,” the commercial traveler was likely to return and develop relationships with merchants. They were known for being entertaining, the bon vivant skilled in telling the latest jokes and stories. There were books to help with this, like Drummers’ Yarns: Fun On the Road, published in 1886. Newspapers printed short stories identified as “Drummers’ Yarns,” and in 1891 The Tennessean sponsored a story-writing contest with categories including drummers’ yarns, which were written by commercial travelers. Drummers’ yarns were often trickster tales of one person getting the better of another by outwitting them, and funny tales with a twist at the end. In an era when all entertainment was live, it’s not hard to imagine that some merchants, particularly in small towns, would welcome their jokes and stories.

     Another thing they were noted for was their dress. “The drummer invariably looks “sprucy,” but that is part of his business,” a newspaper writer said in 1898. “As is his ability to be pleasant and tell entertaining stories.” Drummers stood out in the small, rural towns. But they had to be masters at “blending in” socially.

“Hauling his gripsacks and sample cases from town to town, often dressed according to urban fashions….the salesman proved a particularly skilled improvisor in places where his differences seemed most acute,” noted historian Timothy Spears. As the newspaper writer said, “But it isn’t the drummer’s clothes alone that make him so “killing.” It is his air of “man of the world,” acquired after months and months, perhaps years on the road, that has schooled him to adapt himself to all classes, and so captivate even the least susceptible.” 

A Glimpse of Life on the Road

Salesmen check into a hotel. They were a very significant source of hotel business.

     The commercial traveler got to see more of the country than the average American. There can be a certain glamor in travel, but of course there were the hardships of long stretches away from home and family, and the difficulties of the job. At a July 1891 meeting in Nebraska of a newly-formed chapter of Commercial Pilgrims of America, a trade group, speaker Charley Caldwell told a story in response to a comment on the day’s heat. The comment was, “ [Being in here] It is not so bad, I imagine, than being out on the road and striking an opportunity to carry four heavy grips four or five heavy blocks up town from a suburban depot to strike a hotel in time to secure a dinner that would leave a bad taste in the mouth of a carrion crow.”

      “O, that’s nothing. Five blocks is nowhere,” Caldwell replied.

     It’s when you ride into town on a freight train a mile long and it stops about a mile away from the depot that one feels like drawing on the house for permission to quit and die in the prime of his manhood. I remember one time, just two years ago this month, we struck Haigler [Nebraska] just at noon. There were four of us riding in the caboose of a freight train.There were sixty-seven cars in the train. Of course it stopped before it got into the city limits. There was nothing to do but pile out and hoof it into town. The sun fried the grease out of our grips and blistered the polish thereon, but we made the town, floating our samples on the stream of perspiration we left behind. Just as we got to the platform, a big, burly fellow who traveled to and from the depot for the only hotel there was in town came up and inquired, in the usual bland way, “Hotel, gentlemen?” Of course we were hungry but I would have starved to death before I would have allowed that fellow to drag us willing captives to a hotel after he had watched us pant down that long stretch into town without offering us any assistance. 

     “Come on, boys,” said I. “We don’t want any hotel,” and I led them over to the butcher shop where he got us some bologna. Then we got some crackers and something to wash them down, and we had a dinner for a king. And then we attended to our business and got out of town on the same train. I want to tell you, it was hot that day in Haigler.

     When he addressed the Commercial Pilgrims, Caldwell was no longer a traveling salesman. He was a deputy working under the Nebraska Secretary of State. 

Reputation

     In spite of the “angels of commerce” name, the reputation of the traveling salesman wasn’t always the best. They had a reputation of being carousers and ladies’ men, with a girl at the beginning and end of their route. They were also portrayed in stories as shysters. This is exemplified in a poem titled “Der Drummer” which was widely syndicated in 1874. Written to mimic a German immigrant’s accent, I’ve included two stanzas in that form, and one “translated” without the heavy accent.

Who vas id gomes indo mine store,

Dros down his pundles on der vloor,

Und nefer schtops to shut der door?

Der drummer.

Who daks me py der handt und say,

“Hans Pfeiffer, how you vas today?
Und goes for peennies right avay?
Der drummer.

Who comes around when I’ve been out

And drinks my beer and eats my kraut

And kisses Katrine in the mouth?
The drummer. 

     However, by the turn of the century much was said and written about the gentlemanly commercial traveler. Through trade groups, members urged each other to be honest, upright citizens, to attend church on Sundays, and to be devoted family men, preferably temperance men. A poem published in 1897, written by Richard Henry Savage, a popular and prolific author, countered “Der Drummer.” First, it mentions his ease in public and his fashion sense:

Who enters with a jocund air,

Winks at the friendly “conductare,”

And “sizes up the “passenjare?”

                                               The Drummer!

Whose clothes defy all rivalry?

Who sports the stunning “knock-out” tie?

With gorgeous wealth of jewlery?

                                                The Drummer!

Whose grip is just the latest style?

Umbrella rolled thin as a file,

And sports the most resplendent “tile?”

                                                The Drummer!

Then the poem gets to the nobler qualities drummers liked to think they had:

Who sets the injured traveler right?

Who calms the ladies in their fright?

Who livens up the tedious night?

                                                   The Drummer!

Who mocks at toil and accident?

Who scorns train robbers, murder-bent?

Who’ll often lend you his last cent?

                                                  The Drummer!

Who braves the frontier’s dangers wild?

Who toils for wife at home, and child?

Who fortunes sees for others piled?

                                                  The Drummer!

Fraternity

  To meet the needs of such a large group there were scores of fraternal organizations on the local and national level. They were secret societies with initiation rites and rituals akin to the Masons, and leaders had titles like Supreme Councillor and Keeper of the Inner Portal. To give just a few examples of the fraternal organizations, one national group was the Union of Commercial Travelers. It was founded in 1888 in Columbus, Ohio by a small group of traveling salesmen who needed to ensure their families' financial security should something happen to them. Each individual contributed money to a shared account that was used to help members in need – creating one of the earliest forms of insurance. Knights of the Grip was another large national organization which offered life insurance coverage, like most of the other fraternal organizations of the day. The Travelers Protective Association was another large group, founded in 1882. There were also several trade journals with titles like The Sample Case, The Drummer, and the National Traveler. In the 1880s the St. Paul Globe even had a “Commercial Travelers’” section, as did the St. Louis Globe-Democrat in the 1890s.         

   A number of fraternal organizations supported drummers' interests.

Drummers’ Advocacy 

     In addition to providing insurance, the various travelers’ fraternal organizations concerned themselves with four issues affecting their brethren. They were the old concern about the reputation of salesmen, licensing fees imposed by local and state government, high railroad costs; and hotel costs and cleanliness. As to the reputation, an 1895 speech given by the president of the Union of Commercial Travelers  at a convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, was typical. He said that in order to reach the “full stature of our commercial manhood,” the group would assist members in reaching higher social and moral standards. Doing so they could “transform the antediluvian prejudice for the “drummer” into a proper appreciation for the “commercial traveler” as a polished gentleman…”  He said commercial travelers were as deserving of the word “profession” as doctors, lawyers and ministers, and as worthy of the esteem and confidence of the public. 

     The Commercial Pilgrims of America had typically lofty goals of charity, honor and truth in a brotherhood of men for whom “patience, kindness, generosity, humility, unselfishness and sincerity” were the “bedrock.” At an 1894 Council celebration attended by 400 members and wives, the opening speaker said they were organized for unity and moral instruction. “The teachings of our order are elevating, ennobling, and no man can take the the obligation of a Commercial Pilgrim without thereafter becoming a better husband, father and citizen.”

     The second primary interest of local and national fraternal groups was lobbying for reduced railroad and baggage rates. In 1894 the Missouri state chapter of the U.C.T., for example, proposed a law requiring all railroad companies in the state to issue a mileage book of 1,000 miles at the rate of two cents per mile, a total of $20 (about $720 in 2023 value). Eventually, a 5,000 mile ticket, interchangeable with any rail line, became the goal.

     Thirdly, the groups put pressure on hotels to have clean rooms, and meals (included in “boarding”) that were enough to reasonably fill a man up. Even as late as 1907 they campaigned for clean, individual towels rather than the roller towel. 

     Perhaps most important, was the issue of special licensing fees. From the 1850s till 1890, traveling salesmen were harassed by what one scholar called “restrictive and hostile” licensing fees. Merchants, especially wholesalers in New York and Boston, feared the competition from traveling men. Legislation began in some states as early as the 1850s. Licensing laws quickly swept the country, which created costly, even prohibitive fees to do business. Michigan, for example, charged $50 for a state fee, roughly equivalent to nearly $1,000 today. 

     Three forces finally eliminated the fees. One was from small shopkeepers who wanted what the salesmen brought to them, and the wholesalers who wanted to send their own sales force on the road. The second determining factor was the lobbying from the traveling men’s fraternal organizations. But most important were Supreme Court decisions. In 1871 in Ward vs. State of Maryland, the court ruled that a state could not establish a special tax on out-of-state salesmen. It went farther in 1887 in Robbins vs. Taxing District of Shelby County. 

Drummers’ Conventions

An illustration of a drummer marching in a parade

     Drummers began having conventions around the time they formed organizations. They were often reported to a degree of detail astonishing to the modern reader. They typically included the group’s history, and printed the president’s speech in full. Every resolution and amendment, a full list of  board members, a financial report, membership numbers, the description of the decorations at the banquet and the full menu were included. Coverage of a December 1877 convention of the Northwestern Association of Drummers even included every toast and the response to each, and the order of each dance at the ball. (They began with a quadrille). Towards the turn of the century, newspapers ran photos or sketches of the leaders. 

     There are many descriptions of the men being greeted at the train station by a brass band. Typical of nearly any large gathering at the time, there was a full agenda of performances by quartets and soloists, declamations and speeches. The mayor often presented the key to the city, and sometimes spoke also. These were times of celebration and elevation, with speakers talking about the noble and gentlemanly nature of the commercial traveler. One example is a poem written by a member of the Travelers Protective Association, included on the back of their menu at an 1895 Nebraska state convention. So noble was the profession that surely George Washington would be a traveling salesman:

Had Washington only lived in our time,

A knight of the grip he’d surely be;

With a debonair grace and a wit sublime;

A true American, frank and free.

Always ready and willing to aid

A suffering brother; courteous and kind

To each and every winsome maid;

A chivalrous heart, a noble mind.

The commercial tourists of today

Are men of the stalwart Washington mould;

Honest and fearless, blithe and gay,

With the latest, funniest stories told.

Their power is felt on every hand;

Their energy inspires the world.

Long may they journey o’er our land,

Where Freedom’s banner is never furled.

     Conventions seemed to inspire poetry. They are revealing for how salesmen saw themselves, and wanted to be seen as. Mrs. L.F. Haupt of Burlington, Kansas penned the following, which was published in the September 1911 Kansas City Globe: 

We’ve a lot of fine men in our city today,

And their title is on every lip,

They are here on a visit; they don’t come to stay,

We refer to the Knights of the Grip. 

But we hear sad, bad things sometimes said of the boys,

That their footsteps are oft known to slip,

That they shirk all lives’ burdens and seize all its joys,

These frolicsome Knights of the Grip.

We are told they’ve a wife at each end of the route,

That they find a new girl on each trip,

That in matters of eating, they’re hard men to suit,

These frolicsome Knights of the Grip.

We’ve heard many things far too bad to repeat,

But just here, let me give you a tip. 

Those who best know the boys know they hate all deceit,

For they’re good men, these Knights of the Grip.

When a man’s on the road, with its worries and joys,

If you take just one peep in his grip,

You’ll find their a likeness of “Wife” and “The Boys,”

That is dear to the Knight of the Grip. 

In the dark lonely hours when he bumps o’er the rail,

And hopes that the wheels will not slip,

He dreams of the daylight which brings the home mail,

To the wandering Knight of the Grip.

And his heart sings with joy, though he’s in the top berth,

And he’s lame both in shoulder and hip,

For it’s true there’s no man on the top of God’s earth

Loves his home like the Knight of the Grip.

He is kind to the helpless, the hungry, the poor,

To someone he does good on each trip,

And no man who’s deserving is turned from the door,

Of the big-hearted Knight of the Grip.

So here’s to the order, the grand U.C.T.,

Put the full brimming glass to the lip,

Drink success to the Drummer, wherever he be,

Health and wealth to the Knight of the Grip.

Traveling Men’s Days 

There were special Traveling Men’s Days proclaimed at state fairs, Chatauquas, the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and at local festivals. (Chatauquas were wildly popular adult educational events that brought entertainment and culture to rural communities especially from the 1870s to the 1920s. They featured speakers, singers, teachers, ministers and showmen in a “summer camp” setting.) Some churches even proclaimed “Traveling Men’s Day” at Sunday school, such as one at a Methodist Church in Wichita, Kansas. Included was a soloist singing, “Papa’s Late Train,” a tear-jerker about a dying little girl whose last words were, “Mamma! Papa’s train is too late for me to kiss him good-bye.” The girl died five minutes before her father got home. It probably pulled on some traveling men’s heartstrings.

     Local festivals often featured large groups of drummers in parades, with headlines like, “Men of the Grip Filled the Town,” “The Festive Drummer Takes the Town,” and “Drummers Invade Mattoon.” The Ottumwa Coal Festival, the Sioux City Corn Palace festival, the St. Paul Winter Festival, the 1888 Centennial Exposition in Cincinnati, and the Creston, Iowa Blue Grass Palace festival are just a few examples of local festivals where drummers participated. At the 1892 coal festival about 1,000 salesmen marched while twirling umbrellas. At the St. Paul, Minnesota Winter Festival in 1886, drummers joined the parade for the first time, making the crowd smile in outfits typical of summer - straw hats, long linen dusters, and carrying palm leaf fans. One year the Iowa Traveling Men’s Protective Association marched in a parade of members in Davenport, Iowa, in 12 degree weather with three feet of snow on ground. There were 200 floats, wagons and sleighs, and 1,000 men on foot wearing the dusters and straw hats of summer, and carrying a grip and fan.

     The public may not have seen them as quite as heroic as they presented themselves in speeches and poetry, but they were certainly an established figure in the new American economy. Here is one more poem, published in the March 1884 Austin American-Statesman, portraying the Christian nobility of the drummer.

Could I pour out the nectar, as gods only can,

I would fill this, my glass, to the brim, 

And drink the success of the traveling man,

And the house represented by him.

I would drink to the sweetheart who bids him good-bye,

With a tenderness loving and fair,

To her purest of hearts and fairest of hands,

I would drink with all-glorious prayer.

Since the heart she must trust is the traveling man’s heart,

And as pure as the ulster he’s wearing,

Let us drink to his wife and her sweet prattling babes,

His cheer and his happiness sharing.

     There were four more verses, the last ending with God receiving the traveling man in heaven when his life is over. 

Sources:

     Fyfe, David A. and Deryck W. Holdsworth. “Signatures of Commerce in Small-Town Hotel Guest Registers,” Social Science History, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Spring 2009), pp. 17-45.

     Hollander, Stanley. “Nineteenth Century Anti-Drummer Legislation in the United States,”

The Business History Review, Vol. 38, No. 4 (Winter 1964), pp. 479-500. 

     Spears, Timothy B. “All Things To All Men,” The Commercial Traveler and the Rise of Modern Salesmanship,” American Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 4 (Dec. 1993), pp. 524-557.

Newspapers: 

     “Der Drummer,” Sumner County Press (Wellington, Kansas), 23 April 1874, p. 1. 

     “Commercial Travelers - Second Annual Convention of the Northwestern Association of Drummers,” The Inter Ocean (Chicago), 28 Dec 1877, p. 8.

     “Commercial Travelers’ Convention,” The Topeka State Journal, 29 May 1879, p. 1.

     “Report of the City Treasurer of the City of Girard,” The Girard Press, 21 Oct 1880, p. 2.

     “The Festive Drummer headlines “The Festive Drummer Takes the Town - Popularity of Merchant Traveler Fully Attested,” Cincinnati Enquirer, Sept 16 1888, p. 1. 

     “Doings of the Drummers- The Commercial Pilgrims Growing Fast,” Nebraska State Journal, 5 July 1891, p. 2.

     “Gripsacks Galore - A Great Assemblage of Commercial Travelers at Peoria, Illinois,” St. Louis Globe, 6 June 1893, p. 1. 

     “Commercial Pilgrims - Items of Interest to the Knights of the Grip During the Past Week,” The Courier (Waterloo, Iowa), 17 July 1893, p. 3.

     “Jolly Drummers - United Commercial travelers Take Chillicothe By Storm,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 27 May 1894, p. 13.

     “Fenimore Orates - A Grand Address By the Veteran Founder of the U.T.C. Order,” St. Paul Globe, 25 May 1895, p. 2.

     “Angels of Commerce - The Drummer,” The Courier (Waterloo, Iowa), 2 Jan 1897, p. 7.

     “Woman’s Suggestion to Man,” The Blaze (Wichita, Kansas), 10 Dec 1898, p. 4.

Copyright Andrea Auclair © 2023