294 MINNESOTA STATE HOKTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



One copy to each of the state officers, members of the legislature, 

 members of the board of regents of the state university, state 

 historical society, members of the board of the state agricultural 

 society, one to each public library in the state when application is 

 made therefor, and the remaining copies as the Minnesota Horti- 

 cultural Society shall deem best. 



Sec. 2. The sum of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) 

 is hereby appropriated annually (or so much thereof as may be 

 necessary) to pay for the printing and binding of the monthly and 

 annual reports of said society ; said work to be performed and said 

 sums paid under the direction of the state printing commission with 

 the approval of the president of said Minnesota State Horticultural 

 Society. 



Sec. 3. Chapter 215 of the General Laws of 1899, being an act 

 pertaining . to the reports of the Minnesota State Horticultural So- 

 ciety, and appropriating money for printing the same, and all acts 

 and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are 

 hereby repealed. 



Sec. 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after 

 its passage. 



Approved April 10, 1903. 



OBSERVATIONS OF A COMMERCIAL TRAVELER. 



CHAS. B. CLARK, MINNEAPOLIS. 



When I began traveling in 1874 it was generally thought that the 

 most successful merchant was the one who could give the greatest 

 quantity of sugar or dried apples or Turkish prunes for a dollar. 

 These were the items that invited the people into the grocery store 

 and enticed them to buy. Occasionally a grocer would keep a few 

 oranges and lemons, and some green apples in the fall, but, as a 

 rule, he expected to lose money on such goods if he handled them. 

 At the present time things are quite different. A great change has 

 taken place and is still going on. Many a grocer uses the fruit and 

 vegetable display in his store as a drawing card and pays his greatest 

 attention to this line of his business. He has learned to handle these 

 goods successfully. 



It has become a common law among these grocers never to lose 

 on these goods if possible. As a result the commission man is be- 

 tween two hot fires, for, if the goods do not arrive in the grocery 

 store in salable condition and at a price that will insure their quick 

 sale, the loss is charged up to him and deducted when the bill is paid, 

 no matter how much he may protest. Generally, however, the tele- 



