who does this gets the best men. Hundreds of applications come in
yearly to every wholesale house in America. These come so often that
little attention is paid to them. When a wise house wishes salesmen,
they either put out their scouts or go themselves directly after the
men they want. And the shrewd head of a house is not looking for cheap
men; he knows that a poor man is a great deal more expensive than a
good one. Successful wholesalers do not bat their eyes at paying a
first-class man a good price.

Recently I knew of one firm that had had a big salesman taken from
them. What did they do to get another to take his place? The manager
did not put out some cheap fellow, but he went to another man who,
although he was unfamiliar with the territory, was a good shoe man,
and guaranteed him that he would make four thousand dollars a year
net, and gave him a good chance on a percentage basis of making six
thousand. The experienced man in a line, although he has never
traveled over the territory for which the wholesaler wishes a man,
stands next in line for an open position. Houses know that a man who
has done well on one territory in a very little while will establish a
trade in another. One house that I know of has, in recent years,
climbed right to the front because it would not let a thousand dollars
or more stand in the way of hiring a first-class man. The head of this
house went after a good salesman when he wanted one.

This is the way in which the head of a marvelously successful
manufacturing firm hired many of their salesmen: They have this man
talk to four different members of the firm single-handed; these men
put all sorts of blocks in the way of the man whom they may possibly
hire. They wish to test the fellow's grit. One successful salesman
told me that when they hired him he talked to only one man, and only a