Letter from the Monitor Sad Iron Co. to Marie Stapler Gladden

The Marie Stapler Gladden Collection

Original paper letter and envelope

1940-09-10

Robert M. Perry; Robert Perry

Marie Vista Stapler Gladden; Marie Stapler Gladden; Marie Stapler; Marie Gladden

Hickory, North Carolina, United States of America.

A letter from Robert M. Perry, Southern Distributor for the Monitor Sad Iron Co., addressed to Marie Stapler Gladden on September 10th, 1940. In the letter, Mr. Perry thanks Marie Stapler Gladden for her payment of $5.00 (approximately $115.00 or $116.00 in 2026) and states that Marie will be receiving a 25-cent refund due to a money error. Mr. Perry goes on to ask Marie if she is in any position to sell Monitor-brand irons in the Apopka area by demonstrating her New Improved Model B Monitor to other housewives. Whether or not Marie Stapler Gladden took up Mr. Perry's offer is unknown.

The Monitor iron evolved from the popularity of fuel irons during the late Victorian era. The Monitor iron notably used white gas injected under pressure into a flame located in the case. The act of ironing with a fuel iron, as described by the Animas Museum, was akin to “ironing with a Molotov cocktail.” This early model was patented in 1903 by the Monitor Sadiron Company. Monitor irons, such as Marie Stapler Gladden's New Improved Model B Monitor, were used in American households into the 1950s.

LETTER:

All Sales and Agreements Are Contingent Upon Strikes, Accidents, Delays of Carriers and Other Occurrences Beyond Our Control

INCORPORATED UNDER THE LAWS OF OHIO
THE MONITOR SAD IRON CO.
MANUFACTURERS OF
THE IMPROVED MONITOR SELF HEATING
SAD IRON

Hickory, N. C.
Septomber 10th, 1940

Mrs. Maris S. Gladden,
Apopka, Florida,

Dear Mrs. Gladden :-

Many thanks for your letter of the 9th enclosing Money Order for $5.00 payment in full for one Model B Monitor Iron. Note error in money order and will return 25 cents with his letter as we sell the Monitor $4.74 complete.

We certainly appreciate this order and I am sure you would not take anything for the New Improved Model B Monitor which we are shipping this date by prepaid parcel post. I am sincere in saying the invention of no other article of convenience and economy is doing more to lighten labor, make housework easier and more pleasant. In less than six months you have saved the price of iron in the saving of fuel alone, to say nothing of the time and labor saved each time it is used.

We are enclosing Instructions for operating the Iron with the same. Please follow them carefully and you will always have excellent results using your Monitor. And too, be sure to always use the plain gasoline because the high-test gas does contain white lead and will surely damage the iron.

Mrs. Gladden, are you in a position to sell the Monitor in that territory? If so, we will allow you a splendid commission on each iron you sell. There is a great demand for the Monitor and I feel sure if you have the time to demonstrate your New Improved Model B Monitor many housewives in that territory will be happy of the opportunity to buy this modern HELPER for the home.

Thanking you again for above order and hoping to hear from you again soon, I am,

Very truly yours,
Robert M. Perry
Southern Distributor