Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-03-09
Prom the baltimore American.I
mha 400 Advertising.


little understood. 1t has been praetisedi
indeed, to a considerable extent in Eng
lsnd, but in this country its beuehts were
scarcely recognized. Anything like q tree
use of the newspapers for the purpose OF
blazoning mans name and his business
to the world was left to the inventors ana
sellers of auack medicine. What are ca
led "faming advertisements" were consid,
cred disreputable by the solid men, an"
froWned upon as saVoring OF eSaggeratlon
if not of downright baseness And iaIse,
hood. Circusses aud "Houck's PHaacea:
were permitted to enjoy the wonderful ad-
vantages of the printing press without as
turbalcr,
A vastchange has taken place since that
day. 1t is no. only respectable now-a-
days to advertise extensively, but 1t is III
dispensable. When the power of steam
was applied to the slow machinery OF the
press and thought began TO traverse earth
upon the wings of the lightning, the old
time process of building up business
by means of q succession of generations
of merchants inh hitting the same d!ngy
old house and using the same obscure and
almost illegible sign, disappeared. 1t
was found that by proper use OF the
newly discovered agencies as much could
be accomplished in an hour as formerly
i VI,
in five years that could hardly have been
acquired in a century before the discovery
and general introduction of the new inycn-
tions. The rtof printing keptpace with the
speed of travelling. As business transact
-tions could take place in o few hoars which
the old fogy merchant never thought OF
accomplishing in less than several wecks,
and as the area of traffic WAS almost min
itely extended by the railroad and steam
boats, SO it. became incumbent on the fac
tor of goods to avail himself OF every
means to make known his name, his place
of business and the kind and quality OF
his wares TO the constantly Interchangeable
of customersi He found the steam press
ready to his hand. Printing was not only
n thousand times more rapid than 1t had
been, but 1t was cheaper, very much cheap
err All the merchant had to dc was to
send his advertisement to the principal
newspapers, and ere the setting of the
morrow's sun myriads of people who had
never before dreamed of his existence
were aware of his name, his residence, his
occupation, and the minuti@ of his trade.
It was as though he had sent phalanz al
ter phalanx, regiment after regiment OF
men, equipped with trumpets, gongs,
cymbals aud other means OF making
noise aud attracting attention, to proclaim
length and breadth of the land. II was as
if a proclamation of his articles of sale
had been made from the heavens aud
heard over whole continents.
This system once adopted-aud there
was no avoiding tits value was Instant
Iy recognized by the practical return OF an
Immensely increased custom, and its gen.
eral use became business necessity of
the age. 1t is true that those houses
which had acquired reputation by the
slow method of the oldeu time, lost very
little of their regular trade by refusing TO
join in the new movement. But 1t Is I'M
possible TO estimate the gains they might
have made By siding at once with the spirit
of Improvement and by free use of the
wonderful appliances which seem to have
been discovered for their especial advan-
tage. As the nineteenth century wears
on, and us the age of advertising discloses
feature after feature of its astounding aud
bewilderiuG development, it becomes more
and imperative upon the enlightcd man of
business to lay fearless hands upon the
swift genius of the press and, being fas-
tened TO it rs by hooks of steel, to secure
the iuexhaustible advantages of its tireiess
and unhounded fight over the habitable
globe.
Tho representative man of this age of
advertising is, by common consent, one
Bonner OF the City of New York. His
daring and apparently fooIhardy use of
the newspaper press was the theme of end
less ridiculr. But by and by the ridtculers,
looking to results, began to change their
tune. In place of derision, there came
imitation, which is said to be the sincerest
form of flattery. Bonner is initiated not in
America alone. The London Times begins
to display the name of "slacmtllan L Co."
from the the top to the bottom of its col
umns, just us the american aud II thousand
other papers have time and again displayed
the name of the Ledger and its contribu-
tors. And this movement is destined to
go on. Its end is not yet, nor is it in the
power of man to say where it will or can
stop. But this much is proven: Every
business has now now department aided
10 it-thut of advertising. He is wise who
spares no pains to develop this part of his
business, and he would be most wise who
should employ special partner to devote
his whole energy to the business OF adVer-
Using.