Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1860-04-13
Advertising as Business Agent.

Advertising as Business Agent.
When the power of steam was applied
to the slow machinery of the press, and
thought began to traverse the earth upon
the wings Of the lightning, the cid time
process of building up business by |
means of succession of generations Of
merchants inhabiting the same dingy old
house and using the same obscure and
most illegible sign, disappeared. II was
found that by proper use Of the newly
discovered agencies, as much could be
accomplished in an hour as formerly in
day, and business could be built up in |
five years that could hardly have been
acquired in century before the discov-
cry and introduction of the new inven-
ton. The art Of printing kept pace with
the speed of travelling As business
transactions could take place in few
hours which the old merchants never
thought of accomplishing in less than
several weeks, and as the area Of traffic
was almost infinitely extended by the rail-
road and the steamboats,, so it became
incumbent on the factor 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, by the
constantly widening circle of customers.
Tfe found the steam press ready to his
hand All the merchant had to do was
to send his advertisement TO the princi-
pal newspapers, and ere the setting Of | :
morrow's sun, myriads Of people who he'd
never before dreamed Of his existence,
were aware Of his name, his residence,
his occupation, and the minuti@ of his
trade. 1t was as though he had sent
phalanx after phalanx, regiment after
regiment of men, equipped with trumpets,
gongs, symbals, and other means Of MAX
ing noise and attracting attention, to
proclaim his name and his business
throughout the length and breadth of the
land. 1t was as if proclamation Of his
articles of sale had been made from the
heavens and heard over whole conti-
nents.
| This system once adopted-and there
was no avoiding tits value was instant
ly recognized by the practical return Of
an immensely increased custom, and its
general use became business necessity
of the age. 1t is true that those houses
which had acquired a reputation by the
slow method Of tho oldcn time, lost very
little of their regular trade by refusing
10 Join in the new movement. But it is
impossible to estimate the gain 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
advantage. AS the nineteenth century
wears on, and as the age of advertising
discloses feature after feature Of its as
founding and bewildering development,
it becomes more and more imperative upon
the enlightened man Of business to lay
fearless hands upon the swift genius of
the press, and, being fastened TO it as by
hooks Of steel, to secure the inexhausti-
bic advantages of its tirelcss and un-
bounded fight over the habitable globe.
The representative man Of this ago Of
advertising is, by common consent, one
Bonner, Of the city of New York. His
daring and apparently fool-hardy use of
the newspaper press was the theme of
endless ridicule. But by and by the ridi-
culers, looking to the results, began to
change their tune. In place Of dcrision,
there came imitation, which is said to be
the sincerest form of fattery. Bonner
is initiated not in America alone. The
London Times begins to display the
name of Macmillan & Co." from the
top to the bottom of its columns, just as
thousand other papers have time and
again displayed the name Of the Ledger
and its contributors. And this move
ment is destined to 60 on. It's 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 new
department added to it--that is advertise
ing. 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 ener-
gies to the business Of advertising -
Lynchburg Virginian.