Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1867-09-07

provided they conduct the business with
premptncss. care of detail, and nave sufii-
Gent capital to place themselves upon
sound financial basis.
HOW WE SECURE OUR CONTRACTS
As people are apt TO be suspicious OF any
thing they do not understand, We take this
opportunity 10 explain the way in which
these contracts are made, which give us so
many and important advantages. The Sc
cret consists in this that we CONTRACT FOR
SPACE AND TAKE THE RISK or FILLING 1T.
At present we have contracts for over $50,
600 per year with the various papers on our
lists, which must be paid, whether we occu-
py the space allowed or not. We take the
risk. which seems large. but thus far the
amount of business coming to US has greatly
exceeded that required by the contracts.
WHY NOT AVAILABLE IN METROPOLITAN
CITIES.
II was early evident that The advantages
OF our plan were only available with those /
papers adopting the system Of making a
material difference between long and short |
time rates, and as the hes: papers in the CT
ties of New York. Philadelphia, Baltimore, I
Boston, Cincinnati and Chicago, call OF
which are located in sections of country I
now covered bv our lists. do not make these I
any papers where we could not get good
one, we have not applied the system To
these places.
REASONS FOR LIST OF 100
When the system was first inauguraicd |
it was considered desirable TO apply it To a
list sufficiently large To give one paper 10
every considerable place in the States inclu-
dod on the list, with daily in each city.
Nm i'm tlic fct - fpun1 Ia N.
tain nearly one hundred papers, and in or
der to make ii more perfect by excluding
all but extensive advertisers, one hundred
was adopted as the number BY calculating
the various prices 10 be paid 10 each paper,
"A fixed price per inch and per line was
adopted for the whole When success be
came certain, the demands of our customers
required the formation of other lists We
decided the New York list should contain
the same number of papers the same reia.
tive proportion of dailes and wecklies, and
be governed by the Same rates. Four lists
have now been formed ON the same plan
and thus they have become known as the
| lists of one hundred newspapers
AN ARBITRARY LIST No DISADVANTAGE.
As advertisements cannot he taken for a
payer on our plan without previous con
tract between the publisher and ourselves,
and rigid adherence TO system Is tile only
wav 30 manage such n complicated matter,
il is evident the lists must be made up from
our own ideas of the wants of the public.
! This is no objection. In selecting our pa
| pers great care is taken to secure those only
| which from their circulation and influence
| are able to be of most service, and our nior-
nation on these points Is much more per
feet than any individual advertiser can pos
sess Ii is rs much for our interest as for
that of our customers that their investments
| should be profitable, in order that they may
| he induced 10 patronize us farther. No at
| tempt is made 10 conceal the fact that
great many excellent papers are published
with which we do not contract, but it is be-
cause they do not make that difference be.
tween prices for large and small contracts
which enable us to give our patrons the adj
vantages we promise. We are, however,
ready 10 add such papers at the lowest rates
ob,arablc, and the amount OF business we
| influence is such as secures for our orders
the respect and attention desirable, From
parties who are posted we experience little
ANNOYANCE on the subject of the character
of the papers on our lists. but bv those who
are not competent To Judge, the question *
. often asked if these are not the cheap aud
poor papers of the sections they represent
70 these We say our lists are truly all we
: tltin iPl lItlll. VIZ. - Il tNtN7 lft ltp'i>
are much better than the average, and when
there is choice, in nine eases out oi ten we
have the best Cheap rs our rates seem.
We could form "A similar list in the same see
ton for which we could receive orders ut
half the rates we now ask, and nj the
same time double our per cent, OF prpilt.
TkE POSITION OCCUPIED.
We early found ii important to occupy a
In. and
arranged our contracts So that the adycrti-
ser is now guaranteed IA position on the in
side or next To the columns of reading mat
ter our advertisements are kept under
the heading of New Advertisements,
which secures the attention, and Is, we
think, more desirable than the special no.
ticc column.
HOW THE WORK is DONE.
| Advertisements are sent 10 each list every
fourth Monday, and at no other time. All
necessary directions and information are
printed instead of written, and thus in a
few hours an amount of business is trans
acted. which in the ordinary method would
require DAYS The same advertisements 90
To every paper, and one postage stamp car
ries the whole The contract already exist
ing fixes the price to he charged 80 that no
delay from correspondence occurs The
each paper : that is at once mailed 10 Us,
when il is examined. and after being check
ed in Il book kept for that purpose. is care
fully filed that the advertiser mar examine
il at his leisure As there are eighty five
weekly and fifteen daily papers on each list,
file of more than seven hundred different
papers is preserved for inspection at any
time within three months from date of or
der. II omissions or errors occur. the pub
fishers are Immediately informed, and know
ing by experience we mean to have the
work done right. very few errors occur. We
send orders to one list every Monday, which
with the four we now have. just completes
the circle, and gives to each week partic-
ular list To advertisers residing outside
New York City, who are unable to examine
our files. we send one copy of each paper
containing advertisements marked, by ex-
press.
MONEY SAVED by THE SYSTEM.
An important item is the saving of post
age stamps We send out. say thirty differ
cnt advertisements to the four hundred pa
pers on the four lists; they all 20 at once
with printed letter giving necessary in
structions. The cost TO us is for the 400
postage stamps, 400 sheets of note paper,
400 envelopes, and 400 copies of the adver-
tisements all printed on slips of pader.-
| EuppoSc each person unucItook W uo tlc
business direct, and had the facilities to OBJ
tain the same prices from the papers They
would each have to write or print 400 let
ters 400 copies of the advertisement, direct
400 envelopes, and each pay a postage bill
of $12, making an extra expense of $3.50
for postage alone. or $:,4S more than it costs
us. and this sum goes neither to the adver-
tiscr or to the publisher but is simply
wasted No account is here taken of the
extra papers, printing and envelopes, nor
the time occupied in doing the work. This
is only one item Others can be named
hardly less in importance. These are the
items we save and depend upon for our
profit
Our OBJECT.
Our original object in making these ar
engagements was to bring ourselves into no
tcc, and secure n larger portion of the
advertising patronage. The commission We
receive is on the whole below that usually
allowed by publishers, but our remunera-
ton is in the large amount of the aggregate
orders We have no particular desire that
L Al r.