Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-09-03
Home Enterprise. and the Power of

Home Enterprises and the Power Of
the Press.
A short time since we wrote at article on
Home Enterprise rs Foreign" which has
set many people to thinking, and if pro-
perly understood and appreciated, will do
much toward breaking the shackles which
the North has placed upon us. The most
successful business men Of the world are
those who have been most liberal in the
use Of printers ink. A great many people
who have never thought much on the sub
iect, have no idea why some men succeed
so well in business, when il seems they are
paying out annually, as much as the wages
of a clerk, for advertising. If you are
tradesman you wish TO reach the public,
and you can only reach it through the
medium Of the press. Many of our people
seem to know nothing of the power and in
fiuence of a single paragraph in a daily
paper A merchant wishes some cards
printed, he goes TO the newspapers which
have job offices connected with them, and
they ask him perhaps SO per thousand.
This will not do at all-perfectly outrageous
to think Of paving such a price. He then
goes to job Office which has no paper, and
they propose to print his cards for
s. per thousand. This is a capital
trade-two dollars are made in
the transaction, and the merchant
begins to think that he is managing his
business with consummate financial skill.
He gets his cards and goes back to his
office, thinking on the two dollars he has
made. That Job office has no paper, it is
as silent as the grave, its voice is never
heard. Prices may rise or fall, merchants
may flock TO the city to buy goods, but it
cannot tell them where to go. II has ac-
complished all it can do for you, when you
pay your So and get your cards. The
newspaper, whose job Office printed your
cards, makes mention of your business
house, as one worthy of patronage, and ere
you eat your dinner the next day ten thou
sand persons have been informed of your
location and business. But the desire to
make those two dollars has prevented your
speaking to ten thousand people of your
business. Which is the wiser man, he who
paid the $40 and thus spoke to the whole
country, or he who paid the s. and never
heard of it again
Again, a new theatre is TO be opened. An
attractive bill is gotten up, but nobody
knows anything of it. The papers have not
spoken of it. The manager goes to one Job
Office to get his large posters, and to another
TO get his programmes, and rather patron
lzlngly proposes to give the newspaper the
enormous sum of five dollars per week for
a notice of each play, expecting, of course,
that the editor will give nice compli-
mentary local notice of fifteen or twenty
lines, just to show his power in theatrical
criticism. The great race horse, Dexter,
which Bonner of the Ledger bought, was
perhaps, the cheapest horse he ever owned
Every newspaper in the United States has
told its readers that Bonner of the Ledger
has bought that horse. They have not ad-
vertised the horse, but the Ledger Bonner
once paid $4,000 for the advertising col
umns of the New York Herald, and filled
them with one advertisement of the Ledqer.
1t was the best investment Bonner ever
made The principals of some of our
schools have spent hundreds of dollars this
summer for advertising Yesterday, pupils
from the interior Of the country were flock |
ing in great numbers, drawn here by those
announcements in the papers.