Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1878-06-07
Adyeralse-.-But Where !

pOmDell ana inc NOISY CHNplHcH anu
apprentices who made The streets of old
London ~ Babel with their cries OF
"What dye lack I" What dye lackg Y
we're early forms Of advertising which
70 to illustrate the fundamental truth
Chat if people have wares to sell they
must let other people know it. The
neatly dressed window or the imposing
narbe-fr0ntcd warehouse are more
modern forms Of advertising merely
tended to arrest the attention OF those
who casually pass to and fro on their
occasions. Every customer who enters
n shop, is courteously treated, and goes
away having made n satisfactory pnr-
chase, is also an advertisement, and u
very good one. But il is evident that
such advertising is not sufficient of
itself to keep up that steady growth of
a business which in these days Of close
and eager competition il the condition
~ permanent success in business.
No merchant or dealer can afford III
these times to fold his hands in the
conviction that he has secured the
command Of his own branch Of trade
and need fcar no rivalry, A. y rule,
in modern cities particular trades
and callings tend to group them
selves in particular localities, and the
moro important mans business IL the
less can he depend upon that "neigh
borhood custom" on which small dealers
rely. There is no more shy, notlonnl
and contradictory person than the Amer
lean customer. While his British cous-
:. a. al, ~, # uf
and keeps on buying for years where
his father bought before him, the Amer
ican customer il seldom so much ut
tached to- one dealer or shop rs TO hest
tate about deserving aither on slight
temptation and Mt short notice. He IL
u cosmopolitan and II catholic, paricu-
lnrly when he is not lie ut Ill, but on the
contrary she.
Therefore the American dealer must
constantly reach out after II constitu-
cncy infinitely wider than that which
tradition or accident brings To his door:
he must get his advertisement into the
hands of people Of every condition and
in all places. To him, therefore adj
dress themselves two schools of prac-
titioncrs in advertising us radically on
posed to each other as the cmpiric III
medicine and tho regular physician.
One bids the dealer belaub the fair face
of Nature, making the Palisades show
forth the glory of gargling-oil and the
White Mountains sing the sweet praises
Of sozodont; or scduccs him into bonn
harding householders with circulars
which serve the poStman as biicts-doar
nnd the kitchen-mnid despised of John
Kelly MS curl-papors; or beguiles him
into impeding Broadway with animated
sandwiches; Or tcmpts him into spelling
the dinners of guests ut hotels by mix
ing up his medicinal inventions with
the dishes OF the bill of fare. TO this
school We owe the illuminated blotting-
pad the gultcr-snipes, the placards
which surround the mirrors in hotel Of
fees and bother the bcll-boy when he
would prink himself surreptiliously.
Tho ompiric, whether dealing with II
mans body or his business, takes no
thought Of specialties or particulars. lii
medicine he exhibits the Same nostrum
for all complaints no matter how radi-
cally different they may be; in business
hc seeks to allure the whole Commu-
nifty by suggestions which cnn Mt best
only Affect IL fraction Of Il class. Sup
pose, for instance, tradesman pays
roundly to have his card printed
ON the blottingpa pages of II hotel
register? II can only be seen,
under the most favorable cir.
cumstances by that particular fraction
Of ono particular class Of the com
mumity which tarryng day or an
hour ut that particular hotel, happens
10 need to blot its names on that page.
OF the people who sec the card prob
ably 90 per cent. never drcrm Of read
ing il, and of these probably so per
cent. do not visit the city in which they
stumble on it to make purchases. After
couple Of days the few who use the
page leave il practically illcgiblc for
ever. AT the best only fraction of
one class could have been reached; i'll
reality not one person III every thousand
OF that fraction is likely to nave been
affected. The principle is the same
throughout, rs witness the drifts Of
dodgers" delight Of tho chibonerS,
which accumulate within few yards of
the Jealous distributors of those hand
bills, put away with wrath by all
rational beings Ut whom they are
thrust, and even by the hummer and
the office boy who snatch them speedily
rent and wasted on the mir.
The regular practitioner, the news.
paper, has IN all ways the advantage Of
tho cmpiric. Americans are not only
readers but III Ill classes Of life dcvour-
ers of newspapers. One paper goes to
tho saloon ON Avenue A, the next that
falls from the press reaches boudoir
on Murray Hill; this one is bought by
the millionaire. tho ncwsman's next Gus