The Washington critic., 1886-06-12
smart AlecIxs.

from ne Detf0W Fft6 Pr6Se
There is to be found in every com
munity, among every class, super
serviceable few so smart in their own
conceit, that to appear wiser than their
fellows they adopt the rule to believe
nothing that is said, and agree with no
one in anything they do. Among the
thousand things which they deprecate
in business it is special fashion,
where their ignorance is most conspic.
uous, to criticise adversely all adver-
tised articles. They "spread them.
selves on these as their greatest
forte" The compass of their wisdom
is this: that because an article Is exten.
sively advertised 1t must necessarily be
a fraud; for, as they say, If 1t was not a
fraud the proprietors could not afford
to spend such enormous sums in max
ing their wares known to the public.
The absurdity Of such pretense will
be best illustrated by conversation
which the writer had a few days ago,
with a member of large concern,
in which this very question was dis
cussed.
why" said the gentleman, "take
our own case, for instance: We are
spending two hundred and fifty thou
sand dollars year in placing our goods
before the trade and public. Now Is
II reasonable to suppose that we would
spend this amount of money, or risk it,
in advertising a worthless article, with
out merit, of any kind, when by the
mere outlay of $1,000. or less, we
could buy the best prescription or for
mula No, sir, you can depend upon
1t, there is not an article on the market
to-day which has stood the test of
years and is in general use that hasn' t
an undisputed value and intrinsic vir-
tue. Advertising serves to introduce
and make known such an article, and
supercedes the employment of host
of expensive agents and canvassers,
which q business not advertised en-
ploys, and which is another way of
spending money for this purpose. But
advertising does the work most effec-
lively and promptly.
"My long experience and observa-
tion," he continued, "has been that O
person trying an article that has no
merit, upon the strength of newspaper
advertising, and talking against such
an article, can do more harm than q
column of advertising in its favor. On
the contrary, good opinion expressed
in like manner, from one to another,
on an article that has merit, is the best
form of advertising. Hence an adver-
tised article must have merit to begin
with, and upon the strength of its vir-
tues newspaper advertising can sub.
due prejudice and aid in forming good
opinions, which, repeated in manifold
ways, spreads the popularity and ef-
fects the sale of good article.
"In the past four months we have
received over 5000 unsolicited testi
monials unqualifiedly indorsing the
merits Of our specially, Duffy's pure
malt whiskey, all of which are on file
among the most valuable records OF
our house and open to the inspection
of any one interested-and out of this
entire number fully $500 Of the writer:
state that they were induced to take i
upon the recommendation of friends
who had also tried it, and only 500 who
had taken IL on the strength of the
newspaper notices alone. Yet" sale
the gentleman, as he walked away
1--WE are probably doing the larges
newspaper advertising in the country.