The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1888-10-12
FOREIGN ADVERTISING.

MI, L. -. hltblNhSN1 ~ ~ "''
rial JoMWGi thus speaks our Sentl
ments on Foreign Advertising. We
hone our brethl en- of the Miss Ssippl
Press will read it carefully and act
upon his advice
'.Now that the discussion is beijg
directed so generally to The evils
connected with foreign adverIiS-
ing" it is to be hoped that country
publishers, who are largely to blame
in the matter, will take a calm sur
vey of the situation, and adort such
rules and methods in the premises
as circumstances seem to demand.
The ']'fureign advert SER is no l. IS
human or selfish than the rest of
mankind. He prOsecutes his buSl-
ness for the money there is III 1t,
and not as IA matter of plilanthro
by. fla country publisher is will
ing to accept fl rom him one dollar
for advertising whrre he sh nd
have five for the contract, The pub
Usher is alone to:bIalne; and ought
not to find fault.
The publisher Of the small aud
weak newspaper, with very limited
circulation. and whose weekly bills
are met with difficulty (and the
majority Of country n"w-paperS
come under this category looks at
what foreign advertising he can
get as clear gain, ard SO stands
ready to accept thankfully whatev-
er pittance the "~adyertising agents
may drop into his hat. But this
pernicious view has opened a whole
Pandora box of evils, as regards
"fOreien Advertising
There is Just as much reason why
the merchant should sell his goods
fifty per cent cheaper to those liz
inc outside of his county, counting
ali such foreign trade "ciear gain,'
as for newspaper publishers to act
on so unjust a principle.
The fact is, we should have a
scale 0fadverti Using prices fair to all,
and then make 10 discrimination
between home and foreign custom
ELS. We consider the space worth
SO much, and then stand by our
rates,
From my eXl erieaco rs publish
er, | do not consider more than a
score of fOl eign advertisers as re
sponsible. The majority of them
are Cheap John affairs, whose mot
to is to. dead-beat the country pub
fisher. And they TO this in every
variety of cunning ways. Some OF
their tricks should be mentioned.
In the first place, they furnish their
own printed form OF contract,
shrewdIy wo, dpd, and often suscpp-
tible of several interpretations Tn"
agent comes into the Office hurried
ly, and when Il bargain is made, the
; contract is pulled out and read by
{ the agent who emphasizes the least
, Objectionable phrases, and If there
, is ambiguous language to which at
, tention is called, he has Il plausible
r way OF explaining it to the publish
j err. If a specified position is object
. ed TO, he generally claims it vii.
, make no difference, though he HIS
no W to alter the contract.
4 But the house he represents, whel
9 if comes to the last payment, vii
generally claim two or three months
more advertising for alleged omiS
sions, or out of position, even whel
" the spirit and letter of the agree
+, ment has been carried out. | hav'
% had prominent advertising firms re
% tnse payment on the home Stretcl
ON the ground of omissions, whe'
IS nv files showed the appearance {
% the ads. in every iS,ue. But unles
Q, they were run a specified time long
10 er payment was withheld. OfcCuls
ne | had to make terms the best
NJ could, but | black listed the firm.
" am satisfied that the majOrit
" of foreign advertisers demand pos
n ton only for the purpose of "catcl
TO ing the publisher" and getting OF
~ of him all the free advertising the
IS. can. In fact, this much was COZ
O. fessed to me by a candid agen
a. when 1 persistently refused TO Civ
IN permission-which | neverdO-an.
al by adherence to which rule, | neve
he lost a customer.
is The remedy | would suggest fC
the evils connected with toreig
TO advertising is, that publishers az
th no longer on The defensive, bu
ne print their own contract blank
H. whereby both sides to The advrrtii
IN ing compact shall be fairly dea
n with that the ''one-price system
We be adhered to, regardless OF clas
distinction, making the price to q
reasonably moderate-and that !
ge every C ST where the advertiser
IS, firm is not absolutely known to !
n. honorable i'm its dealings with pol
r. fishers, an accepted order must !
VI given on a local dealer, whic
r. would thus cut off any successfI
h attempt to ''beat the printer" b
re demanding more advertising tina
/, Tho contraf.f called for.