Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-11-02
Especial Corrcspoudeuce.l

Especial Corrcspondeucel
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 81. - America
leads the world in so many things that
when we have to take tho second place
We can well afford to acknowledge Il.
In tho matter OF advertising, for in
stance, we are In the habit Of thinking
that we Of the United States discount
every other nation, and II asked where
the greatest so,srtisers are 70 be found
mine people out Of ten would undoubted.
~ say In this country. But II 10 not true.
Great blowers Of our own horn as we
are, the Englishmen, and even the
Frenchmen, can give us points In this
matter. Our business men are without
doubt skillful and enterprising in their
way, but as yet they are only students
Of an art in which their brethren Of Eng
land are past masters.
One Of the first things that strike an
observing American setting foot in Liv-
erpool is the number. variety and ingc-
nuity Of street advertisements. The horse
cars, or tram cars, as they call them
over there, are literally moving sign
boards. These tram cars are two story
houses on wheels. The advertisements
cover every inch of space, inside aud out,
which Is not required for seating the
passengers. Looking upon the bewilder-
ing array Of proclamations Of tho vir.
tues Of soaps and matches and announce.
ments of current amusements, IL is SIM
ply impossible for the stranger to tell the
destination or route Of the car. Omni.
buses arc decorated in the same way,
and the drivers have mud curtains. um.
brcllas and waterproof coats all en-
blazoned with advertisements.
Sandwich men" are neither fcw nor
far between. We have them here, but
in English cities there are hundreds to
our dozens. They 60 about over there In
companies Of twenty-five, struggling In
single file along tho gutters--for they ar
not allowed On the sidewalks--and when
one company passes another the sight
has the effect Of procession Of uni.
formed men. A few years ago crossed
the Atlantic with great American man
ufacturer who was going over to teach
the Old Country how business might be
built up by novel advertising. His soap
had conquered tho United States, and he
proposed to wash oil England with 1t.
He got no further than Liverpool, and
had been but one day ON English soil
when he conflded to me that although he
had come to teach he would stop to learn.
1--WE do not know the alphabet OF the art
Of advertising" said he, land as to soap,
well, hereafter shall substitute carry
soap to England for the proverb carry
Goals to Newcastle To my mind 1t IL
more expressive"
A railway station, whether surface or
underground, is the paradise Of the out
door advertiser. The bill poster fairly
revels In the opportunity which it af.
fords for the display OF illuminated pa.
per and the painter keeps him company.
The biggest letters Of all are employed
in displaying tho name Of the great bill
posters Of the United Kingdom, and 1t Is
not uncommon for the stranger to mis-
take these names for the first three or
four times that no sees them for the
names Of stations. To find the latter In
this wilderness Of signs requires ex-
perience as well as keenness of sight. The
general recollection Of them is confused
mingling Of bright color and paint, but
now and then a catchword from fre.
quent iteration fingers In the mind.
One placard In flaring red and black
letters tive feet long reads, "What II
costs to kill q cat" The rest of the no.
tice was in much smaller type, and as
often as scanned the legend am still
In ignorance as to what the awful pen.
atty of felicide may be. am not argu-
ing in favor of this sort OF Advertising
on the contrary my inclination Is against
its utility. 1t Is an open question how
many Of these railway signs are ever
read except by the few people who are
waiting over for trains and have neither
newspaper nor books In hand for time
killing. The spaces In the tomb like
underground porches ought to be more
valuable, since while shut into them you
are obliged to read what stares you In
the face.
ments, together with notices to the pas.
sengers, quite by heart. II you look al
your compagnons de voyage they glare
back at you with an air which accuses
you Of all sorts Of evil intentions, and
rather than encounter their suspicious
or the lurking accusation of imperti-
nence you must perforce commit to
memory the tributes Of respect to COW
slip wine and Bass ale, as well as tn.
records Of convictions for stealing rides
and assaulting passengers on "circle
trains" On the other hand the mos
useless Of the promiscuous bill sticking
would seem to be that on the pavements
where all day long forlorn figures crouch
In the slush just outside of the curl
stone pasting bill after bill on the wet
stones to be obliterated by the feet of
the throng, scarcely one Of whom pauses
to glance at the paper on which h
treads.
A few random figures obtained from
authentic sources without view to pub
lication impress the idea OF the whole
sale way in which the British advertise,
goes about his business. William H.
Smith, who is known to the world OF
politics as the first lord Of the treasury
and the Conservative leader In the house
OF commons, and to the stage as Sir Jo-
seph Porter, X. e. b., of "H. NJ, S. Pin.
afore," Is also the lessee Of the advertis.
ing privileges on the railways Of tn,
United Kingdom. The income OF Mr..
Smiths firm from this source must be
as large as from the newsdealing bust
ness, Of which he has tho monopoly, OF
as that OF Spiers & Pond from their res
taurants.
At all events, have it from very higl
authority that last year his advertising
privileges yielded him CT SOC, ,0Oc that 4
to say, over seven million dollars. !
would find this hard to believe If ! did
not know that my informant himself.
soap promoter" pays Smith & Son