The Livingston enterprise. [volume] (Livingston, Mont.) 1883-1914, 1890-07-12

for two reasons: First, that felt tha: the PR
tice now inaugurated, of calling upon membe
| of the association to express their views on nj
ters of interest to the craft was an excellent on
and should in every case be met py ready acql
| escence; and second, that the subject assigned
me was one in which have tor some years be'
particularly interested, and worthy of such co
| sideration by the association paper prepar,
| with some forethought might suggest.
! So eminent an authority in our profession
| Charles A. Dana, at dinner given to the Amer
can Newspaper ublisheis association in Ne
| York City in February last, said, in considerir
the subject of advertising agents: ''fhere is
constant tendency to find fault with that class
| persons who are ordinarily known middlemel
| They may be grievance, but in my view of tn
case, middlemen are Indispensable. The compl
Gated machinery of our modern life cannot
carried on without midalemen. You must hay
them. They constitute great wheel in the ecoI
| omy of modern life and without that wheel tn
| machin cry will not work. So said Mr.. Dana.
l am not one of those who hold that the advel
ttsing agent is an unmitigated evil: parasit
| existing on the labors of the newspaper meI
though there are many agents who perhaps in tn
experience OF all of us. have G wen ample prove
| cation for the formation of such an opinion.
The responsible advertising agent Is, believe
engaged in q legitimate business; quite as muc
so as brokers and commission men generally
1t is true, he has nothing to sell, but through hi
extensive acquaintance with those who are seller
and those who are buyers, he brings to the pub
and might not come at ALL and by systematic
business method he makes the transaction O
that business easier to some extent and yer
much safer than if the publisher was dealn
directly with the advertiser For this the pub
Usher pays him liberal commission; too liberia
think, considering the immense neld which h
works. We feel this when, at the expiration of
contract with some standard advertiser who is Il
good as gold and proportionately liberal in hi
ideas, the agent steps in and beg gins negotiation
for renewal at the old rate less his commission
OF course, or perhaps he cuts down space ant
provides for alternate ms and outs, proratin!
the value OF the service on the old rate divided
each way by these reductions in space and fre
quency In service, to be still further depleted b,
his commission. In such case we naturally
feel that the agent is interfering with our bust
nee and we cannot help surmising that he has
gone to the advertiser and persuaded him that ht
was paying the country papers too much money
backing his assertion by Offering to get adequate
service for great deal less, with, regret to say
in the case OF most country papers, successful
result.
Such foray into the publishers domain i:
generally fatal in its consequences. for while the
dyertiser, after one years trial through the
advertising direct, is not likely to come back to
old prices and the conditions which governed
them. He has learned something which he should
not have been permitted to learn, but he has
learned it for all time.
In considering the ststus of the advertising
agent, the question naturally arises. Whose agent
Is he! Certainly not the publishers, for his
whole time and energy is spent in the effort to
cheaper our service, paving US as little aa he
possibly can tor what he must have. In all my
experience in the newspaper business | know of
but one case where the amount of a contract was
advanced by an agent ordering re-
newal, and although it Is now three years since it
happened, and have had the business continu-
Ously during all this PERIOD it haa failed to occur
again, and to this day am utterly at loss to &C
count for such an extraordinary proceeding.
tn ~ nf fD,r ne
lown to the lowest figure, the agent shows that
he is not the agent OF the publisher in that he is
not a seeker of business for except collect
vely. If, for instance he finds an advertiser
who wishes to push his product in Montana the
agent will offer to give him the requisite space in
10 many papers in the state tor so much money,
md this bargain being coIlciuG ne commences
correspondence with The various publishers in
he state, offering them rdiculousiy low price
or the service: if | refuse it my neighbor may
lot, and if my publication is deemed of enough
Importance may get an amended offer or two,
me of which may finally accept. Tie sys TEN
pursued in such cases is very frankly set forth In
What may he termed an editorial article in Row
IFS Printers Ink, Issue of May 10, 1880, from
which quote rs follows:
"lf A. B. applied TO Us to pla'e his advertising
n the papers OF Ohio, we Should proceed upon
he theory that each and every paper Issued there
an be of service to him if secured at price
which is low enough. W. should therefore offer
he advertisement to nearly all of them at very
or an advertisement so low that some publishers
viii not be found to accept 1t, and in dull time
is surprising to what an extent even the best
apers will sacrifice their schedule rates. The
rst offers will be 80 low that every acceptance
Iill be bargain. The publishers who do not
ccept will write, naming price at which they
'ill accept, and communications from them
onsidered in connection with the acceptances
'hich have been received, and new proposals are
hen issued to only those pape rs which are needed
. cover the territory rs thoroughly as is thought
dvisable. No one must lose sight Of the fact
hat, after all, the best bargains are likely to be
be papers to which the highest prices are paid,
ut the method pursued prevents paying any pa
er more than Its probable WORTH And, Mr..
lowell might havetruthfully added, as much, US
4 all fairness It should get.
The aggregate of all these acceptances are GER
sinly within the limits of the gross amount for
'hich the agent has agreed to place the advertis-
lg, and yet he has an ironclad contract with
ach and every publisher, that one-quarter Of the
ccept for the service. is to be retained by him
)r putting the business in our way. This man
certainly not the agent of the publisher, for
is efforts in our behalf partake of none of the
oltcitude for our welfare that we have the right
expect of one who aspires to be our agent.
1hatever may be the truth of the popular belief
lat his sword is two-edged, cutting the phat
'om both advertiser and publisher alike, we
now 1t has one edge, and sharp one too.
Yet on the other hand, the agent brings us all q
ass Of business that might be offered to us by
rincipals, but which as cautious business men
Q would be slow to accept. 1t pays good rates,
ut being on its face swindle, it is fair to pre-.
lme the principals are swindlers and that they
ouId just as willingly do up newspaper man
, the public generally. In such cases respon-
BILE middle man is an absolute necessity to thu
ublisher, and herein the agent is benefit; he
the guarantor for class of business that no
ublisher would take except for cash in advance. |
ut even this fact does not argue that he is i'm
ned with any phllanthI opic motives toward the
ubiishers. He rarely If ever takes any risks on
lis class of business, and the knowledge of his
over ast being the only intermediary through
hich his principals can reach the publishers
rcbsbly enures more to his benefit than in the
'se of more acceptable class of advertising.
It, then, the advertising agent is not the agent
the publishers, why is it that the publishers
let and in measure undermining their bust
,ss? Is It not because nearly every country |
swspaper has certain amount of unproductive |
'ace which it is more profitable to ill even at
not the cause Of this condition of affairs to be
und in the universal disincination of our local |
lsiness men to patrOnize the home paper? This, |
)wever, Is question which, though opening |
lde field for discussion, is not pertinent to this
sDer
In considering the relation of the country pa
II to the advertising agent, it must be evident |
at some measure of reform is imperative for !
Q protection of the newspaper. TO evidence
is l refer to recent offer made by a we'll known |
ew York agency to place ten line advertise
ent in 900 weekly papers for $45. Now, just |
ink of this! $45 divided among 1000 papers is
cents paper, and if some stiff-necked pub
,hers should refuse this princely sum and get |
ore, others of necessity get less, and as the ad-
rtieer is only called upon to pay the sum
med, the agents commission necessarily comes |
It of the publisher or else the agent does the
)rk for nothing, which is not likely. Doubtless
9 "patent insides' are the papers that are ia
red with this valuable business, but the making
blic such an offer ts necessarily an injury to
cry publisher in the land. A proposition. that
me to me few days ago from st. Louis
ency with whom do continuous but not a
rye business, was about in the same spirit of
agnanimity. They offered me for a four inch
one year in the weekly, $l2 in ink, or So in
sterial, or So in cash. My first impulse was to
g the whole thing into the waste basket, but on
cond thought acknowledged the receipt of the
OPPOSITION and requested the makers in all
riousness not to take up my time with any
ore such dsmphool propositions. Whenever
advertising agent thinks SO poorly of my pub
alton as to offer me $1.5O per inch per year, l
mt to Cross him OF of my books.
You all know that these two instances can be
pplemented by thousand more, fresh in the
the assertion that the advertising
ent has gotten into the deplorable habit Of
,king at the publisher through the big end of
opera glasses and to make 1t apparent that
must adopt some measures that will induce
N. if not to reverse his glasses, at least to re-
we them and regard us as he does other peo-
}, with mis- naked eye.
rhe consideration Of this subject is beyond the
,pe of this paper, but it is earnestly recon-
,nded to the association as proper matter for
mediate action, and as pointer indicative of