The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-07-08
THEY USE PRINTERS INK.
Thousands Of Dollars Expended By
the Railroads in Advertise
ing Their Lines.
Schemes in Which Money Is Put
Which Do Not Show Any
Good Results.
How Rates arc Demoralized by the Scalp.
ing of Advertising Mileage The Mint
of Money Spent on Folders.

"If you or I had the amount of money
that any one of the big railroads expends
in printers ink in the course of n year,
remarked a general passenger agent. after
Diminishing al advertising fiend that in
sisted on the attractiveness of his scheme,
though the general agent couldn't see it,
we would think we wero rich for life. You
hoard just now how that man talked me
blind. Well, that is the way they all come.
l have to dispose of them BIZ the dozen, md
each of them has the lest and surcst thing
in the way of advertising that the world
ever heard of. The most of tho devices are
not worth n continental, and / venture to
add that the largest portion of what we
spend in the year in that way might as we'll
be thrown into the deep sea for any return
tho roads ever get from it. Why do we
patropize such schemes2 Well, / Lave Of
ten asked myself that question and have as
often been puzzled to find a satisfactory
answer. Perhaps the most potent one is,
they all do it, That being the case, none
of us feel that We can Effoi Il to be out of
the swim. What one does we all must do,
or we might find that we were getting left
in \ quarter where we least expected il,
You see, there il no way of telling lust
what benefit we do receive from any par
ticular bit of advertising. We mny sup
pose we are getting a great deal when in
reality Wa are receiving little or none, and,
on the other hand, some chance bit of ad-
vertising from which we hoped to receive
little or nothing may have the effect of
turning many passengers our way. Bear in
mind in all that ] nave said / have no
reference TO the regular advertising we do
in the reliable papers OF the country. We re-
gard the nonsy paid to them as MI invest
ment that yields a large return. l nave
b6en talking about the Irregular methods
and what might be called 9 catch penny
schemes that ars launched by tho hundred
on us every dav.
"Tnk Ike up Rny book of sports, for exam
PIE, o even any elite directory or any guide
book of any kind. or any publication that
might be considered devoted to one limo,
anu turn over to the front and back leaves
of it and you Will find that a dozen or so at
both ends are devoted to advertisements be-
sides having, may be, many pages of the nj
scattered ali through tho book. II will ba a
queer publication Of the sort name that
you cannot find tho advertisements Of one
or more roads in. The money spent for such
advertising Is, in my opinion, literally thrown
away. The book in which they appear ID
Itself looked ut by n very few, and of those
that look at ths book itself | will venture
10 say that WA per cent. never notice the
advertisements thnt II cont ms. Then
there are any number of 'snido' uhlica-
tions--alle2ed newspaper or trnde lou nails
and things of that 10 THE most al which
are nothing moro nor less than blackmail,
ing enterprises. They find tie rail. ond,
their easiest prey. They will CONS, you
sec, with snticing prof ositions TO y int Gil
We give them and not charge ua n cent in
money. All they ask IL that VIZ give them
so much transportation. That, they say,
Will not coat Ns y cent. Our trains have Ia
DO run any way Rnd it really makes no diff