The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-03-28


untli they can catch another When this
happens they usually have to work all night
! and catch what sleep thew can the next
morning before they start out again. Some
Tunes they don't get any sleep at all for
| Two days at time. You understand it is
absolutely decessary, in covering the vast
| territory that we do that the plaus laid
out in the beginning of the season will be
followed without any variation. It
Is Imperative, therefore, that each
| car should move at the exact
time set down in the pro-
gramme. At the same time it is essential
that no territory shall be passed unbilIed
The result Is the liveliest hustling imagin-
able whenever an unforeseen obstacle arises
II man doesn't turn I'D at the time that
the car should move, the car goes on with
out him, and he has to keep up with it as
best he can. Sometimes a man goes out
with a wagon TO put up bills along a
country road, and the wagon breaks down
or the horse becomes sick, or something else
happens to prevent the carrying on his
| work as was expected. In that case he is
authorized to hire wagon from any farmer
TO continue the work. No excuse is ac~
cepted, however, for the failure on his part
| TO do what Is required of him at the Begin
ming of the season.
BESIDES these cars, the livery man in
| each town is hired to distribute 200 half or
quarter sheet programmes on these country
| roads. There are q great many postoffices
throughout the country in villages too small
to have a railroad. The livery man is COM
PEELED to furnish us with certificate from
the postmaster at each of these Office to the
| effect that he had been there at the time
designated in the contract. In each car
| there is man who attends to putting up
the Autographs In the store windows of the
| town where the show is to exhibit
| in linz koaIr I, "a
| has made and the account of the work it
has performed, notifies the other cars, so
that they are able to tell what prices to pay
| and what work remains incomplete We
have three extra agents, one of whom in
spects the Autographs in the windows and
sees that the storekeepers have kept them
there as they agreed to when they accepted
| our passes. Another counts the numbers of
sheets posted, and a third verifes the reports
| of the men IN the cars. Formerly we had
three other cars that belonged to what was
known as the box brigade. These were free
lance cars, or skirmishers. They were used
| for this purpose.
There are great many small circuses in
the country who try to get in ahead of us if
they can. If then they hear that our adver-
| Using cars are off in one part of the country
and the circus in another, both remote from
third place, where the circus is finally ex-
/ pected to turn up, they will try and steal
march on us by jumping into a town and
| putting up their posters. Ciscuses keep
| pretty well informed of each others move
| mentS, and as soon as word came OF any
such attempt the box brigade or skirmlsh-
| ing cars were sent as fast as engines could
carry them to cut off the rival. Ghe people
on these cars were expected to carry out
their plans regardless of any obstacle. If
necessary the men would 60 without food.
drink. or sleep, until their object was ac-
complished. Now we need only one such
car. Formerly we had a car that gave
| magic lantern exhibits in each town in ad-
vance of the circus All sorts of odd pict-
ures would be shown, with advertisements
of the circus sandwiched in between. Now
this is no longer necessary.
The men have all their expenses paid and
get from $50 to $40 month salary. Be-
sides they can make on their expenses il
they want to, as we allow them 35 cents for
meal and 80 cents for a lodging when they
cau't reach their car. AS the permanency
of their work depends upon the way in
which they do it, friendly rivalry exists
among them, each trying to put up more
posters than the others. 1t is not unusual,
where the routes of two posters meet, for
one to try and get ahead of the other, so
that when he arrives he finds the first man
IN possession of all the space avail
able for posters. 1t is rule
pildb no LUdu SHOULD 90 any,
thing that will shock the sentiment of the
people among whom his business takes him.
Sometimes they come across curious scenes.
Up in the mountain districts of Kentucky
and West Virginia the farmers come in to
the circus with their cooking stoves on their
wagons and prepare their meals. The cost
of renting the bill boards in the towns along
the route of our cars averages 5000 a day.
Four weeks billing in New York costs about
Va n iatf iht1fa an Of
sheets day in the country
Local bill posting is quite as interesting
In its way as circus posting. The COMPETE
ton between the rival bill posters is fierce
The men who have charge of the work are
not like the cou try bill posters They are
the heads of big firms with large capt. ii and
have fat bank accounts. 1t requires money
to run the bill posting business here. Every
foot of space available for advertising Is bid
for actively by the rival concerns. Outside
of Barnum's circus and certain patent medi-
CT e and mercantile concerns, all the indi-
viduals and firms that bid for
the favor Of the New York public
through posters make contracts with
the big bill-posting firms. These rent or
purchase all the bill-boards, fences, walls,
ETC., to be had. The competition for the
possession of these sometimes forces prices
away up. The rival concerns watch each
other closely, and it sometimes happens that
after one has almost closed bargain with
an owner of good place for posters, the
rival will step in and take it away by
much higher bid. Two thousand dollars
year for the privilege of putting posters on
q fence is not large amount. Mr.. Alex
ander Clarke, veteran in the business,
said the other day:
Il calculated the other day that there is
100000 square feet Of fence used for bill
posters in this city, besides 10 900 bill boards
Most of the latter are owned outright by
the two big firms that control the business
here. The latter use from sixty to eighty
barrels of paste every day. They have
large force of expert bill posters and car
penters. Most of the poster advertising
nowadays is done on the roofs Of houses
along the lines of the elevated roads. We
put. up zinc fences for this purpose, as those |
won't rust and the fire department won't |
allow wooden fences. The business in New |
York is precarious, as large capital is re- |
quired and the property Is worth nothing |
except for bill posting purposes. Forty per |
cent of the bill boards have to be removed |
every year. They are broken, torn down, |
and burned by the hoodlums and small |
boys, and election days are especially |
severe on them. If bill poster wants to |
go out of business mis- only chance Of realIz- |
ing anything out of his contracts and prop |
erty, is to dispose of them to man in the |
same line. Otherwise his $50, 900 invested, |
and that il a small amount in New York, |