Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-10-22
RAILWAY ADVERTISING.
&c involves an Immense Expenditure,
How It Is Managed.

I5 involves an Immense Expenditure.
How It Is Managed.
Special Correspondence or TIE Rs0tstSr.
OMAHA, October 2O.-HaVe you ever
stopped to think, while you lazily
turned over q pile OF advertising matter
temptingly displayed on the counter Of
some railway ticket office, Of the time,
trouble and expense involved in its pre-
paration.
The chances are dollars to cents that
you have never given the matter
thought. III you have, the probability
is equally great that you have never
looked into IL deeper than to wonder
vaguely if these many hued, startling
posters, these dainty guidebooks, these
nmbersome land mystifying) time ia
bles are of any real service; If, after all,
the railway companies recOup them
selves for the money they spend in get
ting them up.
If some one who knew were to tell
you the exact sum that the railways Of
this country annually invest in adyer-
Using, you would doubtless look upon
your informant as a past grand master
in the art of rOmancing. What the
amount really is cannot be stated with
any degree Of certainty, but il assuredly
exceeds sos, OOO,O 600.
Yes, indeed, 25, 900, 600 shining dollars
are expended every year by the railways
Of the United States for the sole pur-
pose Of keeping themselves before the
public.
Nowadays every we'll managed road
has its own advertising department.
Sometimes the head OF this department
is given a title; he is then known as gen.
eral advertising agent More often,
however, he is simply superior clerk,
who, possessed of originality and liter
airy tendencies, is intrusted under the
supervision of the general passenger
agent with the duty of reaching the eye
aud ear of the outside world, and Of
making known to IL the advantages Of
his particular line. Very frequently the
''advert sing man" has had journals
tic experience Of greater or less dura-
tion-something which, it can be easily
seen, is Of almost incalculable value to
him.
The devices by means Of which rail-
/ tion are almost past reckoning. Besides
the everyday medium OF newspaper ad-
vertlsing undoubtedly the best method
OF reaching the peOple) they take an
immense variety Of forms. At the mo-
ment the writer recalls without trouble
I the fact tha6 memorandum books, fans,
matchsafes, buttonhOokS, pincushiohs,
uaperweights. thermometers, chromos,
/ calendars, playing cards, checkers and
/ checker boards, photographs and paper
/ cutters have all within the last few
years been issued for free distribution
| by one or another railway company.
| As to the cost Of railway advertising:
\ When one considers the item OF time
I table alone the results OF investigation
I are astounding. Take, for example, a
road Of, say, 5000 miles. 1t will issue
every month from 5000 TO 30, 900 local
/ folders, ~ the number depending, OF
course, very largely upon the volume OF
travel patronizing it. The cost OF local
I folders will be roughly about $3.50 a
month or 81, 600 a year. The Through
I folder" being intended to favorably i'm
press travellers living at points distant
+ from the line issuing IL, is q more elao-
crate and expensive affair; more are
| needed aud the cost runs all the way
| from s., 600 to $40, 900 or $4,000 year.
Then there's the question OF maps.
! Maps are expensive. A very respecta-
I Die one can be had, II purchased in lots
| OF :. 600 or 10000 for about twenty cents
apiece. An energetic company easily
diSposes OF 10, 600 in year, and thus go
another s., 900.
Guidebooks are another item involv-
! ing heavy expenditure. II they are to
be- effective they require in their prepa-
ration the finest kind Of paper and the
most original designing, all OF which
costs money. A thousand dollars is
mere bagatele in the first cost OF a
"Book OF Summer Tours" As instanc-
ing this, it may be said that certain
western road, less than 500 miles In
/ length, recently issued publication
that cost over $4,000. And so it goes,
As most people know, the greater part
of railway advertising in country ana
city newspapers is paid for In transpor-
tation. The results, from the railway 8
stand point, are good. No money is paid
out. and I'VE country editor" is disposed
TO look kindly upon the road over whose
tracks he rides on a mileage book.
The approach Of the Worlds fair has
already called into being very large
amount Of advertising matter, and Will
vet be responsible for much more a
very large percentage Of which will in
all likelihood never be seen in this
country, for the reason that 1t is being
prepared for the beaetit OF the people OF
the other lands than ours. Europe ana
south America are already being be-
seiQed by great quantities OF folders,
while even Australia, China, Japan and
the South sea islands have not escaped
Practically the railways OF the coun-
try have taken upon their shoulders the
duty OF nOising abroad the attractions
OF their great fair, and so heartily are
thew entering upon the performance OF
the task that it may we'll be doubted II
thew are not attending to it In better
manner than could be done by the com
missioners themselves.
]. NJ. CAMPBELL.