Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-10-20
RAILWAY ADVERTISING.



stopped to think. while you lazily turned
over pile of advertising matter tempt.
ingly displayed ON the counter of some
railway ticket Office, of the time, trouble
and expense involved in its preparations
The chances are dollars to cents that
you have never given the matter Il
thought. If You have, the probability
is equally great that you have never
looked into it deeper than to wonder
vaguely if these many hued, startling
posters, these dainty guidebooks, these
cumbersome (and mystifying) time ia
blc5 are of any real service; if, after all
the railway companies recoup them
selves for the money they spend in e,
ting them up.
If some one who knew were to tell
you the exact sum that the railways of
this country annually invest In adver
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 it assuredly
exceeds $25, 100000.
Yes, indeed, 25,000,00O shining dollars
are expended every year by the railways
of the United States for the sole purpose
of keeping themselves before the public,
Nowadays every well managed roa6.
has its own advertising department.
Sometimes the head Of this department
is given title; he is then known as ger
eral advertising agent. More often.
however, he is simply a superior clerk,
who, possessed of originality and lit
erary tendencies, is intrusted under the
supervision of the general passenger
agent with the duty of reaching the
eye and ear of the outside world, and of
making known to it the advantages of
his particular line. Very frequently
the advertising man" has had jour
nalistic experience of greater or less
Notwithstanding which, it can cas-
lily be seen, is of almost incalculable
value to him.
The devices by means of which rail
road endeavors to secure public atten-
ton are almost past reckoning. Besides
the everyday medium of newspaper adj
vertising Undoubtedly the best method
of reaching the people, they take an
immense variety of forms. At the mo-
ment the writer recalls without trouble
the fact that memorandum books, fans,
watchsafes, buttonhooks, pincushions.
paperweights, 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
tables alone the results of investigation
are astounding, Take, for example,
a road of, say, 5000 miles. 1t will issue
every month from IS, 000 to 30, 900 "local
folders" the number depending, of
course, very largely upon the volume of
travel patronfzing it. The cost of local
folders viii be roughly about $3.50 a
month or $4,000 a year. The Through
folder" being intended to favorably i'm
press travellers living at points distant
from the line issuing it, is more elab-
crate and expensive affair; more are
needed and the cost runs all the way
from 81, 900 to $12, 900 or SIS, 900 year
Then there's the question of maps
Maps are expensive A fairly respecta
BILE one can be had, if purchased in lots
of 5000 or 10000, for about twenty
cents apiece. An energetic company
easily disposes of 10000 in year, and
thus go another s., 1000.
Guidebooks are another item involv
ing heavy expenditure. If 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 a
mere bagatelle in the first cost of
"Book of Summer Tours" AS instanc-
ing this, it may be said that certain
western road, less than 500 miles in
length, recently issued Il publication
that cost over SIC, 1000 And SO it goes.
AS most people know, the greater part
of railway advertising in country and
city newspapers is paid for in trans
portation. The results, from the rail
ways standpoint, are good. No money is
paid out, and "ye country editor is dis
posed to look kindly upon the road over
whose tracks he rides on mileage book.
The approach of the Worlds fair has
already called into being very large
amount of advertising matter, and will
yet be responsible for much more, a verJ
large percentage of which will in ali
likelihood never be seen in this country
for the reason that 1t is being prepare
for the benefit of the people of other
lands than ours. Europe and South |
America are already being besieged by |
great quantities of folders, while even
Australia, China, Japan and the South |
Sea islands have not escaped.
Practically the railways of the coua |
try have taken upon their shoulders the !
duty of noising abroad the attractions
of the great fair, and SO heartily are they |
entering upon the performance of their
task that it may well be doubted if they |
are not attending to it in better manner
than could be done by the commissioners
themselves. j. M. CAMPBELL
Breaking the News to the Sultan.
In 1929, when the Russians had taken
" L, IL ~