San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-02-04

Nine tenths of the merchants o.
today are asking themselves the
question "DOes advertising pay"
What is the remaining One-tenth
doing? 1t is reaping the harvest
OF dollars and cents which is the
result of well-written, judiciously
placed advertising. 1t consists of
the successful minority who have
the sound Judgment, the acute
business sense to know that, in
good times and through bad, it is
an eternal truth that it pays to ad-
vertise. 1t consists OF many OF the
merchant princes of this broad
land, men who have carved their
way to fortune by the aid Of prin
ter's ink and Newspaper space.
While it is undoubtedly true that
many concerns that advertise fail
in business, the reader will find it
difficult to bring to mind many
successful houses in a large way
who do not advertise, and adver-
tise in manner commensurate
with the volume Of their BUSINESS.
Injudicious and reckless advertis-
ing will wreck business as quick
ly as bad management, last century
methods or any other cause pro-
ductive of disaster, but surely no
one would affirm, in this year OF
progress, 1895, that careful, we'll
timed publicity, for advertising is
publicity, nothing else, can fail to
be productive Of good and result in
an increase Of business.
To take such a stand would be to
ay in the face of facts and Of the
experience of generations, for ad-
vertising is no new thing, although
the methods of these latter days
have changed what was formerly
generally done in a careless, slip.
shod manner into more or less
exact science. One has but to men
ton the names OF few familiar
concerns to recall to the reader
some prominent successes achieved
solely by advertising, and, Of
course, and this is absolutely es.
snntial, genuine merit Of the thing
itself,
Royal Baking Powder occurs
first to the mind, originally manu-
featured in a small drug store at
Fort Wayne, Ind, now valued, as a
property, at twelve millions Of dol
lars. What would you get for your
twelve millions, were you to buy
out the Royal Baking Powder COM
pany tomorrow? Let me tell you
You would get the recipe, some
doubtless valuable real estate and
factory buildings, a handsome Of.
fee in New York and-the result
Of years Of persistent advertising
the cOntide nee and trade Of the
public. So that actually you would
be paying most of this enormous
sum for what you could neither see
nor feel. Let us suppose that you
did not believe in advertising, and
decided to discontinue this huge
annual expenditure, and thus
double your profits. Experience
teaches advertising experts that
your fate would be as follows:
At the end OF the first year you
would find that the gross sales had
decreased by about one-half; at
the end Of the second year you
would note a further decline in
sales OF about so per cent; after
the third and subsequent years
your books will present you with a
similar showing, and in much less
than ten years you would have
ceased to be a factor in the baking
powder market at all. These are
actual facts, and in the face Of
them it is hard to cOnsCientiously
say that advertising does not pay.
In this connection 1t would not
be out OF place to mention Browns
Iron Bitters, now so strongly be-
fore the Southern public. Origin
ally the favOrite prescription of a
celebrated physician, it has become
a household and indispensable
remedy in many thousands OF fam
lilies, who would never have been
heard Of it's great curative and
strengthening powers had it not
been so widely advertised during a
period covering nearly quarter OF
a century. During that time mil.
lions of dollars have been paid to
the newspapers Of this country by
the proprietors, not as gambler
plunges and trusts a fortune to
luck, but deliberately, after care
fully planning, and with as great
a surety Of profitable returns as
you, reader, have when you invest
your money in your own business
be 1t dry goods, or clothing, oil
pianos, or any other line.
What clothing merchant can fai
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