Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1894-1895, 1895-10-11
A NOVEL INVESTMENT.
STRANGE COMMERCIAL FAITH.


Defense.
If our forefathers could lock down Oh
modern business methods they would ut
the first glance conclude that modern
merchants were as mad as March hares.
After they had become thoroughly ac-
quainted with the magnificent systems
which are used by our great railroad cor
porations and mammoth trusts, they
would conclude that the age was an age
Of magicians and not of fools. The ma
chinery of business has kept pace with
the improved machinery of our mills. In
deed, the merchant of to-day ayails OF 10
little machinery in the conduct Of his
everyday office work. Patented systems
of copying, of duplicating wonderful le--
ter files, and hundreds of neat aids TO
office work have multiplied very fast dur
ing the past few years and within the last
month. The Graphophone has gone into
active use in business offices, SO that the
merchant can dictate all his correspond
ence to 4 machine which records II on
wax-coated cylinder, from which, at
later hour, the typewriter can reproduce
1t for the mail
The marvellous developments of modern
business show more strongly in the matter
OF advertising than in most other branch
es. Vast sums of money are apparently
thrown away in this direction. When Il
great commercial house spends two hun
dred thousand dollars during a single
year in newspaper advertising, there Is
nothing in the inventory mt the close of
the year which will represent the outlay.
The papers have been printed, distributed,
read and again reduced to pulp i'll the
paper MILL while the merchants good
money has been paid to the publishers.
Prudent men, even of the present gener-
alton, hardly comprehend it. Thousands
shake their heads, and invest their own
money in bricks and mortar, feeling as
sured that they can depend on possessions
which they see rather than invest their
money in building up something which to
them seems visionary.
A true philosopher of the olden time
put over his door the legend, Things in =
visible deceive not" The bankers and
builders of his day sneered at him as they
counted their gold and reared their solid
buildings. But he had Scripture for his
warrant, and modern advertisers are the
direct followers of his philosophy. He
labored TO show men that gold might be
stolen, buildings might burn substantial
possessions turn to dust and disappoint-
ment. while SKILL education and character,
though invisible, could not be stolen nor
destroyed. The modern advertiser goes
much further. and proves conclusivey
that mere name may be worth Il million
IL Il is well known and well respected.
WHAT'S III name?" finds forcible an
swer i'll the columns of our daily papers.
The shrewd school boy, who puzzled his
companions by daring them to spell
hOusecleo ming in seven letters, and then
solved il by spelling Sapolio, must have
recognized the intimate connection be-
| tween these two ideas which has been
built up by a vast expenditure of money.
| The five letters, PEARS, though valuelesS
/ singly. are worth hundreds of thousands
| of dollars when used in connection with
soap. The printed matter, painted signs,
| and countless devices to make the name
popular pass away annually, almost as
| fast they are paid for; but if properly
| managed, the trade name accumulates
and carries forward the value rs n per-
manent investment. An article Of real
| worth, clearly named and widely made
! known TO the public, is sure of Il brilliant
/ success. SapoliO affords abundant evil
/ dence of this. Its great usefulness, its
distinct but descriptive name, and its al
most universal use has resulted in as great
success TO its manufacturers as in assist
/ EQcc 10 the Oh lHe WoTIu.
Such an investment as the trade-name
| Sapolio needs no fire insurance, and can
not secretly be conveyed to Canada. If
tempered with or infringed upon, it must
I've done openly. and modern law with each
succeeding year recognizes more forcibly
! than before the rights of trade-name own
| ers, and Furnishes with greater alacrity
attempts at infringement. The manufac-
| turers of SapOlio have successfully over
| a. iu1i fot nd
4 derstand that they are now prosecuting
dealers who silently pass another article
| over their counters when the customer has
/ plainly asked for SapOlio. This is new
departure in law, but is clearly equitable
1t promises to add another link To the laws
| which assist in the defense of trade marks
and trade names.
An attempt to initiate is always despica-
| bic. except when monkeys or stage mimics
are thereby enabled to amuse an audi
ence Yet although the history of trade
! furnishes no instance of n really success
full imitation, still hundreds attempt il
| every year.
| In the office of the Sapolio manufa ctur-
ers there is a Chamber of Horrors where
the proprietors keep samples Of the many
| cakes OF imitation Stuffs which have been
yainly put forward only to meet with
prompt failure or to drag out proitless
existence through few years The pub
| ,lc is too discriminating to buy an inferior
article on the assertion that it lis just rs
good as Sapalio."
| The man who attempts to deceive by
| initiating the name or appearance OF an
other mans goods is self-proclaimed
| liar, and however general the vice of false
hood may be, it is Il fact that even liars
have no sympathy for one of their kind
| The public asks no better proof of nferi
ority than that the goods are pushed for
! ward under the cover of Il better rcputa
ton. and the Chamber of Horrors in the
Sapolio building tells in plain terms how
The public recognizes and despises such
attempts.
1t Is not an empty faith or visionary
speculation that leads these weli-knowI
manufacturers to eXpend hundreds oil
| thousands Of dollars IN constantly re
uinding the world of SapoliO. Years OF
intimate acquaintance have taught then
that the public knows a good article and
is willing to pay for it; that the market
for fine goods, whether it be butter oil
fruits. or laces or diamonds, yes. or GOOD
securing soap, is never glutted. They
have become intimate with the people
Sapolio is n household word, always spok
On with good will. as if it were familiar
friend. The thousands who pass by 'rh,
Sun building on their way to and from
the Brooklyn Bridge look up with a smile
as they recognize the great sign which
now overhangs the ruins of French's Io
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