Eagle River Democrat. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1893-1896, 1895-10-14
A NOVEL INVESTMENT.
STRANGE COMMERCIAL FAITH.

Trade Comes Back After Many Days
Enormous Investments in Modern
Business Methods = whats in
Name?" = Trade Marks and Their
Defense.
If our forefathers could look down on
modern business methods they would ut
the first glance conclude that modern
merchants were as mad as March hares.
After they had become thoroughly &C
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 avails OF no
little machinery in the conduct OF his
everyday Office work. Patented systems
of copying, of duplicating, wonderful let
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 a machine which records 1t on
wax-coated cylinder, from which, at
later hour, the typewriter can reproduce
it 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 q
great commercial house spends two hum
dred thousand dollars during single
year in newspaper advertising, there is
nothing in the inventory at the close OF
the year which will represent the outlay.
The papers have been printed, distributed,
read and again reduced to pulp In 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 conclusively
that mere name may be worth million
if it is well known and we'll respected.
whats in a name?' finds forcible an
swer in the columns of our daily papers.
The shrewd school boy, who puzzled his
companions by daring them to spell
housekeeping in seven letters, and then
solved it by spelling Sapolio, must have
recognized the intimate connection be-
tween these two ideas which has been
built up by 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 as they are paid for; but if properly
managed, the trade name accumulates
and carries forward the value as per-
manent investment. An article OF real
worth, clearly named and widely made
known to the public, is sure of a brilliant
success. SapOliO affords abundant evil
dence of this. Its great usefulness, its
distinct but descriptive name, and it's al
most universal use has resulted in as great
success to it's manufacturers as in assist
ance to the housekeepers of the world.
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
be done openly, and modern law with each
succeeding year recognizes more fOrcibly
hot %ho iorhf nf ira do. our.
ers, and Furnishes with greater alacrity
attempts at infringement. The maDufac-
turers of Sapolio have successfully over
thrown countless limitations, and we I'M
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
It 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 6espica-
Bile. except when monkeys or stage mimics
are thereby enabled to amuse an audi
ence. Yet although the history of trade
furnishes no instance of really success
full imitation, still hundreds attempt it
every year.
In the Office of the Sapolio manufacture
ers there is a Chamber of Horrors where
the proprietors keep samples Of the many
cakes of imitation stuffs which have been
vainly cut forward only to meet with
prompt failure or to drag out prO6tless
existence through few years The pub
lie is too discriminating to buy an inferior
article on the assertion that it lis just as
good as Sapolio."
The man who attempts to deceive by
initiating the name or appearance of an
other mans goods is a self-proclaimed
liar. and however general the vice of false
hood may be, it is a fact that even liars
have no sympathy for one of their kind.
The public asks no better proof of inferi-
ority than that the goods are pushed for
ward under the cover Of better reputa-
ton. and the Chamber of Horrors in the
Sapolio building tells in plain terms how
the public recognizes and despises such
attempts.
speculation that leads these well-known
manufa cturers to expend hundreds of
thousands of dollars in constantly re-
rninding the world of Sapolio. Years of
;ntimate acquaintance have taught them
that tihslt the public knows good article and
Is is willing to pay for it; that the market
40 80 ubothor II hn hI1ttoY or