The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1895-10-16
ADVERTISING In CARS
A NEW BUSINESS WHICH AMOUNTS
TO ss,ooo,o 900 A YEAR.

The Reason why ~ Has Its Limitations.
All Grown Up within Very Fcw Years.
Boatons Serious view OF tho Ad. writ
ere Attempts at Humor.
The annual expenditure for street chr
advertising In the United States has in
flve years grown from $500, 900 to 3d.
900, 900, and IL constantly increasing.
Although II is yet small In comparison
with the enormous amount OF money
paid for newspaper advertising, IL Is,
for various reasons, n peculiarly inter
esting development of modern business
methods. II IL an uutgrowth uf imror-
tnnt social bettCrmcnts, u new field for
tho display Of artistic and literary tai
ent, and not considerable element of
entertainment u8 we'll ms practical In
formation for tho quick wittcd Amcri-
can public. II is also field curiously
liable 20 be cornered. Newspapers may
add ON columns and pages 20 nccommo-
date advertisers, magazines bo made
few ounces or pounds hcavicr Co the
same end. new publications without
number bo set going and billhoards en-
lnrged indefinitely. In fact, every other
vehicle OF advertising has quality of
elasticity that is entirely lacking IN the
street car method. New lines w-ll not be
started or even moro cars put ON Ia give
opportunities TO- advertisers Those
things are determined by the require
ments of local travel And when the 10
advertising spaces in a car are filled tho
seventeenth advertiser who comes along
will have to wait his chance for some
one else to drop out.
Not infrequently tho limit Of accom-
modation has been reached in Boston
and other New England cities peculiar
ly favored by advertisers, and appli-
cants for space have had to wait for the
expiration Of running contracts before
they could gain entrance Already half
n dozen firms uro spending from $40, 900
TO 800, 900 year each in this way, mt
least 20 concerns each oXpend from Si5,-
600 to $40, 900, and from 20 to 30 may
be counted who put ont from $2b, 600 to
$40, 900 each These sums, IL is under
stood, are paid for the actual rental of
spaces in the street cars, the placing of
the cards in them and the watching nee
essary to see that the cars are run nc
cording to contract The cost Of getting
mp tho cards, which is very considerable,
is outside this estimate. 10 make up
the remainder of the estimated S3, 000,-
900 Of total annual expenditure an mr.
my Of smaller advertisers, generally To-
cal only, lend their aid.
The growth of street car advertising
has been TO very marked degree de-
pendent upon and synchronous with
marked improvements in street car serv-
ice. II was n very insignificant interest
in the old days Of the horse cars prior TO
1878. Tho low coiled, dingy, i'll lighted
vehicles then in use carried few plain,
unattractive cards. half obscurod by
dust and covered by glass, the rofrac-
tions from which made thcw difficult
to deciphcr. Only local advertisers occu-
pied spaces and did so rather TO help
struggling enterprise or get rid Of per-
sistent solicitor than through any hope
of profit from the Investment. Then, in
San Francisco primarily, cable traction
began to take the place Of horses, ona-
bling tho employment of roomier, loft
Ter cars, handsomer in every detail of
materials, form and color than the old
ones, and some genius evolved the hap
by idea of combining tho advertising
cards by holdings in concave spaces and
without glass. At once the cards We're
made TO conform to their improved sur
roundings. They wero more handsome
ly designed, printed in bright, attract
i've colors and sometimes illustrated
It was not until 1888, when electric
propulsion had been clearly demon
strated to be commercially practicable
and trolley lines We're put in operation
all over tho country, that street Car nd
vertising began to assume its present
character AS before the Improvement
in it was in keeping with the better
ment Of the vehicles, which were now
no longer simply comfortable, but be-
came luxurious. The amount Of interest
taken in the advertising cards, as we'll as
the vigilance of critical observation, is
sometimes demonstrated by protests
against some novelty within the first
hour of its appearance. That is particu-
larly likely to happen in Boston. where
the committee for regulating the uni
verse is largely represented. That COM
mittee is always in session, one of its
members constitutes quorum, and it
seldom lacks things to kick at. One day,
somo months ago, it was moved to turn
itself loose on the subject Of new card
that flashed out at once in all the cars
The man who let's lady stand
Where others push and crowd her
Deserves to have the strongest brand
Of-'s baking powder
To raise him.
The Boston newspapers received let
ters Of indignant protest against the ad-
vertiser's audacity in presuming to teach
Bostonians courtesy under the guise Of
advertising his baking powder. Finally
the row got into the courts over the