The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-01-23
BILL POSTING.


ugly IN the extreme. AND then at night,
when returning from shopping or bust
ness, one looks again. Lol transfer
nation. The billboard is gay with haunt-
ing posters. Perhaps a beautiful woman
in gcanty attire greets ones sight; per-
haps huge lion shaking the bars of his
cage; perhaps pretty child smiles win
somely down; perhaps one of those Au-
brey Beardsley nondescripts rampant
startles and amuses one. Reds, yellows,
violets and greens, phantasmagoria of
color and shape, a carnival of shapely
forms in pink or black tights, melange
of weird and bizarre effects have taken
the place of unadorned, plain, everyday,
commonplace wood.
How has it all come about?
The business of bill posting has come
to be most important. In New York it
is greater art and a more successful
occupation than in any other city in the
country. 1t is practically controlled by
three firms, A. Van Buren, & Co., Rea-
gan & Clark and Harry Munson, the lat
ter commanding fully one-half of the
trade.
Munson, who has been in the business
10 years, was the first contractor to fur
nish advertisers with a list showing
where their paper was placed. Before
that if advertisers presumed to ask the
contractor in what parts of the town he
had placed their posters they were curt
~ told to go out and hunt them up. But
Munson adopted a more just plan, and
the result has shown in the building up
Of his enormous trade.
His headquarters are on Duane street,
and here one may learn all sorts of in
teresting details about business closely
allied to the commercial and amusement
interests of the town.
Chow do you post New York;" ask
ed.
t'To properly post the city Of New
York. replied my informant, ''fro1n
the Battery to the city limits requires
10000 sheets, which cost the advertiser
$3.50, at 81 cents sheet to the COM
mercial trade and 4 cents to theatrical
customers. About $75 a week is the
average theatrical expenditure for bill
ing. If the contractor gets 500 we
from this class of custom, he thin
himself very fortunate. It is the co
mercial trade on which he relics"
Glow is Il poster made up?"
GA poster is made up of sheets % by
~ inches. An eight sheet bill occupies
a space on the board 90 by feet fall
All billboards are about the same height.
Such display costs the advertiser $23
per 100, or % cents week each. "
''For how long do firms usually con-
tract?''
GAS rule, firms contract for run
of the boards for two months, though
- 10
for a much longer period. The Franco
American Foods company, one of the
largest commercial advertisers, runs
contract for seven months. Barnum and
Buffalo Bill are the largest theatrical
advertisers, their posting in New York,
Brooklyn and Jersey City costing $1O,-
900 season. The tobacco trade is eager
~ sought by contractors, it being excel
lent custom. The liquor trade is not so
good, possibly because it is not so neces-
sary to advertise an. article which men
think they must have. 3"
"How do you get the contracts?"
Contractors have capable canvassers,
who visit leading firms to get their ideas
about posters. Suppose the advertiser
has an idea, design. in his head. 1t is
first drawn on heavy paper in black and
choose. Then contractor and advertiser
consult and criticise. Finally, when de-
cided upon, it goes to the printer, who
engraves it on wood or stone, as demand
ed, and it is reproduced exactly as the
artist drew Or painted it. Often seven
or eight different colors are used, and
there is method whereby one color is
laid over another-red on white or red
on purple. Thus by running red ink
over other colors several different shades
may be obtained. p"
"And then?"
''Fresh from the printers hands, the
poster is folded in such way that a
workman who cannot read can put it up
Just as we'll as one who can. All the
work is done from the outside in. Next
it is marked by the foreman of the men,
who is furnished with a list of the
boards on which it is to be displayed.
The advertiser furnishes the paper only.
All the other expenses are borne by the
contractor. -
Munson has eight large wagons, fur
nished with ladders, paste cans and
brushes. These start out at O'Clock ev-
cry morning, each wagon carrying two
men. Then there are IL men who do
the foot routes. The wages of these
workmen are SO day, hours from to 6.
Then rentals for posting space in New
York are very large. They will run
from 50 to $780, 900. Some are paid
monthly, some quarterly and some year
ly, the lower rentals being paid month
". For So feet at Broadway and Thir-
ty-sixth street, which is a most desira-
bic location, contractors pay 1916 quar-
terly. Forty-second and Broadway, also
very desirable, brings 5000 a year.
Broadway and Blocker is another loca-
ton coveted by the contractors and
which commands big price. In fact,