Evening star., 1896-01-04
ALL READ THE PAPERS,
Advertisers Must Use the Same Chan.
nels to Reach the Public.
fba


nels to Reach the Public.
From the Chicago Record.
If were asked for the best definition OF
the American, as distinguished from other
nationalities. should call him the man with
| a newspaper. We Americans live on news.
papers. They are the breath of our nostrils
and our perennial provender. I am not 60
ing into statistics on this matter-how many
newspapers are published in Europe and
how many newspapers are published here
t the per capita ratios, and all that sort OF
thing. 1t isn't necessary; anybody with
eyes can see it. 1t is my great privilege to
ride up and down each day on the New York
elevated road. What do see when enter
car? Nothing but newspapers, q row
down one side, with people sitting behind
them; another row down the other side, with
several promiscuous rows down the center,
with people huddled behind them. hanging
onto straps. Nobody notices his neighbor
nobody speaks to anybody; everybody fs
reading. You might sit down next to q
man who had spent twenty years of his life
trying to find you; you would be perfectly
safe; he would never see you. The cars slew
around the curves in a way that is often
startling, but no one Is startled; he is read
ing his paper. I firmly believe that IL the
train should jump the track and careen of
into the street below very few of the pas
sengers would know 1t. Bankers, brokers.
business men, millionaires and clerks, every
man with his paper.
II you boarded the train an hour ga r,,er
you would strike the shop girls-also read
ing. If you rode down at o'clock you
would find the hewers of wood and Founders
OF paving stones reading, too. It's so in the
morning. and it's just the same at night.
Just what effect this is going to have on the
American optic I don't know, but It's true
the country over-going to work in the
morning and going home at night, every
body who rides reads; and those who don't
have to ride read all the more, for they have
more time. The modern American is as in
separahle from his newspaper as the China
man from his queue.
Way to Reach the American.
That being the case. it requires no long
training in logic to perceive that If you want
to get at the American the one sure uni
versal way is the newspaper. This is espe-
cially true of the daily paper With many
men-in fact, 1t is quite safe to say with
the majority of men-the only literature
that they attempt is their daily paper. This
Is state of things that our literary friends
are wont to decry with great bitterness as
terrible sign of the degeneracy of the
times. But the world has in these latter
days bSen growing exceedingly practical
and matter-of-fact, and even the best of u.s.
with quite little Intellectual sensibility in
our makeup, are not apt to spend many
evenings in the week mulling over Carlyle,
John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer and the
rest. This sort Of reading is undoubtedly
very fattening to the mind, but with busy
men 1t is luxury that few can afford So
we read our morning paper and evening
paper-and let it go at that.
AS a matter of fact, reading the daily
paper is vastly more profitable than the
average novel, and 1t is considerably more
profitable than the bulk of the magazine
reading, l submit that it is very liberal
sort of education to man to know what
the whole world is doing from day to day.
Nest people of adult years, though thew
may not be at all conscious of the fact have
atquired by far the larger part of their
education from the newspapers In fact.
without entering into a discussion of its
propriety, most men get their opinions, DO
litical creeds and economic beliefs from
their daily paper. 1t is to them not only a
daily companion, but a daily instructor.
counselor and guide So II, you want to get
at a man there's no other possible way one
tenth as good as his paper.
Other Ways OF Advertfsinr.
1 admit that there are other ways Of ad-
vertising For Instance, a few years ago
you could get any quantity Of advertising
by jumping off the Brooklyn bridge. A hard
up Bowery boy did 1t, and now he lights his
pipe with government bonds. And there was
some degree Of advertising success achieved.
I believe, some time ago, by crossing th,,
Atlantic In ten-foot boat. But for sane
and certain results from advertising, the
daily paper leads the whole advertising pro-
cession, unchailenged and unchallenpahle
! do not apprehend that there will be any
considerable dissent from this view of the
case. Taking it for granted, therefore, that
1t will be generally agreed that the daily
press is the best medium for ADVERTISING.
the only question Is as to method.