The herald., 1897-10-19
Gift Schemes and Advertising

Gift Schemes and Advertising
To the Editor Of the Los Angeles
Herald: The Merchants and Manufac-
turers' association has taken wise action
in its resolutions looking to the aboli-
tion Of certain schemes that are used
to draw trade. The objects of the as.
sociation are enumerated as follows:
To abolish the practice of giving
premiums or prizes, and thereby main
| tanning lottery in disguise.
To abstain from painting announce
| ments of sales on show windows and
| thereby creating the impression on v;s-
itors of unfavorable trade conditions
| in this city.
To abolish the sale of goods below
| cost.
| To refuse all patronage to travelling
| advertising schemes.
To decline reduction of prices on mere
| statements of ustomers.
To postpone all clearance sales until
| the end of the season.
To abolish discounts to club schemes.
Anyone outside the office of Los An
geles justice of the peace or district at
torney knows in his heart that the pre-
MUM or gift scheme is a lottery and that
there is very little disguise about some of
them. In the end the people pay the
freight, for If something is given away
the cost of it must be made up on the
prices charged, and the winner pockets.
not the money Of the merchant who
gives the prize, but of the other custom
ers who trade at his store. Profit mar
gins are too narrow to permit of a di-
rect gift on the part of the merchant.
| The next abuse aimed at is never
ending fake announcements Of sales on
| the windows, disf1guring ones place of
business and creating the impression
that all the business houses in town are
| in the throes of dissolution. The public
have been through these sales too often
not to know that when the big letters
announce that some one is Selling Out"
he is doing no more thar all his compet-
itors are. Business is nothing but "sell-
ing out" all the time, and when the SUI
perf,uous announcement is so proni-
nerstly obtruded the prices are generally
raised enough to pay the cost of the sign
and something more.
Selling below cost" means one of two
things Either a few commodities are
sold below cost so as to make leaders OF
them in order to sell all the others not
only above cost but above fair mar
gin Of profit, or it means the merchant
who sells generally below cost Is sell
| ing his creditors as fast as he can. In
solvency follows but the insolvent has
lived high for longer or shorter time
at the expense of everyone who was so
incautious as to trust him.
| AS to advertising schemes, the regu-
lar papers of the community merit all
| the patronage there is for two reasons:
They reach the eye of the people and
their usefulness to the community in
many ways claims the support of bus
| mess men, We are presuming that the
papers in question are clean in tone and
loyal to the section. If they are not, the
sooner they die of starvation the better
| This section is particularly indebted 10
its press. The growth of Southern Cali
fornia has been marvellous and it is
largely the result of the most persistent
ard judicious advertising ever given a
section by it's newspapers AS to the
benefit of newspaper advertising. it will
be best to take the testimony of an ex-
pert whose judgment is founded on ex-
perience and not in prejudice. In an
interview had by Frank G. Carpenter
| Mr.. John Waramaker says:
|
you have to sell, and you must advertise
to do that. When the times are good they
will come of their own accord. But be-
ieve in advertising all the time. We never
stop advertising"
"You use the newspapers almost alto
gether for advertising do you not?''
"Yes; have tried all kinds, but think
| newspaper advertising is by far the best.
used to spend a great deal of money in
posters and bills but have given up that
| long ago."
OF his advertising Mr.. Carpenter says:
| 'I have heard 1t said that the man who
writes his daily letter about new goods for
1.-THE newspapers receives salary of SIG, ,O0(
a year, and that he pays each of the Phil
adelphia papers from $1,000 to $4,000 a month
for advertising"
AS to kind of advertising Mr.. Wana-
maker says:
II like an advertisement which merely
describes what we have in the store"
The successful merchants testimony
is that of nearly all the successful bus
mess men of the country. Hosteeetr's
bitters, Humboldts extract of buchu
Beecham's pills, Sperry's germea, Ba-
ker's chocolate, Royal baking powder,
EAGLE milk, and thousands of articles
sold in every store in the United States
perhaps in the world, owe their success
to two things-quality and printers
ink The best goods in the world will
never be known to the world unless they
are advertised The circular goes to
kindle a fire unread II it comes by mail;
if thrown into the yard it is swept off
and burned by the gardener, or kicked
into the street by an indignant house
holder who does not like to see his lawn
Uttered with rubbish The judicious
merchant who mixes brains with his
newspaper announcements is one of the
John Wanamakers who reaches the head
of his class. MERCHANT.
English Bankers and the Standard
To the Editor of the Los Angeles Her
aid Nearly everything that the Eng
lish bankers say in their strong protes.
Just addressed to the British govern
mant against any change in their stand
ard of value applies with overwhelming