The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-04
Views of the Public, Not of the Adver-
tiser, Make Business.

The unopinionated man is a failure.
The man carrying only the minds of 9TH
ers, has no mind Of his own, and is never
a success.
The positive man, wrong though he may
be sometimes, stands a better show than
he who is ruled by the opinions of others,
and allows others to mind his business for
him.
The world over, from the beginning of
progress, men of success, in every branch
of trade and profession have been those of
positive opinion, and those who depend
upon themselves more than they depend
upon anybody else.
The man who knows it all himself is an
ass.
The man who does not know anything
himself is another ass.
The extreme of conceit and the extreme
of modesty, slide down the same hill, hand
in hand, and smash themselves together at
the bottom.
Self conceit is part of the stock of bust
ness, and fatal though it may be when i'm
properly handled, it is like the poison in
medicine, good in doses to suit conditions.
Nobody ever thought we'll of the man
who did not think well of himself.
Nobody ever respected the man who did
not know enough to know that he was
worthy of respect
The good of what we know is in our
knowledge that we know it.
All the ability in the world is worth moth
ing if the owner of it does not know enough
to use it.
The man of success is happy compro-
mise between extremes.
He mixes up what he knows he knows,
and what he knows that others know, SO
that what he knows is of composite char
aacter, based upon his own experience and
the experience of others.
When he announces a certain thing he
bears in mind two distinct conditions; first.
money when he sells it; and second, he an
nounces it so that readers will read his an
nouncement and come closer to him.
What he thinks individually, unless it be
what the public thinks, will sell nothing.
What the public thinks, unless he be able
to regulate 1t, and compromise with it,
may bring him no profit.
What the public thinks and what he
thinks must be ground in the mortar of
his common sense, and cast before the pub
lie to the public'S taste.
Success has never been made in advertis-
ing, or in anything else by pure individu-
alism.
1t has been made by firing individualism
in the crucble of public opinion, until it
reaches the constituency adapted to public
comprehension and use.
The advertisement which pays is not al
ways the which suits the advertiser in
dividually, although it may DO so.
1t is the one that suits both the adver-
tiser and the public.
The beginning of all law in compro-
mise.
Everything in result is the compromise of
conflicting conditions
The profitable advertisement is a compro-
mise between what the public would be
glad to have, and what the advertiser
wants to have.
The advertiser desires the largest possible
price for the smallest amount of value.
The public desires the largest amount of
value for the smallest possible price.
1t is obvious that the advertiser cannot
have his way, and make money.
1t is as obvious that the public cannot
have its way. and support business.
1t is the business of advertising to stand
between the advertiser and the public;
bring them together tremendously; excuse
the advertiser to the public: excuse the
public to the Advertisers; so fntermingling
the conflicting demands of the two that the
advertiser may sell to the public, what he
has for all it is worth, and the public may
pay all it is worth to itself.
NATH'L C. FOWLER. Jr.
(Copyright. 1897. by Nethl c. Fowler, Jr)