Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-17
THE ADVERTISING ART.
It's Improvement and Development
Show It's Value to the Public.

It's Enforcement and Development
Show It's Value to the Public.
From the Indianapolis Journal.
OF the millions of people who re Id
the daily pap.rs published in the United
States, from New York to indianapolis
and from Indianapolis to San Francisco,
a very large majority give more or less
time to reading the advertisements. Some
do this because they wish to find par
ticular thing or are interested In some
particular lin of business; others because
their eye is caught by good display;
others to see how business is; others In
search of bargains, and so on. The regu-
lar patrons of a paper, its home readers,
cad the advertisements almost as regu-
larly as they do any other part of the
paper, and if regularly followed up they
are good picture and reflex of the times.
A daily newspaper without Its regular
grist of advertisements. changing every
day in the year, and giving with every
change a Kaleidoscope view of trade with
it's reflected lights of social life. would be
a very poor sort Of paper
The evolution of the art of advertising
is as interesting that of any other fea-
ture of modern life. In the infancy of the
business there was no art about 1t and not
much business. Its value was not apprec-
lated either by advertisers or publishers
and probably 1t had not as much value in
former times relatively as it has now. be-
cause it took time for people to become
educated up to reading advertisements as
they do now. One reason why they are
so much more read now than formerly is
that they are so much more reada BILE
They are not only better worded but fresh
er. and, teing changed so much oftener
are much more reflex of the times. A
badly worded advertisement is almost as
bad as none at all. and a stale advertise
ment one that shows on its face that it is
out of date, is offensive to readers as
1t should be to publishers and advertisers
To be effective advertisement should
be well constructed. adroitly worded, right
to the point ard changed as often as possi-
BILE. No doubt one reason Of the great
growth of advertising in recent year is that
business men, having learned to appreciate
its value, are more careful than they used
to he in keeping faith with the public and
living up to their advertisements. In these
days of sharp competition a merchant who
should break faith with the public by ad-
vertislng one thing, or one price and Offer
Ing another would soon find the public
letting him severely alone. A shrewd ad-
vertiser would almost as soon let his note
go to protest as not to live I'D to his adj
vertisement. Shrewd advertisers, too look
carefully to the wording of their advertise
ments, and IL no one in the establishment
Is skilled In that direction they hire some
body else to do it. In all cities now there
are professional writers Of advertisements
VINO do nothing else and receive large SAL
aries. The business has grown enormously
In every direction. giving employment to
great many people, maintaining large
and costly agencies. and involving the ex-
penditure of hundreds of millions of dol
lars annually.
The art of advertising has been progress
five from the beginning. 1t has never ex-
perfenced any check-except bank checks
and 1t Is as expansive and progressive
today as 1t ever was. This is the best
possible proof that it pays.