The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-24

|
| much Time. Five minutes a day would be
sufficient. 1t is important that the man at
| the head should vitalize the business by
| making everybody feel and know thai the
advertising, the address TO the public Is
made in conformity with his wishes. I'M
der. his supervision. and is absolutely
part of his plans for disposing of his mer-
chandise This being so, the proposition
| that the advertising of a well-ordered es-
tablshment makes{the policy of the bus
inessiis really correct. Advertising is the
pulse of the business, the movement, the
circulation.
On the other side, effectively. that is to
say, toward the public who are spending
their money in small or large amounts
the questions has to be carefully consid-
cred.
The column of the newspaper is the mer-
chants rostrum. 1t is his pulpit 1t is his
stump. From that he addresses the public
| at large. From that he speaks to his
constituency. He speaks to his audience
Advertising is the channel through which
the merchant speaks to the people he de
sires TO address.
His advertising is the test of his charac-
ter. It must be true. AS he speaks and
as the people have an opportunity to Judge
of the truth of his printed utterances day
by day, they will form their estimate of
his character. His character is a branch
of his advertising, and, therefore il must
always be true
But if a man is not going to waste his
money in advertising, it must never be
stupid. 1t should be put in simple and
forceful language. One of the most dis
tingushed litterateurs of the country. ad-
dressing class of students at one of our
| foremost colleges in Massachusetts laiG
great stress upon simplicity and force in
the use of the English language, reaching
all the way from the advertisements to
the leading editorials, and selected the
advertising of our house as an illustra-
ton to be presented to this mass of learn,
ed young men who were receiving the
highest education obtainable in this coun-
try.
This confirms an opinion that I have
very long held that advertising has taken
its place in the literature of the land 1t
is one of the marks of the development of
the intelligence of our country. Inteli-
gent readers are loking at it, not only as
a mere exploiting of merchandise but as
| characteristic literature of our times
L pause here for moment to speak
of a friend of mine who visited Glad
stone, the Grand Old Man, not very long
ago. Before I leave 1 would like to ask
you one question: said my friend What
Is it?" said Mr.. Gladstone. 81 want to
know why it is that you have the Ameri-
can editions of the monthly magazines
that publish English editions" ooh"
said Mr.. Gladstone, 81 subscribe for the
English editions for my wife, and for the
American editions for myself" ''Why?''
Because ] want to read the American
advertising. I want to read it for several
reasons. 1t interests me as reading. It
interests me on account of the high char
/, acter Of illustra tions. and it is one of my
means for gauging the material pros
r perity of the country
5 In order to get the respect of an intelli-
: gent community, advertising must be in
! first rate English. That cuts both Ways
1t not only commands the respect of the
l intelligent and the critical reader, but il
2 conveys its sense to the ordinary reader
l To the uncritical reader, the ungrammati
} cal man, it conveys the sense far more
quickly than can be done in any other
way.
! The matter of illustrations comes in
very important way in modern advertis
ing. The time has gone by when woodcu
;. made by carpenters will do for newspaper
; advertising. The time has come when The
commercial man must not only have goo,
English in his trade announcements. bu
good Illustrations as well Very little i'm
| portance has been attached to the illus
trattons for advertising in the daily pa
Il pers Illustration for advertising pur
poses is very often like poster work I
( is suggestive in its artistic character, /
not in the moral character of the sub
ject But commercial art has come t.
$ occupy very important place, and it il
= entirely useless for man to expend $40
Il or $500 in an advertisement in a newspa
per which charges the magnificent rat,
{ that our New York newspapers indulg,
. in, and then save $40 or 500 on an illustra
{ ton. He had better have his illustration
: of the highest artistic character he car
: get.
: There are many things we might sa!
n about this matter of advertising, follow
Il ing the idea of illustration.
- We cannot afford to spend our money Of
n advertising unless we have good typogra
Il ply. AS the subject matter of the advertis
ing ought to be in good English, and tn
# illustration, If Illustration is used
q ought to be in good art
10 so the printing ought to be in goo
70 typography. II is best always for con
tinuous Advertisement no advertising i
n valuable unless it is continuous-to us
= good, bold, clear, egible type
Is easily read, but characteristic, s
= that whenever the paper is opened tn
reader will know at once that it is Jones
Il whether he sees Jones' name or not. An
p, if Jones has a literary character, and
70 moral character. YOU will be very apt t
% read what Jones has to say.
1t seems to be imagined that anybod
) can write advertisements, 1t is extremel
is interesting for man in my business to no
l. tice the character of the applications tina
70 are constantly being made TO us by peopl
ii who offer to write our advertisements. Or
n binary people cannot do it. 1t is as impoT
tant and difficult the writing of tn
q political and other subjects on the editoria
,r page of our Journals To go into stor
J. where there is a great deal of merchan
n disc to write upon, one paragraph in on
~ line and another in another every day,
"a task that is far beyond the capacity @
"A an ordinary newspaper writer or any ord
"a nary man.
* / fear that l have perhaps led you
< believe that have an absolutely sure The
g DRY regarding advertising. l wish to ga,
l. in parenthesis, that many firms get di'
1t couraged in their advertising because the
p have not absolute facts. The undfIlyin
principle of it is to formulate theory thi
1f is founded upon reason and common sens
D. to apply that theory by certain rlethod
u and then to treat it precisely as W do II
y forces of nature with reference to III
IS growing of grass; the rain falls, and II
eyf.t he III