The record-union., 1899-09-08
IN COUNCIL.
Continued from Third Page,

cheek, impudence, and gall accompany
ing their propositions, 80 per cent of
which demand top of column next to
reading matter" or first advertisement
In column next to reading matter" or
next to and Immediately following
pure reading matter" or first adver-
usement in column with reading mat
ter on both Sides" or top of
column next to reading matter,
followed by pure reading matter" Now.
these propositions. with a few excep-
tlons, are only bluffs and are really not
worth considering. Very few advertis-
ing agents expect to get these positions.
and advertisers are greatly surprised
When such positions are obtained OF
course, for these extra positions adver-
Using agents receive additional pay, but
there is no case on record where the ad-
Vert1sing agents have offered to pay one
cent additional for the extra. position.
am not speaking at random, but giving
detailed facts, as know them to exist
having had these propositions made
time after time, year after year.
On the other side of the question a
paper prepared by Daniel NJ Lord of
LORD q Thomas, was read In this
paper Mr.. Lord contended that the hon
est advertising agent worked for the
benefit of the publisher; that 50 to 90
per cent of all the agent receives from
MS client goes to the newspapers of
the country. This may not have been
news TO the publishers assembled in
Portland but I'll wager a round red ap-
PIE that 1t Is news to most of the men
assembled here. But Mr.. Lord was not
Far away from the truth when he said:
Inc crying evil on the part of the
newspapers to-day is their readiness to
recognize anybody and everybody as an
advertising agent, grant them all kinds
OF commissions and concessions, and in
many cases where their only capital in
trade are the few articles mentioned
ABOVE. The recognition of this class
or men is a constant menace to the
well-established agencies. They are
price cutters, a few dollars a week to
them is a princely income. and ninety
nine times out of a hundred the news
papers get absolutely nothing for the
work they do for them"
Right here let me ask a question.
what part of your income from the ad-
Vertising branch of your business do
you draw from foreign advertisers?
Mine last year was g per cent. Without
the loss of as much energy as 1 expend
yearly wrestling with the cheeky propo-
sltlons of agents, I could probably in
crease my local business to cover that
afnound. But in that case, | would
give my home people the best positions
IN my paper rather than to the adver-
tisers and agents of distant cities who
are carving up my space as well as my
pFonts Tor me. This being so / am
ono IN
making unreasonable concessions to
foreign business. In nv minds eve I
see foreign advertisers grouping them
serves together, selecting one of their
number to act as agent for the bunch of
them and afterward dividing. in low
rate contracts secured the % per. cent
commission now charged bv regularly
established agencies. The only thing to
prevent this. if it is not already being
done, is to have net rate for your ad
Vertising and stick to it though the
heavens fall.
One of the ills attending the filling of
foreign advertising contracts is the
compleXity of the conditions made
the eXaction Of position it is not ALWAYS
possible to honor and the demand that
insertions technically wrong but actu-
ally as good as contract calls for he
made up for in an extension of service.
TO the put-upon publisher, this often
times seems deliberate plan generally
realized by the advertiser of getting
thirteen to sixteen months advertising
for twelve months pay.
another matter l wish to refer TO. Yon
are familiar with the articles sent to
publishers on these conditions: That
they appear as pure straight reading
matter on local or news page surround
ed entirely by pure reading without
date, mark or anything to designate
them as paid matter, and that no sub
sequent publication be allowed which
in any way designates or alludes to
these articles as advertisements. Some
of these articles come credited to other
publications and others are without
parentage, but ready to be adopted bv
the paper receiving them as that pa
per's own. This system should be
frowned down. The advertiser who has
reason for hiding his identity from
the publishers patrons should be made
to understand that the publisher has
enough responsibility to carry without
fathering the creations of ad. writer's
5000 miles away.
In what I have said please do not un-
derStand me as making War-and that
to the knife - upon honest advertising
agents, but credit me rather with a de-
sire and determination to secure better
conditions by pointing easy-going and
willing-to- be- imposed publishers
to a better way one that will no
longer permit the acceptance of a three
dollar-an-inch rate per year on LOO
weekly circulation one that will not
recognize the patent ready-print- house
and its rate of three-quarters of a cent
per agate line for each thousand of cir
culation - but instead a fair rate for
fair service a schedule made on the
basis followed by the publisher when he
fixes the local rate of advertising and
knows that a certain amount of income
on a certain number of columns of ad-
vertising space is required to meet the
cost of carrying out his contracts. The
breeding of our troubles under this
head comes from within, rather than
from without.
We have in this association one hun
dred and twenty and more papers, rep
resenting nearly every county in the