Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1901-10-07
LAND SHARKS
Hozu They Spindle Honest
Advertisers
ARTHUR K. TAYLOR, in Th.srnlaad Printer.

While it is not my Intention to inter-
fere in any way with an honest mans
methods of gaining a livelihood, 1 be-
lieve that 1 owe.it to the craft in general
to pay my respects in few words to the
multitude of sharks who go about over
the land operating numberless advertising
schemes, most of which are promulgated
through the agency of printers ink. It
is needless to say that do not include in
their number men who make a business
of writing or placing legitimate advertis-
ing, for many of whom l have bound
less admiration, but every printer in the
cities and larger towns knows the class
of men I mean. and most of them know
them to their sorrow While, perchance,
there may be an honest man among them,
he has kept himself well in the back
ground and the men by whom ne is sur
rounded are a slick lot, with whom lying
and obtaining money under false pretens-
es is their stock in trade and their daily
vocation.
If one should come to you and contract
bill and pay for it, you can rest assured
that he has Jumped" his board bill, or
If he was feeling particularly good. has
gone so far out of his usual line as to
raise ones check. If you know to a GER
tainty that he has done none of these
things, then it is indeed time for you TO
be on your guard. for a truth he contem-
whole town; for what man ever knew a
man with an advertising scheme to return
to town unless it were to swindle three
or four people who were missed the first
time he came through that way.
Take, for example, the most favorable
case you can think Of; where a man
comes to town. issues a souvenir" book
let of the local militia organization, pays
all of his bills and leaves town. Every
fO he aG eft afcbf
trade. but little investigation will more
than likely show that he claimed, in the
first place, that the proceeds were for the
benefit of the said military organization.
and you will probably find that all they
got out of the transaction was fifty copies
of the valuable souvenir" You will also
find that the issue was represented to
have been anywhere from ten to fifty
times the actual number printed; also.
that one man will have paid just three
times as much as his neighbor in the next
block for space of the same size and IN
the same relative position. And you will
have the further satisfaction of knowing
that he made his collections Immediate
ly. when he presented a press proof OF the
advertisement, where you would have
been expected to wait anywhere from
thirty TO ninety days for your bills, and
the satisfaction is greater for knowing
that your bill would represent value to
your customer, Wllle the amount OF the
advertising contract in most instances is
chargeable only to the bad side of the
profit-and-loss account.
Suppose that some of the women con-
nected with a respected religious organi-
cation wanted some money for chari-
table purpose, and conceived the idea Of
getting up an entertainment and issuing
a program filled with advertisements to
help along the case. IT would take two
weeks of the hardest kind of work for
these women to secure begrudgtngly from
the best citizens enough contracts to
represent half of what one Of these
smooth-tongued, lying sharks would get
out of the same respected citizen in two
days time, and every man who took an
advertisement in the church program
would feel entitled to much spiritual COM
fort and satisfaction therefor.
The following Is typical case, alb
solutely true. A young man representing
himself to be connected with local hos
pital gets an estimate on lot of posters
with a large Greek cross in the center.
wirhin the outlines Of which appeared
directions as to what to do until the
doctor comes in cases of accidents, and on