The Springfield herald., 1902-02-28


Occasionally do you get a circular
letter, braZenly open, with only one
cent stamp on it, or sealed in neat,
plain envelope, bearing two-ceht
stamp?
If you don't, there are 2,CoO.ooo farm
ers in the United States who do, anu
perhaps as many men III score oa
line of business who do For one OIL
the great developments of the iast
twenty wears is the circular mailing
business, through which one house
send out 100000 circular letters In Il
week for one wholesale firm, reaching
dealers in n certain line of business III
every city and town in forty-hve states.
Each of these letters will he addressed
to the dealer in person. signed IN INK
by the letter writer for the wholesale
firm, and sealed in an envelope with n
two-cent stamp on it. Yet only tne
signature will have come from the
house sending it out, and this fact VIII
make the cost of such wholesale letter
writing seventy-five per cent less than
any method possible to such firm.
Such wholesale letter writing ana
such n percentage of saving on the
cost of it indicate the status OF the
circular letter addressing concern IN
the business world, and that the busi-
ness is increasing steadily every year
is an Indication of its future.
Twenty years ago 1t began In Chi-
cago. The typewriter just then was
displacing pen and ink, and blotting
pads and penmanship We're coming to
be classed with labor. Somebody dis
covered that IA circular letter could be
printed in imitation of. typewriter
print, that the date and name of adj
dressee could be written into it from
typewriter. and signature append-
I'd in n most convincingly personal way.
That was the beginning. To-day there
is circular addressing firm in Clark
street. near Randolph, which can send
out 100000 such letters in ten days,
putting 200 employees to work on the
job If necessary, and assuring the
merchant for whom the work is done
that every letter sent out Will reach Il
man who has a creditable rating In
Duns or Bradstreets. If some man
order house wishes to reach farmers,
the firm has n list of GOO.OOO in the
United States. of which 100000 are In
the state of Iowa. If some wholesale
firm in almost any line of goods wishes
to reach responsible dealers in cities
and towns under 100000 population,
the wholesale dealer in touch with tens
of thousands of them in a week.
The general store in the small city
or town is by all odds the most writ
ten-at business in the country. Its mail
box in the country postoflice always is
stuffed full of mail from the circular
writing agencies. But even political
campaigns are aided by these agencies.
Last spring in Chicago both parties to
the municipal contest We're served by
this Clark street agency and 2,GOOOO
circular letters we're rushed out for
them in ten days.
In this circular writing business Chi
cago has disposition to leave off the
personal address to the letter and to
use the one-cent postage stamp. New
York, on the other hand. finds bust
ness methods in using plain white en-
velopes, sealing them, and putting on
n two-cent stamp. a4
.There Is n certain letter that l can
always spot as coming from New
York agency" said well known ply
sician the other day. Here's one of
them" and tearing open the plain, neat
envelope he disclosed only printed mat
ter dealing with the national question
of the sugar tax.
Many an envelope carried by one
cent stamp is tossed away without be-
ing opened" said circular writing
agent. Still there is such sharp diff
ference In the cost of the two kinds
of mail matter that one-cent stamps
are most generally used. The neces-
sity of the addressed letter and the
two-cent stamp, of course, depends
largely on the thing advertised nnd the
class of persons to whom it is au-
dressed"