The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-04-08
n. v. aver & SON.
seth BIRTHDAY.
Great Advertising Firm Started
in One Room With $3.50 Capt.
tai - Has Since Transacted
Business of $35,ooo,oo

The firm Of n. ". Aver & Son, Of
Philadelphia, the largest advertising
agency in the United States, has Just
celebrated the thrty-fifth anniversary
OF business whose success and growth
can be measured only by tho progress
OF advertising itself in this country.
Starting at time when tine immense
resource and power OF modern adyer-
Using were unknown n. w. Aver and
his son, F. w. Aver, entered the field
with the idea OF making 1t a business
and conflicting that business along BUSH
ness methods.
They started. father ard son, in @
room only twenty feet square. on San
som Street, near Seventh, near the
present Press" building. on April /, 1869.
Their capital was $3.50, and. as Mr. F. w.
Aver, tho present head of the firm, laugh
Ingly said yesterday: Father was the
equal partners"
with this capital the firm proceeded
to develop newspaper Advertising, and
in the first year did a business OF $4,000.
In the thirty-four years since they have
furnished to the newspapers of the United
States q total or more than s35,GO,oto
OF advertising. To-day they are dealing
with 1900 publications and their pay
merits to these average $1,000 a day, or
roughly speaking, s2.6c0.O00 a year.
In the little room on SAMSON Street,
father and son adopted the now Well known
motto, keeping everlnstngly aG 1t brings
success" On the walls OF the two entire
floors Of the Mariner and Merchant
Building. at Third and Chestnut Streets.
and the two floors of press and work
rooms in the rear. that motto Is to-day
engraved for the go employees OF the big
firm to read.
In 1873 N. W. Aver passed to his rest
and left the business and the name to
his son, F. ". Aver, who then took into
his partnership an employe named George
Z O.. Wallace who died in 1887. Before
Wallaces death another employe, Henry
N. Mckinney, had been taken into the
firm in 1875, and finally Albert G.. Brad
ford and Jarvis a. Wood We're made
partners in 1895, they also having come
up through the business. These last
three partners, together with q. w.
Aver, conduct the business to-day.
2 Ir 1876 increasing trade brought the
firm TO the then new Times" building.
at Eighth and Chestnut Streets, where 1t
rented one floor. This was before the
."Times" moved In. During twenty-five
years N. w. Aver & Sons gradually
spread until they occupied all the upper
floors. Then they moved to their present
quarters ut Third and Chestnut or tho
site, by the way, OF the first advertising
agency In America, which was estab-
lis he'd by Volney B, Palmer, IN 1871.
Speaking of the immense growth OF adj
ycrtising, II, w. Aver. the veteran rnem-
Der Of tho firm. said yesterday:
There was hardly such thing as ad-
yertisIng until after the Civil war. Then
the country bear 70 zee! us muscle ana
to stretch out into new lines. We have
seen great evolution In journalism.
When wa started 1t was in the days Of
the weekly newspaper. which was
great power. There were the Toledo
Blade. the Atlanta Constitution, Colo
rel Forney's Press and the New York
Tribune and Fsnn.' But now Increased
postal facilities have rendered me daily
paper the vehicle Of news IN every part
Of the country. The farmer one hundred
and fifty miles from the city gets It the
same day It Is Issued ~ 81,
-"Yes. this is the day of the daily, and
more and more is the public depending
upon 1t for an account OF what " cannot
nersonally see and hear; and more and
mcre the advertiser is depending upon It
70 tell the people that he cannot meet
nersonally of tho goods he has to sell,
nDo l think advertising Will Increase?
Yes we began in the days when staples
vera rot advertised when business men
thought 1t all right for makers OF patent
medicines to advertise because they were
supposed to bring n great profit. But for
sugar. bread biscuits and the like, OH
which Profits were close. It. was thought
thero Was no margin for advertising.
THAT was the idea We started to dis
prove. and wa have by no means ex-
,hausted iii lie list OF staples that will be
exploited. lot me tel you something
the immense advertising Ct lineeda Bis
tinn os.a cent on each package.
1Syes the Old idea that certain things
will not stand advertising Is passed,
Men are are advertising to-day who told US
five Yea Years 10 that advertising would
do them no good. others who nov, say
the same thing will themselves be adyer,