The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-07-08


the brown and flame of a fresh water
sailor; nose. mouth, and chin large,
each an outward sign of enterprise
and decision; dark blue eyes and
brown hair; smooth and angular face,
broken by lines which deeply cut the
cheeks; gaunt as hard-riding cav
alryman: alert. energetic, resolute-
Edward Box is not the man thought
he was. Another mental picture mad
gone to pieces.
Editor of a woman's magazine. The
title is effeminite Salary. $4,000 a
year, That sounds like business. Box
is business; likewise he is magma
ton. He is the story of romance, rath-
err than of hard reality. 1t is more
often found i'm books than in actual
life. a rafting good novel could be
built on Box At six a quaint little
Dutchman in a strange land-clothes
Dutch. language Dutch, and nothing
else; even the cut of his hair alto
gether Netherlandish. At forty-two
rich, living on fine estate and we'd
ded to his employers daughter. But
the marriage came long after he had
proved his merit Matrimony had
nothing to do with hts fortune.
l went to Philadelphia to talk with
Box. Women had talked with him;
but few men. He is one of the mas
tiers of a great commercial undertake
ing. Six hundred working persons live
from his establishment Then there
was the reticent but. remarkable indi-
viduality behind him-Cyrus Herman
katzshmar Curtis, a Maine Yankee,
who has given the world many lessons
in the publishing business. Curtis ped
died newspapers in Portland. Then he
printed calling cards for his playmates.
The process of evolution did the rest.
Curtis has violated many respected
ira ditions. He can double the selling
price of his product and thus increase
his customers and prosperity This
principle he has established. He de-
clines to distribute sample copies; in
stead. he pays the newspapers TO give
him publicity. He is opposed to the
folly of free things; demanding pay. he
is willing to give it. Cash on the spot
is the base of all his bargains-he gets
the discount. He spends money by the
handful. but | saw one of the office
boys cutting old envelopes in two for
scratch paper. He is advertising to-day
in nearly every important newspaper
in the country, notwithstanding the
fact he has more of other mems ad-
vertising than he can print in either of
his publications. So | went to ask Box
about it and make several other in
nary personality; so is Cyrus Curtis.
THE Ladies' Home Journal" | said,
was started twenty-one years ago.
Three hundred thousand dollars was
spent in one campaign for advertising.
How much money have you paid to
advertise it and the Saturday Evening
Post %
"At least a million dollars" Edward
Box replied. THE magazines have re-
ceived their share. but the large part
of the money has gone to daily news
papers. We want to impress the man
and the woman each morning when
they eat their breakfast"
And you continue to advertise both
publications
Eyes, although we are refusing adj
yertising matter for each. More is
offered to us than we want to print.
At this time we are addressing our
selves in the newspapers to advcrtis-
erS themSelves-to men who make
things. We are advertising for adver-
Using when we have no present need
for it. But we are working for the flu
ture and creating business which is
intangible now. but which will come
to us after awhile. We want to make
manufacturers think and then to re-
member. That is our purpose. BY and
by, when thesc makers of things de-
eide to advertise, we want them in
stinctively to come to us. The money
we are spending now is an investment
against the future and is sure to be
profitable All that we have to do is
10 wait
How much do you charge for a
page advertisement in the Ladies'
Home Journal?"
-Four thousand dollars. or IS a
line. The rate is six dollars a line
when the space is small. The price III
itself is good advertisement for us
1t is talked about, and that is what we
want. The man who pays it is not
ashamed to tell his friends what he is
doing, nor does he hesitate to inform
his competitors is sign of his
own prosperity. So the price helps us
in more ways than one"
There is belief among some pub
fishers that the selling price of news
paper or q publication cannot be in
creased without a loss in revenue and
subscribers. You have increased the
price of the Ladies' Home Journal
from % cents to so cents a year and
then to 81. Recently the retail price at
news stands has been advanced from
10 to Is cents a copy. What has been
your experience"
"rhe publishers you speak of are
wrong. We got to point where the
Ladies' Home Journal was costing us
more than we received for it. The ad-
vertisers, therefore, had to pay the
difference, whatever it was, as we'll as
the profits we made on our invest
ment. The burden was on them which
was wrong. and the principle, as a
matter of business, was bad. When
we fixed the price al ten cents the size
of the Journal was thirty-six pages.
now it contains from seventy-two to
eighty pages. Labor is Is per cent
higher. The salaries of artists and en-