Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-09-21
AW ARDED PRIZE
H. E. LEsAN, FORMERLY OF OF.
TUMWA, WINS ST. LOUIS
PAPER CONTEST.
Writes Essay on How to Increase ST.
Louis Population to 100000 or
More and Received $500 Prize-His
Scheme Is to Advertise.

AS a reward for his original plan of
advertising st. Louis, Harry E. Lesan,
OF the Lesan company, advertisers of
st. Louis, was declared the winner of
the Post-Dispatch $500 premium Of
fered for the best scheme to increase
st. Louis population to 100000 or
more. The award was made by COM
mittee Of prominent business men,
actually identified with the progress of
the city. In originality, in detail, in
manner of presentation, the committee
decided that Mr. Lesan's essay was the
best of the 1,73S submitted.
This victory of Mr.. Lesan is only
another demonstration of the remark
able ability of this young man. who
was formerly connected with the news
departm ent of the Courier. His was
plan of advertising ST. Louis with a
view to increasing the population to
the one million mark. His plan and
ideas were according to the judgment
of the five business men who COM
posed the committee the most practical
and his essay was considered the best
of 1,738
In his letter, among many other ex-
cellent suggestions, Mr. Lesan empha-
sized upon the following things ST..
Louis should advertise:
/. st. Louis herself; her history; her
natural advantages and those given to
her by the enterprise and energy of her
citizens: her business, social and home
advantages.
q 1t should advertise st. Louis ter
ritory," which we call the Great
Southwestern" territory itself the
we claim st. Louis should and will be
the metropolis, the gateway, and to a
great extent, the champion This
Great Southwestern Empire extends
from the Mississippi river on the east
to China and Japan on the west; from
the Missouri river on the north to the
Panama canal zone on the south In
these confines are now 30,000,000 Of
people, and these natural lines could
even be extended to include CATER the
completion of the Panama canaD
South America and Australia. They
now include Hawaii and the Philip
pines: 1t is not necessary to tell any
more than the truth about this wonder
full southwestern empire" and it's rap.
i'd development. 1t is the cynosure of
the worlds eyes today. But by telling
these truths" in connection with an
advertising campaign for the city of St
Louis, you emphasize to this Great
Southwestern" territory, itself the
advantages of st. Louis as a base OF
supplies for her and her natural rela-
tionship to ST. Louis, thus still further
allying its great trade to this city.
3. You should advertise the city's
manufactured goods, it's products of
oil oh oto nd. s,, ;r,y 1,,e,
been in the past fact to hold in re-
serve rather than to push to the front.
But number of pioneers have
changed the situation to one where
goods from ST. Louis sell equally well
with other goods, and these pioneer
concerns, with others, are now rapidly
making the expression, MADE in ST
Louis" take its proper place as a
standard of quality and to mean what
made in Germany" has meant in some
portions of the civilized world. A skill,
fal advertising campaign for st. Louis
made goods" with a symbol TO make
them known on sight could bring about
this end.
A Personal Experience.
Sundays Post-Dispatch contained g
page article concerning Lesan's plan
together with an excellent likeness o.
Mr.. Lesan. 1t also contains the fol
lowing personal experience of Mr.. LIE
san which in a way shows
what confidence that young man hat
in the Missouri metropolis after leav
ing Ottumwa:
81 first visited ST. Louis in the fall o
1897. Although l lived in southern
Jowa 1ess than 400 miles away from
st. Louis l had heard more Of some
cities in the United States of 100000
population than | had ever heard o