Gainesville daily sun. (Gainesville, Fla.) 190?-1938, 1905-04-21
ADVERTISING eRAErERs.

The following article from The Mo-
bile Gala } Herald 10 also applicable TO
many other citiss and towns in this
country. The Herald says:
zone of the naatiest words In use to-
day is the term CRATER II has
broad range OF meaning, applying
equally as we'll TO the public officer
Who accepts ndirect brides a. 20 the
social sponge who eats on bic friends
and borroWs what he never expects to
pay But in all the numerous chsses
Of grafters there IL none who from a
business standpoint i more dangerous
than she advertising CRATER. Danger
Gus because OF the inEinuating manner
OF his work. He makes his living by
his wits. He is the same genius In the
Ad sertising field a. the street corner
fakiTIwho sells worthless shaving soap,
toothaehs cures, cure.all remedies.
etc.
He lands In town today, looks mp
the president or secretary Of some Ia
Dor union and Offers him $40 for the
union and $40 for himself 70 Get let
ter stating that he 10 authorized to get
up an official union time book.
"Eie arraDges it 90 that half the in.
side pages and all the covers carry
ada. Say that the printers charge Ia
$50 Then this privilege costs him
$40 He has IS pages of ads besides
the four pages OF cover. His adveT-
Using space then costa him 81 per page.
with this letter OF endorsement he
goes out to solicit the support OF the
business community for the benefit OF
the union. such = benevolent man
he IL.
Then he looks over the firms In a
certain line aud marks various firms
names down ~ having taken certain
spaces. He then puts the screws on
another firm in the came line by show
ing that the merchants competitors
are all in and he should dislike TO have
the union form the opinion that his
house was the only one that refused
the union much needed friendly help.
He gets the nd aud gets Is for n quar-
ter page.
Then he rung out another name
and applies the same process 10 that
firm and gets another s. and 80 on.
The result ia thst he gets an aver
age Of about tl0 TO al5 page for his
twenty pAges, clearing up about 800
for himself IN a week or ten days at
most. Then he kisses the town \ fond
goodbye and posts . fellow CRATER
that its merchants are dead easy.
"The same game 10 pracIiced with
all sorts Of lodges, societies, unions,
philanthropics, charitable organlEa-
tlons, etc, a. bIss.
"As the worthy charity gets only
about 3 20 10 per cent Of the total, the
merchant can mail the charity his
check for few dollars once a year. d.
more to che charity and save himself
80 per cent Of this 'hold.up' expense.
Mobile merchants are peculiarly
susceptible To the advertising CRATER.
Merchants who will not spend cent
with the daily papers easily fall vie.
tins to his gua and put good sound
dollars into timetables, fire alarms and
n dozen other fakes that are never
read II one.hAlt the money spent by
Mobile business men every year in
useless advertising Of this kind we're
divided between legitimate mediums
there would he marked improvement
IN the style and service OF all the
newspapers.
"A man who follows this line Of
work regularly WAS recently offered
above the SverSge wages To solicit
for Mobile paper, lie declined.
stating that be could make much
more 'grafting' lie said Mobile
merchants wetc easy, and that h.
could make more IN week grating
here thSn any paper could afford 20
pay Ia htm Tor months work
And We believe he spoke truth.
fully"
EdWSF~ Atkinson, the boston staIis.