The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1905-05-10
LESSON IN ADVERTISING.
How Henry ". Grady Convinced a
Georgia Merchant.

How Henry ". Grady Convinced a
Georgia Merchant.
The practical joke on Sam D. Jones,
the manufacturer. wtSch has af-
Z forded so much amusement in Allan
ta vivdly recalls a prank played
on exactly the same lines Henry w.
Grady thirty years ago.
Henry Grady was at that time iv-
ing in Rome and edited the Daily
. Commercial Of that city. Following
the hard lines which always encom-
passed the pathway of daily Journal
ISM in Rome up to the present hap
pier tine. Grady, although eaitor-in-
chief, was also one of the most dill
gent advertising solicitors in Rome.
He made a special plea for the Rouns-
avilles, one Of the largest business
houses Of the Hill City. who were
rather coy and not overly disposed to
@ be liberal in printers ink. But they
stoutly asserted that nobody read adj
yertisements, and that it would not
pay them to advertise their business
the Commercial.
Henry Grady stoutly argued the
other side, and finding the merchants
obdurate, finally left them with this
5: statement: Wen, will insert small
advertisement for you free in the
xsCommercial tomorrow, and if the re-
sssult does not prove that people do
read embellishments, and that adver-
ising pays, Will promise never to
trnoble you again, and if you'll prom
ise to advertise in the Commercial if
the result proves to you that people
do read advertisements 2''
To this the Rounsavilles consented,
ssand the editor withdrew. The next
morning there appeared in an obscure
corner OF the Commercial a brief
want advertisement declaring that the
frm of Rounsayille Bros, were anx-
Ious to secure before the end Of the
week, as many cats Of all kinds and
Jsof all ages as they could get to their
store.
When the heads of the firm reached
their Office on the morning following
the advertisement the scene was one
which they are likely never to for
get Wagons were ranged for 40 or
50 yards up against the platform
which made entrance to their store
and men, women and children, from
I the city and from the country, with
bags in their hands and cats in their
arms, mounting way past the hum
dreds and up into the thousands,
stood there clamoring for the atten-
ton OF the proprietors to their answer
to the want advertisement Mr..
Grady had inserted the day before in
the Daily Commercial.
Such an array or collection Of cats
had never before been seen in Rome
F1or in north Georgia. Gray cats and
yblack cats, tom cats and tabby cats;
old cats and young cats, cats in arms,
eats in baskets, cats in cages. cats
quiet and cats mewing. cats with
backs arched; and cats softly purring;
All there and waiting for the Rauns-
saYiIles
S. The news of the incident had spread
over .se town, and nearly one-haf
Of tne population had come to see the
Rcusavilles convinced by Henry Gra-.
dy tnat advertising paid.
1t only remains to be said that out
OF the overwhelming mass of proof
furnished by the farmers of Rome
and Of Floyd county, the Raunsavilles
s did not take long to discover the
truth of Grady's proposition, and the
s columns Of the Commercial from that
time forward were never without the
I announcement of the big and pros
porous firm that has done business