The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1907-11-14
Modern Road TO Fortune.
Macoa Telegraph.)

the princely merchant of New York,
the builder of the white marble
store that was the amazement of the
metropolis, began On the lowest
round of the ladder in business, but
ascended rapidly to the top, and be-
came a Napoleon in trade. How?
In a sketch of him it is stated that
to an accident Mr.. Stewart was in
debted for his colossal fortune and
learned the worth Of printers ink.
The story runs that while doing bus
mess in his little store a note be-
came due, which he was unable to
pay. A shopkeeper, with mis-
callaneous stock Of goods, not very
valuable, in store twelve feet front,
had little to hope from the banks
His friends were short. He resolved
not to be dishonored. He marked
every article in his store down be-
low the wholesale price, and then
flooded the town with advertise
ments, originating the selling g-off-at
cost style of advertising. Into every
nook and corner Of New York his
advertisements flowed. He told his
story to the public; what he had, and
at what price he proposed to sell.
He promised them not only bargains,
but that every article would be
found just what it was guaranteed
to be. He took New York by storm
He created a furore among the
housekeepers. The populace flooded
hisstore. He hardly had time to eat or
sleep. Long before the time named
in the advertisements for stopping
the sale, the whole establishment
was cleaned out, and every article
sold for cash. The troublesome note
was paid, and a handsome balance
left over. That stroke of advertis-
ing laid the foundation of his for
tune which lowered to thirty mil
lions in the course Of time.
Robert Bonner, the publisher of
The New York Ledger, and the
proud owner of Dexter, the champ
ion of the turf, made an enormous
fortune by advertising. The magni-
tude Of his advertising was astonish-
ing in his day and tine, and his ruin
was predicted over and over again.
But he steadily went from one sue
cess to another. In some of his
great enterprises he paid out his last
dollar, but failure was never charged
against him. Often he paid as high
as twenty-five thousand dollars a
week for advertising. Immediately
on getting possession of The Led
ger he paid Fanny Fern $1,000 to
write story Of ten columns. Such
sum for a story was unheard of. He
took one entire side of the daily pa
per, at a fabulous amount, to ader-
tise the story, and advertised it by
the columns in other papers. The
line-"Fanny Fern writes only for
The Ledger'-was repeated over
and over and over again, till men
turned from it in disgust, and did not
conceal their ill-temper. This meth
cd of advertising, it has been we'll said,
was a system Of ITSELF" 1t is re-
lated that a man said to Mr.. Bonner,
What is the use Of your taking the
whole side Of the Herald, and re-
peating the statement a thousand
times?" Bonner replied: Would
you have asked me that question if
had inserted it but once? [ put it in
to attract your attention. and make
you ask that question. A biograph-
er of Bonner says that out Of the pro-
fits of Fanny FERNS story Mr.. Bon
ner purchased the handsome resi-
dence in New York which he occupi-
ed SO long. His paragraph advertis-
ing helped to run the circulation OF
The Ledger to more than 100000
copies & week.