The Cairo bulletin., 1909-02-21
CLEAN UP AND ADVERTISE
STRONGLY URGED AS MEANS
TO BUILD UP CITY OF CAIRO
T. D. Van 0sten Says We Should Have. Boosters
Day" and Manufacturers Day'---TeI|s
How Other Cities Have Done


/ luncheon yesterday was the. address
/ by T. d. Van Osten, manager of the
I Cairo Bill Posting Co., giving some
4 excellent suggestion for the upbuild-
4 ing Of Cairo. The meeting was large
| ly attended and was presided over by
1 Thos E. OShea Reports of commit
| tees were called for, but there was
4 no response and Mr.. O'Shea promptly
4 called upon Mr.. Van OSten for his
| address There was close attention by
/ all present and at the conclusion,
hearty applause. The address fol
lows
Mr.. Chairman and Gentlemen:
have prepared a paper under the
caption of Publicity as related to the
Improvement and progress of Cities,
or possibly
Facts. Fables and Failures will be
a more terse caption line"
Every successful individual bust
ness man, the thousands of manufac-
turing Corporations, our great month
ly and weekly magazines, the great
city department stores, in fact every
avenue of energy where trade is con-
cerned measures its success or fail
ure in one little word; Advertising
and yet, Notwithstanding the acknowl
edged value of that Indispensable de-
paTtment in connection with any com
mercial pursuit, the average business
man will plant a tree of enterprise
giving the least and last attention to
the one vital branch which will yield
the creates abundance OF fruit; Ad-
vertising. He becomes so warped in
possibly as clever buyer of his par
tlcular line OF gods, of his ability to
handle set of clerks his particular
system in the operation of his bust
ness. that he actually forgets the pub
licity end o. his business; he Of
course has his ideas but when placed
IN competition with the work of the
specially advertising man 1t is so
PAINFULLY short of results that the eff
fort is practically lost or thrown
away.
In the great struggle for CONNER
cial supremacy as linked with the des-
tiny and development of many of our
progressive American towns and cit
les, the beautifying of them, civic i'm
proyement, the desire for sane and
honest government, has caused to be
banded together in many municipal
tiles groups of energetic business men
under just such conditions as you are
meeting here once a week. to discuss
ways and means for the uplift of their
respective cities; in several instan-
ces these meetings have developed in
dependent clubs who have taken the
initiative and have accomplished
much good.
Among many of these bodies Of
men may be found a few who have
successfully applied advertising to
the development of their private bus
mess, and occasionally from this
source some of the most wide awake
and flourishing cities especially Of
the middle west and south are en-
gagged today In municipal advertising
in one or more ways; this is especial
" so of Kansas City where a city pro
gressive club was formed who raiseI
$4,000 to advertise the city in cam
paign of newspapGI painted bull@-
tins and posters; the bulletins aud
posters are lined along all the rail.
ways leading into the city and some
of the pungent information impaired
to the incoming traveller is such
strong paragraphs as impaired ok
strong paragraphs as
Do you know that Kansas City has
2255 acres of parks?-Kansas City
Has.
Do you know X. C's parks and boul-
evards cost $4,000, ,000-And paid for.
DO you know beans are cheaper in
X. c. than in Boston.-They are.
DO you know X. c. ranks first in
native white born population.-It
does.
And dozens more of just such in
teresting bits of news for a prospect
i've investor Fundamentally. the idea
behind publicity is a selfish one, and
any appeal for support of an adyertls.
ing campaign for a community must
rest primarily upon a selfish basis !;
rightly considered community pub
licity means first of all a desire not
only to secure prosperity for the in
dividual, but it means that the inji-
yidual can rise above mere selfishness
sufficiently to lend helping hand to
his brother. The foregoing simply re
lates TO what some municipalities are
doing in their belief in community pub
lieity.
As to Cairo.
We are down to Cairo; | have been
among you some five months. in that
time | have been observing, making
noes. seeing with the eyes of {
stranger; 1 hs' attended a few Of