The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1909-02-06
ABOUT ADVERTISEMENT. s
The Cellar Hole and the
Sewer Hole
By Herbert Kaufman.

A coal cart stopped before an Office building in
Washington and the driver dismounted, removed the
cover from a manhole, ran out his chute, and pro-
ceeded to empty the load. An old negro strolled over
and stood watching him. Suddenly the black man
glanced down and Immediately burst into a int Of
uncomfortable laughter, which continued for several
minutes. The cart driver looked at him in amusement.
SAY, Uncle, he asked, do YOU always laugh when
YOU see coal going into %cellar?' The negro sputtered
around for a few moments and then holding his hands
to his aching sides managed to say, mo, sab, bnt
Jest bnStS ulen I sees it goin' dOpn a Seuer."
The advertiser who displays lack of Judgment in
selecting the newspapers which carry his copy often
c~onfuses the seuer and the cellar.
All the money that is put into newspapers isn't
taken ont again by any means. The fact that all papers
possess a certain physical likeness doesn't by any
means signify a similarity y in character, and it's character
in a newspaper that brings returns. The editor who
conducts a journalistic sewer finds a different class of
readers than the publisher who respects himself enough
to respect hs readers.
What goes into a newspaper largely determines
the class Of homes into which the newspaper goes. An
irresponsible, s-canda-mongering, undertaking sheet
is logically not supported by the buying classes of
people. 1t may be perused by thousands of readers,
Out SuCn readers are seldom purchasers OF advertised
goods.
It's the clean-cut, steady, n~ormalminded citizens
who form the bone and sinew and muscle Of the com
munity. It's the sane, self-respecting, dependable
newspaper that enters their homes and it's the hoiae
sale that indicates the strength Of an advertising
medium.
No cean-minded father of a family wishes to have
his wife and children brought in contact with the most
maudlin and banal phases of life. He defends them
from the sensational editor and the unpleasant adver-
tiser. He subscribes to a newspaper ahich lie docs not
fear to save about tile house.
Therefore, the respectable newspaper can ALWAYS
be counted upon to produce more sales than one which
may even own a larger circulation but whose distribu-
ton is in ten editions among improbable citizens.
You can no more expect to sell goods to people
who hauent money than you can hope to pluck oysters
from bushes.
1t isn't the number of readers reached but the
number of readers whose purses can be reached that
constitutes the value Of circulation. It's one thing
to arouse their attention, but it's a far different thing
to get their money. The mind may be Willing, but The
POcketbook is ueak.
IT you had the choice of a thousand acres of desert
land Or a hundred acres of oasis, you'd select the
fertile spot, realizing that the larger tract had less
value because it would be less productive.
Just so the advertiser who really understands
howAhe is spending his money does not measure by
bulk alone. lie counts productivity first He takes care
that he is not putting his money into a seuer.