The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-09-21
Takes Steps to Organize an Ad-
vertistng Campaign.
Business Men Urge Necessity
for Activity.
ENTHUSIAST ON TOP.
That Is the WatchWord of the
Organization.
LISTERS of Suggestions on How
to Make Topeka Grow.

. The first fall meeting of the Topek
Advertising club was held this moo
with As members present. The program
had been placed in the hands of tn
advertising commission. and the objec
: of the meeting today was to form
nucleus for a systematically organizes
advertising campaign which the Com
nlercial club as a whole will pursue
Marco Morrow had been asked to pre-
pare a paper giving his ideas of tn,
Elost effective methods of advertising
the city. George Badders told some
thing OF the methods which other cite:
are employing in the way of advertis
ing, and Mr.. n. B. Burge, who has re
turned from a trip to the southwest
ispoke of the enthusiasm that Oklahoma
City and smaller towns display and he
considered that the people of Topeka
can not wax too enthusiastic if they
want their city to grow in prosperity.
Mr. Morrow said in part:
Il will take it that the province OF
TIE Advertising club is to study adver-
tising problems, and in this matter OF
municipal advertising we are all in the
Kindergarten class. Let US, then. carry
out the Froebel idea and play that
Topeka is great business corporation
oesirous o. growth and expansion; you
gentlemen will be the board Of direc-
tors and I will play that am adver-
Using man, called into consultation to
ascertain what existing conditions are.
what is possible of accom- pllShment and
what is best to do.
"AlI of the departments of the Com
mercial club are founded on the idea
that we want to make Topeka grow.
The question we want to consider is
How? In determining that How l want
first to ask a few questions.
What has Topeka to offer to the
world al large?
Whom can Topeka hope to interest
in what the city has to offer?
is hack of TCneKa'S offer
the character, the personality, the gen.
ius of Topeka?
rs this the opportune time for To-
peka's offer? Is the time ripe? Are
the way of Topeka's growth?
What resources are at hand or
can be commanded for a promotion
campaign?
land town with about the average line
of citizens. Like every other town on
the map Topeka likes to indulge in
spread-eagelism and fondly imagines
that it is it but in reality today does
not find the city with any great nat |
ural advantages to offer the world. |
But what does that mean? That the |
case is hopeless? No, not at all. 1t |
means that the men of Topeka who |
have red blood in their veins have to
put little more energy into the bust
ness to make Topeka grow. 1t means
that we can't lie back on our cars and
trust TO OOQ, Out IIldL we We SOI "
keep up and doing and nerp ourselves
Somebody has said that God is always
on the side of the biggest battalions.
Gentlemen, Topeka hasn't the biggest
battalion. Let us face the fact that
we've got to hustle to hold our own
end of the fight like what Sherman
said about war.
LAS a start let us go after Kansas
people who are seeking good town
home, where they may enjoy social,
religious and educational advantages
not found on the farms or in smaller
towns of the state. Topeka has the
to offer that they cannot
find elsewhere in Kansas. The right
kind of advertising along this line will
add several hundred good families to
Topeka's population every year.
But Topeka needs more than mere
people To prosper there must be s
added to the city new industries. To-
peka is not to enter upon a boom
We have no free factory
sites, no free fuel, no bonuses to offer
the manufacturers. We have no de-
sire to stimulate artificially the city's
growth, by inducing here factories for
which there is not an existing need
but there are numerous commodities
used by Topeka people and the people
in the territory tributary to Topeka I
which can be manufactured here to
better advantage than elsewhere.
I'VE haven't in Topeka an exception
ally live bunch. Not exceptional, IN
ierstand Good, staid, conservative
business men VINO will sacrifice all their l
wives relations for the country's good =
but who want to see a dollar coming
back for every ten cent piece they con- s
tribute to the common veal. The men l.
Of Topeka who are so anxious to make J
Topeka grow are just about the aver Z
age set of American business men will q
ing for the other fellow to do the work
and anxious to rake in all the personal 0
profit therefrom. So the first step in @
Advertising Topeka is to wake up the J
town itself
II believe a collection will do a lot TO S
iven up Topeka. There are 100 men in
this city who will give SIS each ever '
month for year and 300 who will give I
q month to raise fund to push To-
Deka. A part of that fund should go to G
employing an advertising man who Will
make a special study of Topeka's posi- I
oihties and Topeka's needs and in con- {
1ection with your municipal advertis- a
ng committee devise means of telling n
he world about Topeka. t
In advertising Topeka even to Kan e
'as people believe we will find that
our best results will come from specific y
definite advertising rather than fir I'll d
general publicity. 1t would be all right c
Tor us to plaster our state with our 6
slogan, if we could do it without too e
much cost It is all right to keep be- a
,ore the world that Topeka has so a
many schools and so many churches I
md so many this, that and the other
hing and this is good general pub
IClly. butp you merchants nave learn " II
ID that general publicity brings very k
ew quick returns. When you want to t
ldvertise your store you advertise spe-
life goods and prices. So in advertis- Z
ng Topeka let us be specific f
Another thing Topeka needs is a o
general campaign in the interest of the ! a
'tate of Kansas. Des Moines has Or t
sanized Greater Iowa club We need e
Greater Kansas club.
Secretary Coburn succeeds through "
lis admirable literature in getting p
thousands of dollars, worth Of r,,,lS a