The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1910-04-29
PROMOTION MEN
TALK OF ADS
Object to Advertisement Scheme
Which Was Grated on
Them.

The charge that the promotion com.
mittee had backed an atlas.selling prop.
osition of an Oakland man and sent
him among the business men endorsed
and aided, was denied at a meeting, of
the members of the committee yester.
day afternoon. For the past week
business men have questioned the state.
ments made by L. A. Davis. who came
here ostensibly to acquire data for the
publication of an Atlas in which Ha.
wall was to figure prominently, but who
finally began making a canvass for ads.
In substantiation of his statement that
the promotion committee favored his
proposition he showed a letter from the
acting secretary. This letter was sub.
jected to critical examination at yes
terday's meeting and the committee
failed to see wherein the committee
had backed Mr.. Davis materially or
was endorsing him, inasmuch as Gov
ernor Frear and Mayor Fern had both
given Davis letters in which he was
very strongly commended to the com.
munity. The promotion commi ttee Is
letter follows:
''March 81, 1910.
ITO Whom 1t May Concern:
"The bearer, Mr. Ellis A. Davis, is
known to the Hawaii Promotion Com
mittee as the publisher of World
Atlas and Cyclopedia. During the past
year the committee has furnished Mr..
Davis with various data and photo
graphs for a Hawaiian edition of his
work, which he informs us is now COM
pleted. The advance sheets of the
book, which we have seen, appear to be
all that the author claims for the work,
every truly yours,
"THE HAWAII PROMOTION COM.
MITTEE,
by VIII j. Cooper, Acting Secretary
When Mr.. Cooper found that Davis
was making use of the committee g let
ter to secure ads he called Mr.. Davis
to account and placed notice in the
newspapers.
Mr.. Cooper showed the committee
correspondence had with Davis by Sec
rotary Wood, in which the committee
had furnished Davis with its literature
cuts and general material regarding the
Islands, following method in vogue
in the committee. The work of the
committee is to furnish data to all who
wish it, as "every little bit helps" in
an advertising way, for the Islands.
Finally Davis came to the Islands. He
has returned to the Coast.
The committee may shortly place
de tA bn
effect that the committee is not body
of it's own organization, but organized
by the chamber of commerce and mer-
chants association, and recommends
tion of advertising schemes is left to
the parent bodies. This will enable the
committee, in such cases, to retire
gracefully, and the ban or endorsement
will come from the special committees
of each parent body.
member of the committee stated
that certain prominent business men
had called him to account by stating
that the promotion committee was
''easy," when as matter of fact some
of those critics had placed their names
to contracts for advertising in one, at
least, of the very cases instanced, all
the way from $25 to 800.
The committee is very strongly of
the opinion that in future all advertis.
ing schemes, particularly those original
ing on the mainland, shall go before
the chamber of commerce pruning com
mittee. The promotion committee also
desires business men generally to ascer-
tain from advertising promoters wheth-
er or not they have the endorsement of
the pruning committee before commit.
ing themselves ON the advertising ques-
tion.