The Oskaloosa herald., 1910-06-23

large wholesale drug house where
was employed to go to the private of
flee of the president. There was in
formed that ] was to go on the road
to sell goods. | was handed my pa
pers. directed about my samples, and
as | was about TO go out my employer
took me by the hand and as he bade
me goodby gave me this parting adj
Vice My boy, it will take all the time
you have to represent this concern.
The, days will be altogether too short
for that You haven't time to talk
about your competitors. Your trade
already knows too much about them
anyway. That piece OF advice has
followed me through all of my bust
ness career II was good business
ethics then, and it is good advertising
ethics today.
Come with me few moments and
let us view this great business of pub
licity-for which there is being spent
in the exploitation of merchandise in
the United States alone nearly $1,000
900, 900 annually-from an ethical
standpoint. While advertising is as
old as the hills, we are in. the TWEEN.
tieth century viewing it from a new
angle
THE law of ethics is the unwritten
law of high moral principles and the
gospel of human duty. When men
originally came together in classes
they made rules for themselves to
follow. Some of these rules found
expression on our statute, books. 9th.
ers, more binding, are classed under
what we sometimes choose to call
unwritten laws. He who breaks these
laws, while he may not be dragged
into court of justice, is made TO
feel the influence of common con-
domination. -..
ITO facilitate the consideration OF
this phase of our subject let us sub
stitute for ethics the word morals and
craftsmanship and advertising. The
subject then becomes more intimate
and personal, much easier of develop
ment and more interesting. The eth
les of advertising then become the
morals of salesmanship or the prin-
ciple of honest selling. Therefore we
will first consider honesty in adver-
Using. ..
"The time has been when the field
of publicity was fruitful one for the
faker to ply his trade and his nefari-
Gus charlatan practices. In compare
lively a few years advertising has
passed out of the realm of 'fakism
into that of professionalism, and the
man who fails in everything else no
longer views the field of advertising
as a profitable one from which to
CLEAN easy money
People have ceased to look upon
advertising as some mystic art or feat
of legerdemain or believe that real
advertising man can be born over
night. The advertising expert-God
out knowledge of the merchandise
which he is to exploit to write copy
and propose selling plans that will
quickly revolutionize a business is not
unlike the quack doctor who claims
that he can cure incurable diseases,
make the lame to walk and put brains
into empty heads. But the breed is
growing beautifully less.
God speed the day when that old
and thread-bare expression of doubt
and distrust, oh, that is just an ad
vertisement!' which you and have so
often heard, may pass into oblivion
and be forever entombed with it's dis
reputable running mate, Does adyer
Using pay?' and when the statements
made in the advertising columns of
our various publications may be &C
cepted with the same confidence and
good faith as the truths promulgated
in their editorials.
Some one more thoughtless than
vicious may ask himself: Does it &C
tuaIly pay? viii it in the end pay to
be absolutely honest in advertising?
Did it pay Marshall Field, who
upon that cornerstone of honesty and
fair dealing, whose advertisements
were as binding as his promissory
notes, built up the greatest retail bus
mess in America and possibly in the
world? Has it paid John Wanamak-
err? Consult your mercantile reports.
= In the face of such an object les
son 1t would be almost as senseless
to ask, Does it pay to ADVERTISE? as
1t would be to ask, Does it pay to be-
lieve in advertising" In your own
experience you can recall unnumbered
instances where it has paid to adver
tise honestly, and advertising veter-
ans have long since learned that un-
moral or untruthful advertising does
not pay, and in the long run there
is no use trying to make skinned
milk masquerade as cream. The dis
honest dealer is fast becoming bone
yard fossil Most businesses are
conducted on the square deal plan,
and they can afford to say exactly
what they mean in their advertise
ments and say 1t short, frankly and
TO the point.
Let us as business men typify In
our daily practice in our public adj
yertisements the highest ethics OF pro
fessionansm, the unwritten law OF
moral Tho world knnWo