The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1911-11-29
WE OFFEND A GENIUS.
Tampa Tribune. }

ten from Lakeland and the writer
complains that he has been done
serious injustice by The Tribune.
The Offense, as far as we can gather
from Pope's letter. consisted in the
reprinting by The Tribune OF a
paragraph from the Lakeland Tele-
gram, i'm which the latter paper
spoke of some advertising canvasser
who was inducing the business men
of Lakeland to bite" at railroad
schedule card proposition. The
Telegram Justly described the prOpO-
sitiOn as worthless from an advertis-
ing standpoint and criticised the
merchants who bit for patroniz-
ing a travelling gentleman" when
much more valuable advertising
could be obtained through the medi-
UNI of home enterprises. Pope con-
fesses that he is the travelling gen.
tleman" referred to by the Lake
land paper.
Pope objects to the headline which
The Tribune used over the piece OF
reprint, which alluded to the "trav-
cling gentleman" as "fakir,' and
demands a retractiOn. If Pope is
engaged in the sort OF advertising
proposition described by our Lake
land contemporary, we decline to
amend the classification That SOFT
uf "adycrtising has long ago been
pronounced OF the fake" class by
all reputable advertising authorities
and commercial associations. Il
Tampa, Pope could aot work such Il
proposition, because Tampa business
men some time ago took steps 10
prevent the operation If such timer
ants in this city. The Board OF
Trade Of Tampa established an adj
Nertising committee, which examines
into all schemes Of this sort which
are projected here. and. unless the
scheme is approved by this commit
tee. no Tampa business man will
-iNc cal to the proposition. Lake
land is evidently in need Of smi-
In nan 4 fntt If s..,,n,ns ILL. l,t
which Pope admits h. is working
can obtain the patronage of its bus
mess concerns.
We do not intend to characterize
Pope personally as a "takir. because
we do not know what circumstances
might have prompted him to take up
this sort of work liut We do de-
clare that the proposition he is
pushing is Of the fake" class Of adj
vertising the kind that has been
condemned and taboocd by business
Interests everywhere. Pope. in his
letter, Nouchsafcs us Il sketch of his
biography. and states his cuisines"
as follows: Newspaper writer. adj
vertser. real estate dealer. rcstau-
ant man. stock broker farmer. health
promoter, muckrakcr. tourist, phil
osopher. astronomer As we glance
over this imposing catalogue of
learned professions, We cannot
avoid the reflection that. il Pope is
qualified for all these pursuits and
has advanced no higher in the scale
OF world prefcrmcnt than the solici-
tation of fake" advertising. there
must be something radically wrong
with him somewhere. tie adds that
he is prepared to cut" and shoot"
to defend his character if need be.
and we were just wondering why he
didn't step around to the Lakeland
kilograms office and massacre Edi-
tor Hctherington. the author OF
the paragraph The Tribune copied.
when we found that he had called on
The Lakeland editor. with the result
that Brother IIcthcrington az
fnowlcdged the courtesy of his visit
in the following paragraph. with
which concise summary we dismiss
Pope and his powerful array of "oc-
equations"
"A little shaggy head rooster whr
has been trying to ct the business
men of Lakeland to take spac. on M
advertising card. rallrl a. ar of, &.
saturday and coniidcd TO II tvs
statements that we wou.i Meier hatr
suspected: First. that he WAS euin.
to sue The Tampa Tribune. ara.
second. that he is Il gentleman We
are unoorNinccd on both these
counts. but are strengthened i'm our
conviction that any merchant whose
advertisement he puts on his card
ought 10 have an action TO- damages
his scheme. in our opinion. bcil
noi only worthless. hut Il positi =
drtrlmrnl 10 the advertiser"
II this h. an apology. Pope may
make the most of &.