The Yale expositor., 1911-05-18
WHY ADVERTISE?
BY EBERT HUBBARD.


The. things that live are the things
that are well advertised The thoughts
that abide are those that are strongly
maintained. ably defended, well ex-
pressed
The world accepts man or an in
stitution at the estimate it places on
itself To let the rogues and fools
expound and explain to you the multi
tude, and you yourself make no sign,
and allow the falsehood to pass as cur
rent coin.
And soon it becomes legal tender.
According to the common law of Eng
land path across your property once
used by the people is theirs for all
time.
In America millions of dollars are
now being expended by certain sue
cessful firms and corporations to cor
rect wrong impression that has been
allowed to get a foothold in the pub
lie mind concerning them.
Just remember this: 1t is not the
thing itself that lives; it is what is
said about it. Your competitors, the
disgruntled ones, are busy. The time
to correct lie is when it is uttered
So the moral is: You must advertise,
no matter how successful you are.
The Zeitgeist is always at work, al
ways rolling up as big SNOWFALL
grows. The best asset you have Is the
good will Of the public, and to secure
this and hold 1t, advertising is neces-
sary. And the more successful you are
the more necessary 1t Is that you
should place yourself in a true, just
and proper light before the world, ere
the lies crystalline. and you find your
self buried under mountain of false
hood. BE thou as chaste as ice, as
pure as snow, thou canst not escape
calumny." And the more successful
you are, the finer target are you for
rumor. The only man who is really
safe is the man who does nothing,
thinks nothing, says nothing, has moth
ing He is the only one who need
not advertise.
To worship the god Terminus is to
have the Goths and Vandals, that skirt
the borders of every successful VEN
ture, pick up your Termini and carry
them inland, long miles, between the
setting of the sun and his rising.
You must advertise, wisely and dis
creetly, so as to create a public opin-
ion that is favorable to you.
To hold the old customers, you must
get out after the new.
When you think you are big enough
there is lime in the bones of the boss,
and noise like a buccaneer Is heard
in the offing.
The reputation that endures, or the
institution that lasts, is the one that
is properly advertised
The only names in Greek history
that we know are those which Herodo-
tus and Thucydides graved with death
less styli.
The men of Rome. who live and
tread the boardwalk are those Plu-
tarch took up and writ their names
large on human hearts.
All that Plutarch knew of Greek he
roes was what he read in Herodotus.
All that Shakespeare knew of class
ic Greece and Rome and the heroes
of that far-off time, is what he dug
out of Plutarch's Lives. And about
all that most people now know of
Greece and Rome they get from Shake
speare.
Plutarch doomed his Roman friends
and matched each favorite with some
Greek, written of by Herodotus. Plu-
tarch wrote of the men he liked, some
of whom we know put up good manu-
ma to cover expenses.
Horatius still stands at the bridge,
because poet placed him there.
1t interests, inspires, educates-
sometimes amuses - informs, and
thereby uplifts and benefits, lubricat-
ing existence and helping the old
world on it's way to the Celestial City
Of Fine Minds.