The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1912-07-03
Good Stationery Pays the Farmer

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The following experience of our Mr..
j. a. Martin should carry it's own les
son with it, and it is a lesson many
farmers need to learn:
THE other day l was coming out
OF the postofice with big bundle of
mail in my hand. A friend stopped me
for chat and during the conversa-
tion | saw his eyes riyeted upon the
top envelope of the mail 1 was holding.
l looked, too, and some breeder OF
Duroc-Jersey hogs had written us
letter. There, upon the envelope. 1
saw in red ink. printed upon neat but
inexpensive paper, the picture of
beautiful Duroc-Jersey boar. Over the
cut were the words, Return In FIVE
days to- and under the cut was the
name and address Of the writer say
Ing that he was breeder of Duroc-
Jersey swine, Shropshire sheep and
Rhode Island chickens.
The man to whom l was talking
said: by Jimminy. I've been looking
for Duroc-Jersey man; and he took
the name and address. When / open
ed the mail l found two other adver-
tisements OF the very same breed of
hogs-only the letters were written on
plain stattonery-and one Of them
with hard lead pencil Thus. one
man probably made sale that would
pay for his entire stationery-and the
other fellows missed a chance be-
cause they had economical by using.
cheap, nameless paper and envelope"
Even If Mr.. Martins friend had
known that the other breeders had
Durocs for sale, the probability is that
he would have written first to the man
who used good stationery, Just as
anyone else would That a breeder
does not have business stationery in
dicates first of all to the man who
gets letter from him that he Is not
much of breeder anyway. Then he
mas to waste energy to prove this i'm
preston wrong.
by all means, If you are business
farmer-as, Of course, you are-have
some stationery printed telling lust
what your line of farming is. You
do not need anything fancy-certain-
ly no "frills.' nor do you need ex-
pensiVe stationery; but good neat pa
per you must have, and good neat
printing you should insist upon.
Nor should the farmer limit his
printing to his letter-heads and en-
velopes. He should label what he sells
If 1t is of good quality, so that the
buyer may know where to get more
like it,
Here is another story told by Mr..
Martin:
Recently | was waiting for train
at Hupelo, MSS. Standing on truck
In front of the express office 1 saw
IN a crate beautiful Collie puppy and
Berkshire pig-one in each end of
the crate. Tackled upon the crate was
an attractive shipping tag, giving the
name of the shipper. stating that he
was a breeder Of Berkshire swine.
Homer Pigeons. Collie dogs. and In
dian Runner ducks. / saw no less than
dozen people walk up, look at the
puppy and pig and then take out a
pencil and paper and write down the
address given on the tag"
Did that mans little bill for print
ing prove profitable investment?
Give the farm name put the name
on your letter-heads and envelopes.
and as label on the things you sell,
and see if 1t does not make you feel
a little bii prouder OF your business
and keep you eager to make the farm
and what it yields good enough to
justify the name
The printing will not cost much. The
publisher of your local paper can do
1t for you and will be glad to help
Progressive Farmer.